Category: Driverless cars

Researchers have managed to create a powerful holographic camera that is capable of seeing through objects such as corners, fog and even humans reveals a new study.

Developed by researchers at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, it uses a technique called synthetic wavelength holography.. It works by reconstructing the path taken by a beam of light as it propagates through various objects, bouncing off surfaces until the beam returns to the source, where it is recorded by a detector.

An AI algorithm tracks the path of scattered light, allowing the viewer to see the world from the perspective of a remote surface, even if they are behind the camera’s line of sight.

This field of research, called non-line-of-sight (NLoS) imaging, is quite nascent, yet the Northwestern researchers’ implementation is well advanced as it rapidly captures high-resolution full-field images with submillimeter precision. 

CP-enabled vehicle detects cyclist behind bus.

Australian researchers have developed disruptive technology allowing autonomous vehicles to track running pedestrians hidden behind buildings, and cyclists obscured by larger cars, trucks, and buses.

The autonomous vehicle uses game changing technology that allows it to “see” the world around it, including using X-ray style vision that penetrates through to pedestrians in blind spots and to detect cyclists obscured by fast-moving vehicles.

The iMOVE Cooperative Research Centre-funded project collaborating with the University of Sydney’s Australian Centre for Field Robotics and Australian connected vehicle solutions company Cohda Wireless has just released its new findings in a final report following three years of research and development.

The technology’s applications, which are being commercialized by Cohda, involve an emerging and promising technology for intelligent transportation systems (ITS) called cooperative or collective perception (CP).

The ‘foldable steering system’ is movable to forward and back by up to 25cm.

The SBW is a high-tech control system that transmits steering power generated from the steering wheel to wheels through electronic signals.

Seoul: A foldable steering wheel system for self-driving cars has been developed by Hyundai Mobis.

Hyundai Mobis announced on Monday that it has developed the ‘foldable steering system’ that can store the steering wheel of the driver’s seat invisible by folding it.

It is a new technology that has not been globally commercialized before, and Hyundai Mobis successfully developed in around 2 years and is currently filling patents in Korea and overseas.

By Ashley Palya

Autonomous vehicle companies Cruise by General Motors and Waymo by Alphabet have been permitted to operate in a limited number of cities in California by The California Department of Motor Vehicles.

“The California Department of Motor Vehicles today issued autonomous vehicle deployment permits to Cruise LLC and Waymo LLC, allowing the companies to charge a fee and receive compensation for autonomous services offered to the public,” The California DMV said on Thursday.

The new permit will officially allow people to catch rides with vehicles that are being operated without drivers and only by an operating system.

Cruise vehicles will be fully driverless and are authorized to operate within parts of San Francisco on public roads at a maximum speed limit of 30 mph between 10 p.m and 6 a.m. The company has been testing autonomous vehicles since October 2020.

Robotaxis will available through the company’s Yandex.Go application in one Moscow district for certain customers.

MOSCOW: Adventurous Muscovites may soon be able to travel around parts of Moscow in driverless taxis as Russian tech giant Yandex plans to start testing the autonomous vehicles in the city this year, the company said on Wednesday.

Yandex, which operates a raft of services from online search to food delivery, has been testing self-driving technology for more than three years in Russia, Israel and the United States.

Robotaxis will available through the company’s Yandex.Go application in one Moscow district for certain customers, Yandex said in a statement.

Honda has just announced that it will be starting a trial programme for autonomous vehicles in Japan, which will take place in Utsunomiya City and Haga Town in the Tochigi Prefecture. The move is a step towards realising an autonomous vehicle mobility service (Maas) business in the country, which Honda is planning to launch together with Cruise (a developer for self-driving cars) and General Motors.

During the first phase, Honda will deploy a high-definition mapping vehicle (pictured above) to create a highly detailed digital version of the trial city. This will allow the Cruise AV autonomous vehicle to be driven on public roads and self-adapt to traffic environments, as well as relevant Japanese laws and regulations.

The Intel subsidiary’s Mobileye Drive autonomous system will undergo public testing in Germany and Israel in 2022.

By Craig Cole

Self-driving vehicles are the holy grail for automakers. And while there are no autonomous cars or trucks available today, practically every OEM and supplier, plus a constellation of other companies are hard at work making them a reality. Moving one step closer to a hands-free future, Mobileye, a subsidiary of computer chip titan Intel, unveiled a new robotaxi at the IAA show in Munich on Tuesday.

Based on the Chinese Nio ES8 all-electric, six-passenger SUV, the Mobileye AV is the first production autonomous car fitted with the firm’s self-driving system. The company calls this Mobileye Drive, and it’s a Level 4 autonomous system, meaning it does not require human interaction in the vast majority of situations. To enable this, the Mobileye AV has 13 cameras, plus three long-range lidar sensors, six short-range lidar arrays and half a dozen radar units — probably more high-tech hardware than a jet fighter. 

Tying all this advanced hardware together are eight of the company’s EyeQ 5 system-on-a-chip integrated circuits, which are part of Mobileye’s AVKit58 system. This is the first time Mobileye Drive has been fitted to vehicles used for driverless, ride-hailing services, an important milestone for the company.

The Mobileye AV will undergo real-world testing in Munich and Tel Aviv next year. During use, trained safety drivers will monitor the vehicles as they operate autonomously. German law currently allows these vehicles to drive themselves, but regulations still require that a human be present to keep watch over everything. Curiously, these fleets of robotaxis will not be geofenced, meaning they can drive just about anywhere. Mobileye’s crowdsourced mapping helps enable this impressive flexibility.