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Uber puts self-driving cars back on the road in scaled-down test
Eight months after one of Uber's self-driving cars fatally struck a pedestrian, the company is getting ready to resume testing of its autonomous vehicles on public roads. However, according to internal sources, there are concerns about the program's safety, with some employees claiming corners are being cut in a bid to reach milestones and keep up with competitors.
Uber hires an NHTSA veteran to bolster its self-driving car plans
Uber has hired a former National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) official to join its autonomous vehicle team, Reuters reports. Nat Beuse will be joining the company after serving as the NHTSA's associate administrator of vehicle safety research, and he's doing so at a critical time when Uber is working to mend its safety image following a fatal crash involving one of its self-driving cars. "Uber's approach to self-driving vehicles is an opportunity to make a difference in the safe commercialization of this revolutionary technology, which I've spent a considerable amount of time working with in recent years," Beuse said in a statement. "It's clear to me that the team here is dedicated to prioritizing safety."
LG drafts in its TV chief to save its mobile business
LG is shaking things up with a leadership change to its troubled mobile unit and the launch of two new divisions, dedicated to robotics and autonomous vehicles respectively. The company's smartphone arm has suffered seven consecutive quarters of operating losses. Hoping for a revival, LG is handing the keys to the division to its home entertainment boss, Brian Kwon, who takes charge starting next month.
Waymo reportedly returns safety drivers to its autonomous cars
Waymo is reportedly rolling out additional safety measures for its self-driving vehicle fleets, reintroducing safety drivers and installing cameras to monitor driver fatigue. The Information reports that these changes were put into place due to safety concerns, and they come after a handful of recent traffic incidents.
GM cuts workers and plants as it shifts focus to electric vehicles
General Motors announced today that is planning to lay off 15 percent of its contract workers, shutter five plants in North America, and discontinue production on six vehicle models next year. The move comes as part of a major restructuring of the car manufacturer that has been suffering from lagging sales. Going forward, GM intends to focus on electric and autonomous vehicle programs, just like basically every other car maker.
Ford and Walmart to partner on self-driving deliveries
Self-driving car collaborations are becoming increasingly commonplace. The latest team-up comes from Ford and Walmart -- two older-world companies using autonomous tech to combat nascent startup rivals and remain relevant in an ever-changing landscape. The eventual goal is to bring Walmart shopping items to customers in a self-driving Ford with the help of Postmates' delivery infrastructure. Initially, however, the venture will rely on human-driven cars designed to simulate how a self-driving vehicle would operate.
Ford and Baidu team up to test autonomous cars in China
There's a new partnership in the autonomous vehicle game as Ford has announced it will be teaming up with Chinese internet company Baidu to work on autonomous vehicles, with testing set to begin in Beijing by the end of the year. The initiative hopes to achieve SAE L4 (a classification that measures level of human involvement) autonomous standards, meaning that vehicles can run autonomously within specific areas and under the correct weather conditions, within the next two years. And on the roads of Beijing, Ford will be joined by Mercedes-Benz, which too got approval to test cars in the capital city earlier this summer.
People want self-driving cars to prioritize young lives over the elderly
Today, MIT released the results of a global survey on the moral and ethical decisions that autonomous vehicles should be programmed to make. The survey reveals that general preferences include prioritizing human lives over animals, younger and healthier people over the elderly and saving more lives over fewer lives. People also preferred to spare bystanders (who were obeying the law) over jaywalkers.
GM's self-driving car reportedly has trouble recognizing pedestrians
It seems that General Motors' self-driving car unit, Cruise, is running into major difficulties, and will likely not be able to hit its late 2019 launch target. Sources close to the project have told Reuters that engineers have been hitting unexpected technical challenges, like being able to detect objects if objects are in motion. For example, vehicles would hesitate or stop when passing a row of parked bicycles, would mistakenly see "phantom bicycles" that caused jerky stops, and would even fail to recognize pedestrians. "Nothing is on schedule," one GM source told Reuters, as Cruise has already missed mileage targets and milestones.
Addison Lee's self-driving taxis could hit London by 2021
Private hire taxi company Addison Lee has announced plans to place autonomous cabs on the streets of London by 2021. To help it get there, it's teaming up with Oxbotica, a company that specializes in self-driving software.
Arizona is creating an autonomous vehicle research institute
Arizona, a state that has been quite open to self-driving technology, has now created the Institute for Automated Mobility (IAM), a consortium focused on autonomous vehicle research, safety and policy. Overseen by the Arizona Commerce Authority, IAM brings together the state's transportation and public safety departments, private industry and three state universities, which will work to develop industry standards and best practices in regards to self-driving technology.
US Department of Transportation updates autonomous car rules
The US Department of Transportation has released its latest set of voluntary guidelines for automated driving systems, a report that builds on previous versions released over the past two years. With Preparing for the Future of Transportation: Automated Vehicles 3.0, the DOT outlines additional safety principles, updates policy and offers guidance to state and local governments. "The integration of automation across our transportation system has the potential to increase productivity and facilitate freight movement," said DOT Secretary Elaine Chao. "But most importantly, automation has the potential to impact safety significantly -- by reducing crashes caused by human error, including crashes involving impaired or distracted drivers, and saving lives.
Alibaba will build its own AI chip to support self-driving cars
Chinese internet giant Alibaba is doubling down on its chip manufacturing with a dedicated subsidiary, co-founder and chairman Jack Ma said at an event in Hangzhou this week. The company wants to launch its first self-developed AI inference chip in the second half of 2019, supporting its move into self-driving vehicles and smart products. The move follows the company's announcement back in April that it had begun testing its own autonomous vehicle technology.
Audi: Autonomous cars alone won’t solve traffic jams
It's easy to think that once cars start driving themselves most of our traffic woes will be eliminated. Robocars are supposed to be better drivers and better driving should mean less gridlock. Unfortunately, that drop in bumper-to-bumper hell won't be as big as we all hoped, according to Audi's research.
Oklahoma City stores will deliver groceries with autonomous vehicles
Next year, Oklahoma City residents will be able to have their groceries delivered to them by an autonomous vehicle. Udelv announced this week that a new partnership will bring its self-driving delivery vehicles to the city's largest local chain of grocery stores, which includes supermarkets such as Uptown Grocery, Buy For Less, Buy For Less Super Mercado and Smart Saver. Ten vehicles are scheduled to be delivered to the stores by the end of June 2019.
Toyota will invest $500 million in Uber (updated)
Toyota plans to invest around $500 million in Uber, the Wall Street Journal reports, as the two enter an agreement to work together on driverless technologies. The publication cites sources familiar with the matter and the investment would value Uber at $72 billion. Reports surfaced earlier this month that Uber investors told the company it should consider selling off its self-driving car unit due to the substantial losses the project has racked up.
Waymo test will provide rides to and from public transportation
Waymo announced today that it's partnering with the Phoenix area's regional public transportation authority, Valley Metro, in order to explore whether self-driving vehicles are an effective way to get people to and from public transportation. Starting in August, Valley Metro employees will be able to hail a Waymo ride via the company's app for their first- and last-mile transit connections. Waymo said in its announcement that as cities grow, "the 'last mile' -- how people connect to public transportation efficiently, affordably and safely -- is one of the main challenges communities struggle to solve." With its Valley Metro partnership, Waymo aims to test how autonomous vehicles can help fill those mobility gaps.
Drive.ai’s autonomous ride-hailing service is now operating in Texas
Drive.ai's autonomous ride-hailing service has launched in Frisco, Texas, providing transportation between Hall Park offices and The Star. The company announced in May that the service was on the way, and while a safety driver will be present in the vehicle at launch, Drive.ai plans to transition to a passenger seat chaperone and then passenger-only rides going forward. "Today is the exciting start to our on-demand ride service, which we hope will benefit a community and increase understanding of and confidence in self-driving technology," the company said in a blog post today.
Roborace is still pursuing its driverless race-car dream
Clearly, Roborace doesn't believe in bad luck. Last week, on Friday the 13th, the company chose to run its self-driving Robocar in front of a feverish crowd at England's Goodwood Festival of Speed. It was only the second time the team had demonstrated its futuristic vehicle publicly, following an unassisted lap in Paris roughly 13 months ago. There was no room for error. The absence of a human cockpit gives the car an unusually low profile. Its delicate curves were drafted by Daniel Simon, a concept-vehicle designer who has contributed to science-fiction blockbusters including Tron: Legacy, Prometheus and Oblivion. The robot racer's shape resembles a Formula 1 car, the Batmobile and a heat-seeking missile mashed together. The machine moved slowly, though, up the famous hill-climb course. Well, slowly compared with the other vehicles that had tackled the Goodwood track that day. Roborace had capped the car at 125 KMH (roughly 78 MPH) to ensure it completed the route safely. In the world of motorsport, that's pretty slow. The robot's racing line, too, was conservative. It stuck to the center of the road, leaving plenty of tarmac on either side as it both entered and exited each corner. Ayrton Senna da Silva, it was not. Still, the drive was a milestone for the British startup. Thousands hugged the track-side hay bales and watched as the car zipped toward the finish line. In a little under two minutes, it had completed the course and returned to its dormant state. The Roborace team could breathe a sigh of relief.
Daimler and Bosch will use NVIDIA to power self-driving taxis
Putting self-driving cars on the streets requires a lot of computing power. Most test cars on the road have PC towers in their trunk that take up space, suck up power and produce a lot of heat. With that in mind Daimler (the parent company of Mercedes-Benz) and Bosch have announced they will be using the NVIDIA Drive Pegasus self-driving AI platform.
