Thứ Năm, 20 tháng 10, 2016
Shortly after yesterday's announcement, in which Tesla promised to equip all of its future cars with self-driving hardware, CEO Elon Musk promised to soon share a video of a Tesla "navigating a complex urban environment." The video, according to Musk, is what had delayed the announcement from Sunday (as originally promised) to Wednesday. Will post video of a Tesla navigating a complex urban environment shortly. That was what took the extra couple of days. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 20, 2016 Now, the video is available, and it shows a Tesla car driving a typical home-to-work route without any assistance from its human driver (who is required by law to sit in the driver's seat and be able to take control of the car at any moment). In the three minute, 46 second-long video, we see a Model X exit the garage, enter traffic, join a highway lane and drive itself into a city, abiding all traffic regulations (stop signs, traffic lights) along the way. The video is edited; we don't see if the car actually encountered any issues on its ride, but the parts that we do see work without a hitch. At the end, the driver exits the car, which then proceeds to find a parking spot at a crowded parking lot and parallel park itself. Musk later noted on Twitter that the car is smart enough to skip the disabled spot. He also said that with this technology, the Summon feature will bring the car to you no matter where you are. When searching for parking, the car reads the signs to see if it is allowed to park there, which is why it skipped the disabled spot — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 20, 2016 When you want your car to return, tap Summon on your phone. It will eventually find you even if you are on the other side of the country — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 20, 2016 On Wednesday, Musk said that Model S and Model X cars with self-driving hardware are already in production. He claims the cars will have "Level 5" autonomy, meaning they will be able to drive themselves in all conditions.
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Thứ Ba, 19 tháng 7, 2016
Uber arch-rival Careem, which operates in Pakistan and across the Middle East and North Africa, has inked a deal to use self-driving electric pods, reports Gulf Business. The pods, made by Italy-based Next Future Transportation, are modular, allowing them to drive individually or by clamping to other units to form a bus. One pod, 8.8 feet (2.7 m) in length, can hold up to 10 people. The deal, described as a strategic partnership between the two firms, is a long way from bringing the actual autonomous pods into service since the Italian company has not yet started testing on a working prototype. The firm last month rolled out its first full-scale prototype – pictured here: Self-driving pod Image: next/Tech in asia “We are ready to power it and start the testings [sic], however we are still looking for a lead investor,” said Next in a post on LinkedIn. The Italian company first debuted its idea towards the end of last year. The pods are the brainchild of Tommaso Gecchelin, an engineer and industrial designer who envisions a network of the electric vehicles owned by businesses which people can summon via an app. Tommaso has said that the buzzy little cubes will be up and running by 2020. “Next offers a unique and compelling vision for mass transit. We look forward to working closely with Next to pioneer their solutions in the region,” said Careem co-founder and managing director Mudassir Sheikha to Gulf Business. Careem, based in the United Arab Emirates, last year raised $60 million in series C financing to help it grow. The startup recently vowed to spend $100 million on R&D in the next five years. Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments. This article originally published at Tech in Asia here Melding cars with mass transit
