GM has announced its next generation autonomous driving software, Ultra Cruise, covering 95% of driving scenarios.
Automakers the world over are racing to develop and deploy autonomous driving software. While Tesla gets the lion’s share of press, GM has quietly been making major improvements to its software.
The company has announced Ultra Cruise, its next generation system that will cover 2 million miles of roads in the US and Canada at lunch, and has the ability to grow to 3.4 million miles. GM says the software provides a true hands-free experience for 95% of driving scenarios.
“Ultra Cruise is not just a game changer in terms of what it enables − a door-to-door hands-free driving experience − but a technological one as well,” said Doug Parks, GM executive vice president of Global Product Development, Purchasing and Supply Chain. “It’s been developed completely in-house.”
Rather than rely on a single type of sensing technology, GM opted to use cameras, radar and LiDAR, as well as integrated LiDAR behind the windshield.
“We believe that the combination of different sensors, or sensor fusion, leads to the most robust hands-free driver-assist system for our customers,” said Parks.
Ultra Cruise will start rolling out in 2023 on select models, with Cadillac leading the way.
Elon Musk has admitted developing autonomous cars is harder than he thought, as the timeline for the latest software update slips again.
Like most automakers, Tesla is working hard to crack autonomous driving, widely seen as the next big evolution for the auto industry. The company’s software has been criticized for being ‘easily tricked,’ and there have been several high-profile deaths involving Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD).
When a user poked fun on Twitter over the latest software update missing its deadline, Musk responded, acknowledging the difficulties involved.
Haha, FSD 9 beta is shipping soon, I swear!
Generalized self-driving is a hard problem, as it requires solving a large part of real-world AI. Didn’t expect it to be so hard, but the difficulty is obvious in retrospect.
Lyft has announced Toyota subsidiary Woven Planet is acquiring its self-driving division, Level 5.
Autonomous driving is widely considered to be the next major evolution of the auto industry. Unfortunately, autonomous driving has been a difficult technology to crack for companies of all sizes. Tesla recently was called out by Consumer Reports for self-driving tech that’s easily fooled.
Meanwhile, Level 5 was launched in 2017, with the goal being to have a majority of rides happen in self-driving vehicles by 2021. Instead, Lyft is now selling off its self-driving division after failing to meet those goals. Woven Planet, Toyota’s autonomous driving division, is buying Level 5 for $550 million.
“Today’s announcement launches Lyft into the next phase of an incredible journey to bring our mission to life,” Lyft Co-Founder and CEO Logan Green said. “Lyft has spent nine years building a transportation network that is uniquely capable of scaling AVs. This partnership between Woven Planet and Lyft represents a major step forward for autonomous vehicle technology.”
“This acquisition assembles a dream team of world-class engineers and scientists to deliver safe mobility technology for the world,” James Kuffner, CEO of Woven Planet said. “The Woven Planet team, alongside the team of researchers at Toyota Research Institute, have already established a center of excellence for software development, automated driving, and advanced safety technology within the Toyota Group. I am absolutely thrilled to welcome Level 5’s world-class engineers and experts into our company, which will greatly strengthen our efforts.”
Ford is laying down the gauntlet in the self-driving arena, declaring its BlueCruise software has completed the “Mother of All Road Trips.”
Self-driving vehicles are the next great frontier for the automotive industry. Virtually all of the major players are working on self-driving and autonomous driving systems. Ford is working on its self-driving software, BlueCruise, and has even gone so far as to call Tesla’s competing system vaporware.
BlueCruise is a Level 2 technology. Autonomous driving is rated on a scale of 0 to 5, with 0 being fully manual and 5 requiring no human control whatsoever.
BlueCruise is an SAE Level 2 driver-assist technology, similar to Tesla Autopilot but with the advantage of offering a true hands-free driving experience while in Hands-Free Mode that does not require a driver’s hands to stay in contact with the steering wheel, unless prompted by vehicle alerts.
And unlike other approaches – such as GM’s Super Cruise, which uses red and green lighting, or Tesla’s Autopilot, which requires a driver keep their hands on the steering wheel – BlueCruise communicates with drivers in different ways. The instrument cluster transitions to communicate that the feature is in Hands-Free mode through text and blue lighting cues, effective even for those with color blindness.
Ford is putting its money where its mouth is, however, having recently put its BlueCruise through rigorous testing. According to the company, it sent a fleet of 10 test vehicles — five Mustang Mach-E SUVs and five F-150s — on the “Mother of All Road Trips.” The trip was more than 110,000 miles through 37 states and five Canadian provinces.
“There are highway intricacies and driving conditions that you simply cannot replicate in a lab,” said Hau Thai-Tang, Ford chief product platform and operations officer. “Sending these vehicles out for real-world driving experience is just one of many ways we ensured that BlueCruise technology offers confidence and convenience for drivers all across the continent.”
The company is planning on providing BlueCruise via over-the-air software updates later this year on 2021 F-150 and Mustang Mach-E models equipped with Ford Co-Pilot 360 Active 2.0 Prep Package.
Driverless tech company Motional has announced it will use Hyundai’s IONIQ 5 for its robotaxi deal with Lyft.
Motional and Lyft signed “the world’s largest robotaxi deployment partnership.” Beginning in 2023, Lyft customers will be able to book a Motional robotaxi, instead of a traditional Lyft.
The company, which was founded by Hyundai Motor Group and Aptiv, plans to use Hyundai’s IONIQ 5 midsize electric crossover.
The futuristic IONIQ 5 is an all-electric, midsize crossover utility vehicle designed for the passenger experience. With a unique and luxurious living space and a sleek, modern exterior, Motional and Lyft riders will experience their fully autonomous rides in comfort and style. Built on Hyundai’s dedicated battery electric vehicle (BEV) platform, the IONIQ 5 delivers innovation in both mobility and sustainability.
Motional emphasizes the vehicles it will use are not the consumer version of the IONIQ 5, but ones with its Level 4 autonomous software integrated in. Autonomous driving software is graded from Level 0 to 5, with 5 being completely autonomous vehicles that never require human involvement.
Waymo has released a detailed report of its autonomous driving test scenarios, providing evidence of the technology’s ability to prevent fatalities.
Waymo is an Alphabet company focused on autonomous driving. In fact, the company recently announced it would only use the term “autonomous driving,” as opposed to “self-driving.” Autonomous driving is widely seen as the next major evolution for the automotive industry, with the promise of safer driving.
Quantifying just how much safer autonomous driving is can be difficult, as few companies have been willing to release their testing numbers. Waymo has now taken that step, and the results are very encouraging. Waymo’s simulated driving data provides a decade-long look at how its platform performs.
In total, the simulated Waymo Driver completely avoided or mitigated 100% of crashes aside from the crashes in which it was struck from behind, including every instance that involved a pedestrian or cyclist (20 simulations in total). This is the first time an autonomous technology company has shared its evaluation for how the system might perform in real-world fatal crash scenarios.
Significantly, drivers were 1.3 to 1.5x less likely to be injured in accidents that Waymo’s vehicles mitigated.
Waymo specifically tested 72 scenarios from public records of accidents that had involved a fatality. When the Waymo Driver was in primary control of the vehicle, those accidents were avoided 100% of the time.
Waymo then ran test scenarios where Waymo Driver was in responder mode, only taking action once the human driver had made a mistake. In those scenarios, 82% of accidents were avoided, while another 10% were mitigated. This gives Waymo a 92% success rate at avoiding or mitigating fatal accidents, even when the human driver has done something that would have caused an accident.
In other words, even when a human driver did something to initiate a crash, such as running a red light, the simulated Waymo Driver avoided or mitigated the vast majority of these fatal crashes.
This is good news for the auto industry and drivers alike, and will hopefully help remove barriers to autonomous driving adoption.
Honda has announced a major first for the auto industry, being the first to release a Level 3 autonomous vehicle, as part of the Honda Legend Hybrid EX.
Autonomous vehicles are rated from 0 to 5, with each level representing a higher degree of AI involvement. A 0 rating means there is no assistance, and the driver is 100% responsible. At the other end of the scale, a 5 means the vehicle is fully driverless. A Level 3 means the vehicle controls steering, acceleration and braking, but the driver should still be ready to take over if needed. This is a big step up from the Level 2 Tesla Autopilot.
The Legend Hybrid EX is equipped with Honda SENSING® Elite, the automated driving system that Honda extensively tested. In simulations, the system was tested using 10 million possible real-world scenarios. Physical, real-world testing involved 800,000 miles of tests. The end result is a vehicle that surpasses anything currently on the road.
For vehicle control, the system determines the position of the vehicle and road conditions using data from 3-dimensional high-definition maps and the global navigation satellite system (GNSS), while detecting the vehicle’s surroundings using several external sensors that provide 360-degree input. At the same time, the system tracks the condition of the driver using a monitoring camera mounted inside the vehicle. Based on this wide range of information, the main electronic control unit (ECU) recognizes current conditions, anticipates future conditions and applies a high-level of control to acceleration, braking and steering inputs to assist the driver and achieve high-quality and smooth driving.
Even with all the testing, Honda is taking a decidedly cautious approach, only making 100 of the autonomous Legends. The vehicles will only be available for lease in Japan, beginning March 5. Nonetheless, if the Legend with Honda SENSING® Elite is a success, customers around the world may soon have access to next-generation autonomous driving.
Volkswagen has announced it is partnering with Microsoft to use Azure to accelerate the development of autonomous vehicles.
The majority of automakers are working on autonomous driving as the next major evolution of the auto industry. Various automakers are taking different approaches, with Volkswagen indicating it wants to develop its autonomous software in-house.
To aid in that goal, Volkswagen’s software company, Car.Software Organisation, will work with Microsoft to use Azure to help build a cloud-based Automated Driving Platform (ADP). Running ADP on Azure will allow Volkswagen to develop the platform faster and scale it globally.
“As we transform Volkswagen Group into a digital mobility provider, we are looking to continuously increase the efficiency of our software development. We are building the Automated Driving Platform with Microsoft to simplify our developers’ work through one scalable and data-based engineering environment. By combining our comprehensive expertise in the development of connected driving solutions with Microsoft’s cloud and software engineering know-how, we will accelerate the delivery of safe and comfortable mobility services,” said Dirk Hilgenberg, CEO of the Car.Software Organisation.
“This is the next evolution of our foundational work with the Volkswagen Group to enhance their transformation as a software-driven mobility provider,” said Scott Guthrie, executive vice president, Cloud + AI at Microsoft. “The power of Microsoft Azure and its compute, data and AI capabilities will enable Volkswagen to deliver secure and reliable automated driving solutions to their customers faster.”
Snagging the world’s largest automaker, the Volkswagen Group, is a big win for Microsoft, especially in the wake of Ford’s decision to use Google Cloud for its connected vehicle efforts. Ford had long been a Microsoft partner, relying on the tech company’s software for its vehicles’ navigation and entertainment systems.
Toyota is partnering with Aurora and Denso to develop autonomous vehicles, rather than going it alone.
Autonomous vehicles are widely seen as the next big step for the automotive industry. Whether it be a personal vehicle, mass transportation or rides-sharing, autonomous driving promises to usher in an era of safer, less distracted driving.
Automakers are taking different approaches to autonomous driving. Some, like Volkswagen, are developing their software in-house. Toyota, on the other hand, has decided to work with partners and industry leaders.
Akio Toyoda, Toyota President, outlined the company’s goals:
Rather than conduct development on our own―without friends and partners―we can partner and collaborate with others who share our aspirations. Rather than keep our patents to ourselves, we can open them up and create more new friends. Rather than sell only cars, we can provide various services in which vehicles are incorporated into a system and focus more broadly and openly on contributing to the improvement of society.
The company is partnering with Aurora and Denso to begin developing autonomous ride-sharing vehicles, starting with the Sienna. The goal is to design, build and be testing a fleet of the minivans by the end of 2021. Once testing is complete, the vehicles will be built and supported for various ride-hailing companies.
“Toyota has an unparalleled legacy, engineering expertise, leadership, and ability to deliver high-quality, affordable, and reliable vehicles,” said Chris Urmson, Aurora CEO. “They’re also the preferred vehicle brand for transporting riders on ride-hailing networks, so we’re excited and honored to work with them to unlock driverless mobility services with the Aurora Driver. Our development work on highway driving to support our first commercial product, a driverless truck, will also be critical for safely moving people, as a significant fraction of ride-share bookings today require the ability to drive over 50 mph.”
“Toyota is dedicated to creating and realizing mobility for all by focusing on technology that will move people safely and responsibly, a vision Aurora shares with us,” said Keiji Yamamoto, Operating Officer of Toyota and President of Connected Company. “By combining our expertise and know-how in vehicle control systems, mass-production, Connected Car technology, and our advanced safety support systems with Aurora’s industry-leading approach to self-driving technology, we aim to commercialize and deliver safe, high-quality, and affordable autonomous ride-sharing vehicles and services.”
Dell Technologies CTO John Roese says 2021 will be a big year for 5G, as it moves beyond the consumer and begins to reach its full potential.
When many people think of 5G, their first thought is how fast the service will be on their phone, tablet or computer. More than any previous generation of wireless tech, however, 5G is on the threshold of revolutionizing multiple industries. The speed 5G offers promises to help advance artificial intelligence, edge computing, autonomous driving, Internet of Things (IoT) and much more.
Roese believes 2021 is the year 5G will finally start delivering on its promises, beyond what it offers to consumers.
5G “hasn’t really transformed much because the first wave of 5G was really an extension of 4G, it wasn’t the real 5G,” Roese said, speaking with media, via ZDNet. “But in 2021 with what’s called release 16 and release 17 of the 5G standards, we will now have true standalone 5G materialise and it will include advanced features…[that will]…make 5G interesting.”
“Building a smart city, or smart factory, or smart hospital, or a logistics system, or a transportation network needs these advanced features and as they materialise, the 5G ecosystem will shift from being very consumer focused to really being dominated by enterprise use cases,” Roese added. “Revolutionising transportation, or healthcare, or logistics will become more and more of the dominant thread of why we’re doing 5G.”
As automakers around the world partner up with leading tech companies, Volkswagen is taking a different approach, developing its autonomous software in-house.
Autonomous driving and connected vehicles are one of the next big steps for the automotive industry. Many automakers are paring up with leading tech companies, such as Ford partnering with Google.
Volkswagen, on the other hand, is planning to develop its software in-house, according to U.S. News & World Report. The company is not ruling out collaboration with outside companies on some aspects, but clearly wants to develop the bulk on its its own.
“We have a size that makes us want to cooperate with ourselves initially,” said Markus Duesmann, CEO of Audi (Volkswagen’s luxury brand). Duesmann also indicated his confidence that Volkswagen is in a position to create new standards for automotive software development, and is open to other companies joining those efforts.
Volkswagen certainly has the size and scale to tackle a project of this size. It should be interesting to see how its software stacks up with those of its rivals.
The rumored Apple Car has been making headlines again, although recent reports are placing its debut several years away.
The Apple Car seems to be Apple’s on-again, off-again project, with it taking different forms throughout the years. Dubbed “Project Titan” it was alternately believed to be a full car, an OEM AI system for manufacturers to adopt and integrate into their vehicles, or an aftermarket system that could be integrated into a range of vehicles. It now seems as though Apple is once again aiming for a full automobile.
The most recent rumors placed a possible Apple Car debut in 2021, while some reports place it in 2024. According to the latest reports from Bloomberg, however, it seems the Apple Car is still several years away, with production slated to begin in 2024.
At the same time, Bloomberg says Apple is continuing to work on a third-party system for integration with other manufacturers, and could still switch its plans to back that effort instead.
Either way, it appears Tesla has nothing to fear from Apple for at least the next few years.
Waymo has announced it will no longer use the term “self-driving,” embracing “fully autonomous driving technology” instead.
One of Alphabet’s subsidiary companies, Waymo is a company focused on autonomous driving in what is quickly becoming a crowded industry. Waymo says it is making the distinction in an effort to save lives, highlighting that its software is far different than “self-driving” software that still requires human interaction.
It may seem like a small change, but it’s an important one, because precision in language matters and could save lives. We’re hopeful that consistency will help differentiate the fully autonomous technology Waymo is developing from driver-assist technologies (sometimes erroneously referred to as “self-driving” technologies) that require oversight from licensed human drivers for safe operation. Regardless of who or what is at the helm, safely operating a vehicle on public roads requires careful execution of all the elements of the driving task. Today, the Waymo Driver makes billions of decisions each day as it safely moves people and goods to their destination in fully autonomous mode.
The fact that Waymo is taking the time make a distinction between “self-driving” and “fully autonomous” is evidence of what’s at stake in the automotive industry.
The autonomous driving industry is estimated to reach a staggering $556.67 billion by 2026. As a result, companies like Waymo will be doing everything possible to set themselves apart and gain as big a piece of that market as possible.
“Our view is that the commercialization of autonomous driving for passenger vehicles will probably take a bit longer than people would think,” says Richard Zhang, CFO of Full Truck Alliance. “We think the commercialization of autonomous driving for trucks will probably take place a lot sooner than it will take place in the passenger car vehicle sector.”
Full Truck Alliance is a multi-billion dollarvalued company that is becoming the Uber of trucks throughout China. The fragmentation of the trucking industry in China between independent truckers and shippers has resulted in an empty load rate of over 40 percent, about four times higher than in the United States. The Full Truck Alliance app and online platform connects shippers to truckers in real-time enabling huge reductions in empty loads.
Richard Zhang, CFO of Full Truck Alliance based in China, discussed the company’s future in an interview on CNBC International TV this morning:
Full Truck Alliance in China is the Uber for Trucks
The problem we’re trying to solve is very simple because there are high inefficiencies between matching with the truck drivers and also matching with the shippers. The empty load rate in the US is only ten percent while the empty load rate in China is 40 percent. The empty load rate is very similar to the vacancy rate in the hotel business. The reason is that the market here is highly fragmented. You have highly fragmented truck drivers and highly fragmented shippers, lots of SMEs.
Before we came into existence the matching between the truck drivers and shippers were taking place across a thousand offline marketplaces in China. What we have been trying to do is bring that offline marketplace online and use our algorithms in the back office to match automatically the truck drivers and the shippers. We are trying to reduce that empty load rate to well below 40 percent.
Monetization Via Membership and Uber-Like Fees
Our monetization strategy for Full Truck Alliance is as a product of a merger between two companies, Truck Alliance and also Yunmanman a little over a year ago. Post-merger we started monetization and the monetization takes place in two ways. Number one is we are charging a membership fee for the shippers and also very similar to Uber or DiDi we’re charging a take rate on the transactions themselves.
We were very close to achieving our 2018 profit objective. We are actually very marginally close to break-even at the current moment and we have no doubt that we’re going be making earnings in 2019.
Autonomous Driving for Trucks Will Happen First
Our view is that the commercialization of autonomous driving for passenger vehicles will probably take a bit longer than people would think. We think the commercialization of autonomous driving for trucks will probably take place a lot sooner than it will take place in the passenger car vehicle sector. Therefore we are deploying a certain amount of resources into that sector in the form of investment.
We have decided to be a strategic investor in an autonomous driving truck company for them to actually develop that technology and for us to actually use. The mandate for the partner is to actually put a fleet on the road in China to start working with our shippers in the next 12 to 24 months. That’s our mandate and so it depends on how successful they’re going to be at executing our strategy.
“The ultimate solution for Uber and Lyft is autonomy,” says Loup Ventures Managing Partner Gene Munster. “If this employee model simply doesn’t work you are going to see these companies push even harder into autonomous systems simply eliminating the drivers. However, this will attract more competition. I think the two best companies positioned within that would be Google and their Waymo initiatives and also Tesla and how they are going to vector into the ridesharing market.”
Gene Munster, Managing Partner at Loup Ventures, discusses how California in forcing drivers to be employees may ultimately speed up the efforts of Uber and Lyft to go fully self-driving and thereby simply eliminate all human drivers:
What Would The Drivers Want?
Both Uber and Lyft are in a tight spot. There was reprieve today. But this topic is not over with this vote coming November 3rd and California’s influence that they can have with other states. If you put all of this together and think about if these changes to employees across the country, it could be a 15 percent increase (in costs). This is effectively their profit margins.
I do want to caution the voters of California and also some of the lawmakers on one aspect. What would the drivers want? Most of these drivers use both apps, both Lyft and Uber. If they are employees they likely will be restricted from jumping from app to app. That would cut down some of their rides and cut down what they will be paid on an hourly basis. I don’t think that the right path here is as clear for the drivers in simply becoming an employee.
Ultimate Solution For Uber and Lyft Is Autonomy
The ultimate solution for Uber and Lyft is autonomy. If this employee model simply doesn’t work you are going to see these companies push even harder into autonomous systems simply eliminating the drivers. One of the unique things about Lyft and Uber is it is a two-sided marketplace. They have drivers and riders. In an autonomous world you don’t need drivers. Essentially, that would leave Lyft and Uber with their key asset, their brands around movement. I think that is an asset but I don’t know if it is worth $55 billion.
What I really take away from this is that over the next few years there are going to be ups and downs related to this regulation. Longer term, we know where this is going. Cars should be autonomous for safety reasons and productivity reasons. Ultimately, ridesharing with Uber and Lyft is going to be fully self-driving. This topic we are discussing today is going to be largely irrelevant.
Lyft is already testing self-driving rides in Las Vegas
Google and Tesla Will Compete With Uber and Lyft
There are some key nuances to an autonomous ridesharing business model. As I mentioned, there is a two-sided marketplace. That’s really what makes Lyft and Uber special today. One of the sides of the marketplace, the drivers side of this, is under some pressure right now. But if we eliminate the drivers side then you don’t even have a marketplace. You are just trying to get consumers to ride. That opens up new competitors. There are about six of them that are trying to get there.
The autonomy option is a better option for Lyft and Uber than what they currently have with humans driving. For an investor it’s a more profitable option. However, ultimately it will attract more competition. I think the two best companies positioned within that would be Google and their Waymo initiatives and also Tesla and how they are going to vector into the ridesharing market.
I Would Put My Money On Lyft
Assuming their ballot initiative wins in November, I’m in the Lyft camp. This is partly because I like their focus just on the US and on ridesharing. I think that the Uber Eats business, while its had a tremendous tailwind, it will get progressively more competitive and it’s tougher to make money in that business.
Ultimately, if I had my choice I would put my money on Lyft. There is another X factor here. There is something subtle about Lyft’s culture. It is a more investor friendly culture and that influences my view.
Ultimate Solution For Uber and Lyft Is Autonomy, Says Loup Ventures Managing Partner Gene Munster
“The fact is as much as 5G is going to be tremendous, and it’s going to bring an amazing architectural shift to our economy and to our markets and economy, it’s still not here,” says Skyworks Solutions CEO Liam Griffin. “It is here in certain areas but the rollout has been somewhat delayed due to the pandemic.”
Liam Griffin, CEO of Skyworks Solutions, discusses on CNBC how thepandemic has temporarily delayed 5G but ultimately it will be a big part of a whole new world.
It’s a Stay At Home World Right Now
It’s a stay at home world right now (due to the pandemic). I talked about the digital traffic jam three or four years ago. At that time we talked about the networks being compressed and taxed and digitally clogged and we’re seeing this today. I mean it’s great that we’re seeing the network interfaces and the data traffic and the ability to do what we’re doing but we’re nowhere near where we’re headed.
We’ve got a long way to go in 5G. We’ve also got incredible Wi-Fi technologies coming. I think this pandemic situation is very difficult. It is a challenge and a big deal. But I think the technologies that we’re working on in our ecosystem with partners like Verizon and infrastructure players and even the Chinese⎯we’re all coming together to make this work. It’s a real indication of how necessary these applications are to the economy.
5G Delayed Due To The Pandemic
The fact is as much as 5G is going to be tremendous, and it’s going to bring an amazing architectural shift to our economy and to our markets and economy, it’s still not here. It is here in certain areas but the rollout has been somewhat delayed due to the pandemic. However, we’re going to see a bigger uptick in the second half.
We’re working with the marquee companies largely in the US, China, and Europe and we’re seeing some great technologies. They’re going to launch, it’s just delayed right now. That’s where we’re going to see the quality, the experience, the bandwidth upside that we’ve been talking about. That will happen.
5G Is a Multi-Year Thematic Move
5G is a multi-year thematic move. The interesting thing is that people today are clamoring to get the technology. The issue that we have and in what manifests in the demand weakness has really come about by a supply shock. It’s the supply chain in Asia and other parts of the world where folks couldn’t go to their factories and work. It creates a delay but we don’t think it’s perishable.
We think this 5G technology is absolutely going to launch. Some of that demand that did not get executed in our Q1 or Q2 will move forward into the back half of 2020 and certainly into 2021. We see this as a pause more than a complete deep dive.
Interesting Applications Are Really Emerging Through 5G
I saw the Verizon CEO talking about a 20 percent upside in data traffic and Vodafone also just announced a 50 percent increase in data traffic. So if you look at how this works, the smartphone⎯that’s your quarterback. They’re doing a lot of the work. But think about the IOT space, machine to machine, autonomous driving, and security. All of these interesting applications are really emerging through 4G, 5G and higher speed Wi-Fi. It’s creating a new experience.
If we look at what we’re doing with the young people today, the Millennials, I got three kids, they’re all face-timing. It’s just a whole new world. In a way, I think there are some real positive thematic changes that we can capitalize on once we get through this challenge with the pandemic.
5G is Delayed, But a Whole New World is Coming, Says Skyworks Solutions CEO Liam Griffin
Pony.ai has announced that it has secured $400 million in funding from Toyota to help develop its autonomous driving tech.
Pony.ai claims it is “developing the safest and most reliable autonomous driving technology globally. Having accumulated millions of kilometers in autonomous road testing in the most complex scenarios, we have a solid foundation to deliver autonomous driving systems at scale.”
The investment comes as virtually every major automaker, and numerous technology companies, are pursing autonomous driving tech. So far, Toyota has kept most of its plans under wraps, especially compared to some of its rivals.
Based in both the U.S. and China, Pony.ai’s technology is designed to meet the challenges of roads and driving conditions in vastly different and unique circumstances. A key element to that approach is the company’s Perception module.
“Our Perception module combines the strengths of a heuristic approach and deep learning models to boost performance, while ensuring the safety and operational redundancy of our vehicles,” says the company’s website. “Performance capability is further enhanced by our multi-sensor fusion technology, which intelligently leverages the most reliable sensor data depending on different environmental or driving scenarios.”
Pony.ai’s technology should go a long way toward helping Toyota meet its autonomous driving goals—whatever they may be.
“Autonomous driving is coming no matter what,” says Says SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son. “That’s the destiny of where technology is going to drive us.” He adds: “When autonomous driving comes the cost of providing the service will dramatically get more efficient. It will also dramatically reduce the rate of accidents compared to human driving accidents. I think autonomous driving will be definitely coming very very soon.”
I Definitely Believe Uber is Going to Grow Exponentially
I would like SoftBank to remain invested in Uber as long as possible. Of course, it all depends on the share price (after their IPO). Sometimes the share price goes up too high too quickly and then we have to harvest a little bit. It all depends on the market conditions. But do I believe the company is going to grow exponentially? I definitely believe so.
I’m very respectful (of our) dialogue with the new management (led by Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi). He’s very very smart and very well balanced. He can be very offensive (strategically) in increasing the business and he can also be very cost-efficient (and good with) employee morale and so on.
Travis Kalanick is a Pioneer
I respect that but at the same time, I also have to mention that I respect (Uber co-founder and former CEO) Travis (Kalanick) tremendously. He’s one of the best entrepreneurs. He is a pioneer. When you pioneer a new frontier you have to have the energy, the passion, and out-of-the-box thinking. His aggressive is one of the best. Potentially, I would love to support him in his new ventures. It all depends on the price. But I have tremendous respect for him.
Autonomous Driving is Coming No Matter What, Says SoftBank CEO
