News Roundup: Tesla Launches Improved Autopilot 8.0, Driverless Taxis Hit the Streets of Singapore, and More
A look at some of the most interesting recent headlines across the industry:
nuTonomy partners with taxi-hailing app Grab to offer robot taxis
Singapore-based taxi-hailing app Grab announced it is partnering with software startup nuTonomy to test out robot taxis to its customers on a trial basis. As of this past Friday, Sept. 23, “Robo Car” is an option offered to customers using the Grab app to hail a taxi in one area of the city-state. The robot taxi must be hailed in advance, and only one passenger is allowed to ride at a time. The passenger will be joined by a safety driver and a support engineer to ensure the ride is problem-free. There are currently two vehicles operating, which had previously been in testing since April. If all goes well, Grab and nuTonomy said they hope to have a fleet of 12 robot taxis on the road by the end of the year, and as many as 100 operating by 2018. Read more from Mobile World Live.
As Tesla releases Autopilot 8.0, Elon Musk says ‘perfect driverless-car safety is impossible’
After a few highly publicized accidents with the previous iteration of Autopilot-one of which killed the car’s driver-Tesla Motors released the new and improved version, Autopilot 8.0, this past Wednesday, Sept. 21. Reports indicate the new version offers better visibility in weather conditions such as fog, improved emergency braking, and auditory alerts that remind drivers to pay attention to the road. In fact, if four warnings within one hour are ignored, the car will reportedly shut down its semi-autonomous features and only allow them to be turned back on if the driver pulls over, parks, shuts off the car and restarts it. Regardless, CEO Elon Musk told media outlets that “perfect driverless car safety is impossible,” and some outlets are saying they agree with that statement. Read more from the Orlando Sentinel.
Verizon pushes to be the top provider of self-driving and connected-car fleet management
Telecommunications giant Verizon is working to position itself as a top manager of self-driving and connected-car fleets. Verizon is becoming a strong provider of telematics services, offering a combination of telecommunications, vehicular technologies and real-time wireless data that are central to connected cars and self-driving vehicles. Verizon most recently made moves to acquire Fleetmatics Group PLC for $2.4 billion and Telogis Inc. for an undisclosed amount. Both companies offer services for managing and operating vehicle fleets, which many believe to be the gateway for acceptance of self-driving cars. Once both deals are closed, Verizon will control about 25 percent of the telematics market, making them the largest provider world-wide. “You can’t have autonomous vehicles if they’re not connected to the Internet, which our best-in-class networks enable. That connection becomes ever more important — the reliability of it, stability of it, security of it — as the stakes associated with autonomous vehicles goes up,” commented Andres Irlando, the CEO of Verizon Telematics Inc. Read more about Verizon’s progress on The Detroit News.
Image: Tesla Motors Autopilot