Self-Driving News

Kodiak delivers first two driverless Western Star 49X trucks to Atlas Energy Solutions.

Ex-Apple engineer raises $51M to build cabless self-driving trucks.

Waymo expands its service to Torrance, El Segments, and Manhattan Beach.

Tesla’s Robotaxi service areas in Texas are not as large as advertised, according to new mapping by researcher Koby Pierce. The mapping shows that the actual pickup and dropoff areas are smaller than the advertised boundaries, with Austin’s geofence being approximately 41% smaller than claimed. The population coverage is higher than the land area coverage, indicating that the service is focused on densely populated areas. The study also highlights that Dallas has a more favorable geofence, covering 78% of the advertised land area and 89% of residents.

Waymo's robotaxis face the ultimate winter test with snow, ice, and no driver.

Amazon’s Zoox plans to start testing its self-driving cars in Europe and Asia.

A self-driving bus line that has been operational since the 1990s is now being considered for implementation in any location. · Adding LiDAR collision detection and well-designed breaks can make the system fast and safe.

Democratic wave has robotaxi industry sweating.

Lyft will expand its Waymo robotaxi fleet in Nashville by year-end.

A Denver Waymo ride is priced similarly to Uber or Lyft.

Boris Sofman spent five years at Waymo and worked on its trucking program and its first driverless freeway release. · He explained that Waymo needed automakers involved early to develop retrofit solutions for backup steering and brakes.

Tesla has responded to NHTSA’s Special Order requiring it to prove that the Cybercab meets federal safety standards, but the details of its certification process are kept confidential. The only public information is a 30-page guide for firefighters, which addresses a few of the questions posed by NHTSA. Tesla sought additional time to comply, but NHTSA denied it and set a deadline for October 30. The documents Tesla submitted are confidential, with the response letter and the first-responder plan being the only substantive ones. The public cannot access the details of how the Cybercab was certified, including whether it met FMVSS 135, 108, 111, or the Part 555 exemption.

Wayve has developed an end-to-end embodied AI system called the Wayve AI Driver, which focuses on learning to drive safely and generalize from experience rather than relying on pre-defined rules. The company believes safety should be integrated into the decision-making process rather than being checked afterward. The Wayve Learned Safety Envelope (LSE) is a proprietary system that incorporates safety judgments into decision-making and provides a heatmap to show where the vehicle is and isn’t safe to drive. This approach helps answer three key questions: how to act, what is safe, and whether the AI can continue with confidence.

Harbinger Electric truck startup Harbinger has raised a $240 million Series D funding round as it expands its portfolio of products, including battery storage and defense applications. The funding comes almost one year to the day after the Los Angeles-based company announced a $160 million Series C, which included an initial truck order from FedEx. Harbinger has now raised more than $650 million to date, according to Bloomberg News, which first reported the round. The Series D was co-led by Tiger Global, Capricorn’s “technology impact fund,” and defense-focused firm Ridgeline. FedEx invested again after leading last year’s round, and other repeat investors included Maniv, Greycroft, and Leitmotif, a VC firm backed by Volkswagen. Also investing this time was institutional giant Fidelity Management, which tends to invest in pre-IPO startups. Harbinger is reportedly weighing going public.

A Redesigned Steering Wheel For Self-Driving Cars

EnerSys and two top autonomous vehicle stocks are to watch.

Hyundai will begin trials of its Level 4 autonomous trucks in 2027. The trials are intended to explore the capabilities and challenges of fully autonomous vehicle operations.

Arlington leaders want a say in the future of Waymo in Virginia.

Tesla sold the Full Self-Driving (FSD) software to Koreans who still can't use it. Now it's facing a complaint.

A user asked whether anyone had ridden in a Nuro or Avride robotaxi. · The question was about comparing experiences with Waymo or Cybercab.