Self-Driving Vehicles
Stakeholders’ Input Key to Shaping AV 4.0, Says USDOT Nominee Finch Fulton
Finch Fulton testifies at his nomination hearing for Assistant Secretary of Transportation. (Senate Commerce Committee)
WASHINGTON — Industry stakeholders will assist U.S. Department of Transportation officials in shaping their latest version of guidelines for autonomous vehicles, said Finch Fulton, nominee to become assistant secretary for transportation policy.
March 12, 2020Federal Policymakers to Draft Self-Driving Vehicles Bill
Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) by J. Scott Applewhite/Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Policymakers in the U.S. House of Representatives are aiming to draft a bipartisan measure that would guarantee the deployment of lifesaving technologies in self-driving vehicles, the chairman of a key committee said Feb. 11.
February 11, 2020While Self-Driving Car Hype Decelerates, Automated Trucks Grab Attention at CES
Self-driving truck startup Plus.ai showcases International and Peterbilt models outfitted with its technology at CES. (Seth Clevenger/Transport Topics)
LAS VEGAS — Even as automated vehicle developers tamped down inflated expectations for fully self-driving passenger cars at CES 2020, several companies continued to tout the market potential for highly automated commercial vehicles.
January 24, 2020California DMV OKs Light-Duty Autonomous Delivery Vehicles
Interstate 5 in northern San Diego County, Calif. The state's DMV approved the testing and commercial use of autonomous delivery vehicles on public roads. (Getty Images)
California has authorized the testing and commercial use of light-duty autonomous delivery vehicles on public roads.
January 2, 2020Volvo Group Venture Capital Invests in Apex.AI, Autotech Ventures
Workers install a Volvo engine on the assembly line at the Dublin, Va., plant. (Volvo Group Truck Operations)
Volvo Group Venture Capital AB announced it invested in Apex.AI, a startup software company involved in autonomous mobility, to help fund the development of a safety-certified software framework for autonomous systems.
December 10, 2019VW Considers Sharing Autonomous-Car Tech to Defray Development Costs
Workers on the production line at Volkswagen's plant in Chattanooga, Tenn. (Mark Elias/Bloomberg News)
Volkswagen AG is open to sharing future autonomous-vehicle systems with other manufacturers as it races to catch up with the likes of Waymo LLC in cost-intensive technologies that could transform the way people and goods move, according to an executive at the German automaker.
November 6, 2019Lawyer David Estrada Takes On Autonomous Safety Questions at Nuro
Kroger and Nuro's R1 driverless delivery vehicle. (Andrew Brown/The Kroger Co. via Associated Press)P)
Silicon Valley lawyer David Estrada is taking on a new role at Nuro Inc., a Mountain View, Calif.-based self-driving car startup founded by two of his former Google colleagues and backed by nearly $1 billion from SoftBank Group Corp.’s Vision Fund.
November 6, 2019Why Truck Makers Are Skipping Level 3
A ZF demo truck simulates an autonomous yard move. Highly automated trucks will require redundant systems. (Seth Clevenger/Transport Topics)
What do the 2009 crash of Air France Flight 447 and a seminal 2012 study by Google on how people interact with self-driving cars have in common?
September 20, 2019Cities Need ‘Sophisticated Urban Freight Policies,’ Report Says
A traffic jam in New York City. The report said city officials will need to rethink urban freight policies to accommodate the changing transportation landscape. (U.S. DOT)
Officials aiming to facilitate the flow of freight amid advancements in autonomous vehicle technologies need policies designed to reduce the frequency of freight trips while enhancing safety, a new report by the National Association of City Transportation Officials concluded.
September 10, 2019Daimler, Torc Begin Testing Self-Driving Trucks in Virginia
A Freightliner Cascadia test truck outfitted with Torc’s self-driving software and lidar sensors, cameras and radar. (Daimler Trucks North America)
Daimler Trucks has begun testing highly automated heavy-duty trucks on Virginia highways in partnership with its subsidiary, Torc Robotics, the companies said.
September 9, 2019