GM’s Self-Driving Arm Cruise Granted Permit to Pick Up Passengers in its Robotaxis in California

Cruise LLC, the self-driving arm of General Motors, was granted a permit from the California Public Utilities Commission to carry passengers in its self-driving vehicles in the state. Cruise joins six other companies with a permit in California to carry passengers in self-driving vehicles, including Waymo, the company that spun out of Google’s self-driving car project.

FutureCar Staff 2020-04-04 17:05 PT

Russia's Yandex is Looking to Grow its Self-Driving Car Fleet Tenfold to Accelerate Developement

Russia's answer to Google Yandex N.V. said it is considering expanding its fleet of self-driving cars to up to 1,000 vehicles within the next two years in order to speed up the development of autonomous driving technology. Yandex hopes to start testing more than 100 of its self-driving cars on roads by the end of this year.

Eric Walz2019-09-25 14:17 PT

Recogni Raises $25 Million, the Silicon Valley Startup is Developing Edge Processing for Autonomous Vehicles

Recogni Inc., a Silicon Valley startup developing a vision-oriented artificial intelligence platform for autonomous vehicles announced today it raised $25 million in Series A funding. The company is focused on creating high-performance and low-power consuming AI edge processing for autonomous vehicles.

Eric Walz2019-09-06 15:10 PT

Florida Governor Signs Bill Allowing Self-driving Vehicles to Operate Without a Safety Driver

On Thursday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill that expands the testing and use of autonomous vehicles, allowing companies to test the vehicles without a human driver present.

FutureCar Staff 2019-07-20 17:25 PT

Autonomous Driving Startup Aurora to Acquire Lidar Company Blackmore

Aurora, a well-funded Silicon Valley-based autonomous driving startup, announced that it is acquiring lidar company Blackmore. Aurora said that it chose Blackmore because of its pioneering work in Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) lidar, a next generation lidar technology that can improve the perception capabilities of self-driving vehicles.

Eric Walz2019-06-29 18:19 PT

Toyota AI Ventures Announces New $100 Million Fund for Autonomous Mobility and Robotics

​The Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm Toyota AI Ventures announced this week a new $100 million fund dedicated to investing in early-stage startups developing new technologies such as autonomous mobility and robotics.

Eric Walz2019-06-09 12:33 PT

BMW Builds its Own IT Platform to Process Data From its Autonomous Vehicles

Self-driving vehicles generate terabytes of data, which needs to be analyzed during the development process, so that deep-learning algorithms can make safer driving decisions and improve over time. The challenge for automakers is how to sort and analyze all of this data so it can be used more efficiently for self-driving vehicles. To address this problem, BMW is built its own IT platform it calls D3.

Eric Walz2019-05-03 17:15 PT

AdaSky Raises $20 Million for its Far-Infrared Camera Technology for Self-Driving Cars

AdaSky, an Israeli-based company developing Far-Infrared technology (FIR) for the automotive industry, announced it has secured $20 million in new funding from lead investor, Sungwoo Hitech Co., Ltd, a leading global automotive supplier.

Eric Walz2018-12-23 14:09 PT

Waymo to Launch its Driverless Car Service Next Month to Challenge Uber & Lyft

Waymo is preparing to launch a commercial ride-hailing service in Arizona next month to rival Uber. For its new service, Waymo has plans to acquire up to 62,000 plug-in hybrid Pacifica minivans and 20,000 fully-electric Jaguar I-Pace SUVs to build out its commercial fleet over the next few years.

Eric Walz2018-12-20 16:55 PT

Volkswagen in Talks with Ford to Invest in Self-Driving Startup Argo AI

Automakers are continuing to form strategic partnerships with tech companies and rivals to accelerate the development of self-driving cars. The latest being Volkswagen, who is reported to be in talks with the Ford Motor Co to work together on electric and self-driving cars.

Eric Walz2018-12-16 11:53 PT

Renesas to Buy Silicon Valley-Based Integrated Device Technology Inc for $6.7 billion

Japan’s Renesas Electronics Corp said it had agreed to buy Silicon Valley-based Integrated Device Technology Inc (IDT) for $6.7 billion, its second major acquisition as it looks to develop semiconductors and sensors used for self-driving cars.

FutureCar Staff 2018-10-18 13:18 PT

Toyota Investing $500 million in Uber to Develop Driverless Cars

Uber’s struggling self-driving program is about to get some new life, thanks to a $500 million investment from Japan’s Toyota Motor Corp. On Monday, Reuters reported that Toyota and Uber will work together on the development of self-driving cars, citing sources familiar with the matter. The equity investment will help advance both Toyota and Uber’s autonomous driving technology.

Jeremy Carlton2018-10-03 15:57 PT

Hyundai Develops Car Audio Technology Using ‘Seperate Sound Zones’

Hyundai Motor Group unveiled its "separate sound zone control system," Sunday, via its blog and on YouTube. The system allows each occupant in a car to listen to different music without disrupting others.

Eric Walz2018-09-19 16:49 PT

LiDAR Maker Cepton Technologies Inks Deal With Major Automotive Lighting Supplier

Cepton Technologies, Inc., a Silicon Valley-based provider of 3D LIDAR solutions for automotive and mapping applications, today announced it will provide Koito Manufacturing Co., Ltd. a global tier-one supplier of exterior automotive lighting, with its miniaturized LIDAR solution for autonomous driving.

Eric Walz2018-09-02 17:29 PT

Ford Motor Co to Invest $4 Billion in a New Division for Autonomous Vehicle Development

U.S. automaker Ford Motor Co is committing billions of dollars to develop self-driving technology. The company announced today a new division, Ford Autonomous Vehicles LLC, designed to speed up and capitalize on the development of electric vehicles, self-driving technology and smart mobility services.

Derrick Smith2018-08-30 11:41 PT

Visteon & ZongMu Technology Announce Strategic Cooperation On Autonomous Parking Tech

Visteon Corporation, a major U.S. automotive cockpit electronics supplier, and ZongMu Technology Co. Ltd., a China-based supplier of advanced driving assistance systems (ADAS), announced a strategic cooperation agreement to develop autonomous parking technology.

Eric Walz2018-08-08 11:59 PT

Hyundai Mobis Plans to Become a Leader in Autonomous Driving Technology

Hyundai Mobis​, the South Korean auto parts maker, said that it plans to use its new proving ground in Seosan, South Chungcheong Province, as a test bed for new technologies, with the goal of becoming a leader in autonomous driving technology.

Jeremy Carlton2018-06-27 14:12 PT

MIT Made an Autonomous Car Capable of Driving Without 3D Maps

Other self-driving cars can’t operate on their own on unmapped country roads. MIT’s new machine is one of the rare exceptions.

Vineeth Joel Patel2018-06-26 12:55 PT

Phantom Auto & Renovo Partner on Teleoperation of Autonomous Vehicles

Silicon Valley startups Phantom Auto, a developer of remote teleoperation safety technology for self-driving cars, and Renovo, the developer of AWare, the first operating system (OS) built specifically for autonomous cars, announced a partnership today to deploy teleoperation safety technology for Renovo’s planned fleet operations.

Eric Walz2018-06-21 12:49 PT

Didi Chuxing Granted Permit to Test Autonomous Cars in California

Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing has been granted a permit to test self-driving cars in California, as it looks to catch up with its Silicon Valley rivals in autonomous driving technology.

Jacky Ho2018-06-20 14:37 PT