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GCC:
Daimler Trucks to acquire majority stake in Torc Robotics; SAE Level 4 trucks for US roads
https://www.greencarcongress.com/2019/03/20190330-torc.html

. . . As part of the overall agreements, the Torc team will work closely with Daimler Trucks’ developers, particularly with the Research & Development team of Daimler Trucks North America in Portland, Oregon. Torc will continue to develop its Asimov self-driving software and testing at its Blacksburg facility.

At the same time, DTNA will focus on further evolving automated driving technology and vehicle integration for heavy-duty trucks at its Automated Truck Research & Development Center in Portland. The DTNA team is working on a truck chassis perfectly suited for automated driving, particularly the redundancy of systems needed to provide the maximum level of reliability and safety. . . .

Level 2 automated driving now a reality at Daimler Trucks. With Active Drive Assist (Mercedes-Benz Actros, FUSO Super Great) and Detroit Assurance 5.0 with Active Lane Assist (Freightliner Cascadia), Daimler Trucks is the first to bring partially automated driving features (SAE level 2) into series production.

The new system can independently brake, accelerate and steer. Unlike systems that only work above a certain speed, Active Drive Assist / Detroit Assurance 5.0 make partially automated driving possible in all speed ranges for the driver, also another first in a series production truck. This active lateral and longitudinal assistance package is powered by an advanced radar and camera fusion system.

Founded in 2005, Torc has integrated its self-driving solutions on ground vehicles ranging from SUVs to 300-ton mining trucks. The company employs around 100 people.

Torc has tested its on-road and traffic capabilities in demo self-driving cars that successfully logged robotic testing in more than 20 states while operating on both public roads and closed courses with zero accidents. The testing included a coast-to-coast trip across the United States and extensive driving in densely-packed streets such as those located in Las Vegas, Nevada. Torc’s inclement weather capabilities were featured at CES 2019.

Torc believes that successful commercialization of self-driving technology is best accomplished through close partnerships. Announced partnerships include Caterpillar, with mining and agriculture applications, and AAA Northern California Nevada & Utah for developing safety criteria through testing on public streets and closed courses. In January, Torc and Transdev announced a partnership integrating Level 4 self-driving technology in an i-Cristal shuttle that is currently undergoing route testing in France and scheduled for commercial operation this year.
Hey, first Tesla (Nikola), and now Isaac's getting a nod! Let's just hope they can and do comply with the 3 laws, but I think we'd better wait on the Zeroth* :lol:


* https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Laws_of_Robotics
 
GCC:
SAIC demonstrating autonomous electric shuttle at UC Davis; data collection on behavioral response
https://www.greencarcongress.com/2019/04/20190403-saic.html

San Jose-based Shanghai Automotive Industrial Corporation’s (SAIC) Innovation Center is demonstrating its automated, all-electric shuttle around a defined loop of the solar-panel-lined West Village community as part of an agreement between the auto company and UC Davis.

This arrangement provides researchers with the Institute of Transportation Studies (ITS-Davis), and its China Center for Energy and Transportation with an opportunity to conduct perceptional and behavioral surveys among residents and shuttle riders at no cost to UC Davis.

  • We want to see how residents respond to the vehicle before and after their experience with it to see if there are attitudinal changes. We’d like to better understand how people embrace or resist vehicles like this and their potential to help with ride sharing or carpooling.

    —Yunshi Wang, director of the UC Davis China Center for Energy and Transportation[/list

    The six-passenger shuttle was built in California for a Silicon Valley subsidiary of SAIC Group, which is the largest Chinese automaker and a partner of General Motors and Volkswagen in China. The shuttle has the capability to drive autonomously, but a professional driver will be on board the vehicle ready to assist at all times.

    Operating only in daylight at a maximum speed of 25 mph, the shuttle will take a 1.3-mile route along Tilia, Sage, Hutchison and Celadon streets.

    The shuttle will initially carry SAIC personnel. Provided initial demonstrations are successful, it will expand to transporting passengers along the route. . . .

    ITS-Davis’ “3 Revolutions” initiative identifies autonomous, shared and electric vehicles as being the three synchronized revolutions needed to bring about a safer, more efficient and cheaper transportation future. The autonomous, electric shuttle incorporates each of those concepts. Researchers want to better understand the factors behind the public’s acceptance and perceptions of the new technology. . . .]
 
GCR:
Survey: Two-thirds of Americans won't buy a self-driving car
https://www.thecarconnection.com/ne...irds-of-americans-wont-buy-a-self-driving-car

Americans aren't ready to give up their steering wheels and pedals. About two-thirds of respondents to a survey said they do not want to buy a self-driving car.

The new poll comes from Reuters, which surveyed 2,022 Americans on their thoughts about self-driving cars. Not only were respondents not interested in owning an autonomous vehicle, but they also said that they don't trust them. Half of the respondents said they think self-driving cars are less safe than a traditional vehicle with a human behind the wheel. The results underscore the challenge ahead as technology grows smarter and self-driving cars actually begin to hit the road.

Even if Americans do feel like they're ready to step into a self-driving car, 63 percent of them said they would not pay any more money to include such features in a new vehicle. The remaining respondents said they'd pay no more than $2,000 extra for self-driving capability. Today, the technology is far from being ready for commercialization. The findings are similar to a poll administered in 2018, which shows attitudes toward self-driving cars have barely shifted.

Experts said the poll still isn't a clear snapshot since very few Americans have experienced a self-driving car. If the public realizes their benefits, acceptance may start to weigh out any negative feelings. Dan Sperling, director of the Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California, said these reactions are mostly emotional as Americans react to preconceived notions or news stories about self-driving cars. . . .

When autonomous cars do begin to proliferate, two-thirds of those surveyed also said they should be held to a higher safety standard than conventional cars and they believe the U.S. government should play an important role in regulating them. . . .
 
LOL!

Elon Musk says Tesla's self-driving tech is 'vastly ahead of everyone'
https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/elon-musk-teslas-self-driving-tech/

Got it... if it's vastly ahead, they should be able to meet or exceed Waymo's 2018 results: https://thelastdriverlicenseholder.com/2019/02/13/update-disengagement-reports-2018-final-results/ instead of reporting a 0 for 2017 and 2018 for autonomous testing on CA public roads.

One can look at previous results near the bottom of https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/detail/vr/autonomous/testing.
 
cwerdna said:
LOL!

Elon Musk says Tesla's self-driving tech is 'vastly ahead of everyone'
https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/elon-musk-teslas-self-driving-tech/

Got it... if it's vastly ahead, they should be able to meet or exceed Waymo's 2018 results: https://thelastdriverlicenseholder.com/2019/02/13/update-disengagement-reports-2018-final-results/ instead of reporting a 0 for 2017 and 2018 for autonomous testing on CA public roads.

One can look at previous results near the bottom of https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/detail/vr/autonomous/testing.
Not to mention accepting full responsibility for any at-fault accidents when the car's driving itself. After all, full-self-driving is more than technical capability, it's also adequate reliability that makes the car safer than if a human is driving. What that level should be is still being discussed, but one book on AVs suggests that all of them should be tested and certified with a 'Human-Safe' rating, and that a Human-Safe rating of 2.0 (twice as safe statistically as a human) would be a good place to start. Manufacturers could then advertise the Human-Safe rating, with higher values presumably leading to more sales.

Of course, such figures may well need to be revised, as pre-production testing and certification of automation doesn't necessarily ensure that everything works as planned all the time, a fact most recently demonstrated by Boeing. Fortunately, A/C accidents tend to draw a lot more public attention than cars, so Boeing can't get away with putting their customers at risk for long, unlike Tesla. Both companies have suffered two virtually identical fatal accidents due to the same cause over a period of time, but so far no regulatory action is being taken to make Tesla fix the problem, even though the fix is far easier in Tesla's case.
 
GCC:
California DMV proposes regulations for autonomous light-duty delivery vehicles
https://www.greencarcongress.com/2019/04/20190413.html

The California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) released proposed regulations that establish a path for companies to test or to deploy light-duty autonomous motor trucks (delivery vehicles) on the state’s public roads. The release of these regulations marks the start of a 45-day public comment period, which ends 27 May 2019.

Under the proposed regulations, companies can test autonomous delivery vehicles weighing less than 10,001 pounds with an approved permit from the DMV—provided they do not charge a delivery fee.

Companies must apply for a deployment (public use) permit to make their autonomous technology commercially available. The DMV’s regulations continue to exclude the testing or deployment of autonomous vehicles weighing more than 10,001 pounds.

Following the comment period, the DMV will hold a public hearing at its Sacramento headquarters on 30 May to gather input on the regulations. The DMV previously held a public workshop on 19 October 2018 to gather and to discuss input on the development of the regulations. . . .
Direct link to proposed regs: https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/wcm/c...posedRegulatoryLanguage.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CVID=
 
PBS Newshour:
How drones are delivering lifesaving medical supplies in Rwanda
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/how-drones-are-delivering-lifesaving-medical-supplies-in-rwanda

There's been a lot of talk about using quad-copters for this sort of thing in urban areas, but here they're using fixed-wing AV BEVs to service rural areas (they can't land, so airdrop the meds/blood (payload 1.8 kg/3.96 lb.), with accuracy said to be "two parking spaces": https://flyzipline.com/ Radius 50 miles/80km, shortens delivery times from 90 min - hours by ground to as little as 15 minutes. The company's a California startup (HQ in Half Moon Bay, production in South S.F.).
 
GCC:
DHL launches its first regular fully-automated and intelligent urban drone delivery service
https://www.greencarcongress.com/2019/05/20190517-dhl.html

DHL Express and intelligent autonomous aerial vehicle company EHang entered into a strategic partnership to launch a fully automated and intelligent smart drone delivery solution to tackle the last-mile delivery challenges in the urban areas of China.

The new customized route, which has been exclusively created for a DHL customer, covers a distance of approximately eight kilometers between the customer premises and the DHL service center in Liaobu, Dongguan, Guangdong Province.

Using the most advanced Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) in EHang’s newly-launched Falcon series, featuring the highest level of intelligence, automation, safety and reliability, the new intelligent drone delivery solution overcomes the complex road conditions and traffic congestion common to urban areas. It reduces one-way delivery time from 40 minutes to only eight minutes and can save costs of up to 80% per delivery, with reduced energy consumption and carbon footprint compared with road transportation.

The EHang Falcon smart drone, with eight propellers on four arms, is designed with multiple redundant systems for full backup, and smart and secure flight control modules. Its high-performance features include vertical take-off and landing, high accuracy GPS and visual identification, smart flight path planning, fully-automated flight and real-time network connection and scheduling.

As a fully-automated and intelligent solution, the drones, which can carry up to 5kg of cargo per flight, take off and land atop intelligent cabinets that were specifically developed for the fully autonomous loading and offloading of the shipment. The intelligent cabinets seamlessly connect with automated processes including sorting, scanning and storage of express mail, and will feature high-tech functions such as facial recognition and ID scanning. . . .

DHL said it will continue to identify new routes that can be developed for clients in need of tailored customer services and logistics solutions and will work closely with EHang to create a second generation of drones in the near future that will further improve capacity and range in drone-operated express delivery.
 
Hand Gestures And Horses: Waymo’s Self-Driving Service Learns To Woo The Public
https://www.forbes.com/sites/alanohnsman/2019/05/19/waymo-six-month-checkup-headway-on-hand-gestures-and-cops-on-slow-ride-to-self-driving-future
 
US Postal Service will use autonomous big rigs to ship mail in new test
Self-driving truck startup TuSimple lands a two-week test
https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/21/18633904/usps-postal-service-autonomous-big-rigs-ship-mail-test
 
https://techcrunch.com/2019/05/23/cruise-releases-video-purporting-1400-successful-unprotected-left-hand-turns/
Cruise, the self-driving division within General Motors, today released a video reporting it successfully completed 1,400 such turns within a 24-hour period. The test took place on the busy and hilly streets of San Francisco.
Below is referring to lidar.

Autonomous vehicle pioneer doubles down on technology Tesla CEO Elon Musk calls ‘freaking stupid’
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/23/autonomous-vehicle-pioneer-doubles-down-on-technology-trashed-by-musk.html
 
Both GCC:
Transit and transportation agencies form national Automated Bus Consortium; initial purchase of 75-100 automated buses
https://www.greencarcongress.com/2019/05/20190531-abc.html

. . . Created by AECOM, a fully integrated infrastructure firm, the Consortium intends to accelerate the deployment of automated transit technologies and will combine the purchasing power and collaborative decision-making of these founding transit agencies nationwide. The pilot projects will use full-sized, full-speed buses and enable Consortium members to collectively demonstrate and deploy automated technologies in live service environments.

The Consortium’s founding members include: Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART); Foothill Transit; Long Beach Transit (LBT); Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro); MetroLINK (Moline); Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA); Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT)/Michigan’s mobility initiative, PlanetM; Minnesota Department of Transportation/Rochester Public Transit (MnDOT); Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority (PSTA), and Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation (DRPT)/Hampton Roads Transit.

Consortium members will define candidate deployment routes and locations, operating plans, automated bus specifications, financial plans and deployment strategies.

AECOM will manage the planning, assessment, implementation and evaluation of the program’s rollout in all locations. The Consortium will make an expected initial purchase of 75 to 100 full-sized, automated buses. By joining the Consortium, the cost of conducting local automated bus projects should be reduced for each agency.

Lessons learned and best practices from each pilot project will be shared among member agencies to promote better and faster learning and adoption of safety protocols and operational insights.

The Consortium’s plan calls for a 12-month feasibility phase, followed by implementation within a two-year time frame, currently estimated to begin between 2021 and 2022. Each agency will make their own decisions regarding future additional automated bus purchases and deployment following the completion of the feasibility phase . . ..

Daimler Trucks establishes global organization for highly automated driving
https://www.greencarcongress.com/2019/05/20190530-dt.html

Daimler Trucks is establishing the Autonomous Technology Group as a global organization for automated driving, bringing together its worldwide expertise and activities, as of 1 June. The main tasks of the new unit comprise overall strategy and implementation of the automated driving roadmap, including research and development as well as setting up the required operations infrastructure and network, heading towards the series production of highly automated trucks (SAE level 4).

The newly established Autonomous Technology Group is part of Daimler Trucks’ global effort to put highly automated trucks onto the roads within a decade. To achieve this, Daimler Trucks announced an investment of more than €500 million (more than US$570 million) at the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. In commercial trucking, level 4 is the logical next step after level 2 to increase safety as well as efficiency and productivity. . . .
 
GCC:
Autonomous trucking startup TuSimple using NVIDIA DRIVE
https://www.greencarcongress.com/2019/06/20190603.html

Autonomous trucking startup TuSimple has been hauling mail more than 1,000 miles between Phoenix and Dallas as part of a two-week pilot with the US Postal Service. Halfway through the test, the self-driving prototypes from TuSimple—an NVIDIA DRIVE partner and NVIDIA Inception member—have been arriving at the delivery hubs earlier than expected. . . .

The pilot comprises five round trips, each consisting of nearly 2,200 miles along the I-10, I-20 and I-30 corridors. The commonly traveled route typically takes human drivers about 48 hours to complete.

This trip length creates a logistical challenge for shipping companies such as the USPS. Regulations limit truckers to 11 hours at a stretch and there’s a growing driver shortage. The American Trucking Association estimates the industry is short 50,000 drivers, a number that is expected to more than triple to 175,000 by 2024.

By incorporating autonomous driving technology into these long-haul trips, shippers can improve efficiency, ease the strain on drivers and deliver more goods faster.

While TuSimple’s trucks can operate on surface streets and highways, for this project it was agreed to start with highway only, with two human operators supervising the system. This type of geofenced autonomous driving is at SAE Level 4. . . .

The USPS pilot is just the start for TuSimple’s autonomous trucks delivering goods across state lines.

The startup already has 15 contracts with shipping companies and travels routes around Tucson, Ariz. Sixty percent of economic activity in the US lies in the freight that travels along the I-10 corridor, which connects the southwestern states and makes up a significant portion of the current pilot. . . .

TuSimple uses NVIDIA GPUs, NVIDIA DRIVE PX 2, Jetson TX2, CUDA, TensorRT and cuDNN to develop its autonomous driving solution. In June 2017, the company successfully completed a 200-mile Level 4 test drive from San Diego to Yuma, Arizona, using NVIDIA GPUs and cameras as the primary sensor.
 
ABG:
Lyft has completed 55,000 self-driving rides in Las Vegas
That makes it the largest commercial self-driving program in the U.S.
https://www.autoblog.com/2019/06/02/lyft-aptiv-autonomous-las-vegas-55000-rides/

One year ago, Lyft launched its self-driving ride service in Las Vegas. Today, the company announced its 30-vehicle fleet has made 55,000 trips. . . .

Last August, about four months after Lyft and its partner Aptiv dropped the autonomous vehicles in Vegas, they hit 5,000 rides. According to the company, the average ride rating remains high, 4.97 out of 5 stars. Reportedly, 92 percent of riders felt very or extremely safe during the trip. It might help that program still relies on a backup driver in case the system fails. Though, it's unclear how often the trips require human intervention.

Compared to Lyft's overall ridership, 55,000 trips is a drop in the bucket. The company passed the million riders per day mark in 2017, and it later cleared the one billionth ride milestone. While Lyft may have the advantage of a head start and a clean record, Uber recently infused its self-driving car unit with a significant cash investment. It's not yet clear if Waymo will prove to be a competitor or a collaborator, as the Alphabet company is expanding but will also partner with Lyft to pick up riders in Phoenix. . . .
 
GCC:
Wärtsilä offering first commercially available auto-docking system: SmartDock
https://www.greencarcongress.com/2019/06/20190605-smartdock.html

. . . By automating docking procedures, the Wärtsilä SmartDock system mitigates potential human errors resulting from ship officers having to perform these technical manoeuvres many times a day. This is especially important on, for example, larger ferries that must enter and leave tight docking spaces, where significant damage can be caused by forceful collisions with the dock walls. Efficiency and safety is, therefore, considerably increased.

The Captain can select the destination and with a simple click of the ‘sail’ button, the SmartDock system takes over. The ship then leaves the dock, maneuvers out of the harbour, sails to the next port of call, maneuvers into the harbour and docks alongside the quay, all without human intervention. . . .

The successful sea trials were carried out onboard the Folgefonn, an 85-meter ferry owned by Norwegian operator Norled. The testing also included operating the automatic 180-degree rotational turn of the vessel, as well as Wärtsilä Guidance Marine’s CyScan AS with GeoLock technology, a crucial cyber-security enhancing secondary position sensor, which enables the approach to the berth to continue even if the GPS signal is lost.
 
GCC:
Cadillac to add 70,000 miles to Super Cruise compatible highway network; hands-free driving by Q4 2019
https://www.greencarcongress.com/2019/06/20190606-supercruise.html

Cadillac is expanding the availability of Super Cruise to an additional 70,000 miles of compatible, divided highways in the United States and Canada. This expansion will make the true hands-free driver assistance feature available on more than 200,000 total miles of compatible highways by the fourth quarter of 2019.

To date, Super Cruise has been available on more than 130,000 miles of limited-access freeways. The expansion builds on Super Cruise’s combination of precision lidar map data, high-precision GPS, a state-of-the-art Driver Attention System and a network of camera and radar sensors.

Some of the divided highways added will include limited intersections and traffic control devices. In the cases of railroad crossings, pedestrian crossings, stoplights or stop signs, Super Cruise will alert drivers to take back control of the vehicle. As always, it remains important for drivers to stay engaged and vigilant at all times while Super Cruise is engaged.

To enable the expanded functionality, an enhancement to the Super Cruise system will be available to 2018 and 2019 model year Cadillac CT6 owners through their Cadillac dealer. Following the completion of the system enhancement, the new, additional map miles will be sent to customer vehicles over the air throughout the summer and fall.

In addition to the mileage expansion, the software update will also include performance improvements, enhancements to increase Super Cruise availability and enhancements to the Driver Attention System. . . .

Customers have traveled 2.5 million miles using Super Cruise since its launch. Super Cruise is currently available on the 2018 and 2019 model year Cadillac CT6 and will be available on the 2020 model year CT6 later this year. Super Cruise will be available on Cadillac’s all-new CT5 sedan next year.
There's a map showing the current network (essentially all the major interstates and other limited-access freeways) and the new highways. In California, they've added 395 up to about Lee Vining, 99 north of Sacramento, 101 between maybe Santa Rosa and Willits and also maybe San Luis Obispo to Santa Barbara, and also 86/78/111 running from indio down to El Centro.

395 and I imagine the others are often multi-lane divided with at-grade crossings, much like the Florida highways where Brown and Brenner died thanks to A/P, so opening up Supercruise to these same types of roads will allow a direct comparison between it and A/P as to how well they can detect, recognize and act when dealing with crossing traffic. Cadillac has been far more conservative to date than Tesla as to how much risk they are willing to put their customers in, so I suspect S/C will be able to deal with these situations far better than A/P has so far, but we'll see. The much smaller fleet of S/C-equipped Cadillacs compared to the number of A/P-equipped Teslas out there means that it will take Cadillac quite a while to generate enough miles on these roads to get statistically significant data.
 
Waymo inks driverless car deal with Renault, Nissan to develop autonomous vehicles for France, Japan
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/20/waymo-inks-driverless-car-deal-with-nissan-renault-for-europe-asia.html
Waymo has signed a deal with Renault and Nissan to develop self-driving cars and trucks for use in France, Japan and possibly other countries in Asia, including China, the autonomous car company announced Thursday.

It’s the first agreement Waymo has signed to provide its technology and services to automakers working to build their own self-driving cars and services.
 
IEVS:
Tesla Owner / Reviewer Impressed w/ Audi e-tron Adaptive Cruise Assist
https://insideevs.com/news/356372/video-audi-e-tron-adaptive-cruise-assist/

The system works incredibly well, though it's much different than Tesla Autopilot. . . .

ouTuber Tesla Driver spends a good amount of time behind the wheel of an Audi e-tron checking out its adaptive cruise assist technology. Even though he's a Tesla fan and has included Tesla Autopilot in the video title, he's clearly not out to bash Audi's system or talk about how terrible it is in comparison to Autopilot. Instead, he provides a very extensive, objective review of the tech. This is something we really appreciate.

So, how does it work?

The simple answer to that question is, "Quite well!" Let's keep in mind that this is not a multi-camera system and not advertised to actually "pilot" the car. It's merely an assistant, albeit a very diligent one. It performs incredibly well in many situations.

According to Tesla Driver, Audi's system actually handles certain cases better than any other system he's used, including Autopilot. For instance, it maintains distance exceptionally well and helps with curves and roundabouts.

On the other hand, there are limitations to this type of technology, like not being able to "see" cars coming from the side, and not continuously "seeing" lane lines. Nonetheless, we think you'll be quite impressed with the technology as a whole, as well as Tesla Driver's very clear and in-depth presentation. . . .
It's a video.
 
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