Pony.ai to Launch Robotaxis in China With Ontime, the Ride-Hailing App of Automaker GAC Group
Autonomous driving technology developer Pony.ai is expanding its presence in China in a new partnership with automaker GAC, which is China’s fifth largest carmaker and a longtime Pony.ai partner. As part of the close collaboration with GAC, Pony.ai will deploy its autonomous vehicles on the automaker’s "Ontime" ride-hailing app. The new collaboration with GAC will help to accelerate the commercialization of autonomous mobility in China.
Eric Walz2022-04-26 08:30 PT
Toyota’s Woven Planet Holdings, which is working on advanced technology for the automaker including autonomous driving, is taking a new camera-based approach in advancing its self-driving development without the use of expensive vehicle sensors such as lidar, Reuters reported on Wednesday. The team at Woven Planet views it as a "breakthrough" that may help drive down costs and better scale Toyota’s autonomous driving technology.
Eric Walz2022-04-06 10:45 PT
StradVision, a company developing AI-powered computer vision technology for autonomous vehicles and advanced driver assist systems (ADAS), announced today that German automotive technology supplier ZF Friedrichshafen AG ("ZF") has acquired a 6% stake in the company. As part of the investment, the two companies will expand their portfolios of perception technology for autonomous vehicles.
Eric Walz2022-03-29 11:00 PT
Chipmaker Intel Corp plans to take its autonomous driving unit Mobileye public. The company said on Monday that Mobileye, which Intel acquired for $15.3 billion in 2017, has confidentially filed paperwork for an initial public offering in the United States. The IPO could value Intel's self-driving technology unit at more than $50 billion.
Eric Walz2022-03-07 11:55 PT
China’s XPeng Sets Up a New Autonomous Driving Company for Robotaxis
Electric vehicle startup XPeng has established an autonomous driving subsidiary named “Guangzhou Pengxu Autonomous Driving Technology Co., Ltd.” that will focus on commercial mobility services, Chinese news outlet Gasgoo reports. During Xpeng’s Q3 financial report conference in Nov 2021, XPeng chairman and CEO He Xiaopeng, said the company plans to launch its own robotaxi service in the second half of 2022.
FutureCar Staff 2022-02-22 16:00 PT
The Apollo Go robotaxi service launched by China's internet technology giant Baidu Inc. has expanded to Shenzhen’s Nanshan District, providing autonomous robotaxi services to commuters there for the first time. Shenzhen becomes the seventh major city where Baidu has introduced its robotaxi ride-hailing services in China, following previous launches in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chongqing, Changsha, and Cangzhou.
Eric Walz2022-02-17 16:15 PT
Toyota Awarded More U.S. Patents Than Any Other Automaker in 2021
Japan’s Toyota Motor Corp was awarded the most U.S. patents than any other automaker in 2021, according to a recent annual ranking by the Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO), an industry trade group for owners of patents, trademarks, copyrights and other trade secrets. A majority of the patents secured by Toyota were related to electric vehicles, battery technology, autonomous driving systems, software and AI.
Eric Walz2022-01-31 09:45 PT
Baidu & Geely’s New Smart Electric Vehicle Company JiDU Raises $400 Million in Series A Round
Newly formed intelligent electric vehicle company JIDU announced that it has closed on $400 million in Series A financing. The funding round was backed by China’s internet giant Baidu Inc and its strategic partner automaker Zhejiang Geely Holding Group ("Geely"). JIDU is committed to creating a revolutionary electric vehicle that combines “intelligence and emotion”, which it says will lead to a profound change in personal transportation.
Eric Walz2022-01-26 09:00 PT
Automotive supplier Bosch and the Volkswagen Group’s automotive software subsidiary CARIAD have agreed to form an extensive partnership to jointly develop a state-of-the-art, standardized software platform for future Volkswagen vehicles. The goal of the new partnership is to make SAE Level-2 and 3 autonomous driving capabilities for vehicles sold under the Volkswagen Group brands suitable for volume production.
FutureCar Staff 2022-01-25 16:15 PT
Honda Invests in Software Startup Helm.ai to Strengthen its Computer Vision and AI Development
Honda Motor Co. has made an investment in Silicon Valley-based software company Helm.ai in order to strengthen its software development in the fields of computer vision and artificial intelligence (AI). Helm.ai has been collaborating with Honda since 2019 through its "Honda Xcelerator," a global open innovation program that supports startups working on innovative technology.
Eric Walz2022-01-21 11:00 PT
Autonomous driving technology developer Pony.ai, which is planning to launch a robotaxi service in China using a fleet of self-driving Toyota Sienna minivans, announced the development of a complete autonomous driving computing unit built on NVIDIA’s powerful Orin system-on-a-chip (SoC). The processor is Pony.ai’s 6th generation autonomous driving system and is designed for automotive-grade mass production.
Eric Walz2022-01-20 12:15 PT
Mercedes-Benz to Partner With Luminar on LiDAR for Autonomous Driving
Luxury car maker Mercedes Benz today announced its is partnering with lidar developer Luminar Inc to supply lidar for its future autonomous driving systems. Mercedes-Benz will leverage Luminar's lidar technology with the aim to scale the technology and integrate it into series production vehicles.
Eric Walz2022-01-20 08:45 PT
Volvo Cars announced on Wednesday that its new autonomous driving feature called “Ride Pilot” can operate safely without human oversight. The automaker plans to offer the feature on vehicles in California first, before rolling its out to other regions. The name "Ride Pilot" implies that when the car is driving on its own, Volvo Cars takes full responsibility for all of the driving tasks.
Eric Walz2022-01-06 09:15 PT
Chinese automaker BYD and self-driving technology startup Momenta have established a new joint venture to deploy autonomous driving technology across BYD car model lines. The new company, named DiPi Intelligent Mobility Co., combines BYD's capabilities as an automaker and the ability to manufacture vehicles at scale with Momenta's experience in autonomous driving.
Eric Walz2021-12-27 12:20 PT
Germany's car watchdog has cleared the semi-autonomous driving system offered by Mercedes Benz, paving the way for the luxury carmaker to begin offering its “Drive Pilot” autonomous driving system internationally. Mercedes-Benz will become the first automotive company in the world to meet the demanding legal requirements for a Level 3 system that can operate without needing a driver to pay attention to the road at all times.
Eric Walz2021-12-09 10:00 PT
Intel Corp Plans to Take its Self-Driving Unit Mobileye Public in 2022
Chipmaker Intel Corp announced on Monday its intention to take its self-driving unit Mobileye public in the U.S. in mid-2022 via an initial public offering (IPO) of newly issued Mobileye stock. According to Intel, the move will unlock the value of Mobileye for Intel shareholders by creating a separate publicly traded company.
Eric Walz2021-12-07 14:35 PT
Nvidia Corp kicked off its GTC 2021 technology conference on Tuesday with some major news and announcements from founder and CEO Jensen Huang during his opening keynote. Nvidia’s new technology to support autonomous driving includes a virtual driving assistant that can autonomously park a standard car, as well as a system to speed up the computationally intensive training of machine learning algorithms for autonomous vehicles.
Eric Walz2021-11-09 15:30 PT
Chinese autonomous driving technology developer Momenta, has closed on its latest $500 million funding that was first announced in September. The round includes new investments of $200 million from Chinese automaker SAIC Motor Corp and Yunfeng Capital, founded by Alibaba Group co-founder and billionaire Jack Ma.
FutureCar Staff 2021-11-04 09:45 PT
Chinese technology giant Baidu Inc. is developing an entire mobility ecosystem in China around self-driving vehicles as part of its Apollo autonomous driving platform. To support its plans, the company is working with China’s leading automakers to install its autonomous driving hardware during production, as opposed to modifying the vehicles after assembly. The vehicles will be used for Baidu's commercial robotaxi service called Apollo Go.
Eric Walz2021-10-28 11:30 PT
Luxury electric vehicle startup and Tesla challenger Lucid has already built the world's longest range EV with its Lucid Air sedan, but the company is not stopping there. The electric Lucid Air sedan will also include advanced driver assist features and autonomous driving capabilities. Lucid calls its advanced driver assist platform “DreamDrive” and the company has shared new details for the first time.
Eric Walz2021-10-12 11:30 PT
Tesla Challenger NIO Inc. Delivers its 200,000 Electric Vehicle, a Significant Milestone
Eric WalzMay 16, 2022 4:15 PM PT
Motional Kicks off its Robot Food Delivery Pilot With Uber Eats in Southern California
FutureCar Staff May 16, 2022 10:30 AM PT
Electric Truck Startup Bollinger Motors Partners With Roush on Commercial Platforms For EVs
Vineeth Joel PatelMay 15, 2022 7:00 AM PT
BMW Looking to Launch a New Modular EV Platform by 2025
Vineeth Joel PatelMay 14, 2022 3:00 PM PT