Waymo continues to press its lead in terms of actual miles driven on roads, which is potentially the most important metric out there when it comes to building successful autonomous driving technology. The Alphabet-owned company that began life as Google’s self-driving car project around a decade ago now has 4 million miles driven autonomously on roads. Read More
Category: Automation
Lyft gets approval to test self-driving cars on public roads in California
Lyft is the latest company to be added to the ever-growing list of those permitted to test their self-driving technology on California state public roads. The California Department of Motor Vehicles added Lyft to the list recently (via Axios), following Lyft’s foundation of a self-driving technology development center earlier this year, and its announcement that it would work on both its… Read More
Uber orders 24,000 Volvo XC90s for driverless fleet
Uber has entered into an agreement with carmaker Volvo to purchase 24,000 of its XC90 SUVs between 2019 and 2021 to form a fleet of autonomous vehicles, according to Bloomberg News. The XC90 is the base of Uber’s latest-generation self-driving test car, which features sensors and autonomous driving computing capability installed by Uber after purchase on the XC90 vehicle. The deal is said… Read More
Waymo now testing its self-driving cars on public roads with no one at the wheel
Waymo recently hosted a number of journalists at its private Castle testing compound, and treated us to rides with no safety driver behind the wheel – now, the former Google self-driving car company is going farther still, however, launching public road tests of its autonomous Chrysler Pacifica minivans with no safety driver on board. The tests aren’t limited to one or two… Read More
Boxed shows off the automated tech it uses to ship toilet paper and more
Boxed offers the online equivalent of the bulk shopping offered at stores like Costco. But big discounts aren’t the only thing the company’s focused on. Boxed introduced automation to its Union, New Jersey fulfillment center earlier this year, installing a system where the items for shipping are transported to the people doing the packing — without eliminating a single job. Read More
Quantifying the driverless startup boom
For driverless car startups, raising capital seems to happen on autopilot. Investors and acquirers have put billions into the space over the past couple of years in the race for early-mover advantage. They’ve shown no desire to hit the brakes lately either, as indicated by a spate of recent deals. Read More
Quantifying the driverless startup boom
For driverless car startups, raising capital seems to happen on autopilot. Investors and acquirers have put billions into the space over the past couple of years in the race for early-mover advantage. They’ve shown no desire to hit the brakes lately either, as indicated by a spate of recent deals. Read More
GM’s Cruise sets special self-driving event for November 28
GM’s Cruise self-driving unit is hosting a special event at the end of November, the company revealed today via invites to select media. The tagline for the event is “Come experience our vision of a self-driving future,” and while advance details are scarce, it sounds likely that Cruise will take the opportunity to allow media and other guests to experience their pilot… Read More
Building the best possible driver inside Waymo’s Castle
Waymo has been very protective of its testing process in past, but recently it started opening up – likely as a bid to help get the public more comfortable with self-driving vehicle technology as it moves towards broad deployment of its autonomous cars. As part of that, the former Google self-driving car project asked a group of journalists to pay a visit to its Castle testing facility… Read More
Waymo focuses on user experience, considers next steps
Waymo is investing a lot of time and effort on building out the user experience of its self-driving vehicles, which includes both the external and internal user-facing features of its autonomous cars. This includes looking at everything from how …
View More Waymo focuses on user experience, considers next stepsTaking a truly driverless ride in Waymo’s Chrysler Pacifica
Today was a first for me: I drove in a fully autonomous vehicle on roads without anyone behind the wheel. They weren’t public roads, but they did have intersections, other vehicles, pedestrian traffic, cyclists and more, and the car managed a fairly long route without any human intervention – and without any cause for concern on my part. I’ve done a lot of self-driving… Read More