Autonomous Vehicles

At its core, Mini has always been a brand that challenges conventional automotive dimensions. The badge's new Vision Urbanaut takes the challenge into the future with a versatile, shape-shifting interior inside a set of smooth, timeless van lines.

Two years ago, BMW rolled the Vision iNext out as a wheeled laboratory of next-gen autonomous and HMI technology. Today, the iNext turns into the iX, a big step toward a production 300-mile (483-km) electric SUV on its way to market next year.

The world’s first fleet of autonomous boats is growing – literally. MIT’s self-driving Roboat has now doubled in size, allowing it to carry two people at a time, plus the boats have had an intelligence upgrade and can now move in coordinated groups.

At launch, the Waymo One app-based robotaxi service had a trained vehicle operator assigned to every vehicle, ready to take over if needed. Now Waymo is ditching the safety driver and opening up a fully driverless service to the public in Phoenix.

Last year, a cabless, autonomous electric truck prototype called the T-pod took to public roads for the first time. Now its maker, Einride, has unveiled the latest generation of the vehicle, as it drives itself toward commercial availability.

Automotive industry disruptor REE has showcased its ridiculously flexible, super-flat EV chassis driving autonomously on the racetrack. This new class of ultra-modular, everything-by-wire vehicle can roll with any logo, cabin, spec and body shape.

After revealing plans to establish a nationwide network for self-driving trucks in the US just a few months ago, TuSimple has now announced it will be taking its technology to Europe, through a new partnership with Volkswagen subsidiary Traton Group.

The German Aerospace Center has revealed a working prototype of a multi-use urban mobility and logistics vehicle called U-Shift, which is made up of an electric U-shaped base platform that's used to ferry around various pod modules.

Whether it occurs in a car, plane, boat or VR environment, motion sickness is no fun. According to new research, though, it's possible for people to "train their brain" out of the condition, potentially reducing the symptoms by more than half.

While we hear a great deal about the huge patches of garbage that are floating on the world's oceans, there's even more trash lying on the seabed. The European Union-funded SeaClear project aims to gather much of it up, using autonomous robots.

While bicycle-sharing systems certainly are proving to be popular, they still have a few problems, such as the limited availability of bikes. Researchers at the MIT Media Lab are working on a solution, in the form of the MIT Autonomous Bicycle.

Back in April, AutoX teamed up with Alibaba's Amap mobility platform to make robo-taxis available to Shanghai ride-hailers. But only a limited group of users could access the pilot program. Now AutoX and Amap have opened the service up to the public.