autonomous vehicle

An autonomous Waymo car hit a cyclist in San Francisco yesterday – but luckily the cyclist had only minor injuries. Still, it’s bad news for urban cyclists, and for Waymo, Alphabet’s autonomous vehicle division, which is already having a tough time shaking off all the bad buzz from the Cruise disaster.

Waymo has released a report saying that its Waymo Driver self-driving vehicles outperform human drivers significantly, leading to much fewer crashes and injuries when compared to benchmark human drivers.

Waymo’s completely driverless taxi is coming to Los Angeles, and will be open to the public starting this week. We got an advance ride in these self-driving electric cars and a sense of what this level 4 system can do in one of the more chaotic driving situations in a city full of chaotic driving situations: a Santa Monica and Venice Beach weekend.

Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles continues to expand the scope of its autonomous driving technology simultaneously on two separate continents using its ID.Buzz electric vans. In Germany where the robotaxi testing initially started, Volkswagen will begin transporting actual passengers for the first time, including government officials.

Less than five months after beginning completely driverless (and pedal-less) rides on public roads in California, Zoox has expanded operations to Nevada, beginning where else but fabulous Las Vegas. Nevada is quickly becoming a hub for robotaxis, but Zoox is captured a “first” in the Silver State thanks to its unique design.

In honor of “National Autonomous Vehicle Day” in the US (Did you know that was a thing? I didn’t.), Jeep has shared some video footage of its Grand Cherokee 4xe testing AI and autonomous off-road technology in Moab. See more below.

“We’ve built our robotaxi from the ground up. Now, to truly test it, we have to break it apart.” That’s the sentiment shared by robotaxi developer Zoox as it looks to finally launch its truly driverless EV to the public soon. In the final chapter of its “Putting Zoox to the Test” YouTube series, Zoox shared unique safety features that went into the robotaxi design and, of course, included plenty of footage of its EV getting smashed up. See more below.

GM’s self-driving rideshare unit, Cruise, has applied for permission to expand testing of its robotaxi rides throughout all of California. The autonomous driving specialist has already been testing rides for over a year in different cities across three states including San Francisco, but hopes to expand further throughout The Golden State.

American Honda Motor Company is giving the public a first look at its latest generation WALL-E Autonomous Work Vehicle (AWV) prototype before it showcases its full capabilities at CONEXPO 2023 in Las Vegas later this month. The autonomous prototype was designed to support worksite efficiencies in the construction industry and can haul up to 2,000 pounds with zero emissions. You can see it in action in the video below,

A new zero-emission autonomous electric cargo plane was unveiled Monday that could be a game changer in the shipping industry. The electric plane is the largest zero-emission cargo aircraft, featuring “unprecedented payload and range capabilities.”

Rideshare provider Uber has signed a 10-year, multi-market commercial agreement with Motional – a developer of driverless robotaxis. As part of the agreement, Uber will deploy Motional’s IONIQ 5 electric robotaxis in select markets at first, with the potential to reach millions of customers by providing both ride-hailing and delivery services autonomously.

SAIC AI Lab, a division of SAIC Motor in China, has announced a collaboration with advanced driverless AI developer Pony.ai to design and implement a new fleet of driverless level 4 autonomous robotaxis. The companies kicked off their new project by unveiling a fully autonomous EV concept from which the fleet will be built.

During the North American International Auto Show today in Detroit, Michigan, mobility tech company Magna International shared its progress of a novel last-mile delivery robot designed for urban environments. The company has been piloting the fully autonomous three-wheeled robot in Detroit since March, where it has been transporting pizzas to nearby customers. The pilot program follows two additional mobility programs the contract manufacturer is already exploring.

Ride-share veteran Uber Technologies has announced a long term partnership with autonomous vehicle developer Nuro, whose zero-occupant EVs will deliver food to Uber Eats customers around the US. The ten-year deal will kick off this fall in Texas and California before expanding further.

Yes, you read that correctly. Agricultural machinery manufacturer AGCO is continuing its technical partnership with Apex.AI in order to use its Apex.OS software development kit to add autonomous capabilities to its farming robot concept. The battery-powered Xaver farming robots were developed by AGCO brand Fendt and can autonomously plant seeds on farms 24 hours a day.

Lightning eMotors announced a partnership with Perrone Robotics to integrate Level 2 and Level 4 autonomous capabilities into its medium-duty electric fleet vehicles. By utilizing Perrone’s TONY retrofit autonomy kit, Lightning eMotors can now offer Class 3-7 commercial EVs that can self-drive in a range of scenarios.

Imagine a not so distance future where you’re sitting in your electric vehicle (something truly luxurious since you’re so successful in the future), and you’re looking back on this list below and comparing predictions to your current world. You sip your ketone-infused coffee and take a bite of your zero-carb croissant while you answer emails using your glasses. In this future your vehicle is doing all the driving for you, so you can focus on your breakfast and the latest Electrek news. Look at you … crushing it. This autonomous-vehicle future may not be so far away (and will likely arrive before a zero carb croissant, to be honest), but which countries are making the most moves to support autonomous vehicles? A study by confused.com offers a comprehensive list below.

American robotics company Nuro has just introduced the third version of its autonomous, zero-occupant last-mile delivery vehicle as it enters pre-production. Together with the help of BYD North American, Nuro hopes to manufacture the first zero occupant autonomous vehicle to be produced at scale this year. This third-generation EV comes with some cool features too. Do I smell pizza?

Maritime platform developer Orca AI has recently announced a partnership with ​​Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK Line) to test its safety system for autonomous ships. Orca AI’s Automatic Ship Target Recognition System has been installed on an NYK ship as a research trial to support the advancement of autonomous sea travel.

Roughly 10 billion tons of freight move through supply chains in the US each year, almost all of which pass through distribution yards – the area of the supply chain between the warehouse and the open road. Andrew Smith, Outrider founder and CEO, has dedicated his career to the commercialization of environmental technologies. He spoke with Electrek about how the automation of electric yard trucks is not only dramatically increasing the sustainability of this often-overlooked area of the supply chain, but also the agility and reliability of its movement of goods.  

WeRide resumes robotaxi service in China with extreme precautions to keep riders and drivers safe after COVID-19.
Expand
Expanding
Close