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GM buys Cruise Automation to develop driverless tech for its cars
After snatching up what remained of the ridesharing company Sidecar, GM further boosted its self-driving efforts by acquiring Cruise Automation. If that name doesn't sound familiar, the company makes kits that put driverless technology inside Audi S4 or A4 vehicles. That know-how will be used to bring autonomous features to GM's vehicles while Cruise remains based in San Francisco.
Toyota strengthens autonomous car program with new hires
Toyota wants to build a road-ready autonomous car by 2020, and it's tracking down the right expertise to help it achieve this goal. The car company announced it's welcomed the 16-strong software engineering team from Jaybridge Robotics -- a firm specializing in autonomous industrial vehicles -- into the fold. To be clear, Toyota hasn't acquired the company, which will continue to support its current client base; it has, however, hired most if not all of Jaybridge's experts to work on its in-house self-driving car program.
US regulators: Google's self-driving car AI 'can be a driver'
US regulators say Google's self-driving car can be considered the driver under federal law -- a big step towards approval for self-driving cars to take to the roads. Safety regulators apparently told Google of its decision last week. Google submitted a proposed design for a self-driving car back in November, which has "no need for a human driver" The response from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) was that will "interpret driver' in the context of Google's described motor vehicle design as referring to the [self-driving system] and not to any of the vehicle occupants."
UK to test self-driving cars on 41 mile 'connected corridor'
The UK government has dipped into the public purse once again to help finance a handful of autonomous car projects. One of the more interesting proposals is a 41 mile "connected corridor" that will test a number of self-driving car technologies. Specifically, engineers want to look at different connection types -- LTE, local WiFi hotspots, LTE-V and DSRC -- that could be built into cars and roadside infrastructure such as traffic lights and overhead gantries. The idea is to continuously feed information between traffic agencies, drivers and autonomous vehicles, so that they can all take the safest and smartest course of action on the road. So if a lane is closed or a truck breaks suddenly, everyone is alerted and knows how to react. The project has a range of contributors, including Jaguar Land Rover, Huawei and Vodafone. The consortium also includes Coventry City Council, Coventry University and the University of Warwick, which makes sense given this is where the "living laboratory" will be based. Jaguar Land Rover says the experiments, if successful, should make travelling safer and smoother for passengers. When a car wants to change lanes or exit the motorway, for instance, it'll be safer if every vehicle knows their intended route in advance. Similarly, "platooning" can maintain equal spacing between cars, ensuring safety and maximum fuel efficiency. When an accident occurs up ahead, that information could also be communicated to every vehicleIt'll test information-sharing between autonomous cars and regular drivers. on the road, including those controlled by human drivers using a mixture of visual and audio-based alerts. Dr Wolfgang Epple, director of research and technology at Jaguar Land Rover said: "The approach of an emergency vehicle can often be stressful for drivers. If we can inform the driver, or the autonomous car, much earlier that an emergency vehicle is approaching, we can ensure that the best decisions are made to move the vehicle out of the way safely and conveniently, to let the emergency vehicle pass by." Like most of the UK's autonomous car projects, this will be an early look at how the technology can be rolled out safely. If and when the government decides to properly legislate self-driving vehicles, it'll be case studies like this one that inform its decisions and the sort of systems that manufacturers need to adopt. An important foundation, not just for road safety but reassuring the public that it's ready for prime time.
Driverless pods to hit the streets of Greenwich
As you stroll past the Royal Observatory in Greenwich and that place where Thor fought in The Dark World, you'll soon see driverless pods gliding next to you. That's the plan, anyway. The GATEway project, which has already been experimenting with a self-driving shuttle around the O2, will soon be taking some unusual vehicles onto south London's streets. They'll be repurposed Ultra Pods -- electric four-wheelers that already operate at Heathrow Airport. Until now they've been locked to tracks, but project organiser TRL wants to upgrade them so they can navigate Greenwich independently. Furthermore, the new trial will be used to record exactly how the public reacts to self-driving vehicles.
Google's self-driving car facility has amazing street names
At Google's self-driving car testing grounds, the streets have some pretty awesome names. Thanks to a map in a behind-the-scenes look from Steven Levy, we know Mountain View is having a blast while developing the cars of the future. The facility is known as Castle -- it's on the former Castle Air Force Base, after all -- and the roads bear the monikers of several famous cars and drivers. From Toretto Way to McQueen Lane and McFly Way, it's clear the company has an affinity for automotive film and television.
The US wants self-driving cars, and fast
Just a day after a technology-heavy State of the Union comes news that the White House isn't done pushing us into the future. Reuters believes that Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx will head to Detroit tomorrow to talk about the administration's efforts to accelerate the development of self-driving cars. It's said that Google, which has been spearheading the project to build an autonomous vehicle, will also be in attendance at the event. The newswire mentions Mark Rosekind, head of the nation's traffic safety bureau, who has asked for a "nimble, flexible" approach to writing new traffic regulations. Details are still thin on the ground, but it looks as if Obama's "spirit of innovation" is alive and well. [Image Credit: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg/Getty]
Google wants automakers to help its self-driving car project
Google's self-driving cars are getting smarter and safer, but the company still wants some help from traditional automakers. Speaking at the Automotive News World Congress, John Krafcik, the head of Google's autonomous car project and a former Hyundai CEO, said: "We are going to need a lot of help, and In the next stages of our project, we're going to be partnering more and more for sure." In a room rammed with car executives, he later added: "We hope to work with many of you guys."
Ford wants you to know it's serious about self-driving cars
CES doesn't officially start until tomorrow, but already Ford has talked up its new project with DJI to launch drones from moving vehicles, as well as impending updates to its Sync 3 connected car platform. The automotive giant is also using the biggest tech show of the year to reaffirm its commitment to self-driving vehicles, announcing that it plans to add 20 more Ford Fusion Hybrid cars to its autonomous armada in 2016. According to Ford, tripling the number test vehicles in its garage would give it the biggest fleet of any outfit working on self-driving technology.
Self-driving buses will be a big part of the transit puzzle
While companies like Google and Tesla predict a future where fleets of vehicles pick up and drop off passengers, one glaring omission in this big city ride-sharing utopia is buses. You know, the things that already do what those companies are talking about.
Samsung wants to get into the self-driving car business
It's too soon to crack wise that Apple will design a self-driving car and Samsung will build it, but we're another step closer to that being a reality. The Korean conglomerate is launching a new division of its business that'll manufacture car components for other companies, beginning with in-car infotainment gear. According to the release, the eventual aim is to branch out into the components necessary to build autonomous vehicles for other companies. The move follows that of its local rival LG, which formed a vehicle components division in 2013 and is now gearing up to produce components for car companies.
Ford first to test self-driving cars in Michigan's fake city
The University of Michigan recently built the 32-acre "Mcity" proving ground so that automakers could test autonomous vehicles with zero risk to the public. Since the faux city is in US car country (and far from Silicon Valley rivals like Google), it's only fitting that it was broken in by a small Dearborn outfit: Ford. The automaker tackled Mcity in its latest Fusion Hybrid self-driving car, freshly equipped with four LiDAR sensors for real-time 3D mapping. While Ford has tested its vehicles extensively on public roads, "every mile driven [at Mcity] represents 10, 100 or 1,000 miles of on-road driving in terms of our ability to pack in the occurrences of difficult events," said U of M professor Ryan Eustice.
See London through the eyes of a self-driving car
When a driverless car glides down the street, avoiding pedestrians and stopping at traffic lights, what exactly does it see? Is the machine's perspective of the world so different to you and me? To give us an inside look, ScanLAB Projects strapped a laser scanner to a Honda CR-V and cruised through the streets of London. Although the car was being driven by a human, the LIDAR (light detection and ranging) equipment performed similarly to how it would in a driverless car. Like radar or sonar, this involves firing a laser in every direction and then measuring the time it takes to reflect back off nearby objects. These timings are then collected, analyzed and collected again to give the car a real-time picture of its surroundings. ScanLAB Projects is a London design company that uses the technology for art and visualisation purposes; they've already scanned museums, an underground railway line and the arctic circle. Its latest video -- produced for the New York Times Magazine -- combines the LIDAR recordings from the drive for a beautiful, eery look at the city.
Nissan's self-driving EV gives you restaurant recommendations too
It's not another Leaf, but Nissan's treating its IDS concept vehicle as an equally huge a step for automobiles. Packing a 30kWh battery with enough (EPA-rated) power for a drive up to 107 miles, it's the first (admittedly concept) car to show up with the carmaker's Intelligent Driving System. Notable parts of Nissan's autonomous driving plans include special driving modes for traffic jams (where it'll keep pace with the vehicle ahead of it while also keeping itself in the right lane), as well as restaurant recommendations based on previous trips. Ridiculously, or brilliantly, in piloted mode the IDS flips its steering wheel away to offer up a tablet for the driver. At the same time, all the seats curve ever-so slightly inwards to aid conversation. Or make it harder to ignore your fellow passengers.
Recommended Reading: Rick Moranis on the 'Ghostbusters' reboot and more
Recommended Reading highlights the best long-form writing on technology and more in print and on the web. Some weeks, you'll also find short reviews of books that we think are worth your time. We hope you enjoy the read. Rick Moranis Isn't Retired (He Just Doesn't Know How to Change His Wikipedia Page) by Ryan Parker The Hollywood Reporter When the new version of Ghostbusters arrives in theaters next year, a lot of the stars from the 1980s movies will make appearances in the film. Rick Moranis isn't one of them. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Moranis explains that "it just makes no sense" to him and dishes on what he's been doing for the last two decades, including his iOS 9.1 woes.
Google's unique self-driving cars hit the streets of Mountain View
Google has been testing self-driving cars on the roads of Mountain View for a while, but now the company's own models are hitting the streets. Last month, Google announced that its rather unique vehicles that were built specifically to drive themselves would begin testing on public roads this summer and now they're logging miles. During the trials, speeds are capped at 25 MPH and all of controls you'd usually find in a car (steering wheel, accelerator and brake pedal) are on-board in case the driver passenger needs to take over. However, these cars were designed to not have all of that stuff, so perhaps we'll see testing sans controls soon enough -- if the state of California allows, of course. The software that handles the navigating is the same tech that powered the company's fleet of Lexus SUVs outfitted to drive themselves. If you'll recall, that stable of vehicles tallied over a million miles, so the technology has quite a bit of road experience already.
Self-driving cars involved minor accidents, but don't blame the tech
Since California began issuing permits for self-driving car tests on public roads last fall, four out of nearly 50 vehicles had minor accidents. According to an Associated Press report, three of the four were Google's Lexus SUVs outfitted with Delphi's autonomous technology. The fourth was a test vehicle owned by Delphi. In half of the fender benders, the cars were in control when the accident occurred, and all of them happened at speeds of under 10 MPH. Most importantly, all four cases resulted in minor damage and no injuries. Due to the state's privacy laws, the report doesn't indicate any further details -- like if they happened while backing out of a parking space, for example.
Self-driving vehicles and robotic clerks could take your job in 20 years
It's no secret that computers and robots have been putting people out of work in recent years, but that trend is about to accelerate... at least, if you ask the computers themselves. A machine learning algorithm from Oxford University has sifted through US Bureau of Statistics data and believes that up to 47 percent of American jobs could be replaced by technology within the next 20 years. One of the biggest concerns is in logistics -- self-driving vehicles are advancing quickly enough that they could replace the likes of taxi drivers, truck drivers and forklift operators. Retail is also at risk, since companies can collect enough data about your shopping habits that they might predict what you want more effectively than human clerks.
NASA and Nissan team up to on self-driving cars and space rovers
NASA and Nissan believe they've got a lot to learn from each other when it comes to autonomous vehicle technology. So, the two have decided to team up for the next five years and develop a self-driving system that they can use not just on Earth, but also in space. A team of scientists from both organizations will design an autonomous vehicle technology at the NASA Ames Research Center, home to Moffett Field, where Google is also testing its self-driving auto prototypes. The duo will start by conjuring up a fleet of zero-emission robotic cars, presumably modified Nissan Leafs, as that's exactly what's pictured above. They expect to start test driving the first one by the end of 2015.
Google needs partners to actually build its self-driving car
After helping push the entire automotive industry forward when it comes to autonomous driving, it appears Google is ready for some help with its own driverless cars. As the leader of the project told The Wall Street Journal, the folks in Mountain View aren't looking to replicate what Detroit-based and international automakers do best (build vehicles from the ground up). It's looking for an established player to help shoulder the load and bring the Google rides to market in the next five years. Until that happens, Chris Urmson says his team is partnering with automotive suppliers to move three generations beyond the cartoony-looking prototypes (pictured above) it has now. What's more, the search giant plans to on-road test this "beta one" fleet early next year. For California's sake, let's hope they're just as adept at sensing cyclists as their predecessors.
