FutureLink, a key part in the second phase of METRO’s AV testing program, is an autonomous zero-emission shuttle that can operate on city streets, providing residents with first and last-mile connections between Texas Southern University and METRO’s Eastwood Transit Center. The mid-size L4 autonomous, zero-emission shuttle bus can seat up to 14 passengers and accommodate up to two wheelchairs. Funding for the project was provided through the Federal Transit Administration’s Accelerating Innovative Mobility program. The second phase of METRO’s pilot program is expected to run through October 2024, with a final report to be completed by March 2025.

More broadly, METRO is a public transit provider for the Harris County region and offers various transportation services. Included in its transit network are local bus, METRORail, Park & Ride commuter buses, the METROLift paratransit service, HOV/HOT Express Lanes, curb2curb microtransit service and METRO Star Vanpool.

The stack is primarily based on deep learning AI processing for all of its modular components, including environmental perception, sensor fusion and vehicle path planning. It was designed in conjunction with the company’s CV3-AD AI domain controller SoC to ensure it runs optimally on the SoC’s CVflow AI engines – minimizing power consumption and the processing load for its on-chip Arm cores. The SoCs also provide optimal processing for vision and radar sensing and fusion, while Ambarella’s stack more broadly offers a flexible implementation model, enabling OEMs to leverage any or all of its modules in combination with their own software.

A key feature of the AI-based software stack highlighted by Ambarella is its deep-learning-based planner, a dynamic vehicle path planning module that enables a more natural driving experience. In developing and refining this functionality, Ambarella leveraged its evolving R&D vehicle fleet which allowed the deep planner module to be trained with data based on a wide variety of real-world scenarios. The latest vehicles in this fleet are equipped with a sensing suite consisting of mono and stereo cameras, as well as Ambarella’s Oculii 4D imaging radar, with the CV3-AD processing the data sent from these sensors. While highlighting this configuration, Ambarella noted that its solutions are flexible to support OEM’s specific sensing suites (including the option for adding LiDAR).

Another feature of the stack highlighted by Ambarella was its requirement of standard-definition maps, eliminating the need for pre-generated HD maps. Here, HD maps are generated in real time using live environmental data fed from the sensing suite. This capability offers support in handling difficult AD scenarios, such as downtown areas in large cities with roundabouts, narrow roads with parked vehicles, heavy traffic, construction, and a high density of pedestrians, cyclists and other vulnerable road users.

The CV3-AD SoCs run Ambarella’s entire AD stack with enhanced power consumption, AI performance per watt, and simplified thermal management. The company said that, because its software and hardware are designed to work optimally together, OEMs can sufficiently integrate additional software to create differentiated features, including those for functional safety.

The permits obtained are the Milestone Testing Regime Level 1 License for Autonomous Vehicles on Public Roads, referred to as the M1 license, and the T1 Assessment License for AVs on Public Paths, referred to as the T1 License. Through these licenses, the company’s Robobus AV can begin conducting tests on a larger scale along public roads in Singapore, covering areas such as One North and the National University of Singapore.

The assessment to achieve the M1 License covers various autonomy-related objectives, including basic autonomous driving functions, static obstacle recognition, dynamic obstacle avoidance, redundancy in vehicle control by safety driver, overall vehicle safety performance and more. OEMs looking to obtain the license for their AVs must complete these tasks within test facilities that replicate common urban road traffic scenarios found in Singapore.

WeRide’s obtainment of the licenses follows the signing of strategic cooperation agreements with two Singaporean companies, Woodlands Transport Services and EZ Buzz, to expand its network of local partners. In the future, the company will continue to launch its autonomous driving technology, products, and services in more countries and regions, with the goal of enhancing urban living through this combined offering.

In addition to creating AD software, TIER IV is also involved in the design and development of several AV components and features, including the ADS (Autonomous Driving System), VCU (Vehicle Control Unit), Drive-By-Wire, and IVI. With its partners, Tier IV will continue to develop VCUs, operating systems, and electrification modules as it aims to supply advanced E/E architecture for autonomous vehicles.

Since gaining a similar approval to carry out driverless road tests in October 2022, WeRide gradually gained permits to carry out ‘unmanned remote stage’ demonstrations. These began with high-speed road testing to and back from an airport in the city, before scaling up to the early iterations of its commercial operations.

Users can hail a WeRide robotaxi within a designed AV pilot zone located in Yizhuang using the WeRide Go smartphone app, which also shows the estimated cost of the trip. The robotaxi will then arrive at the user-designated pick-up point as passengers verify their identity by scanning a QR code. The service scope will cover a variety of popular destinations around the city, including subway stations, residential areas, office and industrial parks, with a total of 242 pick-up and drop-off stops. One robotaxi will be able to serve a maximum of three passengers, while the service itself will operate from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM.

In the future, WeRide will continue to increase the number of robotaxis in its commercial fleet and add new pick-up and drop-off stops. Looking ahead, it will also accelerate the commercialization of various types of self-driving products, such as its Robobus, Robosweeper and Robovan, to create an efficient and convenient travel ecosystem and make its driverless services more accessible.

At the HMGICS, a range of new technologies – including advanced automation, real-time monitoring and data evaluation – will be used to manufacture the robotaxi as well as other EVs from the Hyundai Motor Group. The Singapore facility is also equipped with dedicated testing facilities and a calibration center that will together support the production of future Hyundai AVs. Motional confirmed that it will position a team of its employees at the facility to assist with production, critical diagnostics, software development, calibration, and validation tasks to ensure that finished examples of the Ioniq 5 robotaxi are ready for deployment.

More broadly, the HMGICS introduces Hyundai’s new smart urban mobility hub concept, which includes a flexible, automated production system while enhancing interactions between EV buyers, their vehicles, and the Hyundai brand. In addition to leveraging a mix of people, robotics, and AI in a new manufacturing approach, the facility’s digital twin Meta-Factory technology works to rapidly meet changing customer demands and production requirements. Through this approach, the facility is capable of manufacturing up to 30,000 EVs annually.

Today, the facility produces both the passenger and robotaxi versions of the Ioniq 5 EV and, starting in 2024, will begin producing Hyundai’s forthcoming Ioniq 6 EV. In the long-term, the OEM will also use HMGICS as a testbed for developing its future mobility solutions, such as Purpose Built Vehicles.

The production of the Ioniq 5 robotaxi is the latest step in the AV’s development, following a year-long testing period of prototype vehicles in the U.S. and Singapore. This initial fleet recently completed a series of evaluations around the quality, performance, and maturity of its autonomous driving technology. Commercial production of the Ioniq 5 robotaxi is underway, and the first models have already arrived at Motional’s facility in the U.S. The vehicles are currently undergoing Motional’s testing and safety validation processes before beginning commercial service in 2024.

The partnership will leverage up to seven shuttles to transport goods autonomously transported between a GE Appliances manufacturing facility and warehouse in Selmer, TN from Monday to Thursday. For Einride, these operations will help showcase how its freight capacity as a service (FaaS) model can be enabled with autonomous vehicles. This long-term deployment follows the company’s prior pilots with GE Appliances – first in a gated environment at the company’s Appliance Park headquarters in 2021, followed by a driverless public road pilot in Selmer in 2022.

The Einride autonomous vehicle forms part of a larger interoperability project in Selmer working to create an automated logistics flow to improve employee ergonomics and safety around loading docks while increasing efficiency. Supporting the partnership between Einride and GE Appliances will be technologies from GE Appliances partners, including TaskWatch and Slip Robotics. Here, TaskWatch’s AI cameras trigger a control board to raise and lower the dock doors, dock plate, lock the Einride autonomous vehicle into place and notify the SlipBot autonomous mobile robot that the Einride vehicle is ready for loading. The electric-powered SlipBot then autonomously loads and unloads the vehicle.

Announced through King Charles’ inaugural King’s Speech as monarch, the bill presents a series of measures that will, together, enable and facilitate the safe deployment of self-driving vehicles on UK roads. The government has said that the bill will support a UK AV market worth up to £42 billion ($51.4 billion / €48.1 billion) and create 38,000 jobs by 2035.

The bill consists of three key objectives that will be achieved through a series of measures – the first being the establishment of a new safety framework for self-driving vehicles. At the core of this framework will be a threshold for self-driving vehicles. This will require any company looking to deploy an AV onto UK roads to ensure that their vehicle can drive itself safely and follow traffic rules without the need for human intervention. If the vehicle meets these conditions, then it will be classified as a self-driving vehicle and authorized for use on UK roads. This authorization will be granted by the UK’s Department of Transport and its agencies, who will be given new powers to authorize AVs and ensure they comply with the government’s safety standards.

Once a vehicle has been authorized to operate, the second measure under this objective will ensure that AV companies are held accountable for their operations. Here, companies must adhere to the government’s safety requirements from the point their self-driving vehicles are introduced onto UK roads. If they fail to do so, they will face consequences such as fines, requirements to take corrective action, suspension of operation, and criminal offences in more serious cases. Under a separate measure, if an incident involving an autonomous vehicle does take place, the bill will set out new processes to investigate these incidents and ensure that the key findings from these investigations will inform its safety framework.

Supporting this framework further is a dedicated measure that will work to digitalize Traffic Regulation Orders. This will require local authorities to send data on legal orders, such as speed limits, road closures, and parking bay designations, to a central publication platform. The data fed into this platform will then support the development of a digital map encompassing the UK’s road network, which itself will inform and support safe AV operations.

The second major objective of the bill will be to ensure a clear sense of legal liability around self-driving vehicles. Here, the government will hold companies looking to operate AVs in the UK legally responsible for how their vehicles drive and define a set of responsibilities for them to follow. At the same time, the bill will ensure that AVs from these companies drive according to existing British laws, while requiring them to report certain safety-related data to the authorization authority and in-use regulator and comply with further laws relevant to AVs – including those around data and environmental protection.

Another measure in this part of the bill relates to the individuals occupying self-driving vehicles, who the bill will provide with immunity from prosecution while a self-driving vehicle is carrying out the driving task. However, the individual will still legally bear non-driving responsibilities – such as maintaining appropriate insurance for the vehicle and ensuring proper loading – while remaining accountable for any part of the journey in which they are driving.

The third and final objective of the bill is to ensure that consumers are protected. Working in tandem with the safety threshold, this area of the bill will prohibit misleading marketing practices around AVs. Only vehicles that meet the government’s threshold will be permitted to be advertised as a self-driving vehicle, with the driver being responsible for other vehicles at all times. Here, the bill similarly highlights that anyone using a self-driving vehicle must be aware of their legal responsibilities in doing so.

While the majority of the bill’s measures will apply to all three constituent countries in Great Britain (England, Wales and Scotland), the government has said that the Digitalising Traffic Regulations Order will only apply to England. The legislation as a whole is one of many announced in the King’s Speech that together represent the UK government’s priorities for the next year.

By offering design, simulation, and on-site testing support for safety evaluations, the toolkit will support autonomous vehicle manufacturers, local governments, operators, and evaluation institutions. Through it, Tier IV is ultimately aiming to help accelerate the implementation of autonomous driving at scale.

The all-equity round was led by the NTT Group, with further funding from autonomous technology company’s existing financial and strategic investors – including Toyota Ventures, Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance Company, State Farm Ventures, BMW i Ventures, Cyrus Capital and Trucks Venture Capital. Following its prior Series B and Series C funding rounds, this latest round brings May Mobility’s total funding to approximately $300 million.

The company plans to use the proceeds to accelerate the advancement and commercialization of its AV technology and services in the U.S, Canada and Japan. The funding will also help the company to scale operations and reach profitability.

Through its investment in the company, the NTT Group acquired the necessary rights to distribute May Mobility’s proprietary autonomous vehicle technology throughout Japan. Together, NTT and May Mobility will work with the Toyota Motor Corporation to develop an autonomous driving ecosystem, partnering with local stakeholders to deploy May Mobility-equipped AVs across a variety of vehicle platforms. The companies will further leverage May Mobility’s technology to enhance Japanese transportation networks.

The collaboration will leverage Liftango’s shared mobility solutions and May Mobility’s AV fleet to optimize shared transit across cities and corporate campuses in the Americas, Europe and the Middle East. Here, the companies will collaborate on demand-responsive scheduling and routing optimization for autonomous fleets as they aim to create a positive impact by developing a safe, inclusive transit system catering to each community’s specific needs.

The partnership will enable vehicles equipped with May Mobility’s autonomous driving technology to operate between both demand-responsive and fixed-route services through Liftango’s technology platform. The companies are similarly aiming to help transit agencies and commercial campuses deliver enhanced, more reliable transportation experiences. Their partnership will also make it easier to expand transport services to customers who currently don’t have access due to mobility issues, are located in a rural location, or are subject to reduced services in their area.

The Transurban-led coalition partnered with law enforcement and first responders to identify situations in which CAVs need to respond quickly and appropriately, such as the presence of first responders, work zones or traffic incidents on the road. Here, the demonstrations worked to show how technology integrated into infrastructure, like the smart Express Lanes, can make CAVs safer, more reliable, and more efficient.

With a focus on safety, the demonstrations saw a CAV navigate through several scenarios designed to challenge it and ensure that it kept passengers and other road users safe. These scenarios included a law enforcement officer providing hand signal around a simulated crash scene, detecting upcoming hazards out of the line of sight of the CAV through communication with the roadway technology, and navigating safely around first responders and construction workers and work zones. Another scenario involved forming a tight vehicle formation based on real-time speed and distance information from infrastructure increasing road density.

Transurban, with its partners, is planning to conduct a second round of CAV demonstrations on the same 395 Express Lanes in November.

The partnership unites Vicinity’s experiences in medium-duty, accessible, fully electrified low-floor transit vehicles with ADASTEC’s SAE Level-4 automated driving software platform, flowride.ai. Together, the partners will look to greatly support the mobility sector and make a lasting impact on communities and passengers.

Vicinity and ADASTEC are likewise committed to driving innovation, accessibility, and sustainability within their partnership. Here, the partners share a vision to create advanced, environmentally friendly, transit solutions that integrate seamlessly into smart cities. This partnership is set to reshape the mobility industry, offering communities and passengers a more connected and sustainable urban future.

With the aim of enhancing the UK’s autonomous drive capability, and technically supporting the supply chain’s readiness for mass adoption, evolvAD will test Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAV) across a variety of urban, residential, and complex rural roads. These types of roads each present their own unique set of challenges for autonomous driving (AD) technologies. In residential areas, for example, drivers often face narrows roads, single lanes with parked vehicles on either side and slow driving speeds. Rural roads can include similar conditions, but with higher driving speeds and winding roads with little to no road markings. 

Delivered by a consortium of five industry partners – including Nissan as technical lead – the research project is jointly funded by the UK government and the consortium partners. The government’s £100 million ($121.4 million / €115.4 million) Intelligent Mobility fund is administered by the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV), and delivered by the UK’s innovation agency, Innovate UK.

Over the course of the next 21 months, the evolvAD project will use the combined expertise of the five partners – Nissan, Connected Places Catapult, Humanising Autonomy, SBD Automotive and TRL – to technically support UK supply chain readiness for future mass deployment of AD technologies in the UK. This comprises several focus areas designed to advance the UK’s autonomous drive capability, including Nissan’s work to trial advanced AD technology in built-up residential areas in collaboration with TRL.

Utilising infrastructure such as CCTV in residential areas, the evolvAD CAVs will be able to receive information to improve situational awareness, creating a test study on how vehicle to infrastructure (V2I) technologies can be used to enhance the performance of CAVs more broadly. The project will also look to develop new V2I technologies to further support the deployment of autonomous drive vehicles. Furthermore, Nissan will trial the technology on complex rural roads and explore what transport opportunities autonomous mobility can provide to A roads and minor roads that are mostly found within rural and intercity communities in the UK.

Commencing in July 2023, the project is already underway in the development phase, using all-electric Nissan LEAFs as the test vehicles. These vehicles will be tested in simulation and on private test tracks before the evolvAD CAVs are put through their paces on live roads in the coming months. Through evolvAD, Nissan will further enhance its autonomous drive technology and capability by testing and trialling it in other driving environments, building on the success of previous consortium AD research projects, HumanDrive and ServCity. Autonomous drive technology is a key pillar within Nissan Ambition 2030, the OEM’s long-term vision to create a cleaner, safer and more inclusive world.

David Moss, Senior Vice President, Region Research & Development for Nissan AMIEO (Africa, Middle East, India, Europe, and Oceania) said: “We are extremely proud to be a part of the evolvAD project in the UK, working alongside some brilliant partners to test and trial our technology further.

“Through Nissan Ambition 2030 we want to empower mobility for everyone, and autonomous drive technologies are critical to this effort as they offer huge benefits in terms of vehicle safety, environmental impact and accessibility. As we celebrate 35 years of NTCE in the UK, we’re excited to get going with this next project that will help ensure we continue to deliver technology of the future that truly benefits our customers.”

Robert Bateman, evolvAD Project Manager and Manager of Nissan’s Research and Advanced Engineering team, Nissan Technical Centre Europe (NTCE), said: “In our previous research projects, our AD team and partners have tackled highways and complex city environments. Now we move onto our next challenge – built up residential streets and rural roads.

“To bring autonomous driving to market, we must test and trial the technology on as many different road types as possible and that’s why projects like evolvAD are so important. Ultimately, we want to make driving cleaner, safer and more inclusive for everyone and we look forward to working with our consortium partners to deliver that.”

Minister for Industry and Economic Security, Nusrat Ghani, said: “Self-driving vehicles have the potential to transform how we get around, making journeys safer, cleaner and more accessible while also helping grow the economy by creating highly skilled jobs.

“This research project will help develop this technology and show that the UK is at the cutting edge in developing automated technology that is not only innovative but, crucially, has safety at its heart.”

The round was led by Horizons Ventures, with participation across several extensions from Liteon Technology Corp, Adata, Palpilot, Foxconn and the HH-CTBC Partnership (Foxconn Co-GP Fund). Using these funds, Kneron will look to accelerate the deployment of new, advanced, AI solutions – with a focus on delivering nano GPT solutions for the automotive industry.

Kneron itself provides end-to-end integrated hardware and software solutions that enable on-device edge AI inferencing. In 2021, it launched an edge AI chip supporting transformer neural networks – a technology that underpins GPT models. The company is also developing NPU (neural processing unit) chips that offer qualities that cater to the needs of AI computing. Its latest auto-grade NPU chip, the KL730, supports advanced lightweight GPT LLMs, such as nano GPT, to expand the number of options on the market.

In aiding autonomous driving, Kneron will utilize the funds to support their latest AI chips, which apply transformers that are commonly applied to language processing functions to image-based applications. Here, the chips leverage the capabilities of these transformers to better process time-series and consider image data holistically. Kneron has said that this helps to improve contextualization and processing, while increasing the accuracy of image-based applications by a minimum of 30%.

Alongside its fundraising announcement, Kneron also announced plans to expand its partnership with Foxconn to accelerate the deployment of advanced AI for automotive (and further) applications. Here, the companies are working to develop an ultra-lightweight AI chip that operates GPT models off the cloud.

For the CCTA, May Mobility will provide on-demand transportation for staff, patients, their families and others in the surrounding community. The service, which is set to launch in 2024, will work to help reduce the number of medical appointment cancellations and absences made due to a lack of convenient, accessible transportation.

May Mobility’s AVs will be incorporated into the CCTA’s existing transportation network, expanding its autonomous fleet. The fleet itself includes seven vehicles, three of which will be wheelchair-accessible models featuring an ADA-compliant wheelchair ramp and securement system.

May Mobility and the CCTA’s autonomous microtransit service will be powered by Via, allowing riders to book an on-demand AV ride through the May Mobility app (available on Google Play or the App Store) or by calling a dedicated phone number. The app leverages Via’s AI-based booking and routing algorithms to match riders headed in the same direction into one AV to create efficient shared trips.

In addition to stops at local medical facilities, the deployment will include further stops that enhance transit connectivity. May Mobility, Via and CCTA will together continue to identify stops that connect the community with local points of interest as well as public health facilities that will help improve the quality of life for county residents.

A key motivator behind the development of LINGO-1 is to help Wayve gain deeper insights into the decision-making and reasoning capabilities of its AI models. These insights will not only help the company build a safe driving intelligence for self-driving but open up new capabilities that can support the interpretability of the AI Driver itself.

Trained using real-world data from Wayve’s drivers, who comment on the experience as they drive, LINGO-1 can explain the reasoning behind its driving actions. The company has said that this language-based feature offers a new type of data that can be used to inform and support the interpreting, explaining, and training of new AI models.

In addition to commentary, LINGO-1 can also respond to questions about a diverse range of driving scenarios – allowing Wayve, in turn, to use feedback to improve the model. Here, answers to questions such as “Why did you slow down?” help the company evaluate the model’s scene comprehension and reasoning, enabling it to more easily identify areas of improvement.

Using LINGO-1, Wayve will also look into incorporating further natural language sources, such as the Highway Code and other safety-relevant content, to make retraining its AI models more efficient. By improving the raw intelligence of its AI Driver, the company expects to accelerate the technology’s learning process, enhance its accuracy, and increase its capacity to handle diverse driving tasks.

Operating through a project called DriveSafeAI, the partnership pairs Wayve’s experiences in end-to-end machine learning for self-driving, with WMG’s experience in verifying and validating the safety of self-driving technologies. Together, the partners will develop a set of safety methods, tools and datasets for self-driving vehicles while creating the evidence to underpin future AI regulation and policy.

DriveSafeAI forms a part of the Commercialising CAM Supply Chain Competition, which is funded by the UK Government’s Centre for Connected and Automated Vehicles – a joint unit between the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) and the Department for Transport (DfT) delivered in partnership with Innovate UK and Zenzic.

The £18.5 million ($23.1 million / €21.5 million) competition was originally launched in October 2022 to support the deployment of AVs by strengthening the capabilities of the UK CAM supply chain and is part of the government’s broader vision for self-driving vehicles.

The shuttle spawned from the partnership will offer nine seats, six fixed and three flexible, with a payload of around 1,000 kg (2204 lb). Its autonomous capabilities are enabled by the Mobileye Drive platform, which is equipped with purpose-built EyeQ processors and a sensor suite that includes cameras, radars, and LiDAR sensors. The platform also provides the AV with dedicated mapping solutions. During operations, the AV can reach a maximum speed of 70 km/h (43 mph) and has an estimated range of more than 217 miles (350 km) per day, and more than 62 miles (100 km) on one battery charge.

Following its presentation at IAA Mobility, VDL and Schaeffler will look to develop the AV further as they work towards testing it on streets in 2025. The companies confirmed that they are currently in advanced negotiations with public transport authorities and operators about potential pilot projects involving the AV. Germany is planned to be the first country where the newly developed and manufactured shuttles will operate, benefiting from the country’s recent approval of SAE L4 vehicles for use on public roads. Following these trials, the companies will then look to take the prototypes into series production, where they expect to produce thousands of shuttles per year from 2030 at VDL’s Mobility Innovation Centre located in Born, a village in the Netherlands.

Together, Schaeffler and VDL ultimately intend to develop and build their shuttles for public transport operators, with the companies envisioning these vehicles to be operating as part of a comprehensive ecosystem. The pilot project negotiations they are engaging with alongside operators will help them achieve this goal, with the projects intended to prove the concept and set up a scalable ecosystem with open interfaces.

The Shanghai Intelligent Connected Vehicle (ICV) Road Test Permit enables GM to put highly automated vehicles of designated test zones on China’s public roads for the first time. The vehicles themselves will be equipped with the self-driving solutions Momenta developed with GM’s local team in China for the Chinese market. This technology will be retrofitted onto a fleet of Cadillac Lyriq e-SUVs to demonstrate its potential for application on production, personally owned vehicles at scale, and its integration with GM’s Ultium EV platform.

The program will commence with a year-long AV testing period, conducted mainly in a designated area of Shanghai’s Jinqiao District. With a safety driver behind the steering wheel, GM’s test vehicles will operate autonomously in an urban setting in the district – navigating complex, sophisticated, driving scenarios across Shanghai’s four ICV test zones.

Leveraging Momenta’s artificial intelligence to speed up algorithm iteration, the test program will help GM’s test fleet to advance to higher levels of road testing and operation as mapped out by Shanghai’s ICV development guidelines. More broadly, the tests will also benefit GM ‘s ADAS as they continue to roll out in China and while they continue to evolve and expand applicable automated driving scenarios – from restricted driving conditions (such as highways) to more demanding urban settings.