BrightDrop, the GM business focused on decarbonizing last-mile delivery, is acquiring fleet optimization software from Marain Inc., a California-based technology startup. BrightDrop will integrate Marain’s artificial intelligence-powered fleet optimization software into BrightDrop’s ecosystem of last-mile solutions to analyze, forecast and identify multi-modal solutions for fleet customers as they plan their... Read more →

A consortium, including LanzaTech and Danone, has developed a new route to monoethylene glycol, (MEG), which is a key building block for polyethylene terephthalate, (PET), resin, fibers and bottles. The technology converts carbon emissions from steel mills or gasified waste biomass directly into MEG. The carbon capture technology uses a... Read more →

Hyundai Motor Group (HMG) reaffirmed its commitment to expand investment in the US to further its goal to provide sustainable and smart mobility solutions to its US. The Group’s plans, which involve an investment of more than US$10 billion, are designed to accelerate innovation and mobility electrification. Last week, Hyundai... Read more →

Untether AI, a developer of at-memory computation for artificial intelligence (AI) inference acceleration, announced a collaboration with General Motors, supported by the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Vehicle Innovation Network (OVIN), to accelerate the development of next-generation artificial intelligence perception systems for autonomous vehicles. More than 90% of the... Read more →

Quantum computing company IonQ and Hyundai Motor Company are partnering to apply quantum machine learning to image classification and 3D object detection for future mobilities. Image classification and 3D object detection are foundational steps toward the next generation of mobilities, including autonomous vehicles. Together, IonQ and Hyundai will look to... Read more →

The same propulsion technology that goes into rockets has made hypersonic speeds—Mach 5 and beyond, i.e., more than 5 times the speed of sound—possible since the 1950s. However, to make hypersonic flight more common and far less expensive than a rocket launch, engineers and scientists are working on advanced jet... Read more →

The BMW Group is publishing the world’s largest data set to streamline and accelerate significantly the training of artificial intelligence in production. The synthesized AI dataset—known as SORDI (Synthetic Object Recognition Dataset for Industries)—consists of more than 800,000 photorealistic images. These are divided into 80 categories of production resources, from... Read more →

NVIDIA has started production of its NVIDIA DRIVE Orin autonomous vehicle computer, showcased new automakers adopting the NVIDIA DRIVE platform, and unveiled the next generation of its NVIDIA DRIVE Hyperion architecture. The company also announced that its automotive pipeline has increased to more than $11 billion over the next six... Read more →

Researchers from Ames Laboratory and Texas A&M University have trained a machine-learning (ML) model to assess the stability of new rare-earth compounds. The framework they developed builds on current state-of-the-art methods for experimenting with compounds and understanding chemical instabilities. A paper on their work is published in Acta Materialia. Machine... Read more →

Jaguar Land Rover has formed a multi-year strategic partnership with NVIDIA to develop jointly and to deliver next-generation automated driving systems plus AI-enabled services and experiences for its customers. Starting in 2025, all new Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles will be built on the NVIDIA DRIVE software-defined platform, delivering a... Read more →

Seeing Machines, the advanced computer vision technology company that designs AI-powered operator monitoring systems to improve transport safety, announced a collaboration with Ambarella, an AI vision silicon company, to bring integrated Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) and occupant and driver monitoring system (OMS and DMS) solutions to the market. This... Read more →

Ambarella, an AI vision silicon company, announced its new Artificial Intelligence Image Signal Processor (AISP). Ambarella’s new AI-based ISP architecture uses neural networks to augment the image processing done by the hardware ISP integrated into its SoCs. This approach enables color imaging with low light at very low lux levels... Read more →

Ambarella, an AI vision silicon company, announced the CV3 AI domain controller family at CES. This fully scalable, power-efficient CVflow family of SoCs provides the automotive industry’s highest AI processing performance, at up to 500 eTOPS, representing a 42x increase over Ambarella’s prior automotive family. Featuring up to 16 Arm... Read more →

Chin-based EV maker NIO recently unveiled its fifth mass-production model, the ET5 (earlier post). The mid-size sedan’s AI features are powered by the NIO Adam supercomputer, built on four NVIDIA DRIVE Orin systems-on-a-chip (SoCs), achieving a total of more than 1,000 TOPS of performance. In addition to centralized compute, the... Read more →

Baidu, Inc., JiDU Automotive and Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. announced that JiDU’s first production vehicle will feature an intelligent digital cockpit system assisted by Baidu and Qualcomm Technologies. This system is based on the 4th Generation Snapdragon Automotive Cockpit Platform from Qualcomm Technologies, together with the next generation intelligent cockpit system... Read more →

Honda Motor recently unveiled its work on two key advanced future safety technologies being developed with the goal of realizing “zero traffic collision fatalities involving Honda motorcycles and automobiles globally by 2050”. The first is artificial intelligence (AI)-powered “Intelligent Driver-Assistive Technology” providing assistance that is suited to the ability and... Read more →

Electric automaker Xpeng took the wraps off the G9 SUV this week at the international Auto Guangzhou show in China (earlier post). The intelligent, software-defined vehicle is built on the high-performance compute of NVIDIA DRIVE Orin and delivers AI capabilities that are continuously upgraded with each over-the-air update. The new... Read more →

The Toyota Research Institute (TRI) announced the acceptance of six research papers in the field of machine learning at the International Conference on Computer Vision (ICCV). The research advances understanding across various tasks crucial for robotic perception, including semantic segmentation, 3D object detection and multi-object tracking. Over the last six... Read more →

Hyundai Motor Group introduced Factory Safety Service Robot, a robot for industrial site safety, and announced its pilot operation at Kia’s plant in South Korea. The Robot is based on Boston Dynamics’ quadruped robot, Spot, with applied artificial intelligence (AI), autonomous navigation, teleoperation technologies, and computing payload (AI Processing Service... Read more →

A team at the University of Oregon is working to give bicyclists smoother rides by allowing them to communicate with traffic signals via a mobile app. The latest report to come out of this multi-project research effort introduces machine-learning algorithms to work with their mobile app FastTrack. Developed and tested... Read more →

Volkswagen has launched a digital transformation push across its assembly plants in the United States and Mexico. As part of Volkswagen’s estimated $1-billion investment in electric mobility and digitalization in North America up to 2025, the company is working to bring technologies such as cloud-based industrial software, intelligent robotics and... Read more →

Embark Trucks Inc., a developer of autonomous technology for the trucking industry, will use NVIDIA DRIVE autonomous vehicle compute platform solutions to power the Embark Universal Interface (EUI) and the Embark Driver software. By collaborating with NVIDIA and adopting the DRIVE platform, Embark intends to equip its test fleet with... Read more →

Identifying defect sources, determining the optimal maintenance schedule, improving manufacturing processes: until now, artificial intelligence only made this possible in a paint shop equipped with state-of-the-art robots. Now, however, Dürr is significantly expanding the scope of its AI applications with the enablement of analysis software from the DXQ product family... Read more →

Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (VWGoA) and the City of Carmel, IN, are working together on a research project that uses existing city cameras and Volkswagen machine-vision software to help optimize traffic flows, analyze street usage patterns and support emergency response. This joint project is the first of its kind... Read more →

Toyota has selected ZF and Mobileye, an Intel company, to develop Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) for use in multiple vehicle platforms starting in the next few years. As part of the agreement, ZF, one of the world’s number one producers of automotive cameras driven by Mobileye technology, will also... Read more →

Stellantis NV and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd., (Foxconn), together with its subsidiary FIH Mobile Ltd., (FIH) signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding to form Mobile Drive, a 50/50 voting rights joint venture aimed at accelerating development timelines to bring innovative in-vehicle user experiences enabled by advanced consumer electronics,... Read more →

Toyota Research Institute (TRI) is committing another $36 million to its Accelerated Materials Design and Discovery (AMDD) collaborative university research program over the next four years. In early 2017, TRI announced the formation of AMDD and launched the program with the mission of using AI to find new materials for... Read more →

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has licensed its award-winning artificial intelligence software system, the Multinode Evolutionary Neural Networks for Deep Learning (MENNDL), to General Motors for use in vehicle technology and design. MENNDL uses evolution to design optimal convolutional neural networks—algorithms used by computers to recognize patterns in datasets of... Read more →

Bosch, the supplier of technology and services, is combining the internet of things (IoT) with artificial intelligence (AI)—thus, AIoT—and believes electromobility will allow it to develop new business opportunities on the back of the profound technological and ecological changes currently occurring. “Bosch came through the first year of the coronavirus... Read more →

Despite all the restrictions caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Dürr has handed over one of the biggest paint shops in China to SAIC Volkswagen (SVW) on schedule. The new plant in Anting boasts a production capacity twice that of a standard paint shop at 120 bodies per hour, and behind... Read more →

Volvo Cars, Zoox and SAIC are among the growing number of leading transportation companies using the newest NVIDIA DRIVE solutions to power their next-generation AI-based autonomous vehicles. NVIDIA’s design-win pipeline for NVIDIA DRIVE now totals more than $8 billion over the next six years, reflecting a growing range of next-generation... Read more →

Researchers from the Smart Systems Group at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, UK, working together with researchers from the CALCE group at the University of Maryland in the US, have developed a new method to estimate battery health irrespective of operating conditions and battery design or chemistry, by feeding artificial intelligence... Read more →

DERQ, an MIT-spin-off with an award-winning platform powered by patented AI and predictive analytics, is partnering with Control Technologies Group (CT Group), one of the US’ largest distributors of traffic signal control and intelligent transportation systems (ITS) equipment, for a multi-year distribution agreement. CT Group will be distributing DERQ’s leading... Read more →

Innoviz Technologies, Ltd., a provider of high-performance, solid-state LiDAR sensors and perception software, has released its Automotive Perception Platform - InnovizAPP for the automotive industry. InnovizAPP is the company’s advanced perception platform, which includes automotive-grade hardware and software that enable autonomous vehicles (AVs) to identify and classify objects. Innoviz is... Read more →

A new deep-learning algorithm developed by MIT researchers is designed to help machines navigate in the real, imperfect world by building a healthy “skepticism” of the measurements and inputs they receive. A study outlining the new approach appears in the journal IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks and Learning Systems. Deep... Read more →

Scientists have made a major advance in harnessing machine learning to accelerate the design for better batteries. Instead of using machine learning just to speed up scientific analysis by looking for patterns in data—as typically done—the researchers combined it with knowledge gained from experiments and equations guided by physics to... Read more →

The Volkswagen Group’s Porsche, Audi and Volkswagen brands are using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to identify sustainability risks such as environmental pollution, human rights abuses and corruption at an early stage—not only among direct business partners but also at the lower levels of their supply chain. The basis for this monitoring... Read more →

Recogni Inc., the developers of an AI vision cognition system for autonomous vehicles, raised $48.9 million in a Series B financing round, led by WRVI Capital, a prominent global technology investor. The proceeds will help Recogni bring its perception platform to market and expand its engineering and go-to-market teams. In... Read more →

A new report by the EC’s Joint Research Center (JRC) and the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) examines cybersecurity risks connected to artificial intelligence (AI) in autonomous vehicles and provides recommendations for mitigating them. By removing the most common cause of traffic accidents—the human driver—autonomous vehicles are expected to... Read more →

Renesas Electronics Corporation introduced an update of its R-Car V3H system-on-chip (SoC) to deliver significantly improved deep learning performance for smart camera applications, including driver and occupant monitoring systems (DMS / OMS); automotive front cameras; surround view; and auto parking for high-volume vehicles up to Level 2+. The updated SoC... Read more →

Ford and Google announced a strategic partnership to accelerate the transformation of Ford’s customer experience. Ford also named Google Cloud its preferred cloud provider to leverage Google’s expertise in data, artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning (ML). As part of this new, six-year partnership—and beginning in 2023—millions of future Ford... Read more →

The Toyota Research Institute (TRI) has selected 13 additional academic institutions to participate in the next five-year phase of its collaborative research program. These universities join MIT, Stanford and the University of Michigan which have worked with TRI over the last five years to expand the body of research into... Read more →

A team from Georgia Tech has developed an AI that can analyze user reviews of electric vehicle charging stations, allowing it accurately to identify places where there are insufficient or out-of-service stations. An open-access paper on the work is published in the journal Patterns. We’re spending billions of both public... Read more →

Researchers at Toyota Research Institute (TRI) are conducting research with Stanford’s Dynamic Design Lab into how to bring together the instincts of professional drift drivers and automated driving technology. Thee goal is to design a new level of active safety technology and share it broadly so that Toyota and other... Read more →

Eyeris Technologies, Inc., a developer of vision AI for in-cabin sensing, is collaborating with Texas Instruments (TI) on an industry-first in-cabin sensing AI solution using TI’s Jacinto TDA4 processors and 2D RGB-IR image sensors. D3 Engineering designs products and integrates technologies from TI and Eyeris using its DesignCore platform to... Read more →

Baidu, Inc., a leading China-based Internet platform and AI company, plans to establish a company to produce intelligent electric vehicles (EV), and that it has entered into a strategic partnership with multinational auto manufacturer Zhejiang Geely Holding Group. Baidu will provide intelligent driving capabilities to power the passenger vehicles for... Read more →

Researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) have developed a new machine-learning-based tool to help urban transportation analysts relieve bottlenecks and chokepoints that routinely snarl city traffic. The tool—Transportation State Estimation Capability (TranSEC)—was developed to help urban traffic engineers get access to actionable information about traffic patterns in their cities.... Read more →

Porsche Digital is expanding its product portfolio. The digital assistant “Sounce” offers an improved ability to detect noise—for example, during vehicle component tests. Among other things, the aim is to improve the development and production of components in the automotive industry. The technology, which uses deep learning methods, can reliably... Read more →

Ride Vision is launching globally the first collision-avoidance technology for motorcycles, an AI-based system for motorcycle safety. Ride Vision is buttressed by $7 million in Series A funding, totalling $10 million to-date, as well as a partnership with Continental AG. There are more than 700 million motorcycles on the road... Read more →

FLIR Systems, Inc. announced two intelligent traffic system cameras, the FLIR ThermiCam AI (sold as the TrafiSense AI camera in the US and Canada) with thermal imaging and the FLIR TrafiCam AI visible camera, both with artificial intelligence (AI) to optimize traffic flow on roadways and at intersections. When combined... Read more →