Latest news with #SocietyofAutomotiveEngineers
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Autonomous vehicles not far off for B.C. roads, once officials allow them
Self-driving cars aren't something you will find on B.C. streets — last year, the province prohibited the use of fully automated features — but tech optimists promise that autonomous transportation really is just around the corner, after more than a decade of experiments. Autonomous vehicles are on the streets of a growing number of U.S. and United Kingdom cities, and the artificial intelligence behind the technology has 'really turned a corner,' according to Jamie Shotton, chief scientist for the company Wayve. Shotton was on one of two panels that discussed advances in autonomous transportation during the tech conference Web Summit at the Vancouver Convention Centre on Thursday. 'It's like a lightbulb has gone off in the AI's brain,' Shotton said of his company's artificial intelligence-powered system. 'It's now able to really cope with remarkable complexity, and furthermore it allows us to scale really quickly.' This spring, Wayve brought a trio of its test cars to Vancouver during a West Coast road trip to prove how well their 'AI driver' is learning to cope with complex environments. 'The more places we go, the more places we learn to drive, the more general purpose (the AI driver) gets,' Shotton said. Wayve isn't completely driverless yet, however. The Society of Automotive Engineers classifies automated driving in levels from L0, where a driver is in complete control with automated warnings of hazards, all the way to L5, where AI is completely in control. Shotton described Wayve as 'L2-plus,' which means the use of automatic braking, steering and lane centring in adaptive cruise control, with a driver at the wheel. 'Hands off, but eyes on,' he added. 'Having to pay attention to the road, but you can take your hands off the wheel and it will drive you from point A to point B.' That falls within B.C.'s rules, which prohibits automated systems higher than L2. Getting to L4, which allows for cars to be driverless under specific conditions — the technology used in so-called 'robo taxis' such as Waymo — is probably closer than people realize, even in rainy cities such as Vancouver, said Edwin Olson, CEO of the company May Mobility. Olson spoke during a second session on the conference's centre stage, and in an interview explained that, 'Our rule of thumb is, if the windshield wipers are intermittent, you're probably fine.' 'If they're going faster than that, I think most (autonomous vehicle) companies would balk at that.' Technology is rapidly improving though, and Olson expects by 2027, 'We'll be able handle almost all the weather you can throw at us.' The difference in the technology, Olson said, is that a decade ago, the 'hype was well before the technical reality' for autonomous transportation. 'Now, I think it's the other way around,' Olson added. 'Right now, what you're really seeing is an inflection point.' People can travel to cities such as San Francisco, Los Angeles or Atlanta and ride either Waymo robo taxis or May Mobility's shuttles, 'and it's real,' Olson said. The next step for a wider rollout of light-duty vehicles will be devising business cases for using what will be expensive vehicles, which will likely rule out strictly personal use. When a reporter asked if he saw a case for individual ownership soon, his answer was, 'God, I hope not.' The philosophy of Olson's company, which runs fleets of L4-capable Toyota Sienna shuttle vans in 19 cities (but only two locations without safety drivers), is to use autonomous vehicles in a way that reduces the need for individual automobile ownership. To date, the business cases for autonomous vehicles has been stronger in industries such as mining or trucking, where the products involved are high value, but where getting enough drivers might be an issue, said Qasar Younis, CEO of the company Applied Intuition, who spoke on the same panel as Olson. For light-duty vehicles, 'it's going to be pure economics,' Olson added. And that will be based on whether vehicles can command enough revenue from ride-hailing services such as Lyft or Uber to pay for the cost of expensive sensors used in the vehicle, before the car wears out. depenner@ B.C. courier company secretly tests driverless vehicle in Metro Vancouver Driverless vehicles: They'll be both disruptive and, eventually, safer
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Tesla Executive Admits That Self-Driving Is Going Nowhere Fast
Nearly ten years ago in 2015, rising tech entrepreneur Elon Musk made a bold announcement: Tesla vehicles would be fully driving themselves by 2017. The billionaire was talking about vehicles with level 5 autonomy — a designation by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) commonly used as the benchmark for a full self-driving car that can drive where its passengers please with no intervention. He repeated those claims in January 2016, saying "summon should work anywhere connected by land and not blocked by borders" within two years. For example, if you're in Los Angeles and your Tesla is in New York, you'd be able to summon it to you from across the country — at least according to his vision, which many took as gospel. By June of that year, Musk called level 5 autonomy a "solved problem." He did so again in 2017. And again in 2018. Then the next year. And the year after that. You probably see where this is going. Now in 2025, Tesla isn't looking meaningfully closer to Level 5 autonomy than in 2015. Though Tesla rolled out its Autopilot features en masse that same year, it's only achieved SAE Level 2 — enough for a driver to "take their hands off the wheel and let their vehicle take control when driving in certain conditions." (That hasn't stopped numerous motorists from overestimating the system's capabilities and dying as a result.) That isn't likely to change anytime soon, according to an intriguing insider: Tesla's head of Autopilot and AI software, Ashok Elluswamy. The Tesla official was speaking on the Gobinath Podcast, an Indian-English interview show, where he admitted the EV company is still way behind its competitors — despite over a decade of self-driving development. "Technically, Waymo is already performing," Elluswamy admitted, referencing Google's autonomous vehicle program. "We are lagging by maybe a couple of years." This is despite Tesla's — also long-promised — fully self-driving Robocab service supposedly going live in Austin, Texas this coming June. It's not understood how this will work, as Tesla would need to demonstrate a vehicle capable of driving itself at SAE Level 4 to transport riders without the need for human intervention. So far, Musk has been uncharacteristically silent on the prospects of a Level 4 vehicle. Late in 2024, Greg McGuire, managing director of the autonomous vehicle research facility at the University of Michigan, told SAE Media that Tesla "is not — from what I've seen — ready for general Level 4 operation." "Will they be there by 2027? At [UofM], we still think there's a couple of key scientific barriers," McGuire said. That makes Musk's ever-stretching timeline for full self-driving — let alone a Robocab network — tenuous at best, and an absurd fantasy at worst. Still, a billionaire can dream. More on Tesla: Tesla's Head of Software Departs as Robotaxi Reveal Looms Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
Auto Blog
7 days ago
- Automotive
- Auto Blog
US Accelerates Self-Driving Rollout by Simplifying Safety Rules in ‘Race With China'
Automakers now face fewer safety hurdles in self-driving development efforts The Trump administration has accelerated the US's rollout of autonomous vehicles by expanding a program that exempts some self-driving cars from specific safety requirements outside of commercial use, while streamlining the existing requirements for crash reporting of advanced driver assistance and self-driving systems. Transportation Department officials will no longer require automakers using Level 2 self-driving systems, like Tesla's Full Self-Driving (FSD), to report certain kinds of non-fatal crashes. The Society of Automotive Engineers rates autonomous capabilities on a scale of 1 to 5, with Level 5 being the highest. More specifically, automakers won't have to report any Level 2 accident as long as there was no death, hospitalization, airbag deployment, or involvement of a vulnerable road user, according to AP. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is also expanding its Automated Vehicle Exemption Program to allow domestically manufactured vehicles to apply for exceptions in order to test and demonstrate their prototypes on public roads, even if those cars don't meet every safety standard in place for regular vehicles, Reuters reports. The previous regulations only allowed these exemptions for imported automated cars. Tesla Cybercab The changes have been a boon to Tesla 'This administration understands that we're in a race with China to out-innovate, and the stakes couldn't be higher,' US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said to Reuters. In an interview with AP, auto analyst Sam Abuelsamid at Telemetry Insight added that these changes 'will significantly reduce the number of crashes reported by Tesla.' Tesla shares jumped on Friday following the rule amendments, up 9.8% at the end of trading. The automaker had its Q1 call on Tuesday, where, after struggling for the first three months of 2025, Tesla executives spent most of the call focusing on the future value of their self-driving technology, which will include a paid rideshare robotaxi rollout this June in Austin, Texas, and autonomous humanoid robots. Elon Musk reiterated his prediction that autonomous driving and robot tech will make Tesla the world's most valuable company—a statement he initially expressed last June. Not everyone is on board, though Still, certain auto experts, like viral YouTuber Scotty Kilmer, who has been a mechanic for almost 60 years, told Autoblog: 'Value to him [Elon Musk] is stock market value. Stock market value isn't real value. It's pumped-up stuff. It used to be that the stock market was an investment. It isn't anymore. It's just outright riverboat gambling. His [Elon Musk] stock can go up billions of dollars or go down billions of dollars with whatever he says.' Kilmer also expressed concerns regarding Tesla's reliance on a completely camera-based system for its self-driving tech, since he believes the cameras can get confused. Autoblog Newsletter Autoblog brings you car news; expert reviews and exciting pictures and video. Research and compare vehicles, too. Sign up or sign in with Google Facebook Microsoft Apple By signing up I agree to the Terms of Use and acknowledge that I have read the Privacy Policy . You may unsubscribe from email communication at anytime. During Tesla's Q1 call, Elon Musk said issues like sun glare won't affect the system, but Kilmer highlighted a case where one of his customers got rear-ended after Tesla's FSD system thought an overpass shadow was a wall, resulting in the car stopping. Tesla Cybercab — Source: Tesla Final thoughts While Tesla will benefit from recent policy changes like the Automated Vehicle Exemption Program's expansion, it's crucial to remember that Tesla's robotaxi still faces stringent requirements during its rollout since it will operate unsupervised above Level 2. The government's new streamlined policies for autonomous driving may also make the public more skeptical about using the tech, which is already a common sentiment. It's a little strange, but whether or not such a policy sticks remains anyone's guess.
South China Morning Post
18-05-2025
- Automotive
- South China Morning Post
Hong Kong should put brakes on driverless technology push: industry veterans
Hong Kong needs to take a more cautious approach to implementing driverless technology , particularly on crowded roads, industry leaders have warned. Secretary for Transport and Logistics Mable Chan last week discussed the city's efforts to step up trials on self-driving vehicles, with plans to officially introduce passenger services and commercial applications, such as ride-hailing, within one to two years. Such services have already existed in mainland China for at least six years. Chan told a Legislative Council meeting on Wednesday that testing had reached level four of highly automated driving, aligned with national and global standards and indicating that the city matched the mainland and other parts of the world on the technology. The Society of Automotive Engineers has defined international standards for autonomous vehicles using a six-tier system, with zero meaning no automation and level five, full automation. The system has been widely adopted globally by the automotive industry and regulatory bodies. Lawmaker Gary Zhang Xinyu said Hong Kong could catch up with the mainland in terms of self-driving technology, pointing to the city's strong road infrastructure and progressive regulations as attractive to foreign companies in the field.
Fox Sports
16-05-2025
- Automotive
- Fox Sports
INDYCAR Hybrid Collaborators Named 2025 Schwitzer Award Winner
INDYCAR The team that collaborated to develop the INDYCAR Hybrid unit was named May 16 as the recipient of the 2025 Louis Schwitzer Award. Sharing a $10,000 prize from the Indiana Section of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) International and award sponsors Cummins and Valvoline Global were Raoul Fernandes of Skeleton Technologies, John Martin of EMPEL Systems Limited, Matt Niles of Honda Racing Corporation (HRC), Darren Sansum of INDYCAR, Rupert Tull de Salis of Dana Incorporated and formerly of Mahle Powertrain and Thomas Williams of Ilmor Engineering Ltd. The innovative hybrid system is made up of the low voltage (48V) Motor Generator Unit (MGU) and Energy Storage System (ESS) – consisting of 20 ultracapacitors – both of which fit inside the bellhousing, located between the Chevrolet and Honda INDYCAR SERIES internal combustion engine and the gearbox. During regeneration, acting on the clutch shaft, the MGU builds power to be stored in the ESS. The additional horsepower is deployed through the same motor generator on driver demand. For competition, options for automatic 'regen' via braking or throttle position and manual 'regen' via selected steering wheel paddles and buttons will be available. Deployment of stored energy will only be available manually through a latching button, similar to the existing Push to Pass system. The INDYCAR Hybrid unit debuted last July at the NTT INDYCAR SERIES race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and is used at every series race. This award is a prestigious accolade in the automotive engineering industry, celebrating and recognizing groundbreaking innovations that push the boundaries of automotive technology. Named after Louis Schwitzer, an accomplished engineer and race car driver, this award has a rich history of honoring individuals and teams behind the innovative concepts introduced to the motorsport industry that increase competitive potential, meet NTT INDYCAR SERIES specifications and are related to the vehicle's engine, powertrain, profile, chassis or safety. recommended in this topic
