Latest news with #SAELevel4
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Driverless Trucks Are Now Making Freight Runs in Texas, and This Is the Company Doing It
Aurora Innovation launches autonomous truck operations in Texas with its SAE Level 4 tech, similar to robotaxis, hauling freight between Dallas and Houston. The 18-wheeler autonomous trucks now operate without a safety driver in the cab, in an important step for the autonomous trucking developer. Several companies are focusing their autonomous trucking efforts in Texas and the southwest, in an effort to automate truck routes. Earlier this month, Aurora Innovation kicked off driverless truck operations in Texas, starting off with a freight route between Dallas and Houston for commercial customers. The SAE Level 4 trucks, operating without a safety driver in the cab, have been making the 250-mile route that has been the focus of quite a bit of testing by several autonomous truck developers, many of which have been getting driverless truck infrastructure ready. Getting to this point took years of research and plenty of on-road testing, in environments open and closed to regular traffic, with Aurora Innovation achieving a successful round of validation testing. In fact, years of supervised testing by Aurora has already seen 10,000 customer loads delivered by its prototypes, spanning some 3 million miles. Aurora's first two commercial customers are Uber Freight and Hirschbach Motor Lines, with both having collaborated with the Level 4 developer in prior supervised tests. Hirschbach focuses on temperature- and time-sensitive freight, and like others in the industry, it prizes reliability and safety at a time when there is a driver shortage and other equipment-related pressures. "Transforming an old school industry like trucking is never easy, but we can't ignore the safety and efficiency benefits this technology can deliver," said Richard Stocking, CEO of Hirschbach Motor Lines. "Autonomous trucks aren't just going to help grow our business—they're also going to give our drivers better lives by handling the lengthier and less desirable routes." The busy Dallas to Houston route between warehouses is merely the first that Aurora plans to automate this year, with plans to expand driverless truck services to Phoenix and El Paso later this year. And Aurora isn't alone in focusing on the vast truck routes in the American southwest that have made this part of the country a critical setting for SAE Level 4 truck innovation. Entire specialized hubs are being planned and built by the various autonomous truck developers nestled in Texas. The SAE Level 4 tech itself is analogous to robotaxis, but only to a point. Driverless trucks need to look much farther down the road than robotaxis in busy cities, and take steps to respond to situations that won't unfold for another few seconds. This includes the ability to see pedestrians in the dark from hundreds of yards away, and being able to predict when another car might run a red light. So the reach of its sensor hardware has to look further out in space and in time, as trucks can't stop on a dime. "We founded Aurora to deliver the benefits of self-driving technology safely, quickly, and broadly. Now, we are the first company to successfully and safely operate a commercial driverless trucking service on public roads," said Chris Urmson, CEO and co-founder of Aurora. With a successful on-road launch earlier this month, it's becoming clear that we'll look back on 2025 as a pivotal year for driverless trucks with the launch of Aurora's commercial service. One of the next questions that the autonomous truck cottage industry will have to answer, well before the question of profitability, is just how seamless of a freight run process can be achieved along greater distances inside Texas with dozens of trucks operating at once and being monitored remotely. Achieving a greater scale of operation will be among the next big tests for Aurora and others. Will driverless trucks be a common sight in many US states by 2035, or will this remain a relatively niche technology confined to a handful of routes in a couple states? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Another Robotaxi Service Will Launch in Texas. But It's Not One You've Heard Of
Uber teams up with May Mobility to launch a fleet of robotaxis in Arlington, Texas, by the end of 2025. The effort is the latest partnership between a leading app and an autonomous tech developer, with the ride-hailing industry now taking steps to add driverless vehicles to its fleets. Texas is increasingly becoming the most important state in autonomous vehicle development and launches, including driverless trucks. Waymo isn't the only robotaxi developer in the US at the moment, even though it easily has most of the momentum as an operator of its own fleets. After years of backing various SAE Level 4 development efforts, Uber is now progressing to the roll-out stage with a number of partners. The ride-hailing giant is teaming up with May Mobility in a multi-year strategic partnership, with the latter set to launch thousands of robotaxis on Uber's app platform. And the first location that will see May Mobility's autonomous vehicles under the Uber umbrella will be Arlington, Texas. The robotaxis are scheduled to launch there by the end of this year. "The partnership highlights both companies' shared ambition to quickly scale AV use in ride-hail, broadening access to AVs across diverse markets and driving greater consumer choice," May Mobility noted. In practice, this means that later in 2025 Uber will offer its users in Arlington the option of using May's hybrid-electric Toyota Sienna models on certain trips, at first with safety drivers on board, before moving on to driverless operations. So human Uber drivers will still remain on the roads of the city. Last year Ann Arbor-based May Mobility has also teamed up with Lyft to bring the same Sienna robotaxis to Atlanta by 2025 in a partnership model that is becoming very common in the autonomous vehicle industry, with an existing ride-hailing app providing the user base and the fleet services that robotaxis require. Hearst Owned This year is shaping up to be a big one for May Mobility, just at a time when robotaxis are starting to see launches in major markets outside the west coast and the southwest. May's planned launch in Arlington later this year means that Texas alone could see three different robotaxi services, with Tesla planning its own Austin launch for June after Waymo kicked off operations in its hometown earlier this year. "Launching on the Uber platform is a big signal to the market that May Mobility is ready to quickly expand to major markets as the pre-eminent autonomy-as-a-service provider," said Edwin Olson, CEO and co-founder of May Mobility. Of course, one of the reasons this is happening in Arlington, of all places, is not because there is a shortage of human-driven Ubers or privately owned vehicles. The Lone Star state has a very liberal regulatory framework for autonomous vehicles of all types, and Texas has also been the focal point of most of the country's autonomous truck testing and deployment efforts. In fact, driverless trucks are already in operation in Texas, and more are on the way soon. It remains to be seen whether any robotaxi service will be able to catch up to Waymo, but it's becoming increasingly obvious that ride-hailing apps like Uber and Lyft are bound to play a major role in Level 4 services' expansion in the US and overseas via partnerships with autonomous tech developers. Will robotaxis outnumber human gig-economy drivers by 2035 in the US, or will they remain a minority in the ride-hailing app fleets? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Another Robotaxi Service Will Launch in Texas. But It's Not One You've Heard Of
Uber teams up with May Mobility to launch a fleet of robotaxis in Arlington, Texas, by the end of 2025. The effort is the latest partnership between a leading app and an autonomous tech developer, with the ride-hailing industry now taking steps to add driverless vehicles to its fleets. Texas is increasingly becoming the most important state in autonomous vehicle development and launches, including driverless trucks. Waymo isn't the only robotaxi developer in the US at the moment, even though it easily has most of the momentum as an operator of its own fleets. After years of backing various SAE Level 4 development efforts, Uber is now progressing to the roll-out stage with a number of partners. The ride-hailing giant is teaming up with May Mobility in a multi-year strategic partnership, with the latter set to launch thousands of robotaxis on Uber's app platform. And the first location that will see May Mobility's autonomous vehicles under the Uber umbrella will be Arlington, Texas. The robotaxis are scheduled to launch there by the end of this year. "The partnership highlights both companies' shared ambition to quickly scale AV use in ride-hail, broadening access to AVs across diverse markets and driving greater consumer choice," May Mobility noted. In practice, this means that later in 2025 Uber will offer its users in Arlington the option of using May's hybrid-electric Toyota Sienna models on certain trips, at first with safety drivers on board, before moving on to driverless operations. So human Uber drivers will still remain on the roads of the city. Last year Ann Arbor-based May Mobility has also teamed up with Lyft to bring the same Sienna robotaxis to Atlanta by 2025 in a partnership model that is becoming very common in the autonomous vehicle industry, with an existing ride-hailing app providing the user base and the fleet services that robotaxis require. This year is shaping up to be a big one for May Mobility, just at a time when robotaxis are starting to see launches in major markets outside the west coast and the southwest. May's planned launch in Arlington later this year means that Texas alone could see three different robotaxi services, with Tesla planning its own Austin launch for June after Waymo kicked off operations in its hometown earlier this year. "Launching on the Uber platform is a big signal to the market that May Mobility is ready to quickly expand to major markets as the pre-eminent autonomy-as-a-service provider," said Edwin Olson, CEO and co-founder of May Mobility. Of course, one of the reasons this is happening in Arlington, of all places, is not because there is a shortage of human-driven Ubers or privately owned vehicles. The Lone Star state has a very liberal regulatory framework for autonomous vehicles of all types, and Texas has also been the focal point of most of the country's autonomous truck testing and deployment efforts. In fact, driverless trucks are already in operation in Texas, and more are on the way soon. It remains to be seen whether any robotaxi service will be able to catch up to Waymo, but it's becoming increasingly obvious that ride-hailing apps like Uber and Lyft are bound to play a major role in Level 4 services' expansion in the US and overseas via partnerships with autonomous tech developers. Will robotaxis outnumber human gig-economy drivers by 2035 in the US, or will they remain a minority in the ride-hailing app fleets? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Where Are the Purpose-Built Robotaxi Shuttles We Were Promised?
Driverless multi-passenger shuttles are less prominent than car and crossover-based robotaxis so far, with testing under way by a handful of developers. Waymo, Zoox, Oxa, MOIA, and others have been testing larger, multi-passenger SAE Level 4 vehicles in the US, though a full-scale fleet in a large US city has yet to see service. The main focus of robotaxi operations has leaned on using converted, mass-market EVs that can carry two or three passengers, rather than large custom-made shuttles with more seating capacity. Despite once promising sleek and airy purpose-built shuttles, so far the robotaxi industry has largely delivered crossovers and minivans with lots of sensors glued on. So the year 2025, despite sounding futuristic when you say it out loud, still relies on production models with a few sensors on the roof, provided you live in a city that has robotaxis at all. And for the past couple of years, this has meant just a handful of locales on the West Coast and in the Southwest. So where are those futuristic shuttles we were promised? The easiest explanation for what's happened over the past two years when it comes to proprietary, purpose-built autonomous shuttles with subway-style doors, is that their commercial debuts have been slowed by a variety of development and business reasons, even though some are certainly here and are undergoing testing in more limited, non-citywide geofenced areas. And the reasons certainly vary by company. Following the demise of General Motors' Cruise, Waymo has been at the forefront of robotaxi operations in the US, having launched services in multiple cities with a number of debuts planned for 2025 and 2026. But its custom-made shuttle, intended to be built by Geely-owned Zeekr, has seen a measured round of testing for now in the US, initially having faced the threat of 100% tariffs as it was slated to be built in China. Waymo's Zeekr RT is still believed to be on the way into the robotaxi company's fleets, with the first major batch now expected to land at the end of the year. A far more noticeable road presence—at least if you've been to Las Vegas over the past few months—has been Zoox's autonomous shuttle. The purpose-built model, tall enough to stand in, has seen rounds of testing in a limited area in Las Vegas, though Zoox itself is not exactly racing to fill multiple cities in the Southwest with fleets of such shuttles. At least not now. The Zoox shuttle, we should note, gets far more futurism points for featuring no driver controls while offering conference-style seating, so it's more of a minibus than the minivan-style Zeekr RT. Of course, one of the main impediments to a wider rollout of Zoox-style shuttles has been, and will continue to be, the investment needed to build hundreds of custom-made EVs, which easily dip into six-figure territory for each unit built. This is likely to remain a barrier for wide-scale shuttle services of this type for some time—and also explains why there have been relatively few such efforts. But Zoox is not alone when it comes to autonomous shuttles without driver controls. Over the past few months, UK-based Oxa has been testing its own proprietary shuttle dubbed Presto in collaboration with Beep Inc. in the Bay Area, specifically in the Rossmoor 55+ active senior community in Walnut Creek, just a few minutes east of Oakland. Presto is currently one of the largest deployed autonomous shuttles, offering seating for seven, though at the moment it still employs a human safety monitor on board, even if it lacks traditional driver controls. "The electric, autonomous shuttles will operate on a predetermined route in the Rossmoor community, running Oxa's self-driving software product, Oxa Driver, with Beep managing the planning, deployment, and operation of the autonomous mobility network," the company said. Identical shuttle services have been launched by Oxa in two locations in Jacksonville and Nona, Florida, also in collaboration with Beep. Oxa's operational debuts still exist in a somewhat different category than envisioned by Waymo and Zoox, following a pre-set route along a mix of public and private roads. By contrast, the Waymo and Zoox models are designed to be summoned by users' phone apps to specific locations and to cover a much wider and far busier geographic area. But Oxa's efforts still represent one of just a handful of operational uses of SAE Level 4 shuttles in what is a non-airport setting. Airports have traditionally been seen as one of the easiest launching grounds for autonomous shuttles, but they have largely been confined to serving parking lots in the few deployments we've seen thus far. And for understandable reasons, it's difficult to put them into quite the same category as ride-hailing shuttles that can freely roam a city and pick up passengers when requested by app. Another notable SAE Level 4 shuttle with potential is Volkswagen's MOIA startup. Aimed at ride-pooling operations in a handful of cities in Germany, the autonomous shuttle is based on the VW ID. Buzz and has seen testing stateside for quite some time now. "Austin, Munich, and Hamburg—the ID. Buzz AD is being tested and validated in three major cities worldwide,' Christian Senger, CEO of Volkswagen ADMT, said in 2024. "Passenger safety and the safety of all road users are our top priorities. This also includes regular communication with local police and fire departments." Volkswagen's MOIA venture, which has been delivering ride-pooling services for a few years now with a driver behind the wheel, is scheduled to see autonomous versions of the ID. Buzz in Hamburg later this year. But the longer-term plan is to switch to a driverless shuttle service. This winter VW has been pushing the autonomous ID. Buzz test vehicles out of their sunny comfort zones, instead taking them to Norway for testing in the ice and snow—a unique feat for current shuttles in testing or limited operational phases. "Our testing is already under way. In addition to evaluating the driving capabilities in dense traffic, we're also testing all functionalities needed to ensure safe and comfortable passenger transport," Sascha Meyer, CEO of MOIA said a few months ago. But VW isn't rushing to promise a US debut of its ride-pooling services anytime soon, focusing on Germany for now. Part of the reason, we suspect, is that VW does not yet have a ride-hailing app partner stateside who has signed on for such a move, and isn't eager to mirror Waymo's scale even in warm-weather states. Also, VW has already spent years cultivating a ride-pooling user base in Hamburg prior to the planned launch of autonomous shuttles, which would be a tough feat to repeat from scratch in the US. For now, autonomous shuttles are certainly on the way for a number of robotaxi operators or are already in service in some niche locations, but a wider-scale deployment remains some time away. Will multi-passenger, driverless shuttles become common in the US by 2030, or will this approach to autonomous vehicles remain a small niche? Please comment below.
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Here's When Waymo Will Launch Robotaxis in DC
Waymo will bring its robotaxi service to Washington, DC, starting in 2026, after other planned launches in 2025. The company, backed by Google, is the sole major robotaxi operator in the US at the moment, having brought its fleets to a number of cities on the west coast and the southwest. Washington, DC, will be the first US city where Waymo will launch that sees significant winter weather. Next stop after Miami for Waymo on the east coast is Washington, DC, with the robotaxi developer and operator set to bring its fleet to the nation's capital as part of its steady march eastward. Waymo has already taken a road trip to DC last year as a first step of its rollout process, but more work has to be done before service is launched in 2026. This includes detailed mapping of the planned service area, as well as work with first responders and city officials to get the capital ready for its first rollout of SAE Level 4 vehicles. "We're excited to bring the comfort, consistency, and safety of Waymo One to Washingtonians, those who work and play in the city every day, and the millions of people from around the world who travel to the District every year," said Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana. Before robotaxis hit the streets of the nation's capital, Waymo will launch service in Atlanta and Miami later this year, having recently added Austin, with the company having already taken the first steps toward launching operations in those cities. But the planned launch in the District of Columbia in 2026 will mark another important first for Waymo: DC will be Waymo's first launch city that sees significant winter weather. And by winter weather, we're talking about anything from a few inches of snow to a couple of feet. That's not something that Miami, Phoenix, Los Angeles, or Austin have served up thus far. If there are a couple of other pain points about DC traffic, especially as it compared to West Coast cities where Waymo has launched, it's the presence of giant traffic circles—a feature more common to large European cities like Paris than Austin or the Bay Area, for that matter. We certainly don't know the Bay Area to have anything as complex or tedious as Dupont Circle. Those familiar with commuting in the DC area might also tense up when they realize that robotaxis could soon be navigating the winding, treacherous Rock Creek Parkway, where lane width issues can, ahem, produce some surprise paint swaps for inexperienced drivers or inexperienced robots. Waymo hasn't specified whether it will launch service strictly in DC, or whether its service range will include parts of Maryland and Virginia that are inside the DC Beltway. The good news for Waymo's robotaxis in Washington, DC, is that they won't really have to deal with freeway traffic bisecting the city at any central point, unlike in LA, and they won't have to deal with too many bridges, tunnels, or overpasses. With Waymo now offering over 200,000 driverless rides per week in the US, the company has maintained a measured approach to launches in new cities. And at the moment, it doesn't really even have competitors in the robotaxi field itself—only ride-hailing app drivers and taxis. Will we see Waymo's robotaxis in northern US cities, including the likes of Chicago or Detroit this decade, or will serious winter weather keep out robotaxis for a while? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
