News Roundup: GM Opens Network to Infotainment App Developers, Lyft Announces Plans for Its Own Self-Driving Car Division in Palo Alto, and More

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A look at major headlines to come out of the driverless and connected car industries over the past week:

GM opens network, allows app developers to test infotainment apps in real vehicle environment

General Motors (GM) has announced a move to make it easier for app developers to test their infotainment apps in a real test vehicle environment. GM announced that it is offering up its next-generation infotainment software development kit-NGI SDK-to the general development community. This will give developers access to GM’s Dev Client, and allow them to test their creations in a real-life test vehicle early in the process, which GM claims is the first time an automaker has done so. Mashable explains, once a developer is ready to make something, “they can download the new SDK, which has been available since January, to build out their app and begin emulating the in-car environment to kick things off.” GM says the open developers network is ready and open for new applicants. Read more from Mashable.

 

Lyft forms autonomous vehicle division in Palo Alto, California

Ride-hailing app Lyft announced it is setting up its own division dedicated to self-driving cars in Palo Alto, California. Reports indicate Lyft will focus on developing its own software network, including a navigation system, with plans to open up the network to the general public, allowing other tech companies and automakers to use the network, and potentially even share data. Industry analysts believe Lyft will likely monetize the program by taking a cut of ride-sharing fees collected by companies using their network. A Lyft spokesperson said a big motivation for the move is to help bring the environmental and safety benefits of autonomous vehicles to the world sooner. Read more from SFGate.

 

Microsoft joins Baidu’s driverless-car alliance, ‘Project Apollo’

Chinese tech giant Baidu and Microsoft have announced that they will be working together on driverless cars. Microsoft has reportedly joined Baidu’s Project Apollo. “Our goal with Apollo is to provide an open and powerful platform to the automotive industry to further the goal of autonomous vehicles,” said the president of Baidu, Zhang Yaqin, in news reports. Microsoft’s cloud computing platform, Azure, will reportedly be “instrumental” in the Apollo initiative. As much as 50 other famous firms and automakers, including Ford, Daimler, 13 car manufacturers from China, and many ride-sharing operators, component providers and suppliers have also announced plans to join Project Apollo. Read more from Investor NewsWire.

Image by Lyft

Waymo Taps Rental-Car Giant Avis as a New Self-Driving Car Partner, Russia Enters the Driverless Game, and More

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Jennifer van der Kleut

Our roundup of recent news to come out of the driverless, connected-vehicle industries:

U.S. Congress appears to enjoy bipartisan support for driverless vehicle legislation

News outlets are reporting that discussion of driverless vehicle legislation that would propel forward adoption of the technology was received positively in Congress last week, and that there is a chance some bills could be voted on before the end of the month. Lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle appear eager to progress the advent of self-driving vehicles, and make it easier for car manufacturers and tech firms like Ford, Tesla Motors, Google’s Waymo and NVIDIA to bring their products into the market through loosening restrictive laws. They also seek to create a level of consistency from state to state, many of which have widely varying laws for self-driving vehicles. Read more from The Motley Fool.

 

Russia moves full speed ahead toward driverless vehicles, will soon debut bus

Russia will not see itself fall behind the west, and has announced it will be debuting a fully autonomous shuttle bus at the upcoming third Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok in September. The debut ride will be jointly hosted by the companies behind the project — Bakulin Motors Group (BMG) and the Skolkovo innovation center. The bus is called Matryoshka, and can carry 8 to 12 passengers, carry cargo, or be used as a public utility vehicle. The bus is electric and its battery will allow it to travel a distance of up to 80 miles at speeds of up to 18 miles per hour. Passengers can even call the operator via video call from their seats. Russia does not yet have laws allowing for driverless vehicles on public roads, so all testing thus far has been done on closed courses. Read more from RBTH.

 

Waymo enters agreement with Avis Budget Group to manage its fleet of driverless cars in Phoenix

Avis Budget Group, which owns the rental-car brands Avis and Budget, as well as car-sharing company Zipcar, has been tapped by Google’s Waymo to manage its fleet of self-driving cars in Phoenix. The fleet recently started allowing members of the public to test its vehicles in April of this year through its “early rider program.” The program aims to discover where people most want to be able to use self-driving cars, and has been picking up and dropping off passengers for the past few months. As per the deal, Avis will clean the cars and perform regular maintenance and minor repairs as needed. Read more from the Washington Post.

 

Image by Waymo & Avis Budget Group

Lexus: Enjoy Driving While We Still Can?

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The latest commercial from Lexus for its new 2017 Lexus IS luxury sedan has raised some interesting questions among car enthusiasts: Could the thrill of driving be on its way out? Should we take advantage and enjoy it while we still can?

Obviously, that’s the premise of the commercial — that driving the new 2017 Lexus IS is so thrilling, you should savor every moment, while drivers still have the ability or choice to drive. In the last few seconds of the commercial, the car morphs into a self-driving car, and the driver is left to ponder those times when he could enjoy the power of the car’s controls in his hands.

However, one interesting note — the driver’s hair goes from youthful and dark to gray during the morph, suggesting that, while Lexus is all but promising to deliver a self-driving car in the future, it’s not just around the corner — it’s long enough away to age a man considerably.

Image and video by Lexus

News Roundup: Driverless EZ10 Shuttle Scheduled to Debut in Taiwan This Summer, Industry Predictions From Australia, and More

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Jennifer van der Kleut

The latest driverless transportation headlines from the past week, summed up for you:

Driverless shuttle will launch in Taiwan this summer

A new EZ10 autonomous shuttle is scheduled to launch in Taiwan on various campuses of National Taiwan University (NTU) this summer. The vehicle itself was manufactured by French lightweight automobile manufacturer Ligier, and the self-driving technology is the product of another French company, EasyMile-original developer of the EZ10-together with Taiwanese firm 7Starlake. The shuttle has no back or front and can easily change direction at any point on its route. The shuttle can cruise at up to 20 miles per hour, and can carry up to 12 passengers, six sitting and six standing. It is also equipped to carry handicapped passengers. The shuttle is expected to debut first with a single route at the NTU Shuiyuan Campus in July, and will expand to additional routes later. Read more from Euro Transport Magazine.

 

Australia association insists all cars will be driverless, all highways will have dedicated lanes, within 10 years

One major association in Australia is getting mightly confident about the nation’s progress toward driverless cars. A new report from Roads Australia, one of the biggest associations for the nation’s roads, predicts that all new manufactured cars will be driverless within 10 years, and that all Australian roads will feature dedicated lanes for driverless cars within 5 to 10 years. The report also refers to American ridesharing company Lyft in stating that by the year 2025, it will be cheaper to pay to ride in a driverless car than to own and maintain one’s own vehicle, and that vehicle ownership will be all but nonexistent. While many say they are encouraged by Roads Australia’s report, however, plenty of others are calling it “ambitious” and “unrealistic,” including David McCarthy, an executive from Mercedes Benz in Australia. McCarthy said he is more inclined to believe that increasing levels of driving autonomy will happen over the next many years, but that reaching full autonomy across the board within 10 years is unlikely, in his opinion, not only due to the technology’s progress, but also lags in legislation. Read more from Drive.

 

Uber fires head of its self-driving car division

Presumably yielding to mounting pressure during their court battle with Google’s Waymo, Uber has fired Anthony Levandowski, the head of its self-driving car development division. Levandowski was previously the head of Google’s self-driving division, and Waymo alleges that when he left the company to accept the job with Uber, that he downloaded as many as 14,000 files, many relating to Waymo’s Lidar system, which is the key component to its self-driving car technology. Previously, a judge ordered that Levandowski halt working on any driverless car technology until the lawsuit was settled, but this week, Uber opted instead to fire Levandowski, who is still required to cooperate in the court battle and investigation. Uber has replaced Levandowski with self-driving car engineer Eric Meyhofer. Read more from Bloomberg.

News Roundup: Volvo’s Autonomous Garbage Truck, Paris’s Driverless Race Car, and More

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A roundup of news headlines to come out of the driverless and connected-car industries this week:

Volvo shows off its new autonomous garbage truck

This week Volvo debuted a video that shows its new prototype autonomous garbage truck in action. The concept is being hailed as the future of waste management. It will reportedly save money on personnel as it only requires one employee to manage, versus a team of two to three employees currently (one to drive, and at least one to load and unload garbage cans) and it will streamline refuse collection by doing it faster and more efficiently. The way it works is this: one employee walks on foot and follows the garbage truck, which drives itself. With each stop, the employee pushes a button and loads garbage cans into the machine and then takes them out after they have been emptied. The truck features sensors and software that is identical to that in Volvo’s prototype self-driving passenger cars, which Volvo gets from its partner, Uber. Uber’s mapping capabilities allows the route to be pre-programmed into the system so the truck knows exactly where to go. Read more, see photos and videos from Motoring.com.

 

Autonomous race car debuts in Paris

The French city of Paris saw its first autonomous vehicle hits its streets recently when the self-driving Robocar wowed crowds in Formula E’s Paris ePrix. The car completed 14 turns of a 1.9-kilometer track, negotiating completely by itself without a driver. “The team has worked so hard to get us to this point in a short amount of time. The car is alive and it has emotion and its own personality already. Roborace is the only company in the world right now testing driverless technologies on city streets without a human in the car – this is something truly unique,” Robocar CEO Denis Sverdlov told media. Robocar is capable of speeds over 200mph.  The car uses a number of technologies to drive itself including five lidar sensors, two radar sensors, 18 ultrasonic sensors, two optical speed sensors, six A.I. cameras, GNSS positioning, and is powered by NVIDIA’s Drive PX2 brain, which is capable of up to 24 trillion A.I. operations per second, to be programmed by teams’ software engineers. Read more from Gadget.

 

Ford CEO Mark Fields being replaced by director of self-driving car division

Earlier this week the news broke that Ford’s CEO Mark Fields had been ousted, largely due to the fact that the company’s stock has dropped roughly 40 percent in the few years since he took over the company. Today, the New York Times reports that the executive to take Fields’s place as CEO is none other than Jim Hackett. Hackett previously served as the CEO of the office furniture giant Steelcase, and had recently joined Ford as the director of the company’s smart mobility division, which includes the research and development of self-driving cars. Though Ford has been working on self-driving car technology for a few years now, Fields reportedly had been criticized for not advancing the technology quickly enough. Read more from the New York Times.

Image: Still photo from Volvo video

TU-Automotive Detroit Set to Bring Together Driverless, Connected-Car Experts, Transportation Officials and More

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TU-Automotive Detroit is the world’s largest annual conference and exhibition dedicated to automotive technology, covering connected cars, autonomous vehicles and overall mobility solutions.

TU-Automotive Detroit 2017 will take place June 7 and 8 in Novi, Michigan at the Suburban Collective Showplace.

For these two days, industry leaders and disruptors from major auto manufacturers like General Motors, Volkswagen, Toyota, BMW, along with cutting-edge technology companies like Lyft, car2go, Fontinalis Partners and more will lay out their visions for the future of personalized mobility.

The program can be viewed here: www.tu-auto.com/detroit

Organizers say, the message of this year’s conference revolves around the clear need for agile technological innovation and a “laser-like focus” on putting the customer first, whether in terms of user experience or new business models.

“For the first time, rapid developments in AI (artificial intelligence) and data analytics make the promise of a truly personalized mobility experience closer to a reality,” organizers say on the event’s website.

Gareth Ragg, managing director of TU-Automotive, said, “Since the turn of the century, TU-Automotive Detroit has united the worlds of automotive and digital. It’s the annual event around which the connected vehicle developed from exciting but niche technology into something that is shaping the entire future of mobility.”

Ragg added that several new features are being added to the event this year, including several round-table discussions and even speed networking.

“In the self-learning era for auto, no one company or single part of the value chain can do this alone. We are proud to offer the forum for everyone to unite together,” he said, adding that he promises this year’s event will address every pressing question facing the industry today, including automation, business strategy, HMI, cybersecurity, data exchange, smart cities and more.

Key topics to be addressed this year include:

• Pivoting from Metal to Mobility: Creating customer-first products and services, such as dynamic leasing and in-car payments. Engaging consumers and diversifying revenue streams to unlock the ‘new auto business.’
• Test Track or Highway? From technology development (perception and AI) to overcoming societal barriers (regulation and trust), map out the billions of miles required to validate autonomous vehicles. What’s the risk/reward ratio?
• Cybersecurity Never Sleeps: With auto attack surfaces proliferating, collaborate with regulators, associations and partners to create best practices for end-to-end cybersecurity.
• Next-Gen Wireless Infrastructure: Evaluate 5G vs. LTE vs. DSRC for the rollout of data-thirsty IVI, critical OTA services and future-proofed ADAS. Which spectrums deliver on speed, safety and security?
• Build the Smart Urban Ecosystem: Think beyond the car and transportation silos in a data-sharing urban mobility mix. Keep auto brands relevant as cities invest millions to become sustainable and smart.

Among the more than 150 leading experts scheduled to attend the event are:

• Dieter May, Senior Vice President Digital Business Models, BMW
• Burkhard Huhnke, Senior Vice President, E-Mobility, Volkswagen of America
• Jeffrey Massimilla, Chief Product Cybersecurity Officer, General Motors
• Kirk Steudle, Director, Michigan DoT
• Mircea Gradu, Executive Director, Engineering and Quality, Hyundai Motor America
• Robert Grant, Director of Government Relations, Lyft
• Ken Stewart, Chief Business & Technology Officer, Karma Automotive
• Paul DeLong, CEO, car2go N.A.
• James Fish, Chief Innovation Officer, Bosch

The event’s full program can be viewed here.

Register to attend this year’s event online. Automaker and government passes are complimentary.

DRIVERLESSTRANSPORTATION.COM READERS CAN GET A $150 DISCOUNT PER PASS WITH THE PROMO CODE “TUDDT.”

Follow the conversation at #TUDetroit.

Connected, Autonomous Vehicles On Display in Northern Virginia

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Jennifer van der Kleut

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Staff and elected officials from Fairfax County in northern Virginia were treated to an up-close look at connected and driverless car technology at a special event last week on May 3.

DriverlessTransportation.com and our sister company, eTrans Systems, which manufactures connected-vehicle software, took part in the event, which examined the logistics and benefits of advancing the technology and also offered test rides in prototype vehicles.

Representatives from Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI), Tesla Motors, eTrans Systems and the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) brought vehicles with connected and semi-autonomous technology to demonstrate how they work and to show off some of the benefits.

eTrans Systems showed off some of its V2I technology (vehicle-to-infrastructure) on test rides in a large, closed-off parking lot at the Fairfax County Government Center. Through a tablet mounted on the dashboard, riders could see when the system warned the driver if he was going over the speed limit or when the road was about to curve, and informed him of how soon an approaching traffic signal was going to change or when a collision with another vehicle was possible.

Following the demonstration rides, Fairfax County elected officials convened a discussion panel, moderated by David Zipper from the D.C.-based startup incubator 1776, and featuring representatives from eTrans, VTTI, VDOT and the consulting firm RK&K.

John Estrada, founder of DriverlessTransportation.com and CEO of eTrans, began remarks by reminding everyone that some autonomous vehicles are already present in Fairfax County and many other spots around the globe.

“Elevators are autonomous vehicles,” he pointed out. “And anyone who has ever traveled in or out of Dulles Airport has ridden in an autonomous tram.”

Estrada said he thinks the key to slowly introducing the technology to the masses is by starting it much that way-by limiting it to smaller, controlled areas in which they can be the only mode of transportation. He offered the nearby shopping and business districts of Tysons Corner as an example, as well as a few busier spots in Reston such as Reston Town Center and up and down the Sunrise Valley corridor.

In addition to providing a valuable opportunity to perfect the technology in a smaller, controlled environment, autonomous vehicles could also help solve the widespread “last mile” problem of public transit in such areas. This refers to how some people shy away from mass transit like Metro, buses or the subway because it only gets them so far, and then they have no way to get the “last mile” to their needed destination.

Dwight Farmer of RK&K, who previously worked for decades as a planning commissioner in Hampton Roads, Virginia, continued the conversation by pointing out many benefits that municipalities like Fairfax County could enjoy with the advent of autonomous vehicles and V2I and V2V (vehicle-to-vehicle) communications.

For example, if safe spacing between vehicles could be reduced, the capacity on our highways could double, Farmer said. This refers to the idea that the distance between cars could be automated through technology so that cars could safely travel very close together without the danger of collision, and the constant start-and-stop that often accompanies gridlock traffic.

Farmer added, with automated safe spacing, cars could also safely increase their speeds by 20 percent, getting people to their destinations even faster and more smoothly.

And, with fewer crashes, those municipalities could save a great deal of money that is normally spent on crash response, which could then be rerouted for much-needed infrastructure improvements.

“I think we’re about to witness extraordinary times,” Farmer concluded.

Moderator Dave Zipper agreed.

“I think [connected and driverless vehicles] are going to bring about the most exciting change in mobility since the Model Ts were first rolled out in 1910,” he said.

Images by Jennifer van der Kleut for DriverlessTransportation.com

News Roundup: Volkswagen Shows Off Sedric the Level-5 Autonomous Car in China, Major Players Weigh In on California’s Proposed Driverless Testing Policies, and More

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A look at some of the biggest news stories to come out of the driverless and connected-car world this past week:

Major players weigh in on California’s proposed self-driving testing policies

Representatives from major players in the autonomous drive game, such as Apple, Uber, Tesla Motors and Ford, have been sending comments to California officials on what changes they would like to see made in the Golden State’s proposed policies for testing self-driving vehicles. In particular, Apple wants to change the way companies report “disengagements,” which we assume refers to accidents or collisions. Tesla wrote that they disapprove of the idea of barring testing of vehicles that weigh more than 10,000 pounds. Uber said it should be allowed for people to pay to ride in an autonomous vehicle with a driver behind the wheel in order to provide the company with honest feedback. Tesla also warned that restrictive policies would encourage developers to leave the state. Read more from Business Insider.

 

What to do with the ‘ocean of data’ connected and driverless cars will create each day?

Barclays analyst Brian Johnson said recently that as more and more cars are outfitted with sensors, cameras and LiDAR, the more data they will begin to generate. In fact, a single autonomous car will be capable of generating as much as 100 gigabytes of data per second. “Assuming the entire U.S. fleet of vehicles - 260 million vehicles - has a similar data generation, it would create an ocean of data. To put it in context, one hour’s worth of raw data across the entire U.S. fleet would be around 5,800 exabytes in size,” Johnson said. One exabyte is equivalent to one million terrabytes. That presents a wealth of problems when it comes to the storage, management and analysis of that much data. Many big companies like Tesla, Delphi and Intel have ideas about how to tackle this problem. One idea is “edge analytics,” where information is analyzed close to the sensor itself rather than being sent elsewhere through the cloud. Read more from CNBC.

 

Volkswagen wows with ‘Sedric’ Level 5 autonomous concept car in Shanghai

We first saw “Sedric” the Level-5 autonomous car in March, when Volkswagen showed off renderings of the concept car. Now, Volkswagen is showing off the real thing. The company recently took Sedric to China to show it off at the Auto Shanghai 2017 show. The car is capable of full Level-5 self-driving, and in fact executives said all a passenger has to do it climb in, press a single button to start the car, and then control it throughout the rest of the trip via voice commands. The car has no brakes, controls or pedals. In fact, the car features no “cockpit” at all. See more from Automotive Tires and Parts.

Photo: Interior of Volkswagen’s ‘Sedric’ car / Credit: Volkswagen

 

Hear From Elected Officials and Tech Innovators and Take Test Rides at Fairfax County, Virginia’s Autonomous Vehicle Event

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Jennifer van der Kleut

Fairfax County, Virginia is working on positioning itself at the forefront of transportation technology by hosting an autonomous and connected vehicle event.

On Wednesday, May 3 the county will bring together elected officials, transportation experts and technology developers to discuss the future of transportation in the region in a moderated panel as well as offer demonstration rides.

Among the elected officials attending will be Chairman Sharon Bulova and Supervisor John Foust from the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.

“Virginia has positioned itself as a leader for technological innovation,” Bulova said this week. “With top researchers road testing their products here, local companies have already begun investing in and advancing this technology and contributing to growth in our economy.”

Among the other panelists will be representatives from the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI). The institute operates one of the commonwealth’s largest “smart roads,” which is 2.2 miles long and includes three bridges, and allows developers to test autonomous and connected vehicles. Controlled weather stations and varying pavement conditions allow for testing in abnormal conditions.

Many Fairfax County officials say they think innovative technology such as self-driving capabilities and vehicle-to-vehicle communications could benefit the local region in countless ways.

“I think it’s an open road when it comes to how driverless cars will impact the county and country as a whole,” said Supervisor Foust, who chairs Fairfax County’s Economic Advisory Commission. “There are huge economic, safety, environmental and mobility benefits.”

There are many experts who theorize that driverless cars can reduce congestion, reduce the need for so much parking in busier cities, and help reduce the mounting costs brought about by thousands of vehicle accidents each year.

“I’ve seen reports that say the economic impact could be upwards of $1 trillion. Self-driving cars could also improve safety, reducing insurance rates. And, this technology could save millions in fuel consumption,” Foust added. “We’re also hopeful that this technology will benefit the mobility needs of our seniors and people with disabilities.”

Members of the public are invited to come out to the Fairfax County Government Center, located at 12000 Government Center Parkway in Fairfax, on Wednesday, May 3 from 12-5 p.m. The event will offer refreshments and networking opportunities at the start, followed by the panel, open discussions, and demonstration rides in test vehicles at both the start and finish.

Among the featured panelists will be John Estrada, the CEO of eTrans Systems, a Fairfax-based company that manufacturers connected-vehicle software and technology. Estrada is also the founder of DriverlessTransportation.com. Estrada will be displaying and demonstrating some of eTrans Systems’ connected-vehicle technology and offering demo rides during the event.

Space is limited, so advance registration is recommended. People can register through the Fairfax County government website.

News Roundup: Zoox Hires Top NHTSA Safety Expert, New Study Puts Ford at Top of Driverless Game, and More

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Jennifer van der Kleut

A roundup of recent headlines to come out of the driverless and connected-car world over the past week:

Innovate UK opens up applications for CAV project funding

Innovate UK will award up to 55 million pounds to the organization that designs “the world’s most effective Connected Autonomous Vehicles (CAV) testing ecosystem.” Read more details online.

 

Zoox hires former head of NHTSA

Autonomous car startup Zoox announced it has hired Mark Rosekind, the former head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), to be its new chief safety innovation officer. Industry analysts say this is a bold move by Zoox, and shows the San Francisco-based startup recognizes how big of a role regulation will play in the future adoption of autonomous technology. Zoox said Rosekind will lead the company’s efforts to “safely develop, test and deploy autonomous vehicles.” Zoox envisions fleets of autonomous vehicles in urban centers, and has developed “a full-stack system comprising both hardware and software.” Under Rosekind, the NHTSA previously issued voluntary guidelines for automakers and others in the self-driving space last September for the technology behind self-driving cars. Read more from Reuters.

 

Irish engineering students show off autonomous vehicle projects

Third-year students at Trinity College Dublin have been working to “explore and develop novel concept applications” for autonomous vehicles. The students showed off some of their project ideas at the Science Gallery of Dublin on Monday. Projects included an autonomous ambulance that could increase response times; an autonomous bus that could pick up elderly people from their homes and features a door and seats that are more accessible for the mobility-impaired; a logistics system for autonomously navigating airplanes on runways; and a sports car that is more friendly and accessible to the disabled. Additionally, one of the projects featured a wheel system that eliminated the need for traditional suspensions in cars. Read more from NewsTalk.com.

 

New study ranks companies in order of their autonomous vehicle progress

A new study by Navigant Research indicated Ford Motor Co. is currently winning the race when it comes to driverless cars. In a close second place was General Motors, followed by Renault-Nissan and Daimler. Google’s Waymo came in seventh, and Tesla Motors came in at twelfth. Uber, which has been having some difficulty with its autonomous car program, came in at sixteenth and was “docked points for having neither good production strategy nor good technology.” Uber’s self-driving car testing program recently had to be halted for three days while they investigated a serious crash in Arizona. The company is also currently involved in a lawsuit, in which Google’s Waymo has accused them of stealing its technology. The study recognized that ride-hailing companies like Uber are less likely to want to manufacture their own autonomous technology, and instead usually prefer to partner with other companies, though. Read more from NESN Fuel and USA Today.

Image: Zoox concept car, courtesy of Zoox