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NVIDIA reportedly suspends its self-driving tests on public roads
NVIDIA will suspend all of its public road self-driving tests following Uber's fatal accident, a company spokesperson has told Recode. The company supplies chips for Uber's self-driving vehicles and it says that it needs to find out more about last week's crash. "The accident was tragic," a spokesperson said in a statement. "It's a reminder of how difficult [self-driving car] technology is and that it needs to be approached with extreme caution and the best safety technologies."
Waymo and Jaguar will test self-driving I-Pace SUVs later this year
Waymo is adding a luxury vehicle to its fleet of self-driving test vehicles, the upcoming I-Pace EV. At an event ahead of the New York Auto Show, the two companies announced that testing of the I-Pace outfitted with Waymo's autonomous technology will be on public roads later this year in Phoenix, Arizona.
Baidu will start autonomous driving tests in Beijing
This week, China gave tech company Baidu, Inc., which wants to be known as China's version of Google, the go-ahead to start autonomous driving tests in Beijing's suburbs, according to Reuters. China is looking to compete with other countries with self-driving technology, so this is an important move that indicates support for the technology at a somewhat contentious time.
Autonomous cars may soon navigate better in fog
One major issue for autonomous vehicles is driving in fog. Many types of self-driving technology use visible light to determine how to navigate. This becomes a real problem when driving conditions are poor, and especially when there's fog. But now, researchers at MIT have developed a method of producing images of objects within extremely thick fog and judging their distance.
Uber stops all self-driving car tests after fatal crash (updated)
Uber is putting all of its self-driving vehicle tests on hold after one of its cars struck and killed a pedestrian in Tempe, Arizona Sunday evening. According to ABC affiliate KNXV, the car had a human operator behind the wheel but was in autonomous mode. A woman walking on a crosswalk was struck by the car and she later died in the hospital due to the injuries she sustained. Uber said that it is working with the the local authorities.
Here's what you missed at the 2018 Geneva Motor Show
This year's Geneva Motor Show seemed to be all about going fast without stopping at the gas pump. Gas-powered vehicles continue to dominate the market, but automakers took the opportunity to showcase their electrified roadmap as they transition from oil to electrons.
Uber’s self-driving trucks are making deliveries in Arizona
Uber announced today that its self-driving trucks have been operating in Arizona for the last couple of months. The company said it has two main transfer hubs in Sanders and Topock, but other than that, Uber is being pretty tight-lipped about the operation. For instance, it hasn't shared how many trucks are in use, how many miles they've driven, what they're shipping or how often drivers have to take over for the autonomous system, and has only said that the trucks have completed thousands of rides to date.
Arizona no longer requires safety drivers in autonomous vehicles
Arizona will now allow self-driving cars to operate in the state without a safety driver behind the wheel. Governor Doug Ducey signed an executive order this week making it legal for these vehicles to operate on their own as long as they abide by all federal and state safety standards. "As technology advances, our policies and priorities must adapt to remain competitive in today's economy," Governor Ducey said in a statement. "This executive order embraces new technologies by creating an environment that supports autonomous vehicle innovation and maintains a focus on public safety."
Control Volkswagen's latest concept car with your voice
Volkswagen will debut an autonomous concept car called the I.D. Vizzion at the Geneva International Motor Show next month. The interior of the all-electric car doesn't reflect that of a traditional vehicle; it's been completely redesigned. There is no steering wheel and it does not have visible controls. It's the fourth car in Volkswagen's I.D. line, which is focused on developing electric car technology.
Embark’s self-driving semi completes trip from California to Florida
Last year, autonomous trucking company Embark announced that it would begin using its Level 2 autonomous semis to deliver refrigerators from Texas to California. Now, TechCrunch reports, the company has taken it a step further as one of its trucks has now completed a 2,400 mile trip from Los Angeles to Jacksonville, Florida. The trip took five days, which included scheduled rest breaks for the driver that was on board, and TechCrunch says that Embark's team is now assessing all of the trip's data. While there's no word yet on just how often the system required the driver to step in, those on board said that the truck went "hours at a time with no disengagements, and when they did occur they were usually only a few seconds," according to Embark CEO Alex Rodrigues.
Uber, Lyft and others pledge to improve urban transportation
With the rise of ride-sharing, alternative fuels and ongoing developments in autonomous vehicle technology, transportation is in the midst of a rather drastic transformation, and how we get around in the not too distant future is likely to be very different than how we get around today. But with so many companies working towards a new transportation future, things could get a little messy. To address that concern, over a dozen companies have now committed to 10 Shared Mobility Principles for Livable Cities, a pledge initiated by Zipcar cofounder Robin Chase.
Mercedes drove around the globe to train its autonomous cars
On a rainy September day in Frankfurt Germany, Mercedes-Benz executives and I got in a specially built semi-automated S-Class to track our drive to Stuttgart. It was the first leg in a five-month, five continent training of the automaker's self-driving system called the Intelligent World Drive that ended at CES earlier this month.
Apple added two dozen self-driving SUVs to its California test fleet
Last April, Apple was granted a permit to test its autonomous vehicle technology by the state of California and since then, the company has expanded its test fleet from three vehicles to 27, Bloomberg reports. The California Department of Motor Vehicles said that Apple had registered 24 Lexus RX450h SUVs between last July and this month. While initially aiming to develop its own autonomous vehicle, Apple later decided to switch gears and design a self-driving system that could be incorporated into other vehicles. And we've seen glimpses of that technology in recent months. A patent application, a presentation from Apple AI Research Director Ruslan Salakhutdinov and a research paper have all pulled back parts of the curtain Apple's technology development usually hides behind. And a closeup look from Voyage cofounder MacCallister Higgins gave us a bit of a visual.
Levandowski faces fresh accusations of stealing trade secrets
The Waymo v. Uber trial is set to finally get started next month, but Anthony Levandowski, the man who has been accused of taking 14,000 files from Google's self-driving outfit when he left the company for his own startup Otto, has been hit with a lawsuit that may affect Waymo's. Wired reports that Levandowski's former nanny, Erika Wong, has filed a suit against him claiming Levandowski failed to pay her wages, violated labor and health codes and inflicted emotional distress. But the complaint also includes details of Levandowski's business practices, which suggest that he might have been paying off employees of other autonomous vehicle companies and that he considered fleeing to Canada when Waymo first filed its lawsuit.
Nissan shares its vision for our autonomous EV future at CES
Not surprisingly, autonomy and electrification dominated transportation news at CES 2018. Toyota introduced its e-Palette concept mobility solution (which proceeded to dominate Engadget's Best of CES awards), while Silicon Valley startup Robomart unveiled plans to bring produce shopping to your front door. Automakers also announced a slew of upcoming self-driving technologies, ranging from Alexa integration and automated emergency brakes to Level 5 personal transport pods that do away with the steering wheel altogether.
Pioneer’s autonomous driving tech includes LiDAR and driver monitors
Pioneer is well-known for its audio devices, but at CES, it's showing off some of its other, and maybe less expected, tech. The company has been working on Level 3 and Level 4 autonomous driving technology -- or conditional and high automation, respectively, meaning the driver still has to be prepared to take over from the automated system at some point -- entering an already very populated field while making sure to bring along some of the entertainment products its already known for.
Ford and Postmates team up to deliver orders with self-driving cars
Ford announced at CES today that it has entered a partnership with delivery service Postmates and will begin piloting various programs to see how self-driving vehicles and on-demand delivery can work together. This is the first on-demand delivery app to partner with Ford on a pilot like this and the two will be looking at what both merchants and customers need when it comes to sending and receiving deliveries via self-driving cars.
Optis’s virtualization tech will make building autonomous cars easier
Developing self driving vehicle technologies is hard -- just ask Google, or Uber, or Google that other time, or that one bus from Vegas. That's why a number of companies have been working to virtualize the development cycle so that untested technologies can crash and burn safely as their bugs are worked out. Among those companies is Optis, which announced on Tuesday that it will be partnering with two other firms to make virtual prototyping more accessible to the industry.
Baidu debuts its Apollo 2.0 autonomous driving platform
Baidu already bills itself as "the Google of China" and, like the Mountain View-based search giant, it's working feverishly to develop autonomous driving technologies. At CES on Monday, Baidu unveiled the fruits of its (and more than 90 industry partners') labor: the Apollo 2.0 platform.
Samsung introduces autonomous driving platform called DRVLINE
Today at CES, Samsung unveiled DRVLINE, a hardware and software platform that will allow car makers to create customized, technologically advanced autonomous vehicles. Many platforms are an all-or-nothing solution, which forces users to adopt the entire package en masse, without any sort of customization. DRVLINE, however, allows vendors to swap and customize individual components, building the vehicle to their specifications, as well as allowing for rapidly evolving technology.
