Volkswagen and Microsoft are collaborating on autonomous vehicles, with the two behemoths planning to work on an Automated Driving Platform. Announced today, the deal will see the VW Group and Microsoft create a cloud-based system for self-driving vehicles as well as advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), all tapping Microsoft Azure for compute, AI, and storage.
The whirr of electric motors is increasingly familiar as we shift away from internal combustion, but autonomous vehicles may need a soundtrack of their own, a new project by Volvo and partners concludes. Focusing on how passengers in self-driving cars will build trust in autonomous systems, as well as ways to use sound to avoid motion sickness, the two year project has come up with a recipe for a "sonic soul" that could make future transportation feel less alien.
News about Apple's highly-anticipated autonomous electric vehicle has been on a roller coaster ride in the past weeks. News first broke out that Hyundai was in talks with Apple which the carmaker later recanted and denied. And then Kia came on the scene, again stirring up a storm of speculation and theories. On Friday, the latest word is that those talks have stalled and now both carmakers are saying that they are not involved in Apple Car development talks in the first place.
It has definitely been a busy week so far for Apple, at least as far as rumors about its electric vehicle are concerned. From the engine platform to potential partners, it seems that the stage is slowly being set for the so-called Apple Car. There is still some uncertainty, of course, on which car manufacturer the iPhone maker will go with but, according to the latest scoop. a partnership with Hyundai-Kia is more likely to result in a driver-less EV made in the US.
The long-standing rumors of an Apple car keep gaining traction, with the Cupertino firm's supposed collaboration with Hyundai helping add some potential specifications to the upcoming electric vehicle. The subject of speculation and leaks for several years now, Apple's car project - known as "Project Titan" internally - got more serious in early January, when Hyundai seemingly confirmed that the two companies were in talks about a partnership.
Qualcomm is firmly embedded in phones, and now it wants to dominate the car dashboard, with multiple launches today that should push 5G-connected vehicles, Alexa-powered infotainment, and eventually autonomous driving into the mainstream. Star of the show is the 4th generation Snapdragon Automotive Cockpit Platforms, designed to unlock features like augmented reality and artificial intelligence for the road.
Sony has been teasing a futuristic autonomous car known as the Vision-S concept car that many hoped signaled some sort of production intent. Sony recently confirmed that it has no plans to mass-produce or sell the Vision-S to consumers. Sony has said that it won't become an automaker and that the Vision-S is simply a platform for testing autonomous technology and experimentation with PlayStation for cars.
The rules for autonomous cars in the US are being updated, with the NHTSA announcing an overhaul that addresses driverless vehicles with no traditional controls, and AVs that aren't designed to carry people at all. Billed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration as an "historic step" that should help remove regulatory barriers to deploying autonomous vehicles, it also exempts some types of AV from certain crash-testing.
Cruise AV, the GM-backed autonomous vehicle startup aiming to replace cabs with driverless electric pods, has brought in the big guns as it readies for a broad robotaxi rollout. Gil West, former Delta Air Lines Chief Operating Officer, has joined Cruise as its new COO, where he'll be responsible for figuring out how to launch autonomy at scale.
For years, Apple has been repeatedly rumored to be setting its sights on self-driving cars. Those rumors seem to have come to a head in the past few weeks, with more concrete talks of Apple's plans, especially in the battery department. The latest word now is that Apple is in talks with South Korean car manufacturer Hyundai and, judging by how the latter's share immediately jumped, interest in this venture is pretty high, as are the expectations around Apple's self-driving car that may not even appear until 2028.
Waymo is drawing a line in the sand for driverless terminology, announcing today that it will no longer refer to its vehicles as "self-driving" and arguing that the industry needs more consistency in how it refers to cars that can operate themselves. Though the language change may seem slight, the Alphabet-owned company concedes, it's actually key to making sure human drivers know just what is and isn't required from them in future vehicles.
The media frenzy around self-driving vehicles has mostly been drowned out by this year's more pressing concerns. That said, the need for contactless ways to transport goods has actually become even more important exactly because of those concerns. Deliveries have become more common, especially in places where movement has been restricted but human drivers and couriers still pose a health risk these days. It's pretty opportune, then, that Nuro just received California's deploy permit that allows it to commercially operate its autonomous vehicles to make deliveries in two counties.