Mark your calendars: 2021 will be huge for autonomous cars

Ford revealed on Tuesday its intention to launch a fully autonomous car in 2021. Speaking at Ford’s research lab in Palo Alto, California, CEO Mark Fields said the company plans to launch a “level four vehicle, which means it won’t have a steering wheel, gas or brake pedal.”

It is the first public statement from Ford on a fully autonomous car — but rivals like BMW, General Motors, and Audi  all want to have a commercial driverless vehicle available a year earlier, by 2020.

And rumors are that while Tesla’s Elon Musk promised full autonomy by 2018, his firm’s latest update of their AutoPilot system will provide full autonomy in months.

In a Bloomberg interview, which we quoted above, Fields mentions a ride-hailing (or ride-sharing) app that the company plans to launch in major cities. Fields didn’t disclose the app’s business model or its launch date at the event.

From what we can gather, Ford will deploy thousands of autonomous cars, but also sell the car to customers. Fields did not say if the price of the car would be more than the average vehicle, though some expect the autonomous features to come in a more expensive package.

Ford also didn’t mention any major partnerships with Google, suggesting that the automotive giant wants to go it alone. It has made four strategic investments in startups, which includes$75 million to Velodyne LiDAR.

All automakers ramping up efforts

Fields also revealed before the announcement that Ford intends to double the size of its Silicon Valley research lab, to 280 employees.

Ford hasn’t made as much noise as its rival General Motors, which acquired Cruise Automation for $1 billion and invested $500 million into ride-sharing app Lyft. GM also reportedly offered to acquire Lyft, according to The Information, but Lyft rejected the offer.

That lack of noise may be troubling for investors that want to see Ford compete heavily in the market, though it could also play into the company’s favor if GM ends up writing off the Cruise Automation acquisition and losing market share to self-driving competion,

Mark your calendars: 2021 will be huge for autonomous cars

Ford revealed on Tuesday its intention to launch a fully autonomous car in 2021. Speaking at Ford’s research lab in Palo Alto, California, CEO Mark Fields said the company plans to launch a “level four vehicle, which means it won’t have a steering wheel, gas or brake pedal.”

It is the first public statement from Ford on a fully autonomous car — but rivals like BMW, General Motors, and Audi  all want to have a commercial driverless vehicle available a year earlier, by 2020.

And rumors are that while Tesla’s Elon Musk promised full autonomy by 2018, his firm’s latest update of their AutoPilot system will provide full autonomy in months.

In a Bloomberg interview, which we quoted above, Fields mentions a ride-hailing (or ride-sharing) app that the company plans to launch in major cities. Fields didn’t disclose the app’s business model or its launch date at the event.

From what we can gather, Ford will deploy thousands of autonomous cars, but also sell the car to customers. Fields did not say if the price of the car would be more than the average vehicle, though some expect the autonomous features to come in a more expensive package.

Ford also didn’t mention any major partnerships with Google, suggesting that the automotive giant wants to go it alone. It has made four strategic investments in startups, which includes$75 million to Velodyne LiDAR.

All automakers ramping up efforts

Fields also revealed before the announcement that Ford intends to double the size of its Silicon Valley research lab, to 280 employees.

Ford hasn’t made as much noise as its rival General Motors, which acquired Cruise Automation for $1 billion and invested $500 million into ride-sharing app Lyft. GM also reportedly offered to acquire Lyft, according to The Information, but Lyft rejected the offer.

That lack of noise may be troubling for investors that want to see Ford compete heavily in the market, though it could also play into the company’s favor if GM ends up writing off the Cruise Automation acquisition and losing market share to self-driving competitors.

Apple self-driving effort shifts from hardware to software

Inside Apple’s secretive car division, the focus is starting to shift from building an all-electric, autonomous car to developing software and services that would work inside the prospective car, according to people familiar with the iPhone maker’s plans.

In a Bloomberg report, Mark Gurman states that the company has “increased emphasis on developing self-driving technology” and hired several automotive software developers from BlackBerry.

Dan Dodge, the founder of QNX—the operating system used by BlackBerry in its smartphones prior to the Priv—is one of the new employees reportedly working on car infotainment services.

QNX is used primarily in automotives for Volkswagen, Daimler, and Ford nowadays, making the pickup of Dodge all the more intriguing.

To make it more obvious that Apple is on the hunt for automotive software developers, itrecently opened a research and development center in Kanata, Ontario, home to some of BlackBerry’s R&D facilities.

Apple not totally giving up on hardware

Apple is not giving up fully on the goal of hardware, software, and services all under one roof, but the lack of focus has caused talent to leave and upper-management disagreement.

To that end, Apple veteran Bob Mansfield has been brought in to try and re-focus the team. Mansfield reports directly to CEO Tim Cook, unlike his predecessor Steve Zadesky, showing the growing importance at the company that the autonomous car is a success.

Apple still has 2020 as the date for completion, but growing competition from Tesla, Uber, and Google, alongside previous dormant automakers starting to enter the market, may force Apple to speed up its development and reveal early previews of its tech.

Then again, the autonomous market is still very fragmented with Google not providing any commercial strategy and Uber, General Motors, and Ford only just starting to get to grips with what an autonomous future means for transport and ownership.

Apple may wait for a more cohesive vision on what the future of automotive means before publicly revealing its hand. That way, it won’t be labelled a failure if consumers heavily reject loaning or ridesharing arrangements that Uber, Lyft, and Google attempt to launch.

GM to spend $1 billion on self-driving tech center in Detroit

It’s not all happening in Silicon Valley.

General Motors has created a new team dedicated to autonomous cars at its Warren Tech Center, based in Detroit. There are already several hundred employees working on the development of its self-driving system, alongside test drivers already active in San Francisco.

“We’ve got several hundred people in this space right now … expanding to several hundred people more (by end of this year into next year),” said Ken Kelzer, vice president of global vehicle components to Detroit News.

Inside the tech center, General Motors has developed an indoor track for car testing. Employees are also able to hail the autonomous Chevrolet Volt cars from outside of the building, using an app, which lets them test the self-driving system on public roads with traffic.

Adding another billion to GM’s autonomous spending

The tech center redevelopment is said to cost GM $1 billion—the same price it paid for self-driving startup Cruise Automation.

“The nice thing about the Tech Center is there are a lot of different traffic maneuvers,” said chief technology officer, Jon Lauckner. “For example, we have roundabouts where you have to merge on and merge off. It turns out to be a fairly complicated situation. There are definitely medians, left turns across traffic, you know the kinds of things you’re going to find definitely in an urban environment. And the kinds of things that are going to allow us to basically refine and further develop the sensing and processing that we’re going to need to have a fully autonomous vehicle in the future.”

GM expects the combination of in-house and real-life testing to propel them ahead of other automakers currently working on self-driving systems, though it is behind Tesla, Google, and Daimler, who have made large investments or managed millions of miles already.

The hailing services inside the building are expected, considering GM spent $500 million to own a part of ridesharing app Lyft earlier this year. GM wants its Chevrolet Volt to be a large part of Lyft’s driverless fleet, and in the meantime plans to sell a lot of the cars to drivers through prefered financing options.

Why are moral decisions so important for self-driving cars?

Self-driving cars are in the news again, after several surveys were released showing how people would want their computer-controlled car to react in a situation where it has to decide whether to save the driver or pedestrians.

Most survey results suggested the driver would want to limit the amount of casualties, though we have seen sometimes that humans do not choose that option and end up killing more people to save themselves.

Nevertheless, the surveys appear to be a mandate for autonomous car developers to program a system to limit the amount of casualties. But is it possible we’re overthinking this function of autonomous cars?

Fatal accidents where the human can decide what to do are incredibly rare and are likely to be even rarer when self-driving eliminates drunk and tired drivers and turns off malfunctioning motors.

On top of that, Google has already patented a car hood that sticks pedestrians to it, which could prevent serious injuries if someone walks in front of the car at the wrong time. We are bound to see even more innovative solutions in the next four years, as automakers prepare to launch their first autonomous cars.

Can it just be coded to avoid harming humans?

With the additional safety from self-driving, we should be asking if programming life-and-death decisions is necessary. Why not instead work towards a world where cars don’t harm humans, or at least where the car protects both the driver and pedestrian from fatal injuries at all times.

It sounds like a dream world, with 32,000 car deaths in 2014, but McKinsey & Company expects that to fall to 3,200 as self-driving cars become commonplace. The 90 percent decrease does not include improvements to traffic, roads, and car safety that we are going to see in the next 10 years, three things that may reduce deaths to the hundreds for the first time since 1908.

We also need to take into consideration the massive reduction in accidents that are not fatal, estimated at 5.4 million in 2010, which could be stopped with self-driving.

That may not be enough for some, but if self-driving is able to save 30,000 deaths in a year, I think it’s worth the potential “moral” risks that come attached with it.

NRMA calls for autonomous car trials in Australia

Australia is behind on the rise of the autonomous car, but a new push by the National Roads and Motorists’ Association (NRMA) may force the government into action.

NRMA’s new chief executive, Rohan Lund, called for the government to allow autonomous car trials, let the private sector implement peer-to-peer networks for traffic, and add smart sensors to the roads.

“To solve the infrastructure and mobility challenges of the future, governments need to move beyond a business as usual approach,” said Lund to the AFR. “Simply building new infrastructure and throwing money at ad hoc projects will not of themselves solve congestion, improve travel times or future proof our infrastructure and transport services.”

Some of these technologies are already being implemented in smart cities as a way to lower congestion and improve parking. Autonomous cars will supposedly fix both of these issues as well, but it’s unlikely Australia will be the first country to try out the cars.

NRMA wants Australia to make them highway-legal now

In the interim, NRMA wants the Australian government to legalize semi-autonomous driving on highways. Tesla’s already provides this system with its AutoPilot, but that is currently unavailable outside of the U.S., because it is considered “illegal” by most governments. And given the Aussie left-hand drive rules, they may have a point.

NRMA is not all talk, it plans to launch its own car sharing app to compete with Uber, GoGet, and Flexicar. The app will use vehicles from the Thrifty business, owned by NRMA, which has 27,000 cars.

“In a world where not everyone wants to own a car, or a second car for that matter, we can offer cars as a service at scale,” Lund said. “That may take the form of supplying a fleet for car hire, car sharing or even to Uber drivers.”

All of the innovative ideas may fall on deaf ears at the moment, in the middle of a federal election. It may also give Labor some talking points about how to revive the economy, though the party doesn’t seem too interested in private businesses controlling transport.

Can taxi drivers still have a place in a driverless world?

Uber and Lyft, the two big mobile taxi firms in the U.S., have both mentioned a future for their services that does not include humans.

Blacklane, a German mobile chauffeur service, has a different view on the future. Speaking to Business Insider, CEO Jens Wohltorf said people still want someone else in the vehicle, and taxi drivers may be able to transition from driving to providing information, entertainment, and beverages, similar to a cabin crew on an airplane.

“When autonomous cars arrive, they [drivers] will have the time to concentrate on different things more often,” said Wohltorf. “There is a cabin crew in every aeroplane, right?”

It’s an interesting thought, but not one many ridesharing services are likely to entertain. Once the driver is removed, all Uber, Lyft, and other ridesharing services have to worry about is the cost of fuel, which may vastly reduce the cost of a taxi.1

That being said, ridesharing apps could provide a special service for riders that don’t feel safe in a self-driving car. We suspect that option, like Uber LUX, will be much more expensive. Blacklane is more likely to keep drivers inside the cars, as it provides a chauffeur service, rather than ridesharing or ride-hailing.

“It’s not that we disagree with other companies autonomous vehicles in ride-sharing or ride-hailing,” said Blacklane communications director, Adam Parken. “It’s that in our market, we believe there will be a role for drivers [in the autonomous future.]”

Daimler could provide cars to Blacklane — but no plans yet

Black lane is not, as far as we know, building a self-driving platform. Its largest investor Daimler—the parent company of Mercedes—could be the provider of the self-driving platform for Black lane taxis, if it wants to integrate self-driving cars into its fleet in the future.

The mobile chauffeur is more likely to take advantage of driver less taxis by offering a human service. In the interim between semi-autonomous and fully driverless, we expect to see many of these services crop up, running on the fear people have of an autonomous system driving them around the city.

Fears of autonomy in the automotive industry are definitely real. Most people in U.S. and U.K. surveys have said they always want control of their car and don’t want driver less services to be available on the roads, despite the potential decrease in accidents on the road.

General Motors flags down Lyft to start taxi trial

General Motors and Lyft want prototype autonomous taxis on the road by the end of the year, a preliminary step for the ride-sharing company in swapping human drivers with a machine.

GM has spent $1.5 billion on the program so far – $500 million as the lead investor in Lyft’s funding round and $1 billion to acquire San Francisco-based Cruise Automation, which provides the self-driving system that will be installed inside prototype cars.

Lyft will trial the program in an unknown city and use GM cars to test the autonomous features, according to WSJ. Customers will be able to opt-in or out of the program from the mobile app.

It will be the first autonomous test that uses the public as testers, which may alarm regulators that don’t currently condone public use of driverless vehicles. Google, Uber, and Tesla have all run trials in California, Pittsburgh and Michigan, but always in a controlled environment with members of the press and the public.

Lyft playing catch-up?

Uber has already poached key executives from Ford and Google’s self-driving team, showing it places a big emphasis on autonomous cars for the future of its service. Lyft came a little late to the party, but the deal with GM makes it a key player in the rise of automotive automation, and makes the rivalry between Uber even more tenacious.

GM isn’t just looking at the self-driving side of the deal, it wants Lyft drivers to lease or purchase cars through a program set up in Chicago, which will expand to more cities later this year. The Chevrolet Equinox is the car currently available for drivers, though GM is expected to add the Bolt to the list of choices to get more electric cars on the road.

A few traditional carmakers are starting to partner with a tech company, almost as a security for the automotive future. Fiat Chrysler recently announced a partnership to provide Google more autonomous cars.

Tesla and Uber are still lone warriors in the battle, though the latter is a partner of Baidu, who has its own self-driving car. Tesla has shown no signs of wanting to enter the taxi market, so it might become a partner for a new ride hailing app in the future.

Google not embarrassed to self-drive Fiat Chrysler minivan

Google has announced a partnership with Fiat Chrysler, which will double the size of the company’s autonomous fleet to 200 cars.

Fiat will provide 100 Chrysler Pacifica vans to Google. The vans will be fitted with all of Google’s autonomous technology and will join the other 100 cars in California for road testing.

The two companies claim this is the “most advanced” partnership between Silicon Valley and a traditional automotive company.

“The opportunity to work closely with Fiat engineers will accelerate our efforts to develop a fully self-driving car that will make our roads safer,” said John Krafcik, Google’s head of self-driving cars.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) CEO Sergio Marchionne has been a bit of a pessimist towards Silicon Valley in the past, calling them “disruptive interlopers” and questioning the capability of a company like Google to make a good car.

Google unlikely to get into car-making

We doubt Google will build its own vehicles when driverless cars are permitted on the roads, instead working with a small selection of automotive companies. Fiat is in a powerful position to be the primary manufacturer of autonomous cars that use Google’s technology.

“FCA will design the minivans so it’s easy for us to install our self-driving systems, including the computers that hold our self-driving software and the sensors that enable our software to see what’s on the road around the vehicle,” said Google’s self-driving team.

Toyota was the first automotive company to partner with Google, providing 70 Lexus cars in 2014, but this sounds like a much closer partnership between the two companies.

We’re bound to see more partnerships like this in the next few years, as automotive manufacturers choose between Google’s established self-driving platform and their own in-house system. Ford, General Motors, and Toyota have all been linked in the past to Google, but all three have yet to make any official collaboration announcements.

For autonomous vehicles, no tech is an island

The autonomous car industry is quickly becoming one of the most valuable emerging technology markets, but it will be hard, if not impossible, for manufacturers of hardware and software to reach a global audience without extensive partnerships.

That’s according to research firm Vision Systems Intelligence, which says that manufacturers will have to build relations with chip, sensor, mapping, and development tool firms to make its autonomous car functional on all fronts.

“No one company owns all the expertise necessary to build an autonomous vehicle. From low-level component suppliers to modules or systems, each domain is a highly complex field in itself,” say Phil Magney, founder and principal of Vision Systems Intelligence.

In the infographic above, Vision Systems Intelligence shows the various sectors of the autonomous car market. What it doesn’t show is the partnerships already established, like Google and Uber’s mapping partnership on Android, or General Motors acquisition of Cruise Automation for $1 billion and $500 million partnership with Lyft.

Other partnerships between ‘autonomous solution’ firms and suppliers are most likely active, though we doubt many are disclosed.

It is interesting to see what blocks companies are active in. Intel is apparently active in processing, connectivity, and security/safety, while Nvidia works on autonomous solutions, processing, and algorithms. Google is only active in autonomous solutions and mapping according to the infographic, though we suspect the search giant is working on its own development tools and sensors for the autonomous car prototype.

Partnerships are always important for emerging technologies to gain traction, but the autonomous car market will require a vast amount of interoperability between software, hardware, and services, similar to the smartphone or computer but on a larger scale.

Some manufacturers are showing a willingness to work together, Fiat Chrysler was reportedly in talks with Uber and Amazon, on top of its Google deal and General Motors has once again hinted at a possible partnership with Google.

Toyota, Mercedes-Benz, and Honda lead the autonomous car race

Automakers have spent the majority of 2016 announcing their plans for self-driving and the future of automation, but while some just begin to prototype systems, others are soaring ahead of the pack.

Research and advisory firm Lux Research has charted the 12 major automakers on business execution and technical value, and noted if the company has a positive or negative view on the advent of self-driving.

Toyota, Honda, and Mercedes Benz are ahead right now, as you can see in the graph above. Tesla and BMW aren’t far behind, but the report claims that the two companies have a “wait and see” attitude to self-driving, rather than actively pushing for its arrival. The attitude is based on investments, partnerships, and demonstrated capability.

Daimler Trucks and Hyundai are the other two automakers in the top right on technical value and business execution. German automaker Audi has a decent technical value rating, but lacks the investment or business execution its German rivals BMW and Mercedes-Benz have achieved.

The two major automakers in the U.S.—General Motors and Ford—have similarly poor outlooks. The two companies are lower than all European rivals on technical value and business execution, apart from Renault-Nissan, which is far behind the group.

Self-driving car R&D market is white hot

General Motors has started spending heavily in the self-driving market, investing $500 million in a partnership with ridesharing app Lyft and purchasing Cruise Automation for $1 billion in March. Ford, on the other hand, may be looking to partner with Google to fix some of its self-driving shortcomings.

The PSA Group and Fiat Chrysler are both not on graph, despite both working on self-driving or partnering with tech companies. PSA Group, which controls Peugeot and Citroen, is currently the only firm allowed to test self-driving cars in France. Fiat Chrysler recently partnered with Google, providing them with 100 vans, and may have plans to create similar partnerships with Uber and Amazon.

While it is worrying to see companies like Renault-Nissan and Audi not invest in self-driving as much as rivals, we are still three years away from any concrete legislation that allows driverless cars on the road. That is enough time for any automaker to change their attitude towards self-driving.

US government may legalize autonomous cars by July

The current state of autonomous vehicles in the U.S. is fragmented. Some states allow testing and semi-autonomous driving, others are staunchly against Google, Uber, and even leading automakers like General Motors testing self-driving vehicles in their state.

That may change in July, when the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) publishes federal guidelines for autonomous vehicles, which will supposedly be more lenient on testing and possibly legalize self-driving systems for public use.

“What is unusual is everybody expects regulation comes out and that’s what it is forever, and NHTSA’s job is react and enforce it,” said senior administrator Mark Rosekind during a panel at the TU-Automotive auto-tech conference in Novi. “That will not work with this area. I think we’re going to have something different in July.”

The Department of Transportation will focus on four main areas in the announcement, according to Rosekind. Those include deployment, state policies, less vague process terminology, and new tools.

NHTSA rules may clean up state rules

Deployment and operations may provide autonomous car vendors with ways to market their vehicle, ensuring that customers know the semi-autonomous features and how to utilize them. We assume the new tools for authorities will also look towards teaching the public about self-driving, while also speeding the rate of deployment.

Fixing state policies and terminology is a major part of a successful deployment for autonomous vehicles. Most autonomous vendors will not deploy systems that are even vaguely considered illegal, which could cause a slowdown in testing and commercialization.

We’ve already seen vague terminology scare ethical hackers away, after Michigan Senators pushed for a life sentence for people that hack connected cars. Creating a federal code for self-driving could be a way to stop these laws from entering the Senate, while also providing more transparency to vendors on what is allowed on the roads.

Semi-autonomous car hits new record speed at Indy track

Arrow Electronics second semi-autonomous (SAM) race car has broken another speed record, achieving 152 mph at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday.

Former IndyCar driver and current team owner, Sam Schmidt, was in the driving seat of the modified 2016 Corvette Z06 during the Indianapolis 500, surpassing his previous record of 107 mph in 2014. Schmidt has been paralyzed since his racing accident in 2000, but found a new way to drive thanks to Arrow’s autonomous technology.

The electronics firm added specialized sensors that can follow the driver’s head movement, letting them steer, accelerate, and brake. The company claims this is a way for disabled people to enjoy the experience of driving on the road, without giving the computer full autonomy.

Arrow has been building on what it’s learned

“Arrow’s engineers incorporated insights learned from the previous model to build an advanced car design that incorporates cutting-edge Internet of Things technologies and live data-streaming, among other exciting improvements,” said Joe Verrengia, Arrow’s global director of corporate social responsibility. “We hope the SAM car continues to inspire and drive technology innovation forward.”

While we wait for autonomous cars to become safe and legal, semi-autonomous features like head movement could be a smart way to tackle the challenge of disabled drivers. Reports suggest that we’re going to see a large influx of disabled and elderly drivers, once autonomous cars are available to the public.

“It was a thrill to be back in control and hitting racing speeds on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway again,” said Schmidt. “The SAM project is a great example of what’s possible when the right people come together to innovate and push boundaries.”

To expedite the development process and get more developers on board, Arrow has made its car platform open source. Engineers are able to add functionality to the platform or use it for their own projects.

Faraday Future to test autonomous cars in Michigan

Autonomous startup Faraday Future wants to begin testing its prototype car in Michigan, in addition to testing its vehicles in California and another undisclosed city.

The application was confirmed by the director of Michigan’s Department of Transportation, Kirk Steudle, who told Detroit News that the San Francisco-based firm asked for guidance on how to apply for plates in January, and has since applied for three plates.

A representative from Faraday Future did not confirm if the tests were for autonomous cars.

“The plates will be used to help test various FF-vehicle prototypes and features,” said Faraday in a statement. “We cannot comment on the specifics of those tests at this time.”

Manufacturer plates are required to test cars, both autonomous and regular, in Michigan. Automakers can use plates from other states, though most obtain plates directly from the transportation department.

Faraday Future debuted at CES this January

Faraday Future made its debut at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) earlier this year, revealing a futuristic autonomous, electric car that shared design similarities with the Batmobile. Sadly, the concept car appears to be just that — a concept — and one that Faraday is not planning to introduce to the market anytime soon.

The company has been ramping up its workforce since, with 700 employees and in April purchased a $1 billion, 3 million square foot facility in Las Vegas to begin manufacturing. It is rumored to be looking at a second facility in Vallejo, a city in California.

All of this is paid for by LeEco founder Jia Yueting, who owns significant stock in Faraday Future. Yueting’s company is also working on its own autonomous, electric car, which he unveiled at a conference last month.

Faraday Future appears to be speeding ahead, but questions surround the secretive company, including the company’s finances, roadmap, and the name of its anonymous CEO.

Day One for British self-driving Pod Zero

RDM Group, the firm responsible for the LUTZ Pathfinder –  a single seat autonomous car that drives on paths – plans to launch multiple new pods at this week’s Automechanika event.

The firm will launch three new driverless pods that fit two, four, and eight people, according to the Coventry Telegraph. 

Unlike other automakers that are attempting to build autonomous systems into pre-existing models, RDM Group went for a striking redesign with the PathFinder. We should expect a funky design for Pod Zero, which RDM claims is perfect for airports, shopping centers, and theme parks, where transport is limited.

“This is a massive day for our company and puts us right at the forefront of driverless pod manufacturing,” said David Keene, chief executive of RDM Group. “Pod Zero represents the next generation of pod and features different drivetrain, steering systems and a new striking interior that is dominated by video screens that can play adverts, information videos or showcase the view from outside.”

Looking for revenue from…ads?

RDM is banking on advertising to be the money maker for its driverless project. Instead of the person sitting inside the pod focusing on the road (or path), it wants them to interact with the iPads during their journey.

“We have taken learning from the LUTZ project and moved it on significantly so we now have a manufacturing process that could be ramped up to meet more than £15m of anticipated new orders,” said Keene. The LUTZ project was part of the UK Government’s Transport System Catapult Autodrive project. 

The new pods will have a range of 60 miles, not great when compared to cars, but enough for short trips in public places. It has a top speed of 15 mph, which should allow Pod Zero to remain on the pathways. RDM has also ensured that the pod is accessible for disabled people and has provided wheelchair access.

Pods might be one of the emerging technologies that we’re just starting to see enter the market. We’ve already heard that disabled and old people will benefit the most from self-driving, and the pods could be another way for people with difficulties walking long distance to get around easily. 

NRMA calls for autonomous car trials in Australia

Australia is behind on the rise of the autonomous car, but a new push by the National Roads and Motorists’ Association (NRMA) may force the government into action.

NRMA’s new chief executive, Rohan Lund, called for the government to allow autonomous car trials, let the private sector implement peer-to-peer networks for traffic, and add smart sensors to the roads.

“To solve the infrastructure and mobility challenges of the future, governments need to move beyond a business as usual approach,” said Lund to the AFR. “Simply building new infrastructure and throwing money at ad hoc projects will not of themselves solve congestion, improve travel times or future proof our infrastructure and transport services.”

Some of these technologies are already being implemented in smart cities as a way to lower congestion and improve parking. Autonomous cars will supposedly fix both of these issues as well, but it’s unlikely Australia will be the first country to try out the cars.

NRMA wants Australia to make them highway-legal now

In the interim, NRMA wants the Australian government to legalize semi-autonomous driving on highways. Tesla’s already provides this system with its AutoPilot, but that is currently unavailable outside of the U.S., because it is considered “illegal” by most governments. And given the Aussie left-hand drive rules, they may have a point.

NRMA is not all talk, it plans to launch its own car sharing app to compete with Uber, GoGet, and Flexicar. The app will use vehicles from the Thrifty business, owned by NRMA, which has 27,000 cars.

“In a world where not everyone wants to own a car, or a second car for that matter, we can offer cars as a service at scale,” Lund said. “That may take the form of supplying a fleet for car hire, car sharing or even to Uber drivers.”

All of the innovative ideas may fall on deaf ears at the moment, in the middle of a federal election. It may also give Labor some talking points about how to revive the economy, though the party doesn’t seem too interested in private businesses controlling transport.

Tesla (dis)charging to victory on Pikes Peak?

On the 100th anniversary of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, can a Tesla set a new record on what’s considered one of the world’s most dangerous races?

Race car driver and serial entrepreneur Blake Fuller will take the wheel in the modified stock version of the Tesla Model S, the first time the world’s best-selling electric car has competed in the race.

“To return to Pikes Peak for the 100th Anniversary as an invited competitor is an honor,” says Fuller. “To be able to compete in the first Model S to do so makes this year even more special.”

He says his team has “been wanting to see a Model S compete Pikes Peak. We kept waiting for someone to do it, and now we don’t have to wait any longer.”

Fuller is no stranger to victory in this quick-but-gruelling race competition. He earned “Rookie of the Year” honors in 1999 at Pikes Peak and won the prestigious Open Class in 2002.

Along with hundreds of professional motorsports podium finishes since, he’s managed to launch a couple of an innovative battery startups – the latest being GO PUCK, which let’s you take more power with you on the go to keep your electronics powered u2p.

Fuller actually began in motorsports working on the battery concept behind the scenes. In 2001, he developed a new battery for his 2002 race-winning Pikes Peak hill climb vehicle that was 80% lighter than the car’s original battery. In the decade since, his batteries have powered championship winning vehicles in NASCAR, Indy Car, and Formula 1.

He took that experience to develop GO PUCK’s versatile battery for consumer goods, and his belief in the lithium ion technology is what’s enticing him back to racing.

Electric production class record at stake?

For the electric production class – stock production vehicles in which few modifications are allowed – the current record holder is the electric version of the 2012 Honda Fit, with a time of 12:55.59 set in 2014.

But if you’ve driven in the, uh, economical Honda Fit, you’ll quickly notice a difference in size between the compact starter car and the Tesla Model S.

For racing purposes, larger means heavier, and heavier could mean slower. And the Tesla Model S packs on over 2000 extra pounds of weight than the Fit. Fuller has lightened his Model S by 800 pounds before installed required safety equipment.

The car has already seen testing at Sonoma Raceway and private tests in the forests of Northern California.

“Being the first to enter the Model S into competition poses many unique challenges from advanced electronics to unique vehicle dynamics,” Fuller said. “At each stage of the preparation, we are discovering new possibilities and areas for innovation in which we endeavor to help bring to fruition.” 

Although it’s only 12.42 miles, the Pikes Peak course has 156 turns. It begins at 9,390 feet and finishes at the mountain’s summit, 14,115 foot up. Drivers have been known to pass out due to the altitude.

Full details of final race spec will be released on or about the first testing dates at Pikes Peak June 4-5th, but here are the current stats for the GO PUCK Tesla Model S:

HP: 750hp+

Top speed: 145-160 mph

CD: .24-.26

Wheelbase: 116.5 in

Length: 196.0 in

Width: 77.3 in

Height: 56.5 in

Curb weight: 800lbs lighter than stock, pre-roll cage.

Seats: 1 Sparco racing seat- (7 Seats OEM)

Wheels: Wheel Pros

Tires: Toyo Tires

Safety: Sparco Racing Seat & Harnesses, Kertz Fab Roll Cage, Fire Extinguishers, Window Nets, Open Eyes

Team Partners: GO PUCK, GoPro, Kilpsch Audio, ROBRADY Design, Toyo Tires, T Sportline, Wearable IOT World, Wheel Pros