Autonomous car updates

Issue #76, April 27, 2021

The autonomous car segment saw some interesting scenarios unfold recently. A Tesla car was allegedly tricked into driving, without anyone in the driver's seat. There is consolidation as ride-hailing player Lyft sold its autonomous driving division to Toyota to get profitable. Testing of autonomous driving is a challenge, for it to be shown all scenarios that it can encounter in real life. To address the issue, Toyota is setting up a connected city, customized for autonomous cars and data collection. Lidars are tested on aircraft for autonomous and safe driving with Airbus. Here are some recent updates specifically in autonomous driving.

Cities to test autonomous driving

At the site of a recently shuttered factory, Toyoda commented on the significance of replacing a plant that’s churned out cars since the ‘60s with a 175-acre community to test autonomous vehicles. “It’s a new chapter in our story and in our industry,” Toyoda, grandson of the carmaker’s founder, said in an online video commemorating the groundbreaking. By 2040, a fleet of more than 30 million self-driving vehicles are estimated to be driving on roads globally. Yet today, even the most advanced autonomous features are limited and require driver supervision. Executives and industry experts say the missing link is cities, which need to be wired to funnel massive amounts of data to cars in order for them to meaningfully drive themselves. - Bloomberg

Lyft's autonomous unit sale to Toyota

Lyft is selling its self-driving division to a unit of Toyota Motor Corp. for $550 million, a move the ride-hailing giant said will help it turn a profit sooner than previously expected. Lyft’s departure from building self-driving cars follows rival Uber Technologies Inc.’s decision to shed its autonomous-driving division late last year. Lyft said the sale would help it save $100 million in operating expenses, accelerating its path to profitability. - WSJ

Lidars from autonomous cars to aircraft

Luminar, a newly public maker of laser lidar sensors, is stepping beyond self-driving cars to partner with Airbus’ advanced technology arm to determine if 3-D vision improves safety for aircraft and can help enable autonomous flight capability. Luminar’s shares jumped on the news. The Palo Alto, California-based company is supplying Airbus UpNext with lidar sensors for use with its Vertex demonstration platform, but isn’t disclosing financial terms. - Forbes

Tricking a car to run without a driver

Consumer Reports engineers said they “easily tricked” a Tesla vehicle to drive via its Autopilot feature without anyone in the driver’s seat, just days after a fatal crash in Texas where police said they found no one behind the steering wheel. The vehicle -- with Autopilot technology engaged -- was able to steer itself along painted lines but at no time displayed a warning that the driver’s seat was empty. The engineer who conducted the test placed a small weighted chain on the steering wheel to simulate the weight of a driver’s hand. - Bloomberg

Robotics for battery recycling

"The rate at which we're growing the industry is absolutely scary," says Paul Anderson from Birmingham University. He's talking about the market for electric cars in Europe. By 2030, the EU hopes, there will be 30 million electric cars on European roads. While electric vehicles (EVs) may be carbon neutral during their working lifetime, he's concerned about what happens when they run out of road - in particular what happens to the batteries and their recycling. The answer, Gavin Harper, Faraday Institution research fellow says, is automation and robotics: "If you can automate that, we can pull some of the danger out of it and make it more economically efficient." - BBC

Retraining workforce for EV industry

France unveiled a 50 million-euro ($60.5 million) fund to retrain workers making cast-metal auto parts whose jobs are at risk as the industry shifts to electric vehicles. The government will contribute three fifths of the fund and French rival carmakers Renault SA and Stellantis NV will pay for the rest. A 150 million-euro fund to back research and development in the auto industry will be extended by a year to the end of 2022, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said. “We want to put an end to 30 years of off-shoring in the automobile sector,” he said. “This has had a huge social and industrial cost.” - Bloomberg

Foxconn's SPAC for EVs in U.S.A.

Foxconn is likely to try rebuilding credibility in the U.S. through an industry that makes far more sense to the economy — electric vehicles — and hang out its shingle by listing shares via a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC. This offers a chance to raise money, bring in more partners, and rewrite a narrative it needs to outgrow its reputation of being a low-cost maker of electronics such as Apple Inc. iPhones. - Bloomberg