On Tesla’s Q1 2018 earnings call today, Tesla CEO Elon Musk shed some light on the company’s ambitions to launch an autonomous vehicle ridesharing network. The short answer is that, from a technical standpoint, Tesla will be ready by the end of next year, Musk said. It’s not yet clear, however, when Tesla would actually… Continue reading Elon Musk offers more detail about Tesla’s ridesharing network
Author: Tech Crunch Online News
Lyft commits $1.5 million to help people who lack access to transportation
Lyft is committing $1.5 million to its Relief Rides program. The idea has historically been to better support people during times of crisis, such as natural disasters or other emergency situations. Now, Lyft is expanding its reach to help people who many need rides to job interviews or medical appointments. One of the partners Lyft… Continue reading Lyft commits $1.5 million to help people who lack access to transportation
BMW, GM, Ford and Renault launch blockchain research group for automotive industry
Car makers BMW, General Motors, Ford and Renault are the big names behind a new group announced today to explore the potential of the blockchain in the automotive and mobility space. MOBI — the Mobility Open Blockchain Initiative — launches today with over 30 founding members that also include Bosch, Blockchain at Berkeley, Hyperledger, Fetch.ai, IBM and IOTA. The… Continue reading BMW, GM, Ford and Renault launch blockchain research group for automotive industry
Lyft partners with Udacity to hire self-driving car engineers
Lyft is teaming up with Udacity to find talent for its Level 5 autonomous driving engineering team. The partnership entails a challenge designed to identify the best candidates in Udacity’s self-driving car engineer nanodegree program. Called the Lyft Perception Challenge, the idea is to test problem-solving skills around perception for autonomous vehicles. The competition, which… Continue reading Lyft partners with Udacity to hire self-driving car engineers
Regulus Cyber launches with a technology to secure autonomous vehicles
Over the next 20 years the autonomous vehicle market is expected to grow into a $700 billion industry as robots take over nearly every aspect of mobility. One of the key arguments for this shift away from manually operated machines is that they offer greater safety thanks to less risk of human error. But as… Continue reading Regulus Cyber launches with a technology to secure autonomous vehicles
Lime partners with Segway to build electric scooters
Lime, the transportation company now formerly known as LimeBike, has partnered with Segway to launch its next generation of electric scooters. These scooters, which are set to debut mid-month in San Francisco, will supplement Lime’s existing fleet. Lime has also hit three million rides across its fleets of bikes and scooters. For style-conscious consumers, there… Continue reading Lime partners with Segway to build electric scooters
Parallel Domain wants to train self-driving cars in virtual worlds
Kevin McNamara, a former Apple and Pixar employee, is bringing his virtual world creation expertise to the domain of self-driving cars. And he has $2.5 million from Costanoa Ventures, Ubiquity Ventures and others to do so. At Apple, McNamara says he worked on an autonomous systems project, where he explored automatic content generation of simulated… Continue reading Parallel Domain wants to train self-driving cars in virtual worlds
France’s BlaBlaCar acquires carpool startup Less in ongoing ridesharing consolidation
The ongoing trend of consolidation in the world of ridesharing continues apace, with the latest development coming out of Europe. BlaBlaCar, the French carpooling platform, is acquiring Less, a young carpooling platform based in Paris and focusing only on urban rides, paying drivers on a per-kilometer rate to incentivize them. The financial terms are not… Continue reading France’s BlaBlaCar acquires carpool startup Less in ongoing ridesharing consolidation
BMW is working with LiDAR company Innoviz to make self-driving cars
BMW has already made clear its intent to launch self-driving cars by 2021. Now, the automaker has decided on solid-state LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) sensors and computer vision tech from startup Innoviz to enable its Level 3 – 5 autonomous vehicles to “see” their surroundings. For clarity, level 3 involves highly-automated driving, level four… Continue reading BMW is working with LiDAR company Innoviz to make self-driving cars
Didi appoints one of its execs to lead ride-hailing service 99
Didi, the Chinese transportation behemoth that acquired Brazilian ride-hailing service 99 back in January, has replaced 99’s chief executive with one of its own, Recode first reported. Stepping in to replace Peter Fernandez is Tony Qiu, who most recently oversaw Didi’s luxury business. Before joining Didi, Qiu had stints at Morgan Stanley and Bain Capital. Fernandez… Continue reading Didi appoints one of its execs to lead ride-hailing service 99