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During a visit to Ford's innovation centre in Germany last month, ConnectedCar Tech took a look at some of the company's latest advancements and gained some insight about where the motoring giant is heading when it comes to fully-autonomous vehicles.
Ford made a couple of related announcements this week, the first being the company has developed a "dynamic" Uber-like...
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Autonomous cars were once the subject of futuristic movies, but are now closer to reality than ever with Samsung being the latest manufacturer focusing on self-driving car technologies.
The company has created a new division that will focus on building self-driving car components, though hasn’t yet revealed much more about its plans. Hyundai, meanwhile, has revealed that it is...
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The UK Department of Transportation (DOT) is planning to update its position toward self-driving cars in the coming weeks as tech companies and automakers work on turning them into reality.
The agency is also working on making it mandatory for all new cars to come with vehicle-to-vehicle communication technologies.
Anthony Foxx, Transportation Secretary, said: "I expect the changes to...
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A Juniper Research report projects that 20 million fully autonomous or self-driving vehicles will be on roads worldwide by 2025, with North America and Europe slated to lead adoption and consumers to start using such vehicles by 2021.
In the run up to adoption of autonomous vehicles, ADAS (Advanced Driving Assistance System) technologies such as adaptive cruise control and automated braking will gain significance, the researchers argue. The report holds that these technologies will...
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Being a driver in the year 2015 is said to be “one of the most stressful activities in our lives”, with heart rate, adrenaline levels and stress hormones increasing in particular driving situations. However, with vehicle numbers surging, traffic has also hit an all time high. As a result, there has been even more road accidents, with a shocking 193,290 reported casualties and 24,580 people...
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If the key to self-driving cars is software that can interpret all vehicle sensors and mimic driving experiences, then Google is the current technological leader, according to a research note from IHS Automotive.
The firm estimates Google has invested almost $60m in autonomous vehicle research and development, as well as arguing the tech giant will have a “major impact” in the coming years.
The argument over who will take the crown in the connected car space, be it...
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A report from the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) argues that self-driving vehicles currently have a higher crash rate per million miles travelled than conventional vehicles, as well as for injuries per crash.
The report, entitled “A Preliminary Analysis of Real-World Crashes Involving Self-Driving Vehicles”, notes that hard data, naturally, is on the low side, but the ‘current best estimate’ favours conventional vehicles....
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In the last year, unmanned cars have made the headlines throughout the world and the idea that cars could be driven solely by computers came as a shock for many. The reality is that driverless vehicles have been around for some time, both in railway and PRT operations; and analysing how driverless technology has been implemented there, should help understand how this technology will be brought to market and the hurdles that the automotive industry will face.
Taking into consideration key...
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Despite the vehicles we drive getting ever more intelligent, the claims by Google that it will eliminate human driving in five years with a fully automated product available by 2020 are bold to say the least, according to some in the industry.
Plextek Consulting, which designs new products, systems and services for clients across a range of industries, says instead that a driverless future can only become a reality with the coming together of a number of diverse stakeholders who will...
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A report from McKinsey details 10 potential implications for driverless cars in the automotive ecosystem across three areas.
Autonomous vehicle (AV) technology is set to transform the economy, mobility, and society even as adoption with regards to specific parameters such as timing, uptake, and penetration is still unclear. Experts across the Europe, US and Asia foresee change in the automotive ecosystem in a number of areas.
The first era will witness the development of fully AVs for...
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Connected car solutions company Abalta Technologies has released eight predictions for the connected car market in the run up to 2020 that provides insight on development and growth in the sector.
The eight predictions for the market are:
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A new study by the University of Michigan's Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) indicates that travelling time in the US has been on a decline since 2004, indicating that motorisation in the US may have peaked in that year.
The study looked at travel times using data from the nationwide American Time Use Survey (ATUS), and found that the sum of average travel times associated with all activities dropped by around 10 per cent in 2004-2014.
Interestingly, the decline in total travel...
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Regular readers of this publication will note the prevailing wind in terms of driver preference for driverless cars; for both US and UK motorists, it’s a pretty firm no right now. But semi-autonomous features, such as improved parking capability and being able to avoid collisions is proving particularly popular, according to figures released by Ford.
According to the carmaker, one in three Ford cars sold in the past year were equipped with parking systems that help drivers find...
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Swedish car manufacturer Volvo, alongside technology partners Telstra and Bosch, are set to run Australia’s first driverless vehicle demonstration trials in November.
The news was announced by the ARRB Group, Australia’s national independent road research agency and will utilise ARRB’s Australian Driverless Vehicle Initiative. The first Australian trials of automated vehicles will coincide with a driverless vehicle conference to be hosted by the state of South...
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Earlier this week we had the views of US drivers on whether they would be happy with being ferried around in autonomous vehicles, and the response was less than unanimous. Now, survey data from UK insurance provider Bobatoo shows only a quarter of UK respondents would describe themselves as ‘excited’ about driverless cars.
This survey differs from the study by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI), which focused exclusively on respondents...
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The days when drivers act as individual entities on the road could be over in a matter of years thanks to the integration of swarm intelligence technology within car design. The idea behind it is to allow vehicles to work together and share data with others (i.e. act as a collective swarm) for the benefit of all and the wider transport infrastructure – ‘the cloud’.
The clear impact of this is far reaching - the travelling of more efficient and optimum routes, reduced...
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A survey of US drivers from the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) reveals the majority would not want to give up driving for fully automated vehicles for the time being.
43% of the 505 respondents indicated a preference for no self-driving, while 40% would be happy with partially self-driving vehicles and only 15% want completely autonomous. The report notes preference for vehicle automation “generally decreased” as age increased.
More than...
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Driver in the Loop (DIL) simulation has long been considered a powerful tool for both vehicle and component development. For traditional vehicle development work – such as ride and handling, steering, and powertrain – driver feedback is essential, offering subjective information that no data logger can deliver.
Simulators place real people into direct contact with experimental systems, and this is arguably the main reason why so many car makers have invested...
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A new study from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) argues driverless cars will deliver both economical and environmental gains.
The study, authored by Berkeley Lab researchers Jeff Greenblatt and Samveg Saxena, asserts an electric vehicle deployed as an autonomous taxi in 2030 would provide between 63% and 82% lower greenhouse gas emissions per mile when compared against a project 2030 hybrid vehicle, and 90% lower alongside a current gasoline-powered...
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According to the latest research note from Juniper Research, 20% of passenger vehicles on the road in 2019 will be connected.
The findings come in a new whitepaper, entitled ‘M2M in an IoT World’. Juniper argues telematics will remain the best performing sector in all M2M markets over the next five years. Describing it as one of the “cornerstones” of the broader M2M industry, the researchers note the wide variety of use cases, including usage-based insurance...