New Atlas

Automotive Audio available

Mercedes "cooperative car" uses lights to gain pedestrians' trust

Ben Coxworth February 8, 2019

It was just last month that we heard about an experimental lighting system developed by Jaguar, that lets leery pedestrians know what autonomous cars are about to do. Well, Mercedes-Benz is working on something similar, in the form of its driver-optional "cooperative car."

The cooperative car communicates with pedestrians via a lighting system

Automotive Audio available

Self-driving cars may worsen traffic by cruising instead of parking

Ben Coxworth February 1, 2019

Imagine if instead of paying for downtown parking, you could just have your car cruise the streets by itself while you attended to your business, and then return to pick you up when summoned? A new study suggests that's exactly what driverless cars could do – and it may cause a big problem.

A new study suggests that it would be cheaper for owners of driverless cars to have ...

Automotive

Jaguar's "pod projection" tech signals driverless cars' intentions

Ben Coxworth January 24, 2019

Perhaps quite understandably, many pedestrians still don't trust self-driving cars to know that they're there. Jaguar Land Rover has developed what could be at least a partial solution to that problem, in the form of projected light bars that announce what the automobile is about to do.

The light bars fan out to the left or right to indicate the start of turns ...

Robotics Audio available

Robotic bar could soon be hailed like a drink-making cab

Ben Coxworth January 15, 2019

It was six years ago that we first heard about Makr Shakr, a robotic bar that can reportedly mix one Googol (the digit 1 followed by 100 zeroes) drink combinations. Now, its designers are planning on installing the tech in an autonomous vehicle that users can hail whenever they want a bevvy.

Users will be able to hail the Guido vehicle, and order their drinks, using an app

Automotive Audio available

Nuro makes first unmanned grocery delivery in Arizona

Paul Ridden December 19, 2018

Back in August, Nuro partnered with supermarket retailer Kroger to make autonomous grocery deliveries in Scottsdale, Arizona. Initially, the pilot program made use of a fleet of self-driving Prius hybrids, but now the first unmanned deliveries have been made with Nuro's R1 pod.

Nuro's R1 self-driving electric delivery pod has made the first completely unmanned grocery deliveries in Scottsdale, ...

Automotive Audio available

Volvo's self-driving trucks get hired to cart limestone around a Norwegian mine

Nick Lavars November 26, 2018

Volvo’s self-driving truck program has already opened up some interesting possibilities. And now the Swedish automaker is set to see how its robo-trucks fare in real-world scenarios, after inking its first commercial deal with a Norwegian resource company to cart limestone away from its mine.

Test runs with human supervisors were completed at the Norwegian mine, before the keys were handed ...

Automotive Audio available

Jaguar Land Rover works towards customized cabins that combat motion sickness

Nick Lavars November 4, 2018

Many visions of our self-driving future entail car cabins designed for passengers to relax, read and enjoy on-screen entertainment, but what will this mean for the prevalence of motion sickness?

The cabin of a self-driving Jaguar Land Rover research vehicle

Automotive

Muji-designed all-weather autonomous shuttle bus rolling out in Finland

Rich Haridy November 4, 2018

Japanese retail company Muji has joined forces with Sensible 4, a Finnish autonomous vehicle maker, to create Gacha, a stylish new autonomous shuttle bus designed to handle a wide variety of different environmental conditions.

The new Muji-designed autonomous shuttle bus set to roll out for trials in 2019

Automotive

Tesla rolls out Autopilot update for highway travel

Nick Lavars October 28, 2018

Tesla has edged a little bit closer to its vision of a fully autonomous driving future, introducing a new feature for the latest version of its Autopilot software designed to handle the bulk of highway travel.

Tesla calls Navigate with Autopilot its most advanced Autopilot feature ever

Automotive

Shrimp could help self-driving cars see better in dangerous conditions

James Holloway October 12, 2018

Readers will be familiar with the mantis shrimp, the marine crustaceans with club-like forelimbs used to overwhelm their prey. But their limbs aren't their only remarkable feature. Their eyes could help self-driving cars to see better in difficult conditions.

Mantis shrimp-inspired cameras could detect hazards three times farther away