Three quarters of people “don’t trust” AV tech, survey finds
A survey for the automotive data services provider Otonomo has found that 74% of people say they don’t trust automated vehicle technology, but that overall 38% of them would still be happy to ride in one. The survey into consumer trust was carried out by leading global consultancy SBD Automotive and also found only one […]
Tesla further automates its driving
Tesla has removed another forced human interaction from its autodrive product, allowing cars to go through green lights without any further confirmation from the driver. Its latest software update for its models S, X, Y and 3 means that, as the driver approaches a green light at an intersection, in some situations where there is […]
Mercedes comes out top in world-first assisted driving league table
The auto safety research company Thatcham has published a list assessing the relative merits of different cars’ assisted driving technology, with the Mercedes GLE the overall highest scorer. Working with Euro NCAP, Thatcham has graded vehicles based on their vehicle assistance technology, such as speed and steering assistance and adaptive cruised control, as well as […]
Another study supports AV congestion-reduction benefits
A team of transport modellers at Michigan Technological University have released a study which once again confirms that having cars with some driverless capabilities on the roads reduces congestion and makes roads safer. In the catchily named paper “A distributionally robust stochastic optimisation-based model predictive control with distributionally robust chance constraints for cooperative adaptive cruise […]
Driverless car lab opens in Oxfordshire
Telecoms company O2 is opening a new commercial driverless car research lab at Harwell in Oxfordshire. The Darwin SatCom Lab is aiming to test 5G solutions to improve connectivity for autonomous driving thanks to the reduced latency of the technology. Backed by funding from the UK Space Agency, the new lab – based at the […]
Urban.AV planning driverless service in Cambridge
The autonomous vehicle development company Urban.AV has announced it’s planning to launch a driverless on demand service between Cambridge North Station and the city’s Science Park. The company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of a group of British-based tech companies, will utilise a new 5G enabled Zero Emission Mobility vehicle, the UrbanPod Pro, which the company says […]
Uber “safety driver” charged over fatal driverless crash
The back-up safety driver behind the wheel of a self-driving Uber test vehicle that ran down and killed a woman in Arizona two years ago has been charged with negligent homicide. Reuters reports that Rafael Vasquez pleaded not guilty over the death of Elaine Herzberg. She has been released pending trial set for February 2021. […]
Driverless deliveries “could boost trust in the technology”
An autonomous vehicles expert is predicting that the increase in deliveries made by pods will help the travelling public get used to the idea riding in driverless vehicles themselves in the future. Matthew Lipka, head of policy at robotics company Nuro says an approachable-looking vehicle that delivers a pizza to someone’s curb would leave a […]
Rural autonomous pod service launched in France
The driverless pod maker Navya is trialling a new service connecting a railway station in the Drome region with a village three miles away. The shuttle, from Crest station to Ecosite du Val de Drome will be the first to run in a rural area on roads open to normal traffic. The shuttle will serve […]
Coventry uni launches CAV MSc
Coventry University’s Institute of Coding is offering a new Master of Science degree in Connected and Automated Vehicles. Working with nearby test and development facility HORIBA MIRA, the course aims to let learners “benefit from a blend of academic excellence and industry expertise”. “As the automotive sector begins to focus on the development and manufacture […]