Tag Archives: Cars
Yom Kippur in Israel — Day Without Cars
This evening is the beginning of the one-day festival of Yom Kippur, celebrated by Jews all over the world. In addition to being a day of fasting, reflection and atonement for sins, here in Israel Yom Kippur has an additional dimension: No driving in most of the country. Since the Yom Kippur War Started as… Read More »
Driverless Cars: The Backlash Begins
Hailo Protests Plans for UK Investment in Self-Driving Technologies In a swipe against the impending future of driverless transport, taxi app Hailo has sponsored protests in London recently against a city without cabdrivers. As Hailo CMO Gary Bramall said, “People don’t want robots; they need to know that their driver will get them from A to B… Read More »
Chevy’s FNR: Self-Driving Wonder Car
Autonomous, Electric, Wireless Charging — What’s Not to Like in GM’s Newest Concept Car? Shanghai — not Detroit — was the venue for the recent announcement by General Motors of their new concept vehicle, the Chevrolet FNR. In a critical acknowledgement of China’s rising importance in the autonomous vehicle market, the new self-driving supercar is… Read More »
Hyundai to Offer Self-Driving Car in 2020
Fully Automated Cars in 2030 South Korea’s Hyundai Motor recently said some of the company’s cars would be capable of driverless operation by 2020. Hyundai is the latest auto manufacturer to claim an interest in commercializing self-driving cars, with many of the major automakers already boasting that they are… Read More »
A Guide to Driverless/Self-Driving/Autonomous Terminology
Every new technology has its share of buzz words and new terms. Here’s a short guide to some of the special vocabulary that is developing around the world of self-driving vehicles. Levels of Automation – The five levels of vehicle automation, as defined by the U. S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Briefly, they are: No-Automation… Read More »
Australian Auto Insurers Start Planning for Cars Without Drivers
Insurance Vendors RACQ and Suncorp See Lower Rates in the Driverless Future Maybe your next car can be a conventional model, but if you’re looking to save money on your car insurance and you live in Australia, you should consider a self-driving auto for your next-next vehicle. That seems to be a reasonable conclusion from recent statements by… Read More »
Write That Code or Get Off the Road – Software Roadblock for SDVs?
Better Software May Make the Difference in Real-World SDV Rollouts One reason that Self-Driving Vehicles are appearing today is the convergence of several lines of technology. Among these are computer-controlled automotive components (there’s been a computer in your car since the 1980’s), Lidar-based sensors, V2V communications, and the availability of internet-based weather and satellite data.… Read More »
The Dark Side of Self-Driving Cars
Whether you call them driverless cars, self-driving cars, autonomous vehicles, or just SDVs (self-driving vehicles), it seems that everyone from Google’s Sergey Brin to Tesla chief Elon Musk – is singing the praises of this new and exciting technology. And it’s easy to see why: Cut highway deaths by an estimated 93%; allow the handicapped,… Read More »
Mercedes S-Class 2015 Coupe — Self-Driving You Can Buy Today
On the road and ready to go, the Mercedes-Benz S-class 2014/2015 has been out there for more than a year and is leading the pack in near-driverless technologies. “Near-driverless” is of course an imprecise term, but here’s an excerpt of the definition of Level 3 autonomous vehicles from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway… Read More »
Government Funding for Self-Driving Cars on the Rise US, UK Put Cash on the Table -- Huge Investment Gap for Other Countries
How important is government funding for self-driving cars? The answer from the Obama administration is apparently “Very!” With the recent US announcement of a proposed $4 billion budget for the planning and development of self-driving vehicles, the ante has been raised in the international quest for autonomous transportation. As reported in the Wall Street Journal, the huge US treasury… Read More »