The American Automobile Association is doing work to help ensure it remains relevant in a future age of autonomous driving, and its latest partner in that effort is Torc Robotics, a self-driving technology company with loads of experience in automating heavy machinery and commercial equipment that’s now applying its expertise to the consumer market. At CES 2018, AAA announced that… Read More
Category: Automation
Ford will begin testing self-driving cars in a new city in 2018
Ford is ramping its autonomous vehicle program in 2018, with plans to expand testing its cars in a new city this year. This will serve a number of purposes, including helping partner autonomous platform partner Argo AI build out its self-driving tech, as well as helping to research further its dedicated AV vehicle design requirements. But it’s also going to allow Ford to test its new… Read More
Ford partners with Postmates on self-driving delivery pilot
Ford has a new partner for its autonomous vehicle program: Postmates. The on-demand delivery service provider is working with the automaker through its self-driving vehicle platform, in a similar way to existing partner Domino’s Pizza. Postmates is the first on-demand delivery app to work with Ford in this capacity, and will test with the platform this year, including in a pilot in a… Read More
Intel sets the stage for new ‘Level 2+’ automated driving
Mobileye’s REM (road experiment management, in full) is going to help develop Level 4 and 5 vehicles eventually, yes, but Intel’s Dan Galves, Mobileye’s Chief Communications Officer, tells me that in the near-term it’ll have more interesting and immediate applications powering what he and Intel are calling ‘Level 2+” systems, which are semi-automated… Read More
Intel sets the stage for new ‘Level 2+’ automated driving
Mobileye’s REM (road experiment management, in full) is going to help develop Level 4 and 5 vehicles eventually, yes, but Intel’s Dan Galves, Mobileye’s Chief Communications Officer, tells me that in the near-term it’ll have more interesting and immediate applications powering what he and Intel are calling ‘Level 2+” systems, which are semi-automated… Read More
Volkswagen and Hyundai both plan to deploy self-driving taxis by 2021
On Thursday, automakers Hyundai and Volkswagen both announced a new partnership with Aurora, the autonomous driving startup with a killer pedigree and good momentum early on – but they also both revealed that each is planning to deploy self-driving cars by 2021 on roads in a commercial capacity. Volkswagen wants to put autonomous cars on the road in as many as five cities worldwide by… Read More
Volkswagen and Hyundai team up with Aurora on self-driving
Aurora, the startup founded by Google self-driving car program and Tesla alum Chris Urmson, has signed up two high-profile automaker partners despite its relative youth – both Volkswagen and Hyundai are planning to incorporate Aurora self-driving technology in production cars by 2021. The Volkswagen is also hoping to put autonomous test cars on the road later this year, in a limited… Read More
Waymo teams with Trov on passenger insurance for self-driving service
Waymo is working with insurance startup Trov on protections for riders using its forthcoming self-driving ride hailing service. Trvo will provide Waymo’s passengers with insurance for lost and managed property, and for any medical expenses resulting from rides, reports the Wall Street Journal. The coverage will be invisible to riders, however, bundled as part of the overall service with… Read More
Nissan will kick off self-driving Leaf EV taxi service test in March
Nissan is the latest automaker to make its autonomous vehicle testing intentions clear – it’ll begin a pilot of self-driving Nissan Leaf electric vehicles that can be hailed using a smartphone app much like an Uber or a Lyft, starting in March on Japanese roads. This isn’t something Nissan is doing alone – it’s working with Japanese software maker DeNA to create… Read More
CEO of automation company ABB says we shouldn’t fear automation
Here’s a surprise: at our Disrupt Berlin event, Ulrich Spiesshofer, the CEO of 125-year old automation giant ABB, argued that automation is nothing to fear. “I think we need to take this fear extremely seriously and get people out of this fear,” he said. In his view, automation and robotics has allowed millions of people to move beyond the extreme poverty line and… Read More
GM and Cruise on track to field a self-driving ride hailing service by 2019
GM and Cruise have articulated more specifically when they want to put their self-driving service on the roads, at today’s investor call for the company from San Francisco. GM said that they can make it happen within two years, with a fleet ready to go to work by 2019 based on the company’s current rate of progress. The commercial launch was previously revealed to happen within… Read More
Expect GM Cruise self-driving vehicles to arrive in ‘quarters, not years’
GM and Cruise are still reluctant to put any specific timeframes on their plans for self-driving vehicle deployment, but the company is getting a bit more specific about its intent to bring self-driving to market. It wants to do so only when it can manage it safely, at scale, and in busy urban markets where it’ll have the largest impact, according to GM President Dan Ammann – and… Read More