The Trump administration on Tuesday published the latest guidelines for self-driving cars, the first update since taking over from the Obama administration. The 36-page report, called Version 2.0 by Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, continues the same hands-off approach to the emerging industry, with guidance being “entirely voluntary” with “no enforcement mechanism.” Most of the questions […]
Tag Archives: driverless
Drive.ai and Lyft partner to test self-driving cars in Bay Area
Drive.ai and Lyft have announced a partnership to test self-driving cars in the San Francisco Bay Area. The trial will look into how Lyft can optimize the passenger experience, and expand Drive.ai’s technical capabilities with thousands of autonomous miles. Lyft has made a few big self-driving announcements in the past few months, including a research […]
Samsung granted permission to test self-driving cars in California
Samsung is the latest technology company to receive a permit to test self-driving cars in California, but does not plan on launching its own automotive anytime soon. The South Korean electronics giant will instead work on ‘control systems’ for self-driving vehicles. It has already conducted tests in its home country with Hyundai cars. See Also: […]
Domino’s and Ford to test self-driving pizza delivery service
Domino’s and Ford have partnered to test a self-driving pizza delivery service to customers in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The partnership will be part of Ford’s research into how customers respond and interact with self-driving vehicles. Randomly selected customers will have the option of trying the self-driving delivery service, according to The Verge. An engineer will […]
Uber looked into partnering with automaker for self-driving project
Uber’s self-driving project could have been a collaborative effort between the ride-hailing giant and a major automaker, according to a report by The Information. In the summer, Uber rejected an acquisition offer for the self-driving unit by an unnamed automaker. That led executives to discuss the possibility of further collaboration with automakers, to offset some […]
nuTonomy wants to be self-driving in Singapore by summer 2018
Self-driving startup nuTonomy said it hopes to launch a commercial ride service in Singapore by the second quarter of 2018, possibly in partnership with local ride-hailing service Grab. Originally an MIT spin-off, nuTonomy has worked on self-driving software for three years. It started trialling its tech in Singapore in 2016, and expanded its shuttle program […]
Colorado to deploy self-driving crash truck to shadow road crews
The Colorado Department of Transportation has said it will deploy a self-driving truck to protect road crews from speeding vehicles by the end of this fall, potentially extending the program to cover all road maintenance if the trial is a success. The self-driving truck will act as a “crash truck”, which moves slowly behind road […]
Apple to test self-driving shuttle for employees in Palo Alto
Apple is reportedly working on a self-driving shuttle service for its employees, moving them between Palo Alto and 1 Infinite Loop, the company’s headquarters. The shuttle service will use the company’s own self-driving software, which has been in development since the ‘Titan’ project started three years ago. The shuttle will be from a third-party manufacturer, […]
Ford to work on self-driving cars with taxi and delivery functionality
Car ownership is predicted to decline as self-driving cars hit the roads, with more people, especially in cities, opting for a taxi or shuttle. When that happens, Ford wants to be the company supplying taxi operators with vehicles. In a blog post, Ford vice president of autonomous vehicles, Sherif Marakby, said the company is aiming […]
Google retires Firefly car to focus on mass-produced vehicles
Google’s self-driving division Waymo has announced it will be retiring the Firefly car, the nearly iconic pod-like vehicle that was manufactured in-house to experiment. Waymo is now moving to mass produced vehicles, like the Chrysler Pacifica minivan. It received 600 minivans from Fiat Chrysler last year and is in the process of outfitting the vehicles […]
Finland prepares for self-driving shuttle service this fall
Finland could be the first country to have a regular autonomous shuttle service, with city transportation officials aiming to debut the service this fall. Tests have been ongoing since August 2016, when the shuttle was first deployed on a quarter-mile course with 12 passengers on board. See Also: Scandinavia leaps ahead of everyone in IoT […]
UK Autodrive scheme to be tested on public roads this year
Ford, Jaguar Land Rover, and Tata Motors are collaborating in the U.K. on a scheme called Autodrive, which is working on communication systems for self-driving cars. The most recent test, held in Nuneaton, a town in Warwickshire, England, looked into several safety systems aimed at reducing accidents. These included emergency warning technology and collision warnings, […]
Frankfurt commuters may soon jump aboard self-driving shuttles
Continental, a German auto manufacturer, has announced plans to test a “robo-taxi” in Frankfurt. The CuBe (Continental Urban mobility Experience) will be a blueprint for the future development of autonomous shared transport in urban areas. The CuBe will be fitted with driver assistance programs and sensors already embedded into Level 2 cars found on the […]
Ford patents removable wheel for self-driving vehicles
In the interim between semi-autonomous and self-driving, cars will need to be able to switch modes with relative ease. Ford has shown one possible way to move to self-driving mode, by making the steering wheel and brake pedals removable. In a patent granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Ford shows how the […]
Fiat Chrysler joins BMW, Intel self-driving consortium
Fiat Chrysler has joined BMW’s growing consortium of automakers, tech companies, and suppliers, all working together to accelerate the creation of semi-autonomous and driverless vehicles. Alongside Fiat and Chrysler, FCA owns the Jeep, Maserati, and Dodge car brands, covering almost all consumer vehicle sizes. That should allow the consortium to modify self-driving software down to […]
Toyota to unveil self-driving cars at 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo
Toyota plans to show of its self-driving cars at the 2020 Summer Olympic games in Tokyo, a similar timeframe to most automakers. The Japanese government is hoping to have autonomous cars driving before that time, to help with the influx of visitors to the country. Demonstrations will be held at the Odaiba waterfront area, where […]
Intel to deploy 100 self-driving vehicles worldwide by end of year
Intel will deploy 100 self-driving vehicles in Europe, Israel, and the United States by the end of the year. The cars will be used as demonstration vehicles for customers and regulators, as well as test vehicles for the company’s self-driving efforts. The announcement comes alongside the completion of its $15.3 billion Mobileye acquisition, which it […]
Waymo patents collapsible self-driving car design
Google’s self-driving division, Waymo, has received a patent for an automotive design where the car loses rigidity before a crash, minimizing the damage to the rider and any other cars. Waymo would achieve this by reducing the tension of hood, panels and bumpers before an accident, according to Silicon Beat. The release of tension should, […]
Microsoft to power Baidu’s self-driving project outside of China
Microsoft has agreed to power Baidu’s open source self-driving project outside of China, adding its Azure cloud infrastructure to the growing list of resources connected to the project. Baidu announced its intention to open source the project, named Apollo, in April. It has since signed up leading Chinese car manufacturers Chery Auto and Great Wall […]
Tesla working on autonomous platooning for electric semi-truck
Tesla is reportedly working on a platooning system for its upcoming electric semi-truck, set to be unveiled in September, which will connect several self-driving trucks to a leader vehicle. It is close to a prototype of the platooning system, according to email conversations between Tesla and the Nevada Department for Motor Vehicles (DMV), seen by […]