by Grace Dawes | Nov 20, 2023 | Autos, Fleets, Popular, Smart Cities, Tech & Data |
Kyle Vogt has announced on X (formerly Twitter) that he has decided to step down as the Chief Executive Officer of Cruise following backlash and halted operations over a recent hit-and-run accident involving a Cruise autonomous vehicle (AV).
The accident occurred in San Francisco in early October where a pedestrian was hit by a human-driven car and then proceeded to be run over and dragged for 20 feet by a Cruise self-driving vehicle supposedly as a result of the AVs poor AI judgement. The accident led to the California Department of Motor Vehicles to revoke permits of the company’s AV deployment, a mass amount of scrutiny from the public, and eventually a pause on all Cruise AV operations.
San Francisco became the first US city this year to allow driverless taxis to transport passengers without the supervision of humans behind the wheel, as known as Level 4 AVs.
Vogt wrote on X that the “last 10 years have been amazing […] Cruise is still just getting started, and I believe it has a great future ahead,” adding that he is planning to spend time with his family and “explore some new ideas”.
There has been no officially named successor of the Chief Executive position, but Cruise have announced that its executive VP of engineering, Mo Elshenawy, would immediately assume the role as president and chief technology officer alongside Craig Glidden, who will serve as co-president as well as continuing in the role of chief administrative officer for the foreseeable future.
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by Grace Dawes | Nov 14, 2023 | Autos, Business, Energy & Charging, Events, Fleets, Infrastructure, Interviews, MOVE America, Popular, Smart Cities, Smart Cities, Tech, Tech & Data, Video, Videos |
Jason JonMichael a senior strategist at the United States Department of Transport (USDOT) discussed how AI and automated systems are impacting the way Americans get around.
As a member of the Highly Automated Safety Systems Centre of Excellence (HASS COE) JonMichael explained how his team have a duty to help USDOT by reviewing, assessing, and validating the safety of autonomous systems and AI in transportation. JonMichael stressed that this applies not only in ground autonomy and advanced air mobility but also across national rail systems and ports.
HASS COE was established by congress to focus on automation systems and investigate their intermodal and multimodal implications, to help augment each USDOT Operating Administration’s own expertise and enable success in assessing, predicting, and verifying the safety of relevant emerging technology.
JonMichael also commented on the amount of funding that the Biden-Harris administration has recently provided to US transport systems and stated that it is “the shotgun start” US transport infrastructure needs.
Watch the full interview to hear more about how US transport is adopting and adapting to ever-developing technology and if we should be happy with this.
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by Grace Dawes | Nov 10, 2023 | Autos, Energy & Charging, Fleets, Popular, Smart Cities, Tech & Data |
BMW have announced that Level 3 automated driving, which allows drivers to take their hands off the steering wheel and temporarily divert their attention away from the road, will soon be available in the new BMW 7 Series as of next spring.
Designed to assume the entire task of driving, the automated driving function will be offered exclusively in Germany priced at €6,000.
This means that German driver will be legally allowed to use this autonomous vehicle system on German roads in 2024.
BMW Personal Pilot L3 is the name of the new self-driving function which will enable the driver to go fully autonomous and remove their hands from the wheel in certain situations.
This new function can be ordered for the new BMW 7 Series (excluding the i7 eDrive50 and i7 M70 xDrive) from December to be fitted in vehicles from next March.
The technology allows drivers to redirect their focus to other in-vehicle activities when travelling at up to 60 km/h (37 mph) on motorways with structurally separated carriageways.
The announcement of this function will make BMW Group the first carmaker to offer both Level 2 driving function where the hands can be taken off the steering wheel and a Level 3 system.
The crucial difference between Level 2 and Level 3 is that with Level 2 (partially automated driving) responsibility continues to lie with the driver at all times. Whenever the BMW Highway Assistant is in use, drivers must watch what is happening on the road and be able to take over the task of driving again at all times.
The BMW Personal Pilot L3 for Level 3 highly automated driving in the BMW 7 Series gives drivers the option of concentrating on secondary in-vehicle activities away from what is happening on the road.
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