“The jury is still out on architecture” for lidars used in self-driving cars, says Scott Davis, manager of electro-optical systems development for automotive applications for Analog Devices (Norwood, MA), after a session on laser applications in mobility at the OSA Laser Congress (November 5–8, 2018; Boston, MA). The speakers agreed that lidar can collect data… Continue reading Automotive Lidar: Lidar for self-driving cars comes in many competing forms – Laser Focus World
Tag: Waymo/Google
General Motors’ No. 2 exec to run self-driving car unit – Albany Times Union
In this Nov. 20, 2018, photo provided by General Motors/Cruise, from left, Cruise Automation’s Dan Kan and Kyle Vogt pose for a photo with General Motors’ Dan Ammann at Cruise Automation offices in San Francisco, Calif. General Motors?? No. 2 executive is moving from Motor City to Silicon Valley to run the automaker??s self-driving car… Continue reading General Motors’ No. 2 exec to run self-driving car unit – Albany Times Union
General Motors shares soar as SoftBank invests $2.25 billion in automaker’s self-driving vehicles – CNBC
General Motors said Thursday that SoftBank Vision Fund plans to invest $2.25 billion in GM Cruise Holdings, further boosting the automaker’s efforts with autonomous vehicle technology. GM shares were up nearly 11 percent midmorning Thursday, on track for their best day since the company went public again in November 2010. GM also will make a… Continue reading General Motors shares soar as SoftBank invests $2.25 billion in automaker’s self-driving vehicles – CNBC
Musk: Tesla’s Fully Autonomous Capabilities “About to Accelerate”
“About to Accelerate” Tesla appears ready to kick its vehicles’ fully autonomous capabilities up a notch. In an email to employees this week, obtained by Inverse, CEO Elon Musk pledged that Tesla’s fully autonomous driving system was “about to accelerate significantly.” Musk hasn’t always delivered on his ambitious public promises, but the email signals that he is… Continue reading Musk: Tesla’s Fully Autonomous Capabilities “About to Accelerate”
Honda at the CES 2019
The Japanese vehicle manufacturer Honda will also present its innovations at the CES 2019. This includes an autonomous off-road vehicle. Most industry participants in the field of Autonomous driving and Co. are also on the pendingCES 2019 in Las Vegas represented. This includes the Japanese manufacturer Honda, Honda ATV. Source: Honda Honda will showcase its… Continue reading Honda at the CES 2019
Peugeot Returns to U.S. to Help People Get Around, but Not With Its Cars – The New York Times
PARIS — Nearly three decades ago, Peugeot abandoned the United States market, stung by years of dwindling sales that were punctuated by a dispiriting 4,291 cars sold in 1990. Two years ago, Peugeot’s parent, the big European carmaker PSA Group, announced its return to the cutthroat North American market. The move stunned some industry observers… Continue reading Peugeot Returns to U.S. to Help People Get Around, but Not With Its Cars – The New York Times
Ex-Google engineer says he just finished first cross-country self-driving car trip
Angela Merendino | AFP | Getty Images
Anthony Levandowski, Otto Co-founder and VP of Engineering at Uber.
Anthony Levandowski, the engineer at the center of a now-settled lawsuit between Alphabet self-driving car company Waymo and Uber, claims he has completed a trip across the country in a self-driving car.
Levandowski is launching a new autonomous driving start-up, Pronto.ai, according to The Guardian, and is touting the impressive feat as the company's first success.
“We are not building technology that tells vehicles how to drive. Instead, our team of engineers is building tech that can learn how to drive the way people do,” Levandowski said in a Medium post. “Our new approach has already enabled us to make great progress. We drove a vehicle coast-to-coast without any human intervention.”
Levandowski told the Guardian he didn't touch the steering wheel or pedals — except for periodic rest stops — for the full 3,099 miles. He posted a video that shows a portion of the drive, though it's hard to fact-check the full journey.
It would be quite the milestone for autonomous driving, and a potential comeback for the engineer, who was one of the pioneers of Google's self-driving car efforts (before they were rebranded as Waymo), and later defected to Uber. The companies got into a legal battle over confidential documents that Levandowski allegedly took with him, and he was briefly barred from the autonomous driving industry during the trial. The companies settled the case early this year.
The technology isn't “perfectly autonomous,” Levandowski said. And, he added, “The age of autonomous vehicles crisscrossing the country by themselves is still quite a ways off.”
Pronto is rolling out it first product next year.
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Careem co-founder Mudassir Sheikha makes the Bloomberg 50 list
Careem CEO and co-founder Mudassir Sheikha has been included in the Bloomberg 50 – the annual list of people who are changing the global business landscape.
The annual list of people in business, entertainment, finance, politics, technology and science whose 2018 accomplishments were particularly noteworthy was unveiled today in New York, and the list is seen as an annual barometer of people in key industries who are shaping modern culture and business.
Others who made the list include Daniel Elk the CEO and co-founder, Spotify, Black Panther director Ryan Coogler, $8 billion hedge funder Michael Gelband, the Time’s Up legal defence team, Microsoft’s CFO Amy Hood, Nadiem Makarim the CEO of Go-Jek Indonesia, John Krafcik CEO of autonomous car company Waymo and pop star Taylor Swift.
You can view the entry here.
California issues its first approval for an autonomous ride service
Zoox Which company did you think would be most likely to offer an autonomous ride service in California? A heavyweight like Waymo or Uber? No — it’s an up-and-comer. The state’s Public Utilities Commission has revealed that self-driving car startup Zoox will be the first to transport the public. It’s joining a pilot program where… Continue reading California issues its first approval for an autonomous ride service
UPDATE 1-Self-driving startup Zoox gets OK to offer autonomous rides to the public – Reuters
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Self-driving car startup Zoox Inc has become the first company to receive approval from California regulators to operate an autonomous ride service for public passengers, state regulators said on Friday. The California Public Utilities Commission said Silicon Valley-based Zoox is the first company to join a state pilot program in which… Continue reading UPDATE 1-Self-driving startup Zoox gets OK to offer autonomous rides to the public – Reuters