As progress slows toward putting self-driving cars on the road, it’s looking like the vehicles may first be put to use schlepping things rather than people. Packages, after all, don’t complain when the robot takes the longer way around because it’s uncomfortable making left turns across traffic. The nice thing is that both people and packages can comfortably fit into cubes. Zoox, despite its new Amazonian overlords, insists that it’s still focused on robotaxis, though Levinson says “a lot of things are possible with our platform.”
Category Archives: autonomous cars
Elon Musk Says Cybertruck Will Power Off-Grid Tiny Houses and Campers
Off-grid living is a reality for a number of people globally, be it by choice or not. So for those looking to live off the grid with some creature comforts, it appears the Cybertruck will be an option to tow and power a tiny house. Read more
Architects are already designing hotel concepts for autonomous vehicle travel
Should a self-driving car kill the baby or the grandma? Depends on where you’re from.
Tesla Cybertruck demonstrates why design thinking is broken
Mercedes Vision-Urbanetic Concept
Volvo cars to pull off road if they detect drunk drivers
Boeing crash shows problem for self-driving cars, says Daimler chief
Martin Daum, chief executive of the Daimler trucking division, which acquired self-driving software group Torc Robotics last week, said in a recent interview that “the biggest question” for autonomous technology was how people would respond to crashes in cars controlled by it — even once it is clear that such vehicles are safer than those driven by human drivers, although still not entirely free of flaws.
https://www.ft.com/content/ab31b8b2-554a-11e9-91f9-b6515a54c5b1
Forget Self-Driving Cars. Bring Back the Stick Shift.
Technology meant to save us from distraction is making us less attentive.
Uber’s march toward a self-driving car hit a major speed bump last year in Tempe, Ariz., when one of its self-driving Volvos struck and killed a pedestrian. While a lot of focus was on how a vehicle with cameras and radar sensors could completely miss a human being on the road, less has been said about the failure of the most intricately programmed system in the vehicle — the brain of the human in the driver’s seat.
