Cars will change more in the next decade than they have in the past century

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While the look and feel of our cars has changed in the past 100 years, the way we drive them hasn’t. But fundamental change is coming. In the next decade, not only will the way they’re powered and wired have shifted dramatically, but we won’t be the ones driving them anymore.

Some cars already have basic automation features, but the automotive experiments currently being undertaken by the likes of Uber and Google make up a minuscule proportion of the vehicles on our roads. By 2030, the standard car will evolve from merely assisting the driver to taking full control of all aspects of driving in most driving conditions.

This widespread automation, together with the electrification and increased connectivity of both the car and society, are set to shake up the car industry in a big way, affecting everything from the way cars look and feel, to how we spend our time inside them, and how they get us from A to B.

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How electric and driverless vehicles will change building design

 

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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).

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25 ton self-driving trucks to be tested on British roads for the first time

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The government is testing driverless trucks on the A14 highway

Self-driving trucks that could help to speed up roadworks are being tested on Britain’s highways for the first time.

A 25-tonne autonomous truck, capable of moving huge amounts of earth without human supervision will take to the roads on a stretch of the A14 between Cambridge and Huntingdon as part of a trial by Highways England.

The trucks, capable of carrying a load of 40 tonnes, can be programmed remotely to follow a pre-determined route along road work sites and can detect and avoid obstacles, like other vehicles, along the route as they drive.

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

 

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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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Dockworkers battle driverless trucks plan

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Los Angeles – A fierce struggle over automation has erupted at the Port of Los Angeles, as local union officials representing some 12,000 dockworkers demand that one of the world’s largest shipping firms abandon a plan to introduce driverless electric cargo trucks.

Shouting, whistling and jeering, more than 1,200 union members, local business owners and community activists packed a four-hour hearing Thursday before the Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioners. The board voted to postpone a construction permit for the automated system after an offer by Mayor Eric Garcetti to mediate the dispute.

“The decision before the board may have far-reaching impacts on the pace of automation at our port and could define how the port will compete and sustain jobs into the foreseeable future,” Garcetti wrote in a letter unveiled at the hearing.

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

 

51D166DC-8723-4705-BB4E-E2E0213ED693 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.

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

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.

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FedEx unveils autonomous delivery robot

Trials of the robot, which has a top speed of 10 mph, will begin later this year

Startups do it. Amazon does it. And now even Fedex is doing it — experimenting with robots for short-range deliveries. Today, the company officially announced its new FedEx SameDay Bot, which it says could help make “last mile” deliveries more efficient.

The SameDay Bot is battery-powered, has a top speed of 10 mph, and is autonomous, meaning it can steer itself around pedestrians and traffic using a combination of LIDAR sensors like those found in self-driving cars and regular cameras.

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Driverless, 3D-printed vehicles debut on California college campus

Autonomous 3D-printed vehicles start driving around college campus

They’re self-driving shuttles that just rolled up to Sacramento State.

They can fit up to eight people on board, and there’s a special spot reserved for the safety steward. He can pull a hand-brake to stop the Olli if absolutely needed, but otherwise it will operate on its own.

According to the company, they’re the first of their kind – electric and 3D-printed.

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

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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.

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Carlo Ratti designs driverless robotic bar called Guido

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Italian architect Carlo Ratti has revealed his concept for an autonomous robotic cafe and bar that would make on-demand cocktails for city-dwellers wherever they are.

The driverless drinks cart, called Guido, has a unit with two mechanical arms – one for shaking and stirring and another for pouring and serving – that can accurately prepare and serve any drink within seconds, mounted onto a self-driving vehicle platform.

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The road to seamless urban mobility

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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.

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