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From demos to daily transport: How Las Vegas is turning autonomy into real urban infrastructure

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While many cities are still piloting autonomous transport in tightly controlled environments, Las Vegas is moving more aggressively – positioning itself as one of the most visible real-world laboratories for next-generation mobility in the United States.

Across the Strip and beyond, robotaxis, remotely operated vehicles, automated shuttles, and tunnel-based transport systems are shifting autonomy from experimental deployments toward everyday infrastructure capable of moving residents, workers, and tourists.

Taken together, these initiatives suggest a coordinated – if not formally centralized – push toward embedding intelligent transport directly into the city’s operational fabric. If there is a central co-ordinating organization, it’s probably the Community & Economic Development for Clark County, Nevada, home of the Las Vegas Strip. [Read more…] about From demos to daily transport: How Las Vegas is turning autonomy into real urban infrastructure

Waabi raises $1 billion to accelerate commercialization of autonomous trucking and expand into robotaxis

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Waabi, a developer of autonomous trucks and physical AI, has closed its oversubscribed $750 million Series C round co-led by Khosla Ventures and G2 Venture Partners, and secured an additional milestone-based future investment from Uber to support a new partnership to deploy robotaxis powered by the Waabi Driver exclusively on the Uber platform.

The funding, the largest fundraise in Canadian history, will fuel the continued advancement of Waabi’s Physical AI Platform, further accelerate the company’s commercial progress in autonomous trucking, and support Waabi’s expansion into robotaxis.

Founded in 2021, Waabi has quickly ascended from industry upstart to leader in physical AI. The company’s “revolutionary” Physical AI Platform enables true scale, generalizing to different form factors, geographies, and environments. [Read more…] about Waabi raises $1 billion to accelerate commercialization of autonomous trucking and expand into robotaxis

Continental launches new tires designed for autonomous vehicle fleets and robotaxis

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Continental has introduced a new line of tires developed specifically for autonomous vehicle fleets, including robotaxis and shuttle services, with the first models set to be deployed in US cities such as Las Vegas and San Francisco.

The tire maker said its new aContact product line is tailored to the needs of self-driving vehicles, which face different demands compared to traditional cars. The tires are designed for extended use, improved durability, and greater efficiency to support around-the-clock operations typical of robotaxis.

Meletis Xigakis, head of research and development for Continental’s original equipment business, says: “Robotaxis will soon be part of our everyday mobility. [Read more…] about Continental launches new tires designed for autonomous vehicle fleets and robotaxis

Autonomous vehicles: Are they really safer than human-driven vehicles?

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With more than 90 percent of road traffic accidents coming down to human error, the importance of autonomy and its potential safety benefits cannot be overlooked.

As the industry moves into a new era of autonomous driving technologies, safety benchmarks and standards are evolving, forcing car companies to adopt new technologies to keep their cars competitive.

IDTechEx’s report Autonomous Cars, Robotaxis and Sensors 2024-2044 provides market outlooks for the next twenty years.

[Read more…] about Autonomous vehicles: Are they really safer than human-driven vehicles?

Robotaxis: The revolutionary mobility choice of the future

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Every 24 seconds, one person dies in a road accident, according to United Nations (un.org) in its road safety fact sheet published in 2021. It is also stated that more than 90 per cent of car accidents occur due to human errors.

Transportation accounted for 37 per cent of CO2 emissions from end‐use sectors in 2021, as per International Energy Agency.

The above figures talk aloud about the two biggest challenges the transportation industry is facing today:

  1. passenger safety; and
  2. emissions.

Countries world over are putting efforts in terms of changes in policies, subsidies, incentives, and what not, to put a brake on these two issues which see no signs of abatement in the short time period. [Read more…] about Robotaxis: The revolutionary mobility choice of the future

Motional chooses Ouster as exclusive supplier of long-range lidar for its autonomous vehicles

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Motional, a specialist developer of driverless cars, has selected Ouster as the exclusive provider of long-range lidar sensors for its all-electric Ioniq 5-based robotaxis. 

The serial production agreement will see Ouster supply Motional with Alpha Prime VLS-128 sensors through 2026.

A culmination of ten years of lidar development and learning from millions of road miles, the Alpha Prime long-range sensor is specifically designed for autonomous driving and advanced vehicle safety at highway speeds. [Read more…] about Motional chooses Ouster as exclusive supplier of long-range lidar for its autonomous vehicles

Motional to add new features to its robotaxi service

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Ride-hail passengers in Las Vegas can now take an autonomous ride in a Motional IONIQ 5 robotaxi at night

“Las Vegas is a city that really comes alive once the sun goes down, so extending our service to match rider demand is a critical step forward in the evolution of our vehicle,” says Akshay Jaising, Motional’s vice president of commercialization.

“We’re happy we can now spend more hours everyday introducing passengers to our technology, and helping them travel safely and comfortably where they need to go.”

Night driving is one of three passenger-friendly service upgrades making their way to Motional’s fleet of all-electric IONIQ 5 robotaxis, which have been carrying public passengers in Las Vegas since August. [Read more…] about Motional to add new features to its robotaxi service

Baidu aims to create ‘world’s largest fully driverless ride-hailing area’

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Baidu, an AI company with strong internet foundation and often referred to as China’s equivalent of Google, has embarked on a major expansion of its commercialized fully driverless robotaxi service in Wuhan.

The new expansion would triple the size of its current operation area, increasing the number of robotaxis in service and expanding operating time to include key evening hours.

The move marks a major milestone on Baidu’s ambitious autonomous ride-hailing roadmap, as the company plans to put an additional 200 fully driverless robotaxis into operation across China in 2023, aiming to cover “the largest fully driverless ride-hailing service area in the world” by the end of the year. [Read more…] about Baidu aims to create ‘world’s largest fully driverless ride-hailing area’

Baidu granted China’s ‘first-ever’ permits for commercial driverless ride-hailing services

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Baidu, China’s equivalent of Google, has secured the first permits in China to offer commercial fully driverless robotaxi services to the public on open roads.

Apollo Go, Baidu’s autonomous ride-hailing service, is now authorized to collect fares for robotaxi rides – completely without human drivers in the car – in Chongqing and Wuhan, two of China’s largest megacities.

Amid increasing regulatory approval of the expansion of autonomous vehicles (AVs), the permits reflect regulatory authorities’ strong recognition and trust in the strength of Baidu’s autonomous driving technology. [Read more…] about Baidu granted China’s ‘first-ever’ permits for commercial driverless ride-hailing services

Pony.ai becomes ‘first’ autonomous driving company to receive taxi license in China

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Pony.ai, an autonomous driving technology company, claims it has become the “first and only autonomous driving company to obtain a taxi license in China”.

Pony.ai was awarded a permit to operate 100 autonomous vehicles as traditional taxis in Nansha, Guangzhou.

In May, Pony.ai will start charging fares in the entire 800 square kilometers of Nansha with 100 robotaxis and intends to gradually expand the scale and scope of service to other areas of Guangzhou to benefit more residents. [Read more…] about Pony.ai becomes ‘first’ autonomous driving company to receive taxi license in China

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