Autonomous Vehicles News & Discussions

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https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/202 ... o-resigns/

After robotaxi dragged pedestrian 20 feet, Cruise founder and CEO resigns
GM-owned Cruise "failed to disclose" full video and key crash details, DMV said.
Jon Brodkin - 11/20/2023, 12:07 PM

The CEO of self-driving car firm Cruise resigned yesterday following an accident in which a Cruise robotaxi dragged a pedestrian 20 feet. California officials accused Cruise of withholding key information and video after the accident, and the company's self-driving operations are on hold while federal authorities investigate.

"Today I resigned from my position as CEO of Cruise," co-founder Kyle Vogt wrote in a post on twitter.com. "The startup I launched in my garage has given over 250,000 driverless rides across several cities, with each ride inspiring people with a small taste of the future," he also wrote.

Cruise is owned by General Motors, which bought the company in 2016. Vogt expressed optimism about Cruise's future without him, saying the team is "executing on a solid, multi-year roadmap and an exciting product vision."

"As for what's next for me, I plan to spend time with my family and explore some new ideas. Thanks for the great ride!" Vogt wrote.

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GM acquired a majority stake in Cruise when it was a startup in 2016. The company invested to take 80% stake in the company in May 2021.

Vogt attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was a co-founder of Twitch, an interactive livestreaming service for content including gaming, entertainment, sports and music. Amazon acquired Twitch for about $1 billion in 2014.

https://apnews.com/article/cruise-gm-vo ... 82e8e16c2f

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Tesla recalls nearly all vehicles sold in US to fix system that monitors drivers using Autopilot

DETROIT (AP) — Tesla is recalling nearly all of the vehicles it sold in the U.S., more than 2 million across its model lineup, to fix a defective system that’s supposed to ensure drivers are paying attention when they use Autopilot.

Documents posted Wednesday by U.S. safety regulators say the company will send out a software update to fix the problems.

The recall comes after a two-year investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration into a series of crashes that happened while the Autopilot partially automated driving system was in use. Some were deadly.

The agency says its investigation found Autopilot’s method of ensuring that drivers are paying attention can be inadequate and can lead to foreseeable misuse of the system.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/tesla-autopi ... ca46eb3002

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Driverless cars: Tech possible for UK motorways by 2026, transport secretary says

11 hours ago

Driverless cars could be on some UK roads by the end of 2026, the transport secretary has told the BBC.

Mark Harper also said he expected to see the owners of those vehicles being able to travel without having to watch where they're going by the end of that year.

Last month the government announced plans for new legislation to bring automated driving to UK roads.

But, critics argue if the tech is not ready it could cause serious accidents.

Mr Harper told BBC Radio 4's Today programme he has personally seen the technology being used in California adding he wants people to have "confidence" in a proper safety regime.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-67825617

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Tesla FSD 12.1 Drives Smoothly Like a Good Human Driver
January 2, 2024 by Brian Wang
https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2024/01/t ... river.html

Here is a review of Tesla FSD 12.1. FSD 12.1 has single-stack end-to-end neural nets trained with millions of video clips for the driving controls.

The car drives more like a human.

You’re driving in the fast lane (left) of a two-lane highway because slower cars stay in the right lane. Then a faster car approaches from behind. FSD v12 signals, safely switches to the slower lane, lets the faster car pass, then switches back into the fast lane and stays there.

Speed control is much smoother and appears to adjust itself smoothly with the surrounding traffic flow.

FSD v12 is more patient and assertive during lane-changing maneuvers. There’s no more “middle-of-the-change hesitation” (changing mind in the middle of a lane change).

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Waymo to start testing robotaxis on Pheonix metro freeways
Source: Axios

Waymo will start testing their autonomous vehicles on Valley freeways in the coming weeks, the company announced Monday.

Why it matters: Waymo currently operates its ride hailing service across 225 square miles in metro Phoenix, but only uses surface streets. Adding freeways can cut down drive times by 50%, per the company.

What's happening: For more than a year, Waymo's Jaguar I-PACE vehicles have driven autonomously on freeways including Loop 101 and Loop 202, spokesperson Sandy Karp told Axios. A safety specialist sits behind the wheel.

• Later this month, Waymo employees will be able to drive on the freeway in "rider-only" mode. The program will start outside of rush-hour periods and ramp up to 24-hour service.
• This "incremental approach" is similar to how the company tested and launched its current ride-hailing service service, Karp said.

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Tesla Full Self-Driving (Beta) V12.1.2 Customer Deployment Started
January 21, 2024 by Brian Wang

Tesla has been testing Full Self-driving Beta V12.X with 50,000 employees for a few weeks but has now begun staged rollout for Tesla FSD buyers with HW4.

Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) v12 is a milestone in autonomous driving technology. It uses end-to-end neural networks, which are AI networks that can be used for everything from vehicle input to output. These new networks can replace more than 300,000 lines of explicit code.

Elon Musk said that FSD v12 would remove the beta designation. IF this happens at the end of the staged deployment, then Tesla would be able to recognize about $2 billion in deferred revenue.

https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2024/01/a ... arted.html

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Tesla set to erase $70 billion in valuation after Musk's sales warning

January 25, 2024 6:36 PM GMT

Tesla (TSLA.O), opens new tab tumbled nearly 11% on Thursday after CEO Elon Musk warned sales growth would slow this year despite price cuts that have already hurt margins and raised investor concerns at the world's most valuable automaker.

Musk said growth would be "notably lower" as Tesla focuses on a cheaper, next-generation electric vehicle to be made at its Texas factory in the second half of 2025, which is expected to spark the next boom in deliveries.

But his remarks fell flat with investors, with Tesla set to lose about $70 billion in market value, if losses hold. That would push its market capitalization loss for the month to about $200 billion.

"The Tesla headlines have essentially gone from bad to worse," said TD Cowen analysts, noting that the fourth-quarter revenue and profit were also below expectations.

Shares of other EV makers also fell, with Rivian Automotive Inc (RIVN.O), opens new tab, Lucid Group (LCID.O), opens new tab and Fisker (FSR.N), opens new tab down between 4.7% and 8.8%.

https://www.reuters.com/business/autos- ... 024-01-25/

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