Mars helicopter bound for the Red Planet takes to the air for the first time

The Mars 2020 mission is on track for launch next year, and nesting inside the high-tech new rover heading that direction is a high-tech helicopter designed to fly in the planet’s nearly non-existent atmosphere. The actual aircraft that will fly on the Martian surface just took its first flight and its engineers are over the moon.

View More Mars helicopter bound for the Red Planet takes to the air for the first time

Boston Dynamics puts its wheeled-robot Handle to work in a warehouse

Boston Dynamics deputed Handle two years back. Since then, however, the bipedal wheeled robot has taken a backseat to the rest of the company’s offering. While the ‘bot is no less impressive than the rest of its lineup, Boston Dynamics’ video output has almost exclusively been dedicated to Atlas and Spot/Spot Mini. Today, however, the […]

View More Boston Dynamics puts its wheeled-robot Handle to work in a warehouse

Nuro CEO Dave Ferguson at TC Sessions: Mobility on July 10 in San Jose

Autonomous delivery startup Nuro, fresh with nearly $1 billion in capital from SoftBank, is bursting with ideas — as some recent patent filings (and our recent deep dive into the company) suggest. And we can’t wait to learn more about what Nuro has planned. It’s only fitting that Nuro co-founder and CEO Dave Ferguson is […]

View More Nuro CEO Dave Ferguson at TC Sessions: Mobility on July 10 in San Jose

This self-driving AI faced off against an champion racer (kind of)

Developments in the self-driving car world can sometimes be a bit dry: a million miles without an accident, a 10 percent increase in pedestrian detection range, and so on. But this research has both an interesting idea behind it and a surprisingly hands-on method of testing: pitting the vehicle against a real racing driver on a course.

View More This self-driving AI faced off against an champion racer (kind of)

Google has scaled back, moved forward with robotics

In 2013, Google went big on robotics. Under the leadership of Android father Andy Rubin, the company went on a shopping spree that included marquee companies like Boston Dynamics. The division was named Replicant, in an homage to Blade Runner that worked with the whole Alphabet motif. It was big and secretive and expensive, and […]

View More Google has scaled back, moved forward with robotics

Five really, really good reasons to attend TC Sessions: Robotics & AI @ UC Berkeley on April 18

There are actually a lot more than five great reasons, but these five should be enough to make just about anyone eager to join TechCrunch’s robotics and AI show April 18 at UC Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall. 1. Fireside & Panel Discussions TechCrunch’s editors will have a busy day with more than 20 riveting sessions — […]

View More Five really, really good reasons to attend TC Sessions: Robotics & AI @ UC Berkeley on April 18

Lidar and perception startup Innoviz raises $132 million

Innoviz, the Israel-based startup developing solid-state lidar sensors and perception software for autonomous vehicles, has raised $132 million in a Series C funding round that includes major Chinese financial institutions. The round, which makes Innoviz one of the better capitalized lidar startups, includes China Merchants Capital (SINO-BLR Industrial Investment Fund, L.P.), Shenzhen Capital Group and […]

View More Lidar and perception startup Innoviz raises $132 million

Abundant’s apple harvesting robots get their first commercial deployment

We’ve been writing about Abundant Robotics for roughly three years at this point. Now the SRI spin out is finally ready for primetime. Abundant announced this week that New Zealand-based T&G Global will be using its robots to harvest apples. Abundant says the news is part of a plan to be involved in year-round picking, […]

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Mobileye CEO clowns on Nvidia for allegedly copying self-driving car safety scheme

While creating self-driving car systems, it’s natural that different companies might independently arrive at similar methods or results — but the similarities in a recent “first of its kind” Nvidia proposal to work done by Mobileye two years ago were just too much for the latter company’s CEO to take politely.

View More Mobileye CEO clowns on Nvidia for allegedly copying self-driving car safety scheme

Lidar startup Ouster raises $60 million in production run-up

Ouster has raised $60 million as the San Francisco-based lidar startup opens a new facility that will have the capacity to assemble and ship several thousand sensors a month by the end of 2019. The new factory, which will have a grand opening ceremony March 28, currently produces hundreds of sensors per month. Ouster says […]

View More Lidar startup Ouster raises $60 million in production run-up

Lidar startup Ouster raises $60 million in production run-up

Ouster has raised $60 million as the San Francisco-based lidar startup opens a new facility that will have the capacity to assemble and ship several thousand sensors a month by the end of 2019. The new factory, which will have a grand opening ceremony March 28, currently produces hundreds of sensors per month. Ouster says […]

View More Lidar startup Ouster raises $60 million in production run-up

Transportation weekly: Nuro dreams of autonomous lattes, what is a metamaterial, Volvo takes the wheel

Welcome back to Transportation Weekly; I’m your host Kirsten Korosec, senior transportation reporter at TechCrunch. We love the reader feedback. Keep it coming. Never heard of TechCrunch’s Transportation Weekly? Read the first edition here.  As I’ve written before, consider this a soft launch. Follow me on Twitter @kirstenkorosec to ensure you see it each week. […]

View More Transportation weekly: Nuro dreams of autonomous lattes, what is a metamaterial, Volvo takes the wheel