News Roundup: Russia Developing Autonomous Mini-Bus, Velodyne’s Lidar System Takes Off, and Google Car Team Gets a New Director
Jennifer van der Kleut
A roundup of some of the most recent headlines from the driverless transportation industry.
Russia teams up to develop electric autonomous mini-bus
Yandex-otherwise known as the Google of Russia-announced it is working on its own autonomous vehicle, a 12-passenger mini-bus. The company said it is teaming up with Daimler, the government-backed NAMI automotive research facility, and truck manufacturer Kamaz. Yandex is expected to contribute its knowledge in computer vision, artificial intelligence and speech recognition to the project. NAMI has said the minibus could begin testing as early as 2017. The electric mini-bus will be designed to be able to travel up to 200 km, or 124 miles, before it needs recharging. Read more about Russia’s autonomous minibus on Futurism.
Google’s self-driving car team poaches new director from Airbnb
Following the departure of former CTO Chris Urmson, Alphabet Inc.’s self-driving car team announced a new director this week. The team appears to have poached Airbnb’s head, Shaun Stewart, who will be resigning his post as Airbnb’s global head of vacation rentals to take up his new director position at Google. Analysts are speculating that Google plans to speed up its driverless car timeline under Stewart’s leadership-and that, potentially, it could also mean the self-driving car team could spin out and become it’s own company, rather than a division of Alphabet Inc. Read more about Google’s new hiring announcement on Yahoo! Finance.
Velodyne trades out high-end audio systems for Lidar, autonomous vehicles
Velodyne, a California-based company most widely known for its high-end audio systems, is now getting into the autonomous vehicle business. With $150 million in financial backing from both Ford Motors and Chinese search engine giant Baidu, Velodyne is moving full speed ahead with its Lidar systems. With a presence on three continents, Velodyne is now regularly mentioned in research reports that cite leading companies in the niche field of Lidar. In addition to cars, the systems also have growing potential for agricultural equipment, mining vehicles and military vehicles. Read more about Velodyne’s new partnerships on USA Today.
Image: Autonomous mini-bus under development in Russia, courtesy of NAMI.