Driverless cars – Page 8

Automation, Automobiles, Driverless cars, Science & Technology News

Autonomous cars : Consumer excitement soars despite barriers

June 12, 2019

Consumers believe autonomous cars will take on a larger role in their daily lives, going beyond the act of driving to also have autonomy in running errands and completing chores.

Consumer preference for riding in self-driving cars is set to double within the next five years. While only 25% of consumers would prefer to ride in a self-driving car over a traditional vehicle in 12 months’ time, over half (52%) say driverless cars will be their preferred mode of transport by 2024.

These findings have been published in Capgemini Research Institute’s report “The Autonomous Car: A Consumer Perspective.” The positive response from consumers suggests that they see huge benefits with autonomous vehicles in terms of fuel efficiency (73%), reduced emissions (71%) and saving time (50%). Such is the sense of optimism and anticipation, over half of the consumers (56%) say they would be willing to pay up to 20% more for an autonomous vehicle over a standard one.

Continue reading… “Autonomous cars : Consumer excitement soars despite barriers”

Automobiles, Driverless cars, Racing, Science & Technology News

China just held a car race without any drivers

June 6, 2019

Driverless cars compete during the 3rd World Intelligent Driving Challenge in Tianjin.

China’s annual driving challenge attracts dozens of hopefuls.

China’s road to mastering driverless-car technology is bumpy and full of surprises — literally. Just ask those attending the country’s top autonomous-vehicle race .

In hot and windy conditions this week in the eastern city of Tianjin, dozens of self-driving cars raced for glory. On a circuit covering an area of 10 soccer fields, they navigated through bumps, sudden turns and artificial fog. Even fake cows and sheep suddenly crossed their paths for good measure. Some teams wreaked less havoc than others.

Continue reading… “China just held a car race without any drivers”

Automobiles, Driverless cars, Electric Automobile, Science & Technology News, Transportation

What’s the piece-of-the-pie for driverless cars in the $2 trillion infrastructure plan?

June 5, 2019

Potholes and roadway decay, it’s messy and dangerous, among other infrastructure crumblings.

There are emerging discussions that perhaps Congress and the White House might agree to a rather significant spend on America’s infrastructure. Some say it could be on the order of $2 trillion potentially allocated. Whether or not you favor such an expenditure, most would likely agree that our infrastructure does seem to be progressively crumbling, as evidenced by everything from dams that break without apparent warning to a plethora of tire-bashing potholes permeating our roadways from coast-to-coast.

According to the most recent Report Card on our infrastructure by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), we all need to be seemingly ashamed of what we’ve allowed our country to become since the United States infrastructure earned a paltry and embarrassing D+ grade.

Continue reading… “What’s the piece-of-the-pie for driverless cars in the $2 trillion infrastructure plan?”

Analysis, Driverless cars, Driverless vehicles, Science & Technology News, Transportation

Fleets of driverless cars could smoothen traffic by at least 35%

June 5, 2019

Driverless cars that are networked and in constant communication on the road could improve the flow of traffic by at least 35%.

The findings were reported by researchers at the University of Cambridge who programmed miniature robotic cars to drive on a multi-lane track where various traffic obstructions occurred. Each tiny robotic car was fitted with motion capture sensors and a Raspberry Pi which enabled them to communicate via WiFi.

Continue reading… “Fleets of driverless cars could smoothen traffic by at least 35%”

City Planning, Driverless cars, Driverless vehicles, Electric Vehicles, Historical Perspectives, Science & Technology News, Transportation

How electric and driverless vehicles will change building design

May 19, 2019

The world’s first affordable automobile had a dramatic impact on residential design. On October 1, 1908, the first Model T Ford was built in Detroit. Unlike horses, most people could afford to have their own private car and keep it at their home. Between 1908 and 1927, Ford built some 15 million Model T cars.

Moving on from horses and carriages, for over a century homes and apartments have been designed to cater for private car ownership where drivers are human, and vehicles are powered by petrol or diesel.

As people began driving their own private cars, residential property design changed to provide a place to keep the vehicles (garages), and commercial venues had to accommodate individuals leaving their vehicles parked, instead of being dropped off by a carriage that immediately moved on (carparks).

Continue reading… “How electric and driverless vehicles will change building design”

China, Driverless cars, Driverless vehicles, Science & Technology News, Transportation

China’s rolling out dedicated highway lanes for self-driving cars

April 24, 2019

KEEP LEFT

In a bid to lead the race to fully-autonomous vehicles, China is building highways with dedicated lanes for self-driving cars.

A new 62-mile stretch of freeway will have two lanes dedicated to autonomous vehicles (AVs), according to FutureCar. The idea is that the infrastructure investment will give AVs access to real-world traffic conditions — but also that the separate lanes will ensure that the still-limited AV tech is tested in a way that minimizes risk for human drivers.

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Automobiles, Driverless cars, Ford Motor Company, Science & Technology News

Ford CEO says the company ‘overestimated’ self-driving cars

April 17, 2019

Ford thinks there will be limits on what first self-driving cars can do.

Ford CEO Jim Hackett scaled back hopes about the company’s plans for self-driving cars this week, admitting that the first vehicles will have limits. “We overestimated the arrival of autonomous vehicles,” said Hackett, who once headed the company’s autonomous vehicle division, at a Detroit Economic Club event on Tuesday. While Ford still plans on launching its self-driving car fleet in 2021, Hackett added that “its applications will be narrow, what we call geo-fenced, because the problem is so complex.”

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Automation, Automobiles, Driverless cars, Driverless vehicles, Science & Technology News

Self-driving cars will change over 30 industries in the long run

April 9, 2019

Self-driving cars were just s sci-fi-like idea 10 years back, but today it is a reality. They have caused a commotion in the market, affecting a great number of industries with the revolutionary AV technology. It is said that with this technology driverless cars will save more than half million of lives between 2035 and 2045.

Still restricted in many parts of the world, driverless cars are being tested in California as the regulations allowing the testing of self-driving cars on the streets of California is contributing to the growth and development of companies and manufacturers such as Tesla and Alphabet.

In the meanwhile, Uber, a rideshare provider preparing to g public with the forthcoming IPO, is also working with AV.

Continue reading… “Self-driving cars will change over 30 industries in the long run”

Automobiles, Driverless cars, Driverless vehicles, Science & Technology News

Self Driving cars have the driving part down. It’s sharing the road with humans that’s hard

March 29, 2019

In the not-too-distant future, Americans will be sharing the road with self-driving cars. Companies are pouring billions of dollars into developing self-driving vehicles. Waymo, formerly the Google self-driving-car project, says that its self-driving cars have already driven millions of miles on the open road.

In the not-too-distant past, beer has already been delivered by a robot truck in Colorado, so this shouldn’t seem so far fetched.

Continue reading… “Self Driving cars have the driving part down. It’s sharing the road with humans that’s hard”

Automobiles, Driverless cars, Driverless vehicles, Insurance, Science & Technology News, Tesla

Self-driving cars might kill auto insurance as we know it

February 27, 2019

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Without humans to cause accidents, 90% of risk is removed. Insurers are scrambling to prepare.

Dan Peate, a venture capitalist and entrepreneur in Southern California, was thinking of buying a Tesla Model X a few years ago—until he called his insurance company and found out how much his premiums would rise.

“They quoted me $10,000 a year,” Peate recalled.

Continue reading… “Self-driving cars might kill auto insurance as we know it”

Automation, Automobiles, Driverless cars, Driverless vehicles

The road to seamless urban mobility

February 8, 2019

Will the coming mobility revolution make urban traffic better, or worse?

The age of modern transit began in 1863, when the first underground railway began rolling in central London. The line was short and smoky, and nothing like it had ever been seen before. But it worked, and cities around the world began to follow London’s lead. Over time, city authorities came to see providing transportation as one of their core responsibilities; governments often owned and ran transit systems themselves.

Continue reading… “The road to seamless urban mobility”

Analysis, Automobiles, Driverless cars, Driverless vehicles

A study on driverless car ethics offers a troubling look into our values

January 31, 2019

To figure out how autonomous vehicles should respond during potentially fatal collisions, a group of scientists set out to learn what decisions human drivers would make.

The first time Azim Shariff met Iyad Rahwan—the first real time, after communicating with him by phone and e-mail—was in a driverless car. It was November, 2012, and Rahwan, a thirty-four-year-old professor of computing and information science, was researching artificial intelligence at the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, a university in Abu Dhabi. He was eager to explore how concepts within psychology—including social networks and collective reasoning—might inform machine learning, but there were few psychologists working in the U.A.E. Shariff, a thirty-one-year-old with wild hair and expressive eyebrows, was teaching psychology at New York University’s campus in Abu Dhabi; he guesses that he was one of four research psychologists in the region at the time, an estimate that Rahwan told me “doesn’t sound like an exaggeration.” Rahwan cold-e-mailed Shariff and invited him to visit his research group.

Continue reading… “A study on driverless car ethics offers a troubling look into our values”