Important Innovations

  Microsoft, GM and Cruise Partner on Self-Driving Cars                                                  Source:  GM's Cruise A New Vision for Autonomous Driving This is a brand new vision of the future of autonomous driving.  A new partnership among Microsoft, GM and Cruise.  San Francisco based startup Cruise just received a huge infusion of cash to develop autonomous cars.  Microsoft has joined GM, which is Cruise's majority shareholder, along with Honda and other institutional investors to pump $2 billion worth of investment into Cruise and its autonomous technology.  Their intent is for Cruise to take their self-driving vehicles to market for widespread commercialization. The investment infusion brought Cruise's market valuation to $30 billion. That is very close to Waymo, the self-driving company owned by Google's parent Alphabet, valued at slightly over $30 billion. Microsoft Tech and the Big Picture Cruise will use Microsoft's cloud computing platform Azure

  Shanghai and California Based Autonomous Driving Company                                                                                Source:  Pony.ai Lexus SUV Backed by Toyota China startup Pony.ai has just secured $267 million, on top of a recent $462 million, in another round of funding. That values the company at $5.3 billion, which makes it the world's most valuable independent autonomous driving startup. It has a much higher valuation than rivals Nuro and Aurora. Toyota Backed The Shanghai and Fremont, California based company is backed by Toyota, with which it is exploring mobility solutions.  Bottom-line:  this is a very hot startup.  And the funding for it comes at a time when global automakers, technology firms and investors, as well as Tesla, Uber and Waymo, are pouring money into developing self-driving vehicles. Timeline and Plans Pony.ai plans to use the funding to develop technology and expand its fleet.  In early 2019, it started developing autonomous truck tec

Self-Driving, Robotic Charging Station Comes to Your Parked EV Source:  VW Parking Space = Charging Point Volkswagen has come up with a great piece of new innovation:  an autonomous robot charging station for electric vehicles.  Their self-driving, 100% autonomous robot has the potential to turn every parking space into a charging station.  VW says the robot brings the charging station infrastructure to the car and not the other way around.  It can turn any parking facility into an electric charging facility.  And, VW says it can make this concept a reality very quickly for widespread use. VW's Mobiler Lauderoboter The small VW robot is 100% autonomous from self-driving to doing everything needed to recharge the electric vehicle.  When your EV needs a charge, you open a VW app and call the mobile charging station robot to your location.  The robot, known in German as Mobiler Laderoboter, hauls an energy storage device to your vehicle, opens the charging flip, connects

German Tech Giant Bosch's Lidar Sensor Source:  Bosch Putting Autonomous Cars in the Fast Lane German tech giant Bosch has developed a sensor that enables autonomous cars to see a 3-dimensional view of the road as part of the autonomous system.  The company adds the lidar sensors are not expensive.  This technology breakthrough could accelerate the development and widespread use of self-driving cars.  Bosch believes this sensor could make mainstream cars self-driving a lot sooner than predicted. Sensor Sees Short & Long Distances, Providing 3D View of Highway Bosch says it will launch the lower cost lidar sensors and showcase the breakthrough technology at the annual CES in Las Vegas next week.  The sensors "see" both short and long range distances on the highway and work in tandem with camera and radar technologies.  Lidar uses light to generate a 3D view of the road.  Bosch is not providing timing on the actual launch date other than to say t

AI Controls Trucks Source:  Pelotin Pelotin System: One Driver Driving Two Trucks Simultaneously with AI This is a L4 Automated Following System from Pelotin Technology that lets a driver control multiple trucks at the same time. The company says it is more energy efficient and safer.  This may be the future of tractor trailers on the road thanks to a lot of hi-tech. The concept is that big rigs are safer together with a lot of artificial intelligence behind them. Leading Edge Tech This truck technology is leading edge and relies on a  lot of communications, technologies and algorithms. For example, radar based active brakes, vehicle communications, and specialized vehicle controlled algorithms. A human is driving the front truck, that controls with the enabled technology the truck behind. This is new tech on the cutting edge.

Fierce Competitors Combine Forces to Cut Costs & Gain Scale Source:  VW Electric Concept Cars New Technologies Driving Big Automotive Changes VW and Ford just announced they're teaming up and sharing costs to develop self-driving and electric cars.  VW will invest $2.6 billion in Ford's self-driving vehicle business unit.  The two global automakers will also share electric car components. New Tech Alliances This alliance is part of a seismic change in the automotive industry.  Expensive, new self-driving and electric vehicle technologies are driving it.  Ford and VW are working together to share costs on the new technologies.  And, they say while they remain fierce competitors, teaming up gives them significant global scale. Changing Automotive Landscape The Ford-VW tie-up is the latest in a series of big automotive alliances. About a week ago, BMW and Daimler announced they're teaming up to develop autonomous vehicles.  Honda has invested nearly $3 billi

Vehicle Intelligence Behind the Wheel Source:  InnovizOneA Dawn of Mass Market Autonomous Cars New vehicle intelligence systems, packing LiDAR and computer vision software, are being touted as enabling the beginning of  mass market, autonomous cars. InnovizOne by Innoviz Technologies, based in Israel, has been cited by CES 2019 as the technology leader in vehicle intelligence systems.  BMW is deploying it in their autonomous vehicles starting in 2021.  For a great news blog, go to Important Innovations Collection: Autonomous Driving Toward Mass Markets : Vehicle Intelligence Behind the Wheel Source:  InnovizOne Enabling Mass Commercialization of Self-Driving Cars It's the vehicl...