Robotics & Automation News

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Autonomous Vehicles

Baidu unveils next-generation autonomous vehicle for robotaxi operation

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Baidu, China’s equivalent of Google or Alphabet, has unveiled its next-generation fully autonomous vehicle, the Apollo RT6, an all-electric, production-ready model with a detachable steering wheel.

Designed for complex urban environments, Apollo RT6 will be put into operation in China in 2023 on Apollo Go, Baidu’s autonomous ride-hailing service.

With a per unit cost of RMB 250,000 (approximately $37,000), the arrival of Apollo RT6 is set to accelerate autonomous vehicle deployment at scale, bringing the world closer to a future of driverless shared mobility. [Read more…] about Baidu unveils next-generation autonomous vehicle for robotaxi operation

On the Way to Solving the Big Data Problem in Autonomous Driving

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The appearance of self-driving vehicles is closely related to progress in the sphere of artificial intelligence and robotics. However, self-driving cars need more than just artificial intelligence and machine learning.

To build its route, each self-driving car sends and receives plenty of data from various sensors like GPS, sonars, radars, lidars, cameras, and so on.

Information from all these sources must be processed very quickly, almost in real-time. And the amount of data is really massive here. [Read more…] about On the Way to Solving the Big Data Problem in Autonomous Driving

Pony.ai to mass produce autonomous driving controller built on Nvidia Drive Orin

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Pony.ai, a leading global autonomous driving technology company, announced today that its Autonomous Driving Controller (ADC), powered by the Nvidia Drive Hyperion compute architecture (Drive Orin), has been sampled to customers with plans to mass produce the ADC starting in Q4 2022.

Since January 2022, Pony.ai has been conducting road tests optimizing the software to run at low latency and with real-time performance. Pony.ai’s autonomous fleets will feature the Nvidia Drive Orin system-on-chip (SoC) as the centralized compute and AI engine.

Pony.ai’s latest ADC offers single or dual Nvidia Drive Orin configurations, delivering 254 and 508 trillion operations per second (TOPS), respectively. As the world’s highest performance automotive-grade SoC, Drive Orin is designed to handle large numbers of applications and deep neural networks simultaneously, while achieving systematic safety standards, to ensure safe, highly advanced intelligent driving. [Read more…] about Pony.ai to mass produce autonomous driving controller built on Nvidia Drive Orin

Einride unveils expanded lineup of autonomous trucks

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Swedish freight technology company Einride has unveiled additional product offerings to its hardware and software lineups including designs for an Einride Trailer and new features and functionality on the Einride Saga platform.

These build outs of the Saga UI experience via new apps and a new API (application programming interface) developer platform, in addition to presenting what is possible for the future of Einride’s hardware, further underline the company’s deepening offering of freight mobility solutions for customers.

Robert Falck, Founder and CEO of Einride, says: “By offering these latest product offerings with Saga and showcasing our latest designs for future electric freight hardware, we are able to tap into an even larger potential to help shippers transition towards electric and being able to cost competitively reach their sustainability goals. [Read more…] about Einride unveils expanded lineup of autonomous trucks

Embark provides Texas law enforcement with autonomous trucks

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Embark Trucks, a developer of autonomous technology for the trucking industry, is making progress in its efforts to develop an emergency vehicle interaction capability for Embark-powered autonomous trucks to identify, stop for, and interface with law enforcement vehicles.

Embark is working closely with the Texas Department of Public Safety to train Embark-powered trucks to identify law enforcement vehicles in situations such as traffic stops, and to develop communication protocols and standard operating procedures between autonomous trucks and law enforcement officers.

Embark plans to publicly demonstrate the emergency vehicle interaction capability later this summer. [Read more…] about Embark provides Texas law enforcement with autonomous trucks

Trimble implements new localization system for autonomous vehicles

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Trimble has released details of the first deployment of its map-based localization system for land-based autonomous vehicle applications.

IHI Corporation, a heavy industry manufacturer based in Japan, will retrofit its existing container and haulage trucks with a customized Applanix POS LV system as part of its broader autonomy capabilities for the transport of goods around industrial facilities.

Map-based localization provides precise positioning and orientation estimation, augmenting GNSS/inertial data, which is critical for safe and efficient autonomous vehicle operations. The ability to provide IHI Corporation a full workflow and real-time data ensures seamless integration into IHI’s truck design. [Read more…] about Trimble implements new localization system for autonomous vehicles

SafeAI, Siemens and Obayashi collaborate to develop retrofitted autonomous, zero emission, off-road heavy vehicles

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SafeAI, a developer of autonomous heavy equipment, is collaborating with Siemens to create an autonomous, zero emission heavy vehicle fleet for Obayashi Corporation.

SafeAI and Siemens will work with Obayashi Corporation, a Japan-based global leader in construction, to create smarter, safer, more sustainable and productive construction sites.

SafeAI and Obayashi originally announced their partnership in October 2020, beginning with a pilot site in Cupertino, California, USA. [Read more…] about SafeAI, Siemens and Obayashi collaborate to develop retrofitted autonomous, zero emission, off-road heavy vehicles

Kodiak Robotics releases new tech to simplify autonomous truck maintenance

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Kodiak Robotics, a self-driving trucking company, has demonstrated how its proprietary SensorPod hardware “simplifies autonomous truck maintenance and increases truck utilization” by eliminating the need for a specialized technician to replace autonomous vehicle sensors.

As part of a technical partnership with Southern Tire Mart/Southern Tire Mart at Pilot, Kodiak has demonstrated that its pre-calibrated, pre-built SensorPods, which replace the truck’s stock side-view mirrors, can be completely removed and replaced by a mechanic without specialized training.

Servicing and maintaining most autonomous truck sensor systems requires significant time and specialized training, which complicates repairs since long-haul trucks can travel thousands of miles per trip and may need service in remote locations. [Read more…] about Kodiak Robotics releases new tech to simplify autonomous truck maintenance

Motional and Uber launch autonomous deliveries of food

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Motional and Uber have launched autonomous deliveries for Uber Eats customers in Santa Monica, California.

Motional’s all-electric IONIQ 5 vehicles, operating autonomously, are now conducting end-to-end food deliveries.

Abe Ghabra, Motional’s chief operating officer, says: “Autonomous delivery signifies the next phase of Motional’s commercial roadmap. [Read more…] about Motional and Uber launch autonomous deliveries of food

Einride unveils expanded product offerings for its autonomous trucks

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Swedish freight technology company Einride has unveiled new product offerings to its hardware and software lineups including designs for an Einride Trailer and new features and functionality on the Einride Saga platform.

These build outs of the Saga UI experience via new apps and a new API (application programming interface) developer platform, in addition to presenting what is possible for the future of Einride’s hardware, further underline the company’s deepening offering of freight mobility solutions for customers.

Robert Falck, founder and CEO of Einride, says: “By offering these latest product offerings with Saga and showcasing our latest designs for future electric freight hardware, we are able to tap into an even larger potential to help shippers transition towards electric and being able to cost competitively reach their sustainability goals. [Read more…] about Einride unveils expanded product offerings for its autonomous trucks