SABIC, a global leader in the chemical industry, introduced two new LNP THERMOCOMP compounds that offer the potential to improve signal gain performance vs. ceramics in second-generation automotive global navigation satellite system (GNSS) antennas. The new products, LNP THERMOCOMP ZKC0CXXD compound and LNP THERMOCOMP ZKC0DXXD compound, help enable the design... Read more →

Daimler Truck subsidiary Torc Robotics, a pioneer in commercializing self-driving vehicle technology, signed an agreement to acquire Algolux Inc. Torc is acquiring Algolux for its award-winning intellectual property and expertise in the areas of computer vision and machine learning. Algolux perception technology in two views, combining both regular computer vision... Read more →

General Motors’s Ultra Cruise, the company’s next-generation advanced driver assistance system designed to enable ultimately hands-free driving in 95% of all driving scenarios, will have a 360-degree view of the vehicle through a unique sensor suite when it launches on the Cadillac CELESTIQ. Ultra Cruise uses a blend of cameras,... Read more →

Honda will showcase the new capabilities of the latest generation of its prototype Honda Autonomous Work Vehicle (AWV) (earlier post) to improve construction industry and worksite efficiencies at CONEXPO-CON/AGG 2023 in Las Vegas, 14-18 March 2023. The fully programmable all-electric Honda AWV leverages the company’s emerging advanced autonomous technology to... Read more →

Ford Motor Company has established Latitude AI, a wholly owned subsidiary focused on developing a hands-free, eyes-off-the-road automated driving system for millions of vehicles. With the formation of Latitude, Ford adds a team of machine learning, robotics, software, sensors, systems engineering and operations talent as the automaker grows and expands... Read more →

Torc Robotics, an independent subsidiary of Daimler Truck AG and a pioneer in commercializing self-driving vehicle technology, has signed an agreement to acquire Algolux Inc. Torc is acquiring Algolux for its award-winning intellectual property and expertise in the areas of computer vision and machine learning. This acquisition brings together Algolux’s... Read more →

The US Department of Transportation has awarded a $15-million grant to renew the Center for Connected and Automated Transportation (CCAT), based in Ann Arbor and led by the University of Michigan. The partnership now brings together nine colleges and universities to focus on significantly advancing the US transportation system with... Read more →

BMW Group and Valeo are expanding their long-existing relationship with a new partnership. After the major announcement of their collaboration for ADAS domain controller, sensors and software for parking and maneuvering for BMW’s upcoming platform generation Neue Klasse, the BMW Group and Valeo have now announced their cooperation for the... Read more →

WiTricity is collaborating with YuTong Bus, the number one bus brand in China, to provide wireless charging for YuTong’s autonomous e-buses. This marks the first commercial application of wireless charging for an autonomous electric e-bus, with WiTricity providing a key feature in one of the most advanced public transportation systems... Read more →

Polestar and automotive technology company Luminar will expand the integration of Luminar’s lidar systems to the Polestar 5—the electric 4-door GT expected to launch in 2024 based on the Polestar Precept concept car. This expanded partnership provides a foundation to further collaborate on lidar integration and design on Polestar’s future... Read more →

Audi has presented the activesphere crossover study with electric drive and quattro. As the fourth model in the series, the Audi activesphere concept marks the culmination of sphere concept vehicles, following on from the Audi skysphere roadster in 2021, and both the Audi grandsphere sedan, and the Audi urbansphere space... Read more →

Mercedes-Benz is the world’s first automotive company to bring SAE Level 3 conditionally automated driving to the US, with Nevada being the first state to confirm the compliance of the system with state regulations. The Mercedes-Benz DRIVE PILOT system is the first and only SAE Level 3 system in a... Read more →

In the future, the energy needed to run the powerful computers on board a global fleet of autonomous vehicles could generate as many greenhouse gas emissions as all the data centers in the world today, according to a new study from MIT researchers that explored the potential energy consumption and... Read more →

Mobileye sees a revenue pipeline of ADAS business through 2030 of greater than $17 billion—including $3.5 billion of projected revenue from the SuperVision driver assistance system alone, a product that was only launched in the fourth quarter of 2021. Last year alone, some 233 models launched globally with Mobileye ADAS... Read more →

INFINIQ demonstrated its sensor fusion annotation technology at the CES 2023 with lidar and camera sensors. INFINIQ is an AI data service provider that specializes in autonomous driving. It has an end-to-end data platform called DataStudio which includes data collection, data anonymization, and data annotation throughout the whole lifecycle of... Read more →

Light detection and ranging (lidar) technology provides a three-dimensional map of all objects around the vehicle regardless of external lighting conditions, and as such can be a key element in autonomous vehicle (AV) and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). (Tesla being a notable holdout so far.) This map, updated hundreds... Read more →

In an important step towards safer and more sustainable goods movement through autonomous transportation, Goodyear and Gatik (earlier post) have demonstrated, in a proof-of-concept, that intelligent tires powered by Goodyear SightLine technology can accurately estimate tire-road friction potential and provide real-time information to Gatik’s automated driving system (ADS). The capability... Read more →

ZF, the world’s leading supplier of automotive cameras, has developed Smart Camera 6, its next generation of cameras for the advanced development of urban and highway automated driving and safety systems. ZF also offers multi-sensor environmental monitoring through Image Processing Module systems to offer 3D surround view, Interior Monitoring Systems... Read more →

Volvo Cars and its strategic affiliate Polestar will be the first car makers to bring Google’s HD map technology into cars, starting with the recently unveiled Volvo EX90 and Polestar 3. By integrating Google’s HD map, the automakers will be able to bring together data from the vehicle sensor sets... Read more →

Sony Honda Mobility Inc. (SHM)—the new joint venture between Sony and Honda targeting high-value-added electric vehicles (EVs) and mobility services (earlier post)—announced its new brand AFEELA, and unveiled a prototype vehicle at CES 2023. SHM will develop the production model based on this prototype. Pre-orders are planned to begin in... Read more →

At CES 2023, Continental and Ambarella, an edge AI semiconductor company, announced a strategic partnership to develop scalable, end-to-end hardware and software solutions based on artificial intelligence (AI), for assisted and automated driving (AD), on the way to autonomous mobility. The strategic collaboration builds on Continental’s announcement in November to... Read more →

LG Electronics (LG) announced a technical collaboration with Magna to develop a proo of concept for an automated driving-infotainment solution, aimed at providing differentiated customer experiences and enabling readiness for the future of mobility. Under the agreement, LG and Magna will explore the technical feasibility of integrating LG’s infotainment capabilities... Read more →

At CES 2023, ZF anniunced a new multi-domain capable edition of the ZF ProAI (earlier post) high-performance computer. One device can support domain-based ADAS, infotainment or chassis functions on separate boards. This includes system-on-chip configurations from multiple suppliers. It is even capable of hosting multiple operating systems in parallel, e.g.,... Read more →

Cepton has introduced its new lidar, the Vista-X120 Plus—the slimmest software definable, top-end automotive lidar for real-time adaptive 3D perception. Cepton says that the Vista-X120 Plus advances its vision for mass-market lidar adoption. Expanding on Cepton’s commercially scalable Vista-X90 lidar, which will be deployed in the company’s ADAS lidar series... Read more →

Aeva, a provider of next-generation sensing and perception systems, and Plus, a global provider of autonomous driving solutions, unveiled a design for the next-generation PlusDrive highly automated driving solution integrated with Aeva’s Aeries II 4D LiDAR sensor. The truck will be shown in Aeva’s booth at CES 2023. Aeva and... Read more →

NVIDIA and Hon Hai Technology Group (Foxconn), the world’s largest technology manufacturer, used CES 2023 as the venue to announce a strategic partnership to develop automated and autonomous vehicle platforms. As part of the agreement, Foxconn will be a tier-one manufacturer, producing electronic control units (ECUs) based on NVIDIA DRIVE... Read more →

Pony.ai, a global autonomous driving technology company, has been issued a fully driverless autonomous vehicle road test permit by the Beijing Intelligent Connected Vehicle Policy Pilot Zone. With this new permit, Pony.ai will deploy ten driverless robotaxis for testing in challenging urban traffic scenarios across a 20 square kilometer (7.7... Read more →

Faction Technology, a driverless-technology company offering solutions that solve inefficiencies in micro-logistics and vehicles on demand, is bringing driverless delivery to portions of the San Francisco Bay Area. Faction’s first partner is Cocola Bakery, which is using Faction to deliver to its customers around the metro region. Deliveries will be... Read more →

Magna International will acquire the Veoneer Active Safety business from SSW Partners for $1.525 billion in cash, subject to working capital and other customary purchase price adjustments. The combined business is projected to generate approximately $3 billion in sales in 2024, positioning Magna’s ADAS business as a global leader. Combining... Read more →

TTTech Auto, the Vienna-based provider of automotive safety software, is expanding its operations with a dedicated subsidiary in China. The new TTTech Auto branch in Shanghai will bring its expertise and the series proven safe vehicle software platform, MotionWise, to car manufacturers, Tier 1 suppliers and partners to the rapidly... Read more →

Hyundai Motor Group has started two pilot delivery service programs using autonomous robots based on its Plug & Drive (PnD) modular platform (earlier post) at a hotel and a residential-commercial complex located in the outskirts of Seoul. The delivery robot consists of a storage unit integrated on top of a... Read more →

Germany’s Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) has approved the Mercedes-Benz and Bosch highly automated parking system for use in the P6 parking garage run by APCOA at Stuttgart Airport. This makes it the world’s first highly automated driverless parking function (SAE Level 4) officially to be approved for commercial use.... Read more →

Alstom has demonstrated the highest grade of automation on a shunting locomotive near Breda, the Netherlands, in partnership with Dutch infrastructure manager ProRail and Belgian rail freight operator Lineas. This grade of automation (GoA4) means fully automated starting, driving, stopping, and the handling of unanticipated obstacles or events without the... Read more →

In the future, Continental will offer Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) solutions based on the CV3 artificial intelligence (AI) system-on-chip (SoC) family from semiconductor company Ambarella. The high-performance, power-efficient and scalable SoC portfolio, which is built for ADAS applications, complements Continental’s solutions for assisted driving and further advances vehicle automation.... Read more →

Monarch Tractor, maker of a fully electric autonomous tractor, and its Farm Electrification Consortium partners have received a $3-million grant from the California Energy Commission (CEC) to accelerate electrification of agricultural equipment and demonstrate the ability of batteries in on-farm equipment to keep critical electrical loads running during power outages... Read more →

HERE Technologies announced the BMW Group is utilizing the HERE HD Live Map, HERE’s high-definition map, to enable hands-free driving in the United States and Canada. HERE is one of the world’s first companies to provide high-definition maps for Level 2+ automated driving capabilities in series production vehicles. This is... Read more →

Following on the announcement of the shuttering of Argo AI, the autonomous driving venture backed by VW and Ford (earlier post), Volkswagen announced it is focusing its development activities for autonomous and highly automated driving. In the area of autonomous driving as a service (MaaS/TaaS), the Group is consolidating its... Read more →

BMW i Ventures announced its lead investment in Fox Robotics, developers of the first intelligent forklift that can autonomously unload pallets from the trailer to the receiving dock. The oversubscribed funding round totals $20 million. Additional new investors include Zebra Technologies, Japan Airlines & Translink Innovation Fund and Foothill Ventures.... Read more →

Hitachi Astemo has developed a prototype 360-degree stereo vision system for automated vehicles traveling on regular streets. Based on multi-camera 3D sensing, the all-surrounding sensing system is both high-resolution and highly accurate. Most current automated driving systems are limited to highway driving. To enable automated driving systems to be used... Read more →

A new partnership between the Volkswgen Group’s software company CARIAD and Horizon Robotics, one of the leading providers of computing solutions for smart vehicles in China, will accelerate the regional development of Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) and Autonomous Driving (AD) systems for the Chinese market. As part of the... Read more →

Scania and Rio Tinto are developing more agile autonomous haul trucks at a mine in Western Australia’s Pilbara region to pursue potential environmental and productivity benefits. A Scania autonomous truck is loaded at Rio Tinto's Channar iron ore mine in Western Australia's Pilbara region. The two companies have established a... Read more →

Sony Honda Mobility (SHM), the newly formed mobility joint venture between Honda and Sony (earlier post), held a press conference announcing its establishment and outlining its direction and approach to becoming a software-oriented “Mobility Tech Company” providing high value-added products and services. The new company’s defines its EV concept as... Read more →

Hyundai Motor Group announced a new global strategy to transform all vehicles to software-defined vehicles (SDVs) by 2025. The initiative, presented during the Group’s Unlock the Software Age global online forum, will give customers the freedom to upgrade the performance and functionality of their vehicles remotely. The Group also shared... Read more →

Wisk Aero, an Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) company, revealed the first self-flying, all-electric, four-passenger vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) air taxi. As Wisk’s go-to-market aircraft, Generation 6 represents the first candidate for type certification by the FAA of an autonomous eVTOL. Generation 6 combines autonomous technology and software, human oversight... Read more →

Hyundai Motor Company won its first Luminary honor at Red Dot Award: Design Concept 2022 with its Trailer Drone fully autonomous hydrogen mobility concept. (Earlier post.) The Luminary honor is the highest level of recognition accorded at the Red Dot Award: Design Concept, selected from among Red Dot’s ‘Best of... Read more →

UK-based connected vehicle data company Wejo Group unveiled DLIVEREE, an AV prototype that is being used to develop and demonstrate Wejo’s Autonomous Vehicle Operating System (AV-OS), software that will use live, real-time connected vehicle data to support development, testing, and operation of AVs for the future. The AV prototype allows... Read more →

Pony.ai, a leading global autonomous driving technology company, plans to begin testing its autonomous vehicles in Tucson, Arizona, with trained safety drivers behind the wheel of the vehicles. Pony.ai is partnering with Pima Community College and will base its operations at the new Automotive Technology & Innovation Center, located at... Read more →

The Autonomous Vehicle Computing Consortium (AVCC), a global group of automotive and technology industry leaders cooperating on expediting the delivery of automated and assisted driving compute solutions, and SEMI announced an alliance to drive autonomous vehicle innovation. Per the terms of the agreement, leadership and members of the two organizations... Read more →

Daimler Truck subsidiary Torc Robotics, a developer of self-driving vehicle technology, announced it is working with Schneider toward implementing a pilot program utilizing Torc’s autonomous test fleet. As part of the agreement, Schneider will provide freight loads for Torc’s pilot operations and unique insights on truckload freight that will help... Read more →

NVIDIA introduced NVIDIA DRIVE Thor, its next-generation centralized computer for safe and secure autonomous vehicles. DRIVE Thor, which achieves up to 2,000 teraflops of performance, unifies intelligent functions—including automated and assisted driving, parking, driver and occupant monitoring, digital instrument cluster, in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) and rear-seat entertainment—into a single architecture for... Read more →