Autonomous Vehicles

Back in July, the Japanese government outlined an intriguing idea to connect major cities with what sounded like a giant "conveyor belt" for cargo. Now we have a clearer picture of what that “Auto Flow Road” will look like.

Elon Musk has unveiled Tesla's fully autonomous Cybercab robotaxi in a showy event at Warner Brothers. He also debuted a 20-seat Robovan that's expected to follow, and sent a small fleet of Optimus humanoids out to party with the crowd.

An underreported proposal from the US government could see the sale and import of connected vehicle components prohibited if they're linked to China or Russia. The rule could have far-reaching effects, but it seems motorcyclists might feel it first.

We're a tad late to the news on this one, but we're no less excited to bring it to you heavy machinery nerds. Australia's Fortescue is teaming up with Liebherr Mining to develop an autonomous mining truck that will, in addition to driving itself, be the first of its kind worldwide to operate with zero emissions.

Toyota and Stanford University have been pushing self-driving technology beyond the limits of traction for several years now, and they've now released video of two autonomous cars drifting in tandem, getting very sideways with extreme precision.

Vayu Robotics has today unveiled its first delivery robot. The One can follow staff around stores to load up customer orders, before autonomously navigating city streets at speeds up to 20 mph to deliver the goods. Commercial deployment has begun.

Self-driving cars are dependent on sophisticated sensors backed by lots of computing power. A research effort led by China's Tsinghua University is cutting down on computing requirements with a tracking system that only requires a single pixel to do the job.

Three weeks after one of Waymo's autonomous vehicles drove itself into a telephone pole for no apparent reason whatsoever (prompting 672 cars recalled), Waymo has released a statement saying its AVs are still 200 to 350% better at avoiding crashes than humans.

Japanese researchers have released footage of a humanoid robot called Musashi sitting in the driving seat of an electric micro-car to examine a possible future direction for autonomous vehicle technologies.

Renault has announced the production of a robotized electric miniBus based on the New Renault Master in addition to significantly revising its autonomous vehicle strategy.

The first autonomous car race will be held at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi on Saturday 27 April 2024. It could be the birth a new TV sport with a fan-base of technophiles drawn by the progress of autonomous capability towards that of a human.

Australia's robotic submarine program takes delivery of its first Ghost Shark Extra-Large Autonomous Undersea Vehicle (XL-AUV) prototype – a machine that ditches the pressure hull and life support to gain an edge in size and stealth.