News
Report examines autonomous vehicle concerns at airports
A new report from Airports Council International (ACI) World examines a number of concerns related to the rise of autonomous vehicle technology at airports. The report, developed jointly with consultancy Arup, considers how airports, designers and other members of the aviation community can introduce autonomous vehicle technologies in a more informed way when it comes to their potential security impacts.
driverlessguru.com
Nvidia auto chief interviewed on autonomous vehicles
In an interview with Automotive News Europe, Danny Shapiro, Senior Director of Automotive at Nvidia, discusses the challenges facing self-driving vehicle developers, with the industry increasingly realising that delivering fully autonomous vehicles is "a really hard problem to solve". Shapiro believes the focus will increasingly be on specific kinds of deployments, such as robot taxis or shuttles on fixed routes, and on the movement of goods rather than people.
autonews.com
Separate driving licences for autonomous vehicles in UAE?
Motorists in the United Arab Emirates may one day need a separate driving licence to be able to operate autonomous vehicles, to allow them to be tested for a different set of skills, according to the Khaleej Times. The suggestion came shortly after the Emirates News Agency reported that the UAE is preparing to become the first country in the world to have regulations on autonomous vehicles.
khaleejtimes.com
Automated vehicles
The race for automation in Australia's mines
The introduction of fully autonomous trucks at one of BHP's mines in Western Australia has led to haulage costs being cut by 20 per cent and the number of events that could have seriously injured or killed somebody dropping by nearly 90 per cent, despite its truck fleet doubling in size, reports The Age. The figures follow a push by miners towards autonomous technology in a bid to strip out costs and improve productivity at a time when iron are prices are set to fall.
theage.com.au
Connected vehicles
Truck platooning on show in Turkey
Ford Otosan, the commercial vehicle arm of Ford's joint venture in Turkey, has successfully completed initial test drives of platooning and technology for its trucks, reports Traffic Technology Today. The trial with Austrian automotive consultancy AVL aims to redefine the operation of trucks in the freight haulage industry.
traffictechnologytoday.com
Opinion
Driverless industry shifts gaze beyond engineering
In an in-depth look at the development of the autonomous car industry, published in the Los Angeles Times, the FT's Patrick McGee reports on growing industry recognition that "getting the self-driving car algorithms right is merely an entry ticket for the much bigger challenge of commercialization". The article reports on the complex commercial challenge that industry executives must now overcome if they are to make a success of operating a viable robotaxi fleet at scale.
latimes.com
Investment
Russia's Sberbank partners with driverless technology firm
Russia's largest lender, Sberbank, has teamed up with AI transport developer Cognitive Technologies to add driverless cars to its list of technology ventures, reports Reuters. The state-owned lender will reportedly have a 30% share in a new company, Cognitive Pilot, that plans to develop "digital economy projects in transport, agriculture, computer vision and artificial intelligence".
reuters.com
And finally...
Predicting people's driving personalities
For all their fancy sensors and intricate data-crunching abilities, self-driving cars lack something that most other drivers have: social awareness. But a team of researchers at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory may have found a way for self-driving cars to classify the social personalities of other drivers, so that they can better predict what different cars will do, and be able to drive more safely among them.
driverless.directory