selfdrivingcar
Latest
German officials: Tesla shouldn't say 'Autopilot' in its ads
Just days ago, Germany's Federal Motor Authority sent letters to Tesla owners warning them that their cars' "Autopilot" feature is strictly there for driver assistance, not driver replacement. As it turns out, those letters were just the opening salvo. According to a report from Reuters, the German government is asking Tesla to stop using the term "autopilot" in its advertising entirely out of concerns that people misinterpret its purpose.
ICYMI: Relax while a robot takes care of your yard work
try{document.getElementById("aol-cms-player-1").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: Kobi is a yard work robot that is purportedly able to clean leaves, mow the lawn and shovel snow, though the promo video shows it very briefly moving snow only, so stand by for reviews on that rush purchase. Meanwhile UCSF researchers found that infant brains actually move neurons around up to three months after birth, which is not something we'd known before. The self-driving car experiment out of the University of Oxford wrapped up with a sweet little send-off video. If you're interested in the LED suit from Red Bull, that video is here. As always, please share any interesting tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.
California approves unmanned self-driving car trials
Given the number of tech companies that call California home, it's no surprise the state has been quick with forward-thinking legislation to support the development of self-driving vehicles. And almost four years to the day since driverless trials on public streets were first approved, a new bill has been signed off by Governor Jerry Brown that permits autonomous car tests without a human passenger overseeing proceedings.
Uber plans Detroit facility so it can collaborate with automakers
Following last week's self-driving car news, Uber is preparing to open a new facility in Detroit. The ride-sharing company revealed a fleet of autonomous Ford Fusions a few days ago that are already taking passengers around Pittsburgh. Today, vice president of global vehicle programs Sherif Marakby said that the new outpost will be used to strengthen its collaboration with automakers that are headquartered in Michigan.
I drove around Pittsburgh in a self-driving Uber
"Did you do that or did the car do that?" I first asked that of my self-driving Uber's "safety driver" when the car pulled out of the lane it was in to go around a pedestrian on the side of the road. I asked it another half-dozen times during the 30 minutes I spent as a passenger in one of Uber's autonomous cars, which are hitting the streets of Pittsburgh today. Nearly every time, the answer was: "The car did that." Indeed, my time as a passenger in the self-driving Uber as it drove around downtown Pittsburgh was blessedly uneventful -- and in that relative safety and peace, I got an up-close look at what the challenges will be in making autonomous vehicles a widespread reality. I even got behind the wheel to "not drive" the car for myself.
Baidu's all-electric self-driving car is a modified Chery EQ
Baidu's plan to make self-driving cars a consumer reality by 2018 just changed gears, so to speak. According to Business Insider, the company has swapped out its modified BMW 3-series test vehicles for an all-electric car designed for the Chinese market: the Chery EQ. Unmodified, the diminutive EV can drive about 120 miles on a full charge. Baidu intends to use it to further test its driverless tech in China.
NVIDIA's made-for-autonomous-cars CPU is freaking powerful
NVIDIA debuted its Drive PX2 in-car supercomputer at CES in January, and now the company is showing off the Parker system on a chip powering it. The 256-core processor boasts up to 1.5 teraflops of juice for "deep learning-based self-driving AI cockpit systems," according to a post on NVIDIA's blog. That's in addition to 24 trillion deep learning operations per second it can churn out, too. For a perhaps more familiar touchpoint, NVIDIA says that Parker can also decode and encode 4K video streams running at 60FPS -- no easy feat on its own.
Self-driving taxis and buses, and more in the week that was
The age of the self-driving car is finally here: Uber just announced plans to launch its first fleet of autonomous taxis this month, and self-driving buses are now hitting the streets of Helsinki. Airbus is shooting even higher with plans to build an autonomous flying taxi by the year 2017. Meanwhile, Nissan debuted a solid-oxide fuel-cell vehicle, which runs on ethanol and water instead of hydrogen. And Bosch rolled out a world's most compact folding electric bike, which packs down small enough to fit easily in a car trunk.
The creator of Google's self-driving car now works for Uber
Bloomberg has taken a look at Uber's future in the autonomous vehicle world and uncovered a small, but important detail. The website is reporting that Uber has purchased Otto, the driverless freight truck startup that was launched a few months back. That news wouldn't be interesting but for the fact that Otto was founded and staffed by former members of Google's self-driving car team.
China temporarily bans highway testing of self-driving cars
Self-driving cars are no longer welcome on Chinese highways. At least for now. According to a new report from Bloomberg, the country's auto industry is working with police to create new regulations for autonomous vehicles -- and automakers have been told to keep self-driving vehicles off the road until they go into effect.
UK takes first steps toward laws for autonomous cars
The UK is proving to be quite the testbed for autonomous vehicles, thanks in no small part to government support. Tens of millions in funding is being funneled into various driverless car projects, and we already have rules of the road encouraging trials on public streets. With research and development simmering away nicely, the government is starting on the next course: Making sure laws, rules and regulations are updated for the autonomous age.
Jaguar Land Rover plans semi-autonomous car tests on UK roads
Fresh off of the announcement of its plan to take self-driving cars off paved roads, Jaguar Land Rover revealed that it's preparing to test autonomous and semi-autonomous tech, or what the company calls Connected and Autonomous Vehicle (CAV) technologies, on roads in the UK. First, the automaker is planning to amass a fleet of over 100 test vehicles over the next four years, the first of which will cruise a 41-mile test course around Coventry and Solihull this year. The company says the first stage of testing will involve semi-autonomous technology that allows cars to communicate with each other and with infrastructure like signs, traffic lights and more.
Google's self-driving cars now know when to honk
Google's self-driving cars are not only getting smarter by the day, but they're also getting a little bit more polite. According to the project's latest monthly report, the self-driving car team has recently been teaching the car's AI when and how to honk the horn and give the human drivers on the road a helpful heads up.
Riding shotgun in a DIY self-driving car
"I'm an idiot." Superhacker and Comma founder George Hotz is standing in a Las Vegas suite, and he's wearing a suit. That's saying something: He was the first person to hack the iPhone and PlayStation 3 while using the hacker name GeoHot. He doesn't wear suits. But now he's running a company that's built its own semi-autonomous AI-trained vehicle in a garage. Today it has employees and investors, and plans to release hardware by the end of the year. "This is a big deal, so he dressed up," Jake Smith, head of operations, told me on my way to the meeting.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: Self-driving Uber cars, and more!
The self-driving cars are coming: This week Uber unveiled its first autonomous vehicle, while Google patented a sticky "fly paper" car hood that could protect pedestrians caught in self-driving car crashes. Los Angeles celebrated the completion of its first new metro line in 60 years, while France transformed its trains with beautiful impressionist art. And Taga launched an affordable cycle with built-in cargo space that could be the ultimate family bike.
Put your name down for London's driverless pod trials
Driverless pods are headed to the London borough of Greenwich, and the public is invited to sit inside and experience the technology first hand. The Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) opened sign-ups today for the first public trials, which will take place inside its UK Smart Mobility Living Lab -- a test area that covers the entire borough. The exact routes are still being finalised, but the focus will be around the Greenwich peninsula, in places where the pods are likely to encounter cyclists and pedestrians. We don't know when the trials will start, however, beyond "later this year."
Google and Fiat Chrysler are reportedly partnering on autonomous cars
Google parent company Alphabet has been on the lookout for established automakers to help its self-driving car initiative for some time now, and it looks like the company is close to announcing a major new partnership. First reported by auto blog AutoExtremist.com and backed up today by The Wall Street Journal, Alphabet is working on a "technical partnership" with Fiat Chrysler. The talks have been described as ongoing for several months now, but apparently they're now in the late stages, which means we could hear about a deal sooner than later if these reports are accurate.
Toyota's developing a 'guardian angel' to take the wheel
Toyota's taking a different approach to creating the self-driving cars of our future. Unlike other automakers and tech giants that have already begun investing time and resources into the space, the Japanese company's developing a partially autonomous system to occasionally take the wheel. According to MIT Technology Review, the "guardian angel" feature, which is under development at Toyota Research Institute, would only temporarily take control from the driver during potentially hazardous moments.
Google's self-driving cars to face their toughest test yet
Google is taking its self-driving cars to a fourth city in an expansion of its ongoing development. The latest location for testing is Phoenix, Arizona, which is significantly more arid than any city previously used as a proving ground. Speaking to Reuters, Jennifer Haroon, Google's head of business operations for the self-driving car project, noted that the desert conditions will further the company's understanding of "how our sensors and cars handle extreme temperatures and dust in the air." Modified Lexus SUVs have already begun to map the Phoenix area, checking for street layouts, lane markers, traffic signals and curb heights.
Homebrew self-driving tech gets millions in backing
George "Geohot" Hotz's attempt to put cheap, self-driving tech into any existing car raised eyebrows (and Tesla's ire) when it was revealed late last year. Now, one of Silicon Valley's most prominent venture capital funds is throwing its wallet behind Hotz's grand idea. Andreessen Horowitz has written a check for $3.1 million to help Hotz hire engineers and turn his jury-rigged system into a working product. He's joining some illustrious company, since the fund has previously handed cash to outfits like Oculus VR, Zynga, Instagram, Groupon, Jawbone and something called Twitter.
