Driverless

• [New] Providing access to T-Mobile's 5G network, the 5G Connected Future incubator program will allow startups and entrepreneurs to build and test solutions like autonomous vehicles (AVs), drones and robotics.
• [New] NHTSA's request for comments demonstrates a federal response to evolving technology with focus on the importance of ensuring autonomous vehicles will be safely integrated into the transportation network.
• [New] Self-driving cars, vans, and trucks promise to minimize the risk of spreading disease by limiting driver contact, which is perhaps why people across the globe trust the safety of autonomous vehicles more than they did three years ago.
• [New] With the autonomous BYD bus in actual operation, the Haneda Airport will be Japan's first international airport to conduct the pilot operation of an autonomous bus.
• [New] The widespread adoption of fully autonomous vehicles is not expected until around 2030, there are already tens of thousands of cars on UK roads capable of full self-driving, many of which use partial autonomous driving on a regular basis.
• [New] Other technologies Congress should support USPS to experiment with and deploy are autonomous trucks for long-haul movement of mail (at least along freeways) and drone delivery, which could play a key role in delivery in more remote rural areas.
• [New] Working with a range of partners, the autonomous vehicles will be deployed at Toyota's Woven City, a fully connected prototype city of tomorrow being built in the foothills of Mount Fuji in Japan.
• [New] Germany will be the first country in the world to bring autonomous vehicles from its research laboratories onto the road.
• [New] VW recently boosted its planned investments in connected, automated and electrified vehicles to $86 billion through 2025 and has said that it could offer a fully autonomous driving feature in its vehicles by then.
• [New] GM already has pledged to spend $27 billion developing 30 new global electric vehicles and on autonomous vehicle research by 2025, with two-thirds of the EVs coming to the U.S.
• [New] Baidu, a driverless car developer and China's equivalent of Google, has launched a multi-modal autonomous driving mobility as a service (MaaS) platform that will provide AI-driven city transportation services in Guangzhou, a city a hundred miles north-west of Hong Kong.
• [New] Hyundai executives believe the partnership with Apple will enable them to accelerate their plans for autonomous and electrified vehicles.
• American Tower, a global leader in wireless communications infrastructure, will utilize the autonomous drone and AI technology to inspect its more than 41,000 wireless communications tower facilities in the United States, with potential to expand to its more than 183,000 sites worldwide.
• Autonomous Finance will start picking up - Autonomous finance is one of the top fintech innovations that will start picking up in India in the year 2021.
• Fully autonomous cars are being tested on roads today, and the first commercially available semi-autonomous cars could be on the road in the next 1-2 years.
• The autonomous vehicle usable both as a ride-sharing vehicle and cargo hauler is currently under development and the New Car for London is the logical progression in PriestmanGoode's progression towards a future where autonomous ride-sharing will be the norm!
• In 2021, OEMs will need to identify practical ways to rapidly translate current and future policies into practical cybersecurity measures for the connected cars of today and the all-electric, level 5 autonomous vehicles of tomorrow.
• Ford announced during its fourth-quarter earnings report that it will invest $22 billion in electric vehicles and $7 billion in autonomous vehicles through 2025.
• Additional electronic systems / features, onboard connectivity, advances in autonomous driving, and the expansion of electronic vehicle sales around the world are expected to help raise the average semiconductor content per new vehicle to more than US$550 in 2021.
• Apple is nearing a deal with Hyundai-Kia to manufacture an autonomous electric vehicle, and the impacts of the tech giant's entry into the automaker space could reverberate across a number of industries.
• GM will dedicate 50% of its capital spending and product development teams to work on its electric and electric-autonomous vehicle programmes.
• With software development in the automotive industry expected to grow by 13% over the next five years, CEE offers important advantages to automakers vying to be at the forefront of developments such as autonomous driving, vehicle connectivity and electrification.

Last updated: 21 February 2021