News
UK Law Commissions consult on self-driving vehicle proposals
The Law Commission of England and Wales and the Scottish Law Commission have published a consultation on their proposals on the regulation of highly automated, driverless vehicles. The consultation, which closes on 16 January, comes as part of a three-year review commissioned by the UK’s Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles.
driverlessguru.com
New system promises to reduce autonomous vehicle crash damage
Engineers at the University of Waterloo in Canada have unveiled a system that claims to be able to minimise the damage when self-driving vehicles are involved in crashes. The team developed decision-making and motion-planning technology that seeks to limit injuries and damage by analysing the available options and choosing the course of action with the least serious outcome.
driverlessguru.com
Automated vehicles
Renault starts public trial of on-demand autonomous car service
Groupe Renault has begun a four-week public trial of an on-demand car service using two electric, autonomous and shared Renault ZOE Cab prototypes. The trial, part of the ‘Paris-Saclay Autonomous Lab’ project, is taking place on the Paris-Saclay urban campus and will allow the company to test the technical aspects of its on-demand mobility service and evaluate how passengers use and react to the service.
renault.com
DeepRoute gains California autonomous vehicle testing permit
Self-driving vehicle start-up DeepRoute this week announced that it had received an Autonomous Vehicle Testing permit from the California Department of Motor Vehicles to start testing its autonomous vehicle fleet on the state’s roads. The company, which specialises in Level 4 autonomous driving solutions, recently secured $50 million in a pre-Series A funding round.
prnewswire.com
Investment
Volvo creates dedicated autonomous transport business
The Volvo Group is creating a dedicated new business area, Volvo Autonomous Solutions, for the development, commercialisation and sales of its autonomous transport solutions. The group said that the new business area was in response to the "significant increase" in customer enquiries about its autonomous transport solutions, such as those being deployed in mining and logistics projects.
volvogroup.com
$35 billion Hyundai investment plan
Hyundai Motor Group plans to invest $35 billion in mobility and other auto technologies by 2025 as it seeks to become more competitive in the self-driving car industry, according to Reuters. The carmaker's investment plans reportedly encompass autonomous, connected and electric cars, as well as ride-sharing technology.
reuters.com
Jobs
Ten questions with Bestmile's Gilles Simeon
In our regular HR interview series, we speak to autonomous vehicle industry recruiters to find out what they're looking for in candidates, how their recruitment process typically works and what advice they’d give to those pursuing a career in autonomous and connected vehicles. In our latest Q&A, we catch up with Gilles Simeon, HR Business Partner / Talent Acquisition Manager at mobility services platform Bestmile.
driverlessjobs.com
Deliveries
FedEx autonomous delivery robot to have Dubai debut
Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority and FedEx Express have signed a Memorandum of Understanding for FedEx's autonomous delivery device Roxo to have its international debut in Dubai. The device is one of a number of autonomous delivery robots being developed to address the 'last-mile' delivery challenge.
rta.ae
And finally...
IBM joins autonomous ship project
IBM announced this week that it has joined a global consortium building an unmanned, fully autonomous ship that will cross the Atlantic next September on the fourth centenary of the original Mayflower voyage. The wind and solar energy-powered research ship will be equipped to gather data for a number of scientific studies being co-ordinated by the University of Plymouth.
multivu.com