J.B. Hunt Transport Services, one of the largest supply chain solutions providers in North America, Bridgestone Americas, and Kodiak Robotics, a leading autonomous trucking company, marked a successful ongoing weekly delivery collaboration that has surpassed 50,000 autonomous long-haul trucking miles, incorporating Kodiak autonomous trucks to ship Bridgestone passenger car tires... Read more →

Zeekr and Mobileye plan to accelerate technology localization in China, integrate Mobileye technologies into the next-generation Zeekr models, and further their driving safety and automation there and in the global market. Zeekr is the global premium electric mobility technology brand from Geely Holding Group. Mobileye is a leading developer of... Read more →

Helm.ai, a provider of AI software for high-end ADAS, Level 4 autonomous driving, and robotics, launched a multi-sensor generative AI foundation model for simulating the entire autonomous vehicle stack. WorldGen-1 synthesizes highly realistic sensor and perception data across multiple modalities and perspectives simultaneously, extrapolates sensor data from one modality to... Read more →

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has signed a document introducing an experimental legal regime in Moscow aimed at launching the country’s first driverless tram service for passenger travel. The initiative will allow for the introduction of Russia’s first self-driving tram. The document was prepared by the Ministry of Economic Development... Read more →

Atlas Energy Solutions—a leading proppant producer and proppant logistics provider, serving primarily the Permian Basin of West Texas and New Mexico—and Kodiak Robotics have entered into an agreement whereby Kodiak will outfit new Atlas high-capacity trucks with Kodiak’s autonomous driving technology. The two companies have already completed their first driverless... Read more →

Toyota Research Institute (TRI) and Stanford Engineering—which have collaborated on research to make driving safer—announced a world first in driving research: autonomously drifting two cars in tandem. The experiments automate a motorsports maneuver called “drifting,” where a driver precisely controls a vehicle’s direction after breaking traction by spinning the rear... Read more →

Luminar, a leading global automotive technology company, launched Sentinel, its full-stack software suite, following five years of developments in software and AI systems. The Sentinel solution enables automakers to accelerate development of advanced safety and autonomous functionality on vehicles, and includes Proactive Safety, Perception, 3D Mapping and Localization, Simulation, and... Read more →

Modern, automated driver assistance systems require a large number of sensors in order to analyze the vehicle’s environment precisely and derive safe driving maneuvers. To further advance the development of these ADAS and AD solutions, ZF has developed the cloud-based and AI-enabled validation service ZF Annotate. Precise and reliable data... Read more →

The Yole Group forecasts that the global automotive LiDAR market will grow from US$538 million in 2023 to US$3,632 million by 2029, with a CAGR of 38% over this period. In 2022, the market was at a crucial junction. At the time, Yole Group identified significant issues between the PC... Read more →

Uber Freight and Aurora Innovation are launching Premier Autonomy, a new program providing early access to more than 1 billion of Aurora’s driverless miles to Uber Freight carriers through 2030. The program is the latest in their longstanding partnership to integrate and deploy autonomous trucks on the Uber Freight network... Read more →

BMW received approval for a combination of a Level 2 driving assistance system (the BMW Highway Assistant) and a Level 3 system in the form of the BMW Personal Pilot L3 in the same vehicle. The optional BMW Personal Pilot L3 is available exclusively in Germany priced at €6,000 (incl.... Read more →

With the introduction of an autonomous transport vehicle at its press plant, BMW Group Plant Regensburg is moving forward with digitalization and automation of its manufacturing processes, thereby taking a further step towards the digital and intelligently connected BMW iFACTORY. The driverless platform truck, with its electric drive train, will... Read more →

TIER IV, a developer of open-source software and autonomous driving technology, and Suzuki have entered into a capital and business alliance aimed at accelerating the development and commercialization of autonomous driving technology to enhance regional mobility solutions. By combining TIER IV’s scalable software platforms with Suzuki’s expertise in manufacturing, the... Read more →

Nissan has commenced demonstrations of a prototype vehicle equipped with its in-house-developed, autonomous drive technologies—showcasing progress in its goal towards rolling out autonomous mobility services within fiscal year 2027. The Nissan LEAF prototype vehicle incorporates 14 cameras, 10 radars and 6 LIDAR sensors. It demonstrates Nissan’s progress in the field... Read more →

Moscow has begun testing an autonomous tram. In the initial phase, a driver is still present at the controls on the road. Within the depot, the tram operates completely autonomously. During the test phase, it will run on the 10th tram route without passengers. In the next phase, by the... Read more →

Hyundai Motor and autonomous driving software company Plus unveiled the first Level 4 autonomous Class 8 hydrogen fuel cell electric truck in the US at the Advanced Clean Transportation (ACT) Expo. A result of the collaboration between Hyundai Motor and Plus, Hyundai Motor’s XCIENT Fuel Cell truck, equipped with Plus... Read more →

DANNAR will reveal its latest Mobile Power Station (MPS) platform option at the Advanced Clean Transportation Expo (ACT Expo), North America’s premier event for advanced vehicle technology. DANNAR will feature the Mobile Power Station (MPS) and the new Gen2 MPS 480 3-Phase option, which increases total energy export capacity, expands... Read more →

Daimler Truck unveiled the battery-electric autonomous Freightliner eCascadia technology demonstrator. The truck is based on a production battery-electric Freightliner eCascadia and is equipped with Torc’s autonomous driving software and the latest Level 4 sensor and compute technology. Torc Robotics is Daimler Truck’s independent subsidiary for autonomous virtual driver technology. While... Read more →

Geely and Foretellix, a leading provider of safety-driven Verification & Validation (V&V;) solutions for Autonomous Vehicles (AV), announced a strategic partnership to enable safe large-scale deployment of AVs while reducing Geely’s R&D; costs and increasing development efficiency. Foretellix and Geely will collaborate to integrate Foretellix’ Foretify platform with Geely’s development... Read more →

Hesai Technology released its new ultra-wide field of view (FOV), long-range lida: the ATX. With a longer detection range, higher resolution, and wider FOV, ATX empowers intelligent vehicles with excellent 3D perception. This new lidar utilizes Hesai’s advanced 4th-generation technology platform, with comprehensive upgrades to its laser transceiver module and... Read more →

Hyundai Motor Company and Kia Corporation unveiled the new design of their DAL-e Delivery robot. This robot, based on the delivery robot introduced in December 2022, is expected to improve delivery performance, particularly in complex settings, such as offices and shopping malls. Drawing from the insights gained from Hyundai Motor... Read more →

Following a pilot phase with road testing in Germany and the US, Volkswagen ADMT GmbH, part of Volkswagen AG, is announcing a cooperation agreement with the technology company Mobileye Global Inc. Mobileye will develop and supply software, hardware components and digital maps for the self-driving ID. Buzz AD. The main... Read more →

NVIDIA announced that leading companies across the transportation sector have adopted the NVIDIA DRIVE Thor centralized car computer to power their next-generation consumer and commercial fleets—from new energy vehicles and trucks to robotaxis, robobuses and last-mile autonomous delivery vehicles. DRIVE Thor is an in-vehicle computing platform architected for generative AI... Read more →

Southwest Research Institute has developed off-road autonomous driving tools with a focus on stealth for the military and agility for space and agriculture clients. The vision-based system pairs stereo cameras with novel algorithms, eliminating the need for lidar and active sensors. We reflected on the toughest machine vision challenges and... Read more →

NHTSA has commissioned five research projects with the aim of advancing the safe deployment of vehicle crash avoidance technologies, including ADAS and automated driving systems—in particular those that respond to specific crash imminent situations. Test consultancy DRI has been awarded more than $5 million to conduct the research. The five... Read more →

American Rheinmetall Vehicles and Rheinmetall Canada successfully conducted a live-fire capability demonstration for the US Marine Corps (USMC) in Fort Clinton, Ohio to highlight the capabilities of the Rheinmetall Mission Master SP autonomous, unmanned ground vehicle (A-UGV) paired with the Fieldranger Remotely Controlled Weapon Station (RCWS). The Rheinmetall Mission Master... Read more →

AutoFlight, an eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing) company, has flown the first inter-city electric air-taxi demonstration flight between the southern Chinese cities of Shenzhen and Zhuhai. AutoFlight’s five-seater Prosperity eVTOL aircraft autonomously flew the 50km (31 miles) route from Shenzhen to Zhuhai. The flight from Shenzhen to Zhuhai across... Read more →

Nissan Motor announced its roadmap to commercialize its inhouse-developed, autonomous-drive mobility services (SAE Level 4 equivalent) in Japan. Nissan has been testing business models for mobility services in Japan and abroad since 2017. These vicinities include the Minato Mirai area of Yokohama and Namie town, Fukushima Prefecture, where a manned... Read more →

Hyundai Motor Company and Kia Corporation are partnering with KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology) to develop next-generation autonomous driving sensors. Together, Hyundai Motor, Kia and KAIST will establish the ‘Hyundai Motor Group-KAIST On-Chip LiDAR Joint Research Lab’ at KAIST in Daejeon to develop LiDAR sensors for advanced... Read more →

GM is adding an additional group of highways to its hands-free technology Super Cruise, bringing the total to about 750,000 miles (1.2 million kilometers) of compatible roads across the US and Canada. This new batch of compatible roads makes Super Cruise the largest truly hands-free operating domain in North America—nearly... Read more →

The US Army has extended its long-running relationship with the University of Michigan’s Automotive Research Center, reaching a new five-year agreement of up to $100 million to boost work on autonomous vehicle technologies. This potentially doubles the federal government’s financial investment with ARC since the last agreement, reached in 2019.... Read more →

From more than 200 miles away, Purdue University researchers were able to test their autonomous vehicle (AV) technology using the University of Michigan’s real-world test track in Ann Arbor, and challenge it using both real and virtual cars and pedestrians. This first remote use of the Mcity Test Facility came... Read more →

Kia Corporation and Uber have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at this week’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, committing the two companies to collaborate on Kia’s planned development and deployment of PBVs. (Earlier post.) With the goal of enhancing electric vehicle offerings available on Uber’s mobility platform... Read more →

The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company and Gatik, a leader in autonomous middle-mile B2B logistics, announced the expansion of the industry’s first, successful integration of tire intelligence technology into an autonomous driving system. Gatik's autonomous fleet, consisting of Class 3–7 box trucks, has made significant strides in enhancing the safety,... Read more →

Daimler Truck has selected Aeva as the supplier of long- and ultra-long range LiDAR for Daimler’s series production autonomous commercial vehicle program. Under the production collaboration, Aeva will supply its latest Aeva Atlas automotive grade 4D LiDAR technology to Daimler Truck and collaborate with Torc Robotics, an independent subsidiary of... Read more →

Lotus Robotics, the self-driving technology unit of Lotus, is showcasing its latest offerings at the 2024 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. The company provides a range of autonomous software and services for businesses wanting to deploy self-driving technology in their operations safely, securely and efficiently. These solutions are... Read more →

Together with the Volkswagen subsidiary Cariad, Bosch is testing automated valet charging. This solution, which is based on Bosch’s automated valet parking system, guides electric vehicles driverlessly to an unoccupied parking space furnished with a charge spot, where a charging robot recharges them automatically. Once recharging is complete, the vehicle... Read more →

Pebble, a California-based startup, has selected the NVIDIA DRIVE Orin system-on-a-chip to power its flagship product, the Pebble Flow electric travel trailer, with production starting before the end of 2024. Pebble’s mission is to bring ease and accessibility to the RV industry by integrating technology that will automate the hardest... Read more →

Continental and Aurora have finalized the design and architecture of the future fallback system and hardware of the Aurora Driver—an SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) Level 4 autonomous driving system—that Continental plans to start production of in 2027. The finalized hardware design comes less than a year after the companies... Read more →

LG Electronics (LG) will hold a private demonstration for major automakers at CES 2024, introducing a new cross-domain platform integrating Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS), Automated Driving (AD) and In-Vehicle Infotainment (IVI) technologies. Developed by LG in collaboration with Magna, the mobility platform is expected to arrive on the market... Read more →

HL Mando, a South Korean company specializing in components for electric cars and self-driving vehicles, is developing an autonomous valet parking robot named Parkie. The company plans to conduct field testing for Parkie early next year. Parkie, a sleek 3.5-inch-high (90mm) flat platform, is designed to park various vehicle types... Read more →

Mercedes-Benz is the first automobile manufacturer to receive permits for special exterior marker lights for automated driving in the states of California and Nevada. The exemption permit for California is for testing vehicles and initially limited to two years. The Nevada permit applies to Mercedes-Benz Model Year 2026 production vehicles... Read more →

HERE Technologies, the location data and technology platform, announced the usage of the HERE HD Live Map onboard BMW’s new 7 Series with “BMW Personal Pilot” Level 3 highly automated driving function. This marks a key milestone in the companies’ longstanding collaboration on high-definition mapping for advanced driving assistance and... Read more →

The US Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT or the Department) announced a $25 million funding opportunity (RAVTRANS) for its Rural Autonomous Vehicle research program. Accredited universities are eligible to apply for this competitive, six-year cooperative agreement program. Recipients will use RAV program funding to conduct research regarding the benefits and... Read more →

SafeAI, a developer of autonomous vehicle technology for heavy industry, and Obayashi Corporation, a leading construction company, unveiled a retrofit zero-emission, autonomous haul truck. The Caterpillar 725 is the first haul truck retrofitted with autonomous and electrification technology. (Earlier post.) While autonomy and electrification have been implemented independently, this is... Read more →

Israel-based Foretellix, a provider of safety-driven verification and validation (V&V;) solutions for Automated Driving Systems and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), closed an $85-million Series C funding round, bringing its total raised capital to $135 million. The funding round was led by 83North. TNew investors Temasek and Isuzu joined Woven... Read more →

Michigan State University (MSU) is entering into a two-year agreement with Politecnico di Milano in Italy, and the University of Alabama (which is collaborating with the PoliMOVE team) to participate in the Indy Autonomous Challenge. MSU is the first and only team from Michigan to race in the IAC series,... Read more →

Magna is enhancing its automated driving capabilities by joining NorthStar—Telia Sweden and Ericsson’s 5G innovation program for industrial enterprises. As part of the agreement, Telia and Ericsson have built a dedicated, private 5G network at Magna’s test track located in Vårgårda, Sweden, where new cutting-edge Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS)... Read more →

The Riverside, California City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday (11/28) to finalize an agreement with the all-electric autonomous shuttle company Ohmio to move its international headquarters from New Zealand to Riverside and manufacture the vehicles there. The company is touring multiple potential sites in Riverside for its facility. Ohmio also... Read more →

Hyundai Motor Group and Motional announced that Hyundai and Motional’s jointly developed all-electric IONIQ 5 robotaxi will be manufactured at the newly opened Hyundai Motor Group Innovation Center Singapore (HMGICS). (Earlier post.) The first production-ready IONIQ 5 robotaxis will be deployed as part of Motional’s commercial services in the US,... Read more →