Geely and Foretellix, a leading provider of safety-driven Verification & Validation (V&V) solutions for Autonomous Vehicles (AV), announced a strategic partnership to enable safe large-scale deployment of AVs while reducing Geely’s R&D costs and increasing development efficiency. Foretellix and Geely will collaborate to integrate Foretellix’ Foretify platform with Geely’s development... Read more →
Hesai Technology released its new ultra-wide field of view (FOV), long-range lida: the ATX. With a longer detection range, higher resolution, and wider FOV, ATX empowers intelligent vehicles with excellent 3D perception. This new lidar utilizes Hesai’s advanced 4th-generation technology platform, with comprehensive upgrades to its laser transceiver module and... Read more →
Hyundai Motor Company and Kia Corporation unveiled the new design of their DAL-e Delivery robot. This robot, based on the delivery robot introduced in December 2022, is expected to improve delivery performance, particularly in complex settings, such as offices and shopping malls. Drawing from the insights gained from Hyundai Motor... Read more →
Following a pilot phase with road testing in Germany and the US, Volkswagen ADMT GmbH, part of Volkswagen AG, is announcing a cooperation agreement with the technology company Mobileye Global Inc. Mobileye will develop and supply software, hardware components and digital maps for the self-driving ID. Buzz AD. The main... Read more →
NVIDIA announced that leading companies across the transportation sector have adopted the NVIDIA DRIVE Thor centralized car computer to power their next-generation consumer and commercial fleets—from new energy vehicles and trucks to robotaxis, robobuses and last-mile autonomous delivery vehicles. DRIVE Thor is an in-vehicle computing platform architected for generative AI... Read more →
Southwest Research Institute has developed off-road autonomous driving tools with a focus on stealth for the military and agility for space and agriculture clients. The vision-based system pairs stereo cameras with novel algorithms, eliminating the need for lidar and active sensors. We reflected on the toughest machine vision challenges and... Read more →
NHTSA has commissioned five research projects with the aim of advancing the safe deployment of vehicle crash avoidance technologies, including ADAS and automated driving systems—in particular those that respond to specific crash imminent situations. Test consultancy DRI has been awarded more than $5 million to conduct the research. The five... Read more →
American Rheinmetall Vehicles and Rheinmetall Canada successfully conducted a live-fire capability demonstration for the US Marine Corps (USMC) in Fort Clinton, Ohio to highlight the capabilities of the Rheinmetall Mission Master SP autonomous, unmanned ground vehicle (A-UGV) paired with the Fieldranger Remotely Controlled Weapon Station (RCWS). The Rheinmetall Mission Master... Read more →
AutoFlight, an eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing) company, has flown the first inter-city electric air-taxi demonstration flight between the southern Chinese cities of Shenzhen and Zhuhai. AutoFlight’s five-seater Prosperity eVTOL aircraft autonomously flew the 50km (31 miles) route from Shenzhen to Zhuhai. The flight from Shenzhen to Zhuhai across... Read more →
Nissan Motor announced its roadmap to commercialize its inhouse-developed, autonomous-drive mobility services (SAE Level 4 equivalent) in Japan. Nissan has been testing business models for mobility services in Japan and abroad since 2017. These vicinities include the Minato Mirai area of Yokohama and Namie town, Fukushima Prefecture, where a manned... Read more →
Hyundai Motor Company and Kia Corporation are partnering with KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology) to develop next-generation autonomous driving sensors. Together, Hyundai Motor, Kia and KAIST will establish the ‘Hyundai Motor Group-KAIST On-Chip LiDAR Joint Research Lab’ at KAIST in Daejeon to develop LiDAR sensors for advanced... Read more →
GM is adding an additional group of highways to its hands-free technology Super Cruise, bringing the total to about 750,000 miles (1.2 million kilometers) of compatible roads across the US and Canada. This new batch of compatible roads makes Super Cruise the largest truly hands-free operating domain in North America—nearly... Read more →
The US Army has extended its long-running relationship with the University of Michigan’s Automotive Research Center, reaching a new five-year agreement of up to $100 million to boost work on autonomous vehicle technologies. This potentially doubles the federal government’s financial investment with ARC since the last agreement, reached in 2019.... Read more →
From more than 200 miles away, Purdue University researchers were able to test their autonomous vehicle (AV) technology using the University of Michigan’s real-world test track in Ann Arbor, and challenge it using both real and virtual cars and pedestrians. This first remote use of the Mcity Test Facility came... Read more →
Kia Corporation and Uber have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at this week’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, committing the two companies to collaborate on Kia’s planned development and deployment of PBVs. (Earlier post.) With the goal of enhancing electric vehicle offerings available on Uber’s mobility platform... Read more →
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company and Gatik, a leader in autonomous middle-mile B2B logistics, announced the expansion of the industry’s first, successful integration of tire intelligence technology into an autonomous driving system. Gatik's autonomous fleet, consisting of Class 3–7 box trucks, has made significant strides in enhancing the safety,... Read more →
Daimler Truck has selected Aeva as the supplier of long- and ultra-long range LiDAR for Daimler’s series production autonomous commercial vehicle program. Under the production collaboration, Aeva will supply its latest Aeva Atlas automotive grade 4D LiDAR technology to Daimler Truck and collaborate with Torc Robotics, an independent subsidiary of... Read more →
Lotus Robotics, the self-driving technology unit of Lotus, is showcasing its latest offerings at the 2024 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. The company provides a range of autonomous software and services for businesses wanting to deploy self-driving technology in their operations safely, securely and efficiently. These solutions are... Read more →
Together with the Volkswagen subsidiary Cariad, Bosch is testing automated valet charging. This solution, which is based on Bosch’s automated valet parking system, guides electric vehicles driverlessly to an unoccupied parking space furnished with a charge spot, where a charging robot recharges them automatically. Once recharging is complete, the vehicle... Read more →
Pebble, a California-based startup, has selected the NVIDIA DRIVE Orin system-on-a-chip to power its flagship product, the Pebble Flow electric travel trailer, with production starting before the end of 2024. Pebble’s mission is to bring ease and accessibility to the RV industry by integrating technology that will automate the hardest... Read more →
Continental and Aurora have finalized the design and architecture of the future fallback system and hardware of the Aurora Driver—an SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) Level 4 autonomous driving system—that Continental plans to start production of in 2027. The finalized hardware design comes less than a year after the companies... Read more →
LG Electronics (LG) will hold a private demonstration for major automakers at CES 2024, introducing a new cross-domain platform integrating Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS), Automated Driving (AD) and In-Vehicle Infotainment (IVI) technologies. Developed by LG in collaboration with Magna, the mobility platform is expected to arrive on the market... Read more →
HL Mando, a South Korean company specializing in components for electric cars and self-driving vehicles, is developing an autonomous valet parking robot named Parkie. The company plans to conduct field testing for Parkie early next year. Parkie, a sleek 3.5-inch-high (90mm) flat platform, is designed to park various vehicle types... Read more →
Mercedes-Benz is the first automobile manufacturer to receive permits for special exterior marker lights for automated driving in the states of California and Nevada. The exemption permit for California is for testing vehicles and initially limited to two years. The Nevada permit applies to Mercedes-Benz Model Year 2026 production vehicles... Read more →
HERE Technologies, the location data and technology platform, announced the usage of the HERE HD Live Map onboard BMW’s new 7 Series with “BMW Personal Pilot” Level 3 highly automated driving function. This marks a key milestone in the companies’ longstanding collaboration on high-definition mapping for advanced driving assistance and... Read more →
The US Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT or the Department) announced a $25 million funding opportunity (RAVTRANS) for its Rural Autonomous Vehicle research program. Accredited universities are eligible to apply for this competitive, six-year cooperative agreement program. Recipients will use RAV program funding to conduct research regarding the benefits and... Read more →
SafeAI, a developer of autonomous vehicle technology for heavy industry, and Obayashi Corporation, a leading construction company, unveiled a retrofit zero-emission, autonomous haul truck. The Caterpillar 725 is the first haul truck retrofitted with autonomous and electrification technology. (Earlier post.) While autonomy and electrification have been implemented independently, this is... Read more →
Israel-based Foretellix, a provider of safety-driven verification and validation (V&V) solutions for Automated Driving Systems and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), closed an $85-million Series C funding round, bringing its total raised capital to $135 million. The funding round was led by 83North. TNew investors Temasek and Isuzu joined Woven... Read more →
Michigan State University (MSU) is entering into a two-year agreement with Politecnico di Milano in Italy, and the University of Alabama (which is collaborating with the PoliMOVE team) to participate in the Indy Autonomous Challenge. MSU is the first and only team from Michigan to race in the IAC series,... Read more →
Magna is enhancing its automated driving capabilities by joining NorthStar—Telia Sweden and Ericsson’s 5G innovation program for industrial enterprises. As part of the agreement, Telia and Ericsson have built a dedicated, private 5G network at Magna’s test track located in Vårgårda, Sweden, where new cutting-edge Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS)... Read more →
The Riverside, California City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday (11/28) to finalize an agreement with the all-electric autonomous shuttle company Ohmio to move its international headquarters from New Zealand to Riverside and manufacture the vehicles there. The company is touring multiple potential sites in Riverside for its facility. Ohmio also... Read more →
Hyundai Motor Group and Motional announced that Hyundai and Motional’s jointly developed all-electric IONIQ 5 robotaxi will be manufactured at the newly opened Hyundai Motor Group Innovation Center Singapore (HMGICS). (Earlier post.) The first production-ready IONIQ 5 robotaxis will be deployed as part of Motional’s commercial services in the US,... Read more →
Elroy Air flew the world’s first turbogenerator-hybrid electric vertical take-off and landing (hVTOL) aircraft on 12 November 12 at its test-flight facility in Byron, California—the Chaparral C1. The C1 is an autonomous hVTOL aircraft, with distributed electric propulsion and a turbogenerator-battery architecture. Leveraging both its turbogenerator system and high-power batteries... Read more →
Level 3 highly automated driving, which allows drivers to take their hands off the steering wheel and temporarily divert their attention away from the road, will soon be available in the new BMW 7 Series. BMW Personal Pilot L3 relieves the person at the wheel of the task of driving... Read more →
Seoul Robotics , a 3D perception solutions company building a platform that uses deep learning AI, is partnering with ALP.Lab, an Austria-based test laboratory for automated driving systems, to provide 3D perception traffic safety systems for the DACH region (Germany (D), Austria (A), and Switzerland (CH)) and Central Europe. The... Read more →
In August, Pony.ai and Toyota announced they would form a joint venture to advance the future mass production and large scale deployment of fully driverless robotaxis. (Earlier post.) Pony has now unveiled the first BEV robotaxi concept in collaboration with Toyota based on the bZ4X (earlier post) produced by GAC... Read more →
Aurora Innovation opened the industry’s first lane for driverless trucks supported by commercial-ready terminals in Dallas and Houston. Nearly half of all truck freight in Texas moves along the I-45 between Dallas and Houston, making this corridor an ideal route for Aurora’s commercial launch. Similar to its first terminal in... Read more →
NEOM, the smart and sustainable regional development in northwest Saudi Arabia, is investing US$100 million, through the NEOM Investment Fund (NIF), into Pony.ai, a leading global autonomous driving company. Additionally, a joint venture will be established for autonomous technology solutions for the region. Through the joint venture, NEOM and Pony.ai... Read more →
NXP Semiconductors N.V. announced an investment in and collaboration with Zendar Inc., a software start-up developing autonomous vehicle systems with high-resolution radar. The investment aims to accelerate and improve high-resolution radar solutions for autonomous driving (AD) and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) to complement NXP’s scalable radar portfolio. NXP and... Read more →
The California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) notified Cruise that the department is suspending Cruise’s autonomous vehicle deployment and driverless testing permits, effective immediately. The DMV has provided Cruise with the steps needed to apply to reinstate its suspended permits, which the DMV will not approve until the company has... Read more →
New research out of IBM Research’s lab in Almaden, California, nearly two decades in the making, has the potential to drastically shift how we can efficiently scale up powerful AI hardware systems. Since the birth of the semiconductor industry, computer chips have primarily followed the same basic structure, in which... Read more →
Consumers are not comfortable with the testing and deployment of robotaxis—defined as a fully automated, self-driving vehicle used exclusively for ride-hailing service—on their city streets, according to the inaugural J.D. Power U.S. Robotaxi Experience Study. The study provides the first consumer feedback from robotaxi riders and those who have interacted... Read more →
Cruise, General Motors and Honda have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding aiming to establish a joint venture which will begin a driverless ridehail service in Japan in early 2026. The three companies aim to establish this new company in the first half of 2024 pending regulatory approvals. With this... Read more →
CEA-Leti, a technology research institute at France’s CEA, announced a new R&D initiative to contribute to a higher level of vehicle automation and cooperation by expanding the latest developments in vehicular wireless communications that improve reaction time, pedestrian detection and overall vehicle performance. Combining learnings from its participation in three... Read more →
ZF is expanding its relationship with Oceaneering International, Inc., headquartered in Houston, Texas. The agreement combines Oceaneering’s engineering, manufacturing, and integration expertise with ZF’s know-how in developing the building functions needed to advance autonomous driving. The agreement aims to deliver a four-digit number of ZF’s shuttles to customers in the... Read more →
Consumer confidence in fully automated, self-driving vehicles continues to decline for a second consecutive year, according to the J.D. Power 2023 US Mobility Confidence Index (MCI) Study. The index score for consumer automated vehicle (AV) readiness declined 2 points to 37 (on a 100-point scale), contributing to a 5-point decline... Read more →
Mercedes-Benz will launch its production-ready version of DRIVE PILOT in the United States. The class-leading system for conditionally automated driving rolls out in late 2023 with a limited fleet of SAE Level 31 equipped EQS Sedans in California and Nevada called DRIVE PILOT: First Class. In early 2024, Mercedes-Benz plans... Read more →
FAW Group, one of the largest Chinese automotive groups, and Mobileye, a global leader in autonomous driving solutions, announced a new strategic partnership leveraging their respective industry advantages in software, hardware and technology products. The two sides will work together to create new products based on Mobileye SuperVision and Mobileye... Read more →
Conigital, a UK-based driverless vehicle company with operations in Australia, Brazil, and India, said it has secured an offer of £500 million (US$626 million) in Series A+ funding. This investment, a combination of equity and debt, is the outcome of a strategic partnership with a global Private Equity (PE) infrastructure... Read more →
The BMW Group has chosen Amazon Web Services (AWS) as the preferred cloud provider for its automated driving platform. The BMW Group will develop its next-generation advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) using AWS to help innovate new features for its next generation of vehicles, the “Neue Klasse,” set to launch... Read more →