Autonomous

As part of the US Navy's Large Unmanned Surface Vessel (LUSV) competition, Lockheed Martin has been selected as the main contractor to study how to provide the Navy with large, autonomous ships that can operate for extended periods without a crew.

On the 400th anniversary of the start of an epic voyage from England to the New World aboard the Mayflower, an autonomous, solar-powered marine research vessel is due to launch on a mission to gather environmental data about the ocean.

The latest example of an automated valet service is a collaborative effort from Ford, Bosch and Detroit-based real estate firm Bedrock, in which connected Ford Escapes find empty spaces and park themselves inside a garage.

An unmanned, solar-powered aircraft designed for high-altitude communications has edged closer to the real-world applications, with the HAPSMobile Sunglider successfully completing another round of flight testing in New Mexico.

If you're preparing food on an automated production line, then that line had better be clean. A new autonomous robot was designed with this in mind, as it actually learns how to clean better over time.

The California-based firm TuSimple has today revealed an ambitious plan to begin piecing together a network of autonomous trucking routes in US, with plans to scale up and service the entire contiguous US by 2023.

Waymo already has a number of partnerships in place with household names like Walmart and Jaguar. It can now add Volvo to that list, with the two forming an agreement to develop electric vehicles that can drive autonomously.

Elbit Systems UK's autonomous Seagull Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) has completed Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) sea trials off the British coast in collaboration with the Ministry of Defence, with the USA's L3Harris providing sonar systems.

Self-driving startup Nuro has announced a new partnership with CVS, which will see its driverless vehicles deliver prescription medicines to customers home addresses in Texas within three hours of purchase.

In a significant step forward for the autonomous vehicle industry, the US Department of Transport (DOT) has granted its first ever self-driving vehicle exemption to startup Nuro, meaning its autonomous delivery pod can now push ahead on public roads.

While underwater remotely-operated vehicles (ROVs) certainly are useful, manually controlling the things via a console can be quite a painstaking task. That's why researchers have now enabled one to autonomously gather samples from the ocean floor.

BMW has hit the CES concept car scene with an imaginative duo of chauffeured vehicles that ride like living rooms, taking care of passengers' every whim and need. Forgive the clunky names, and you see an attractive vision of future commuting.