Toyota has revealed an e-Racer concept at the Tokyo motor show, a two-seat, fun-to-drive car designed to re-emphasis the firm’s belief that a future with autonomous cars will still have room for driving enthusiasts. The car was unveiled on stage by Toyota boss Akio Toyota, but no details – including technical or performance – were given about it beyond its name. As such, it is believed to be a concept in the truest sense, pointing merely to the fact that electric vehicles can be fun. “All those years ago the car came along and replaced the horse,” said Toyoda, “but today there are still people who own and race horses, and who have the most amazing, emotional relationships with their horses. For them, the horse remains irreplaceable. “I believe it is the same for the car, even in an age of autonomy. People will continue to be at the centre of our technical advances even as e-mobilty is rolled out.” Although the concept appears to be a static prototype, visitors to the show are able to simulate driving it around a famous race circuit of their choosing with the aid of virtual reality glasses. Alongside the e-Racer concept, Toyota is also showcasing a ‘virtual fitting function’ that can take users’ exact measurements to tailor a bespoke race suit. The e-Racer is joined on Toyota’s show stand by the second-generation of the Mirai hydrogen fuel cell saloon, the i-Road electric scooter and a new two-seat EV designed for urban
Origin: New Toyota e-Racer concept is fun, self-driving two-seater
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New self-driving BMW ad appears to promote having sex in moving vehicle
The 2021 BMW Vision iNEXT concept.Handout / BMW BMWs latest advertisement for its Vision iNext prototype a precursor, we’re told, to a near-future fully self-driving vehicle has for the first time shown off the SUV concept driving down the road with, apparently, nobody behind the wheel. Well, nobody sitting attentively in the drivers seat in an upright position, anyway.Yes, the German automakers finally gone ahead and made an actual commercial spot showing what appears to be people having sex in an autonomous vehicle.To get a little less vague, the video ad starts off with a couple getting close to each other, in what appears to be a bedroom.https://twitter.com/BMWi/status/1176149276931629056?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembedref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fd-15609724643529385794.ampproject.net%2F1909141409590%2Fframe.htmlRed and blue lights flash across their bodies, with the next sequence showing BMWs new flagship SUV driving down the street, and a police car with lights flashing driving past.The implication, here, is cruiser has no qualms with iNext zipping along with the couple inside was experiencing, uh, new moments of joy, in BMWs words.Were not sure if this is really the best tactic to drive home the point the Vision iNext offers a space where everything can be done with ease, and having a police officer drive by without noticing someone isnt behind the wheel certainly doesnt help the cause. On the other hand, sex sells, we guess.A few months ago there was a real account of people having sex in a Tesla while Autopilot was engaged. Elon Musk himself even Tweeted about it.While wed hoped Musk might have denounced the act, instead he thought it a good idea to make a joke about it. Funny, sure, but probably the dumbest thing he could have done. Considering autonomous vehicle technology is still very much in its teething stages, we probably shouldnt be jumping ahead to more adult autonomous content just
Origin: New self-driving BMW ad appears to promote having sex in moving vehicle
TomTom maps out revamp with bet on self-driving cars
A picture taken on October 13, 2017 in Toulouse shows TomTom mapping and camera car charting the streets.Pascal Pavani / AFP via Getty Once a household name for its satellite navigation for cars, TomTom has taken a back seat in recent years as smartphones, loaded with apps like Google Maps, surged in popularity.Now the Dutch digital mapping company is betting that your car needs directions more than you do. Over the past few years, TomTom has been building high-definition or dynamic maps for self-driving cars.Its a decision that could help it challenge tech platforms, like Alphabet Inc.s Google, as cars are increasingly sold with more autonomous capabilities.We used to make maps for humans, but now we make maps for robots, Alain De Taeye, member of TomToms management board, said at a journalist briefing in Amsterdam.In 2008, TomTom reported sales of more than 12 million personal navigation devices, its record high. By 2011, it announced a restructuring program that included forced lay-offs to counter lower sales. TomTom now finds itself with several deep-pocketed rivals battling for the future of car navigation, including Apple, Google and HERE Technologies, the digital mapping company controlled by BMW and other German car makers.In a blow for TomTom, longtime partner Renault and associates Nissan and Mitsubishi last year signed on with Googles Android operating system to supply standard-definition maps.On a quest to claw its way back, TomTom is ditching unwanted business lines, like the Telematics fleet-management business, and doubling down on HD maps. TomTom says its been able to differentiate itself from competitors on HD maps by being independent and not having an advertising-based business model like Googles.In addition to sensors and other features, HD maps are an important part of autonomous driving, which can incorporate different levels of human assistance from very little to none whatsoever in even the harshest weather conditions. HD maps, stored on a cars computer system, replicate every lane, guard-rail, road edge and pole that a vehicle sees, helping cars locate their positions within centimeters. Those features are critical to avoid crashing into nearby cars, but they also help the car discern which traffic light at a busy cross-section it should obey, or identify a speed sign hidden by a truck.So far, TomTom has publicly announced HD partnerships with Baidu Inc. on its Apollo driverless project, and with Renault on the carmakers SYMBIOZ autonomous driving program. It announced in March it had won multiple deals to provide HD maps to major carmakers, but declined to say which ones. Those contracts typically last more than 10 years because of ongoing service needs.TomTom collects traffic and road data on more than 67 million kilometers around the world using 600 million different devices including its mobile mapping cars, sat navs, and mobile phones. Of those roads, TomTom has so far covered only 400,000 kilometers in HD. Its HD maps are currently only available on highways in the U.S., Canada, Europe, South Korea and Japan but it is working to add more side roads as the technology
Origin: TomTom maps out revamp with bet on self-driving cars
Ex-Uber engineer Levandowski charged by U.S. with stealing self-driving car secrets
Former Uber Technologies Inc. engineer Anthony Levandowski was charged with stealing driverless-vehicle technology from Alphabet Inc.s Waymo unit, resurrecting the intrigue of the biggest legal battle to grip Silicon Valley in recent memory.The 33-count indictment announced August 27 by federal officials in California adds a new criminal chapter to the saga surrounding Waymos civil claims of trade-secret theft against Uber.Even after the companies abruptly settled the litigation in the middle of a high-stakes trial last year, questions remained about the mysterious engineer at the center of the turmoil.All of us have the right to change jobs, San Francisco U.S. Attorney David Anderson said at a press conference in San Jose. None of us has the right to fill our pockets on the way out the door. Theft is not innovation.Levandowski, 39, voluntarily surrendered to authorities and faces a maximum of 10 years in prison if hes convicted. Anderson said the governments investigation is ongoing, but he declined to discuss the probe further.Levandowski didnt steal anything from anyone, his lawyer, Miles Ehrlich, said in a statement. The indictment rehashes claims discredited in a civil case that settled more than a year and a half ago.In his initial court appearance Tuesday, Levandowski pleaded not guilty and was released by a judge for now on US$2 million bail and a condition that he wear an ankle bracelet. He was told to return to court September 4 for another bail hearing after prosecutors voiced concern that with his vast wealth and dual citizenship in France, he might try to charter a private plane and flee.Legal experts had long speculated about what prosecutors might have found after the San Francisco judge handling the Waymo lawsuit referred it for further investigation in May 2017 and the case produced streams of evidence and testimony embarrassing to Uber. Emails and texts revealed a deeply personal connection between Levandowski and Ubers then-chief executive officer, Travis Kalanick. The criminal charges largely mirror Waymos civil claims that Levandowski while he was still at the company hatched a plan in 2015 with Uber for him to steal more than 14,000 proprietary files, including the designs for lidar technology that helps driverless cars see their surroundings.Throughout the case, U.S. District Judge William Alsup said it seemed overwhelmingly clear Levandowski took confidential files from Waymo but that theres no smoking gun proof Uber illegally used the information.Uber said in a statement Tuesday that it has cooperated with the governments investigation and will continue to do so.Waymo said, We have always believed competition should be fueled by innovation, and we appreciate the work of the U.S. Attorneys Office and the FBI on this case.Pronto, Levandowskis latest autonomous vehicle venture, said Tuesday that its chief safety officer will take over as CEO as a result of the
Origin: Ex-Uber engineer Levandowski charged by U.S. with stealing self-driving car secrets
VW will invest US$2.6 billion in Ford’s self-driving arm, deepening partnership
(From L-R) Jim Hackett, president and chief executive officer, Ford Motor Company, Bryan Salesky, chief executive officer and co-founder of Argo AI LLC and Herbert Diess, chief executive officer, Volkswagen Group, pose for a picture ahead of a press conference July 12, 2019 in New York City.Johannes Eisele / Getty Volkswagen and Ford will cooperate on electric and self-driving car technology, sharing costs on a global scale to take a major step forward in the industrys disruptive transformation.VW will invest US$2.6 billion in Fords autonomous-car partner Argo AI in a deal that values the operation at more than US$7 billion, the two manufacturers said Friday in a joint statement in New York.This includes US$1 billion in funding and VW contributing its Audi US$1.6-billion Autonomous Intelligent Driving unit.While Ford and Volkswagen remain independent and fiercely competitive in the marketplace, teaming up and working with Argo AI on this important technology allows us to deliver unmatched capability, scale and geographic reach, Ford Chief Executive Officer Jim Hackett said.Unprecedented shifts facing the auto industry are forcing players to consider new partnerships and potential consolidation. VW, the worlds top automaker, offers the industrys most ambitious roll-out of electric models, while Ford, also in the top 10, is developing advanced self-driving technology with Argo.For VW, the Argo investment offers an opportunity to potentially catch up with Alphabet Inc.s Waymo, and General Motorss Cruise unit. Road tests and accumulating huge amounts of data are critical for the further development of self-driving cars, and few apart from Waymo are equipped to do it alone.It took a while to get this deal done, but its because we actually sorted out a lot of the hard problems, Bryan Salesky, Argo AIs co-founder and CEO, said in an interview. We have a clear line of sight to production, vehicle supply and we have clear line of sight to where we want to go to market and how. Besides sharing costs for the development of self-driving cars, Ford will use VWs electric-car underpinnings to form the backbone of the most aggressive rollout of electric cars in the industry, with Volkswagen spending some 30 billion euros (US$34 billion). Adding more vehicles to production lines would help gain scale and save costs, and offer Ford a platform to better comply with tougher rules on carbon-dioxide emissions in Europe.Ford will build at least one mass-market battery car in Europe starting in 2023 and deliver more than 600,000 European vehicles based on VWs platform, dubbed MEB, over six years. A second electric model for Europe is under discussion.Teaming up with its U.S. peer is one of the key initiatives of VW Chief Executive Officer Herbert Diess to overhaul the German industrial giant. Both sides reiterated on Friday the tie-up does not include entering equity ties between Ford and
Origin: VW will invest US$2.6 billion in Ford’s self-driving arm, deepening partnership
BMW and Daimler will sell self-driving cars by 2024
Daimler AG und BMW Group starten langfristige Entwicklungskooperation für automatisiertes Fahren. Daimler AG and BMW Group start long-term cooperation for automated driving.BMW BMW and Daimler announced early July theyre teaming up to bring their joint self-driving technology efforts to dealerships in less than five years.In February, the long-time rivals in the sports sedan market partnered up to develop autonomous vehicle technology that both companies would implement into their own vehicles.Now, the two automotive giants have said their plan is to have Level 4 self-driving cars ready to sell for 2024.Level 4 systems can operate without a driver in some conditions and safely stop the car in the event that the driver is unable to take control. Level 5 autonomous driving is the real goal; its at that point vehicles are able to behave and react like humans, but that level isnt expected to materialize until the end of the next decade at the earliest.For now, the vehicles will be expected to be able to handle highway driving, as well as parking. Urban areas and city centres are also in the works. As for actual vehicle implementation, the two brands are planning on making the technology scalable, which means that multiple vehicles will be able to use the same system. The sensors, computers, cloud data storage and software that controls it will be licensed out to other firms once its completed.The timeline seems to be moving along rapidly, but the brands havent forgotten about the most important thing when it comes to self-driving cars: safety. BMW and Daimler, as well as other companies, recently published a paper entitled Safety First for Automated Driving, which lays out the guidelines for safety methods and development for Level 3 and 4
Origin: BMW and Daimler will sell self-driving cars by 2024
Volvo and Uber show off production-ready self-driving vehicle
Following two years of collaboration, Volvo and Uber are ready to show off their jointly developed production car capable of driving by itself. This follows several prototypes which were built with the goal of sussing out the companies’ self-driving car development efforts. The Volvo XC90 presented today is the first production car that, in combination with Uber’s self-driving system, is allegedly capable of fully driving itself. Your author would like to take a moment to welcome his new robot overlords. An array of sensors peppered atop and built into the vehicle are designed for Uber’s self-driving system to safely operate the machine and maneuver it in an urban environment. Several back-up systems are built into the thing for both steering and braking functions plus a dose of battery back-up power. Before you rush out and throw away your driving shoes, know that even though the companies say this machine is capable of handling driving duties all on its own, they aren’t ready to let it drive to the market on its own just yet. After describing the car, they go on to say that when paired with Volvo’s vehicle platform, Uber’s self-driving system may one day allow (emphasis mine) for safe, reliable autonomous ridesharing without the need for a Mission Specialist. A Mission Specialist, if you’re wondering, is the human bag of meat hired by Uber to sit behind the wheel and take command should things go awry. The team says they are specially trained Uber employees “operating and overseeing the car” in areas designated and suitable for autonomous driving. Volvo Cars plans to use a similar autonomous base vehicle concept for the introduction of its future autonomous drive cars in the early 2020s. These technologies will apparently include features designed to enable unsupervised autonomous drive in clearly designated areas such as highways and ring roads. Let’s hope these robot overlords are more like the sentient characters in the movie Cars and less like the psychotic transport trucks in Stephen King’s Maximum
Origin: Volvo and Uber show off production-ready self-driving vehicle
VW nears self-driving deal with Ford, exits Aurora alliance
Fords promised to build an autonomous, ride-sharing car by 2021.Ford Volkswagen ended a self-driving technology partnership with Silicon Valley startup Aurora Innovation Inc. as it draws closer to a broader collaboration on autonomous cars with Ford. “The activities under our partnership have been concluded,” a VW spokesman said of its alliance with Aurora in a statement Tuesday. The German manufacturer announced the tie-up with Aurora to develop autonomous-car technology at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last year to help boost its own activities spearheaded by the Audi premium-car unit. Meanwhile, months of negotiations with Ford and its autonomous affiliate Argo AI are near fruition and a deal could be announced as early as July, people familiar with the situation said. Most of the thorniest issues have been resolved and the two companies envision a comprehensive collaboration creating a global colossus in the self-driving space, these people said. The partnership would rival Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo and General Motors’ Cruise unit in ambition and scope, according to one of the people, who asked not to be identified revealing internal discussions. Self-driving cars have emerged as key battleground between automakers and technology giants in the race to develop robo-taxis and driverless delivery vehicles. These programs require investments in the billions of dollars, while regulatory frameworks vary across the globe, complicating testing and deployment. Volkswagen and Ford, which agreed to co-produce vans and pickups earlier this year, have been discussing an investment in Argo AI, the Ford-backed autonomous vehicle startup, people familiar with the talks have said. The automakers discussed an approximate valuation for Argo of US$4 billion, one of the people said. Ford said its talks with Volkswagen are ongoing but did not provide specifics on the extent of progress. “Discussions have been productive across a number of areas. We’ll share updates as details become more firm,” it said in a statement. VW declined to comment on the status of the talks. Aurora, which raised over half a billion dollars in February from backers including Sequoia Capital and Amazon.com Inc., announced on Monday it will partner with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV to develop and deploy a fleet of self-driving commercial vehicles. The company is the brainchild of Sterling Anderson, the former director of autonomy for Tesla Inc.; Drew Bagnell from Uber Technologies Inc.; and Chris Urmson, who headed Alphabet’s self-driving car project before it was named
Origin: VW nears self-driving deal with Ford, exits Aurora alliance
People are ready for self-driving cars, study suggests
BMW announced early 2015 it would team up with FCA and Intel to put 40 self-driving test vehicles on the road by the end of 2017.BMW Driving is so yesterday. That’s the sentiment drawn from a recent study by a French agency that suggests most buyers are ready to embrace the self-driving car revolution. Capgemini, a digital consulting agency based in Paris, France, has found many people are keen to start using autonomous cars. The study, which polled 5,500 people around the world, including drivers and automotive execs, suggests most folks are looking forward to the extra time they’ll gain from using a self-driving car. Sixty-three per cent of people say they’d spend that new-found time socializing with family and friends, be it digitally on FaceTime or in real life inside of the car, while 45 per cent said they’d spend the time snoozing. Of course, there are even more, ahem, activities one could engage in inside a self-driving vehicle (we’re talking about sex, shhhh). It’s not just safety and the technical aspects of autonomous cars that will determine their adoption rate—it’s also the consumer experience, Markus Winkler, the director of the global automotive sector at Capgemini, told Automotive News. The study also found that consumers are willing to increase their spend, with 56 per cent saying they’d fork out up to 20 per cent more to have a self-driving car. Half of the people polled also felt that in the future, they’d trust their self-driving car to make safe decisions during unexpected situations, pick-up family and friends (like minors) who don’t have a license, and even run errands. The Chinese respondents were most welcoming of an autonomous future, while the British were most wary. Interestingly, the layman (a.k.a. the public) proved to be more optimistic about the potential for a self-driving future than the automotive executives interviewed, perhaps due to a general misunderstanding of the challenges facing the technology. The study also showed when it comes to accepting self-driving tech, buyers are more trusting of the bigger and more established automakers than they are of the start-ups in the field.
Origin: People are ready for self-driving cars, study suggests
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