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Waymo's Jaguar EV hits public roads for self-driving tests
Waymo is putting its Jaguar I-Pace EVs on the road for more public testing, only this time around it's been fully kitted out with self-driving tech. The company confirmed to TechCrunch it started testing the self-driving cars close to its Mountain View, California headquarters.
Apple is reportedly buying self-driving startup Drive.ai
Apple is reportedly in the midst of acquiring Drive.ai, the cash-strapped self-driving startup that's pilot testing its autonomous shuttles in Texas. According to The Information, Cupertino is buying the firm in an effort to boost its self-driving development efforts and absorbing its engineering talent. Based on previous reports, Drive.ai has been looking for a buyer and has been asking bigger rivals if they're interested since at least March.
John Deere wants to remind the world that it’s a tech company
John Deere has been to CES before. The company known for its dark green tractors with the yellow deer on them has rubbed shoulders with the smart TVs, smart light bulbs, smart cars, smart switches and smart toothbrushes for years. But 2019 was a bit different.
VW and Ford may work together on EVs and autonomous vehicles
In the latest instance of major automakers teaming up, Volkswagen and Ford will work together on commercial vans and pickups, and they could start selling such vehicles by 2022. The companies are also exploring potential collaboration on electric vehicles, self-driving cars and transportation services.
Mercedes and NVIDIA team up to build next-gen AI vehicles
From modular vans to autonomous cars -- and, as recently revealed at CES, gesture-based controls -- Mercedes has some big ambitions for the next generation of its vehicles. Now, it's announced that AI company NVIDIA will be the team to help it achieve them.
Uber allegedly ignored safety warnings before self-driving fatality
Just days after Uber announced its plans to resume testing of its self-driving taxis, new information reveals that a whistleblower had made the company aware of the technology's safety failures before the incident in Arizona last March, which saw a pedestrian struck and killed by one of Uber's vehicles, and which led to the suspension of all testing activity.
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.
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.
Waymo’s self-driving vehicles have racked up 10 million miles
Autonomous vehicle company Waymo has just completed 10 million miles of testing on public roads -- and by the end of the month it'll have clocked up seven billion miles in its virtual world. In a press release, Waymo CEO John Krafcik said that while the company has made "great strides" in its history so far, "the next 10 million will focus on turning our advanced technology into a service that people will use and love."
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.
Ford takes an anti-Uber approach to self-driving cars
As Uber and Tesla have learned, it doesn't take a lot of bad press to shatter public trust on autonomous vehicles. Ford has taken that lesson to heart, saying it would rather instill confidence in self-driving cars than be first to market. In a letter to the US Department of Transportation (DoT) and 44-page report called "A Matter of Trust," the automaker detailed how it plans to safely test its self-driving vehicles on public roads.
Uber resumes self-driving car tests, but only in manual mode
Uber stopped all self-driving car tests following a fatal accident in Tempe, Arizona earlier this year, but today they're getting back on the road in limited fashion. The company says that it is taking a "first step" towards resuming autonomous car tests in Pittsburgh -- its vehicles will be on the road, but only in manual mode for now.
Riding an autonomous shuttle through Times Square was reassuringly boring
Yesterday afternoon, I rode an autonomous shuttle down a short section of Broadway in the heart of Times Square, and it was easily the most boring part of my day. I'm not saying that because my life is particularly exciting, either. The trip was boring because everything inside the Coast Autonomous P-1 worked exactly the way it was supposed to: The shuttle crawled up to a barricade on 47th Street, paused for a bit, and scooted back in the opposite direction toward 48th. In this case, the vehicle wasn't completely autonomous -- Coast CTO Pierre Lefevre manually started each leg of a trip with an Xbox Elite controller -- but the P-1 navigated its surroundings all own its own.
Mercedes-Benz will test self-driving cars on public roads in Beijing
Daimler will soon take its Mercedes-Benz self-driving cars to the public streets of Beijing. It's the first non-Chinese company to win a license to test level 4 self-driving vehicles there. Level 4 is the second-highest tier of autonomous driving, in which cars can operate without human input in select conditions. Eventually, you might be able to take a nap while these types of vehicles ferry you around.
Uber driver was streaming Hulu just before fatal self-driving crash
Late yesterday, the Tempe Police Department released a 318-page report on the self-driving accident in which an Uber vehicle struck and killed a pedestrian. The report shows that the driver, Rafaela Vasquez, was playing Hulu on her phone up until the approximate time of the crash. "We continue to cooperate fully with ongoing investigations while conducting our own internal safety review," an Uber spokesperson told Engadget. "We have a strict policy prohibiting mobile device usage for anyone operating our self-driving vehicles. We plan to share more on the changes we'll make to our program soon."
Volvo's new self-driving tech could let you sleep during your commute
Volvo has a new goal with its popular XC90 crossover SUV: to make commuting a semi-automatic process thanks to level 4 self-driving technology. The Senior Vice President of Volvo, Henrik Green, told The Car Connection that the XC90 would be able to self-navigate "sleeping passengers" on a limited set of roadways thanks to a technology called Highway Assist. Currently, Pilot Assist is available in current XC90 models. Green envisions having this tech available to consumers in 2021.
Ford's 'self-driving' Postmates test actually has a driver at the wheel
The next time you order food from Postmates in Miami or Miami Beach, don't be too surprised if you have to grab your Cuban sandwiches from what looks like a self-driving van. Ford's latest autonomous delivery test is underway, as the automaker has partnered with Postmates to bring you goods from more than 70 local businesses. But there's actually a driver behind the tinted windows -- Ford says the Transit Connects give the appearance that they're autonomous vehicles.
Tesla settles class action suit over Autopilot issues
Tesla has agreed a class action lawsuit settlement with Model S and Model X owners who claimed the Autopilot feature was "dangerous" and "essentially unusable." The settlement, which was filed at San Jose federal court late Thursday, doesn't cover any claims about the safety of Autopilot -- instead, it's compensation for the fact that Telsa has gone through a number of delays in rolling out updates to Autopilot to address these issues. A district judge still has to rubber stamp the settlement, Reuters reports.
NTSB's preliminary report on Uber crash focuses on emergency braking
Today, the NTSB released preliminary findings for an accident back in March, in which a self-driving Uber vehicle collided with a pedestrian. The pedestrian was killed. "At 1.3 seconds before impact, the self-driving system determined that emergency braking was needed to mitigate a collision," the release says. "According to Uber emergency braking maneuvers are not enabled while the vehicle is under computer control to reduce the potential for erratic vehicle behavior. The vehicle operator is relied on to intervene and take action. The system is not designed to alert the operator." "Over the course of the last two months, we've worked closely with the NTSB," an Uber spokesperson told Engadget. "As their investigation continues, we've initiated our own safety review of our self-driving vehicles program. We've also brought on former NTSB Chair Christopher Hart to advise us on our overall safety culture, and we look forward to sharing more on the changes we'll make in the coming weeks."
The Ford Fusion Energi hybrid is great but going away
A week before I took delivery of the Ford Fusion Energi (starting at $31,400), the automaker announced it would be ending the US production of all but one of its cars (the Mustang) in the next few years. The Fusion's days are numbered, and no single review would save it. So now what?
