Autonomous Vehicles

After first floating the concept of a futuristic electric minibus complete with an augmented reality HUD and removable dash a few years ago, Volkswagen has now offered the first glimpse of its self-driving ID.Buzz at the IAA Mobility show in Munich.

Inspired by the world of private jets and first class cabins, Audi's new Grandsphere concept shows just how large vehicle passengers will live in the world of self-driving electric premium sedans. It's a flagship of "progressive luxury."

Autonomous vehicles operate in a complex environment, and recognizing traffic signs is an important part of that. A new microstructured material reflects light in rainbow rings, which can make traffic signs easier for computer vision systems to read.

Hyundai launched the first vehicle in its new all-electric Ioniq brand back in February, the almost-true-to-concept Ioniq 5 hatchback. And now the company has partnered with autonomous vehicle company Motional to put the EV to work as a robotaxi.

On Horsea Lake at the Defence Diving School, Portsmouth, the Royal Navy is testing the Otter Pro, a robotic boat designed to survey uncharted waters as part of an investigation into the use of uncrewed vessels for military surveying operations.

Back in 2017, Ford made a significant investment in startup Argo, and the pair are now bringing Lyft into the fold in an effort to deploy autonomous ride-hailing on a commercial scale, with the first rides to take place later this year.

Pininfarina gets back to bringing to life envelope-pushing concept cars with the Teorema. The design house reshapes automotive packaging into an all-electric self-driving pod that's nearly as comfy as a camper.

Tesla released its FSD beta 9.0 software on Saturday night, another leap forward ahead of the pack with some impressive new abilities. But it's going to need to get a lot more boring and mundane before this tech really starts changing the world.

Baidu has partnered with EV maker Arcfox, part of China's state-owned BAIC Group, to accelerate the commercialization of fully autonomous ride-hailing services, and to jointly release the latest version of the Apollo robotaxi.

Nuro has entered an agreement with logistics giant FedEx, which has committed to using the startup's autonomous vehicle for last-mile deliveries in the long-term and at a "large scale."

The latest test run for TuSimple's self-driving trucks involved hauling a load of fresh produce over hundreds of miles across the US, where it demonstrated that it can complete such tasks in quick and highly efficient fashion.

Chinese technology giant Baidu has launched what is says is the country's first commercial robotaxi service, which will see its Apollo self-driving vehicles shuttle paying customers around Beijing's Shougang Park without a safety driver onboard.