Autonomous Vehicles News & Discussions

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Autonomous road-to-rail truck to begin hauling cargo this year
By Abhimanyu Ghoshal
May 06, 2025

Dual-mode vehicles that can travel on roads and rails have been around for a while now, with the idea first having been explored over a century ago. In 2025, we're going autonomous: a Utah-based startup is set to launch a pilot project running its autonomous road-rail vehicle on California's Skunk Train route this year.

Glid Technologies, which hails from Salt Lake City, has partnered with Mendocino Railway to integrate the former's Glider M hybrid-powered manned road-to-rail vehicle, along with an autonomous version, onto the 40-mile heritage and freight route along the Willits-to-Fort Bragg corridor in California.

Road-to-rail vehicles, sometimes called hi-rail vehicles, typically find use in transporting goods, infrastructure construction and utility maintenance work, and emergency response. From Glid's website, it appears the company is focused purely on moving cargo at this point: mined materials, agricultural produce, waste, and military equipment.

https://newatlas.com/transport/autonomo ... glid-2025/

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Autonomous coal miners get to work in Mongolia
By Michael Franco
May 16, 2025

A fleet of 100 electric driverless coal-mining trucks has been put into operation in Mongolia, coordinated by AI running on a 5G-A network. The project is expected to grow, bringing new safety and efficiency to China's coal-mining industry.

While the negative environmental impacts of coal are well known, the substance is still very much in use as a fuel source around the globe. According to Enerdata, the global growth of coal use has cooled from about 6% in 2022 to about 2.2% in 2023. But in China, India, and Vietnam, use of the energy source has surged during the same period with growth rates equaling 6.9%, 9.9%, and 25% respectively. India and China now account for 71% of global coal consumption, with the latter currently developing 1,280 million tonnes per year of new mining capacity – which is about half of the world's proposed capacity.

It makes sense, therefore, that China would be looking at ways to make coal mining safer, greener, and more efficient.

https://newatlas.com/automotive/autonom ... ic-trucks/

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UK driverless cars coming in 2027 - but Uber says it's ready now

19 May 2025, 00:24 BST

Uber has said it is "ready to go" now with driverless taxis in the UK - but the government has put back the date it expects to approve fully self-driving vehicles.

The previous administration, external said fully autonomous cars were "set to be on roads by 2026", but the new government says it is now more likely to happen in the second half of 2027.

While limited self-driving technology is already permitted on UK roads, a human driver must be at the wheel and responsible for the vehicle, even if automated technology is being used.

With some companies trialling more advanced tech on British streets, I took an automated car ride across central London in a car using a system developed by UK AI firm Wayve.

"We're ready to launch robotaxis in the UK as soon as the regulatory environment is ready for us," said Andrew Macdonald, senior vice president of mobility at Uber, who joined me for the ride.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8jg80j771zo



Credit: Wayve

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Tesla’s Robotaxi Could Self-Drive Your Faith in Autonomous Cars Right Off a Cliff

https://gizmodo.com/teslas-robotaxi-cou ... 2000609211
Apparently Tesla's robotaxi reveal is upon us, which is either a watershed moment for self-driving or a total flop.

It’s been a long time coming for Tesla’s robotaxi, but it looks like the company’s first truly driverless vehicle may be ready for a road test. According to Bloomberg, Tesla is set to reveal its robotaxi as soon as June 12, which—if you have a calendar and/or a cursory concept of time and space—you may note is pretty damn soon. While that reveal may be around the corner, the journey for Tesla’s robotaxi to become a real thing you can plant your butt in has been long and winding. Elon Musk—and this is true—first mentioned the idea of Tesla-made robotaxis in *drumroll, please* 2016. That’s right, it’s been nearly a decade since Musk put self-driving taxis on our radar. Feel old yet? I sure do.

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Uber to launch self-driving taxis in London next year

The ride-hailing app company will operate services in partnership with artificial intelligence start-up Wayve.

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They were previously expected to begin when the Automated Vehicles Act becomes law from the second half of 2027.

Uber’s services will initially have a human in the driver’s seat who can take over control of the vehicle in an emergency, but the trials will transition to being fully driverless.

The company’s existing trials of self-driving taxis are generally in US locations which have much simpler road layouts than London.

Uber chief operating officer Andrew Macdonald described the English capital’s roads as “one of the world’s busiest and most complex urban environments”.

He added: “Our vision is to make autonomy a safe and reliable option for riders everywhere, and this trial in London brings that future closer to reality.”

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/tech/ub ... 32147.html

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