Through a new strategic partnership, the Hertz Corporation and its fleet management subsidiary, Donlen, will help with the operations and management of Aptiv's Las Vegas autonomous vehicles (AVs).
Additionally, the companies will “execute a phased approach” to develop standard operating procedures for mobility-related AV fleets.
“We're pleased to announce this partnership with Aptiv, a leader in the development of autonomous driving technology,” says Michael Fisher, senior vice president and chief digitization officer of Hertz.
Mobility
Mobility
Capital Metro begins testing driverless vehicles in Austin, Texas
On Monday, July 23, driverless vehicles for Capital Metro’s pilot shuttle program that is scheduled to launch in the fall began testing in downtown Austin, Texas.
According to Mariette Hummel, a spokeswoman for Capital Metro, Capital Metro officials are spending this week completing the mapping portion of the testing to help the vehicles learn the route, as well as where the signals and signs are located.
“It’s putting information into the vehicle and it is learning about the route and the traffic situations,” Hummel says via Community Impact Newspaper.
Stagecoach and others to produce single deck autonomous bus
Transport operator Stagecoach, bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis Limited (ADL), and technology company Fusion Processing will all work together to produce a single deck autonomous bus.
Work on the ADL Enviro200 vehicle is being conducted at ADL’s site in Guildford, England, and the bus is expected to be ready for use by the end of this year.
Once complete, the vehicle will be completely autonomous, capable of operating without a driver in an off-road environment. Additionally, the technology also delivers road safety benefits when driven in manual mode.
Ford creates Ford Autonomous Vehicles LLC to accelerate autonomous vehicle business
Ford Motor Company has created Ford Autonomous Vehicles LLC, which is a new organization designed to accelerate Ford’s autonomous vehicle (AV) business, in an effort to capitalize on market opportunities.
Ford is organizing its self-driving business into Ford Autonomous Vehicles LLC, which will include Ford’s self-driving systems integration, autonomous vehicle research and advanced engineering, AV transportation-as-a-service network development, user experience, business strategy and business development teams.
Waymo's self-driving cars reach eight million miles driven on public roads
During the National Governors Association conference on Friday, July 20, Waymo’s CEO John Krafcik announced that the company’s self-driving cars have reached eight million miles driven on public roads, translating into roughly 25,000 miles driven every day.
Last November, Waymo announced that it had driven four million miles on public roads, meaning that the company has doubled that number in just eight months.
Coast Autonomous demonstrates self-driving vehicle in Times Square
A company called Coast Autonomous has developed a self-driving vehicle that could ease traffic woes in places such as New York.
The company demonstrated its concept in Times Square on July 17.
“Driverless vehicles, once they get fully deployed, are gonna be a lower coast because you don’t have the expense of a driver,” explains Rick Baker, head of urban development for Coast Autonomous, via CBS New York.
Coast Autonomous’ vehicles are considered ideal for short distance shuttle trips at a variety of locations including airports, college campuses, theme parks and low speed, highly congested areas in New York City.
Suning Logistics and Baidu Apollo partnering on self-driving technology
In an effort to “accelerate the commercial application of self-driving technology,” Suning Logistics, which is a subsidiary of Suning Holdings group, has signed a strategic partnership with Baidu Apollo.
The partnership between the entities was announced at the “Baidu Create 2018” event in Beijing, China.
“By combining the rich smart community scenarios built by Suning, and the advanced unmanned self-driving technology developed by Baidu in its Apollo program, we are now significantly closer to realizing the commercialization of fully autonomous, self-driving technology,” says Lu Junfeng, Vice President of Suning Logistics.
Daimler obtains road test license for highly automated driving research vehicles in Beijing
Daimler has become the first international automaker to receive a road test license for “highly automated driving research vehicles (level 4)” in Beijing, China.
With this road test license, Mercedes-Benz test vehicles will now undergo real road tests to “further perfect the technology” in Beijing, which Daimler describes as a “metropolis with unique and complex urban traffic situations.”
'FLEX' driverless public electric shuttle operating on South Australia's public roads
As part of a five-year trial of autonomous vehicle technology, a driverless public electric shuttle called the Flinders Express (FLEX) has begun operating on public roads in South Australia for the first time.
The vehicle, which is funded by the State Government and industry partners, will initially provide ‘first mile–last mile’ shuttle services, then connections to bus stops on the main South Road and businesses within the Tonsley precinct.
Within a year, the shuttle is expected to run to the Flinders Medical Centre and the University’s Bedford Park campus before using main arterial roads around the entire Bedford Park precinct. During the first stage of the trials, commuters can book free rides on the shuttle on week days from Monday to Friday between 10am and 2pm.
Voyage selects Renovo's AWare as platform for developing its autonomous driving technology
Voyage has announced that it has selected Renovo’s AWare as the platform for developing its autonomous driving technology.
Built from the ground-up with Level 4, driverless applications in mind, AWare allows Voyage to focus on building autonomous driving technology for its communities, thanks to AWare’s features, from “real-time execution of safety-critical operations, to a growing ecosystem of drop-in partner integrations.”
“Renovo shares our belief that the future of autonomy requires the ability to easily and safely integrate the best functionality on the market,” Voyage says on its website.
