Robotics & Automation News

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driving

Daimler Trucks sets up global organisation for highly automated driving

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Daimler Trucks is establishing the Autonomous Technology Group as a global organisation for automated driving, bringing together its worldwide expertise and activities, as of June 1.

The main tasks of the new unit comprise overall strategy and implementation of the automated driving roadmap, including research and development as well as setting up the required operations infrastructure and network, heading towards the series production of highly automated trucks (SAE level 4).

The newly established Autonomous Technology Group is part of Daimler Trucks’ global effort to put highly automated trucks onto the roads within a decade.

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Massive data centre: BMW launches ‘high-performance’ platform for development of autonomous driving systems

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BMW says its launch of the High Performance D3 platform represents ‘a key milestone’ on the automaker’s roadmap to highly and fully automated driving

It was back in 2000 when the BMW Group first started to conduct research into its vision of a car that people could drive themselves – but didn’t have to.

Six years later, in 2006, a BMW was following the racing line around the Hockenheim circuit without human assistance for the first time.

Since 2011, highly automated test vehicles from the BMW have been driving on the A9 motorway between Munich and Nuremberg. And as part of the CES in 2014, the BMW gave a demonstration of highly automated driving at the limits of performance on the Las Vegas Speedway. [Read more…] about Massive data centre: BMW launches ‘high-performance’ platform for development of autonomous driving systems

Alstom to develop a driving simulator for Barcelona Metro

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Alstom is to develop an S9000 train driving simulator for lines 9 and 10 of the Barcelona Metro, currently the only driverless lines in operation in Spain.

The solution will consist of a training system that incorporates the latest simulation technologies for routes, conditions and obstacles.

The simulator will create realistic scenarios employing virtual reality technology commonly used by video games developers.

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Samsung enhances functional safety in its automotive semiconductors

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Samsung Electronics has received the ISO 26262 certification for functional safety in automotive components from TÜV Rheinland, a third-party testing, inspection and certification company.

The accreditation of Samsung’s new functional safety management system ensures that the company’s advanced automotive semiconductors, such as processors, image sensors, memory and light emitting diode (LED) solutions, satisfy the industry’s rigid safety standards throughout the product development process.

As the adoption of electronic components in automobiles continue to increase and the development of future applications are accelerated across industries, the importance of automotive safety standards for semiconductor components as well as their level of sophistication have also risen.

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US Postal Service testing driverless trucks from TuSimple

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The US Postal Service is testing driverless trucks from TuSimple in a two-week pilot program.

TuSimple, a self-driving truck company, says the USPS has awarded it a contract to perform five round trips during the trial, hauling USPS trailers more than 1,000 miles between the Postal Service’s Phoenix, Arizona and Dallas, Texas distribution centers.

The truck will have a safety engineer and driver on board for the duration of the pilot to monitor vehicle performance and to ensure public safety. [Read more…] about US Postal Service testing driverless trucks from TuSimple

Tests reveal potential of truck ‘platooning’ in Germany

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A pilot project on truck platooning has been successfully completed by DB Schenker, MAN Truck & Bus and Fresenius University of Applied Sciences in Germany.

‘Platooning’ is when two or more trucks drive in a tight convoy on a motorway, benefiting from reduced air drag. All vehicles driving in the platoon are electronically linked to each other

Operating electronically linked trucks on German motorways is safe, technically reliable and easily applicable in the routine of a logistics company.

[Read more…] about Tests reveal potential of truck ‘platooning’ in Germany

Eclipse Foundation launches openMobility group to plan future of autonomous cars

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The Eclipse Foundation has launched the openMobility Working Group, which will focus on open and shared collaboration around one of the major issues in urban planning around autonomous vehicles and future transportation requirements – traffic simulation and modelling.

The Eclipse Foundation is an independent, not-for-profit corporation that acts as a steward of the Eclipse open source software development community.

Based on the cutting-edge Eclipse Simulation of Urban Mobility project that originated at the German Aerospace Center, the openMobility Working Group brings together researchers and industry to create a common simulation platform for urban areas in a shared collaboration, open source environment.

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GM’s autonomous driving business Cruise raises another $1.15 billion

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The autonomous driving business which General Motors acquired three years ago, Cruise, has raised more than $1 billion in its latest funding round, bringing total capital raised to approximately $7 billion.

Cruise says the equity investment of $1.15 billion is from a group comprising institutional investors, including funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, and existing partners GM, SoftBank Vision Fund and Honda.

Dan Ammann, Cruise CEO, says: “Developing and deploying self-driving vehicles at massive scale is the engineering challenge of our generation.

[Read more…] about GM’s autonomous driving business Cruise raises another $1.15 billion

Samsung moves into the vertical farming market

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Agricultural innovations are essential for feeding our ever-growing global population.

Especially these days, as industrialisation and global warming continue to negatively affect soil fertility and reduce the amount of arable land.

According to the United Nations, the world’s population is set to reach 9.8 billion by 2050.

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Groupe PSA carries out autonomous driving tests in L3Pilot project

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Since the start of April, Group PSA’s vehicles equipped with level 3 autonomous driving functions have been operating on open roads in France as part of the European L3Pilot project.

Six to eight vehicles will undergo intensive driving tests to validate autonomous functions on dual carriageways.

The project is strengthening Groupe PSA’s expertise in the development of autonomous vehicles, thanks to a global ecosystem of partners, including European carmakers, research centres and roads authorities.

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