Over the past several decades, Detroit-based automakers have rightly been accused of regularly burying their heads in the sand and ignoring changes in the marketplace that would upend their business. The latest announcement from General Motors (GM)…
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AVs Are Fully into the Trough of Disillusionment, but There Is a Light Ahead
It was a landmark year in the development of automated driving systems in 2018, but not necessarily in the way that many advocates of the technology had been hoping. The number of pilot deployments of automated vehicles (AVs) increased and several…
In-Vehicle Monitoring Will Serve Many Uses in Automated Vehicles
Any parent that has shuttled children to school, extracurricular activities, and play dates understands that in addition to driving they must also monitor what is happening inside the vehicle. As the age of the self-driving vehicle approaches, the…
The Challenge of Making Machines See
At the Frankfurt Motor Show this September, BMW displayed a one-off version of its new X6 SUV coated in a special paint called Vantablack from UK-based Surrey NanoSystems. This paint absorbs more than 99.965% of visible light that strikes it, making…
High Performance Computing Comes to the Road
Over the past 14 years, Tesla has arguably had a bigger influence on the way vehicles are designed than any automaker since the early days of Ford and Cadillac in the early 20th century. Much of that influence is finally coming to fruition in 2020…
Subscription Fatigue Is Coming to Your Car
Be careful what you ask for, you just might get it. For almost 8 years, Tesla customers have crowed about getting over-the-air (OTA) software updates that add new functionality or fix bugs in their vehicles while they sleep. For nearly as long,…
Market Shifts and New Emissions Test Causing Shift to Plug-In Hybrids
The lingering aftermath of the Volkswagen (VW) diesel emissions scandal is triggering a cascade of changes in the product plans of automakers globally. While a shift away from diesel engines was expected, in the last 6 months the emerging 48 V mild…
Ford's Big Management Shuffle Is About Changing Perceptions
It is often harder to be a century-old company with a record of profitability than it is to be a young one with potential. This sums up the difference between legacy automakers like Ford and Tesla. With only two profitable quarters in its 14-year…
Developer Conferences Can Help to Advance the State of the Art in Automated Driving
As both software and computer platforms have become more capable over the past few decades, developers have been able to build amazing products around them, including automotive platforms. The increasing complexity of these systems, however, means it…
Car? Truck? SUV? Who Knows? Who Cares?
It used to be easy to distinguish a car and a truck. Until the 1970s, there were far fewer vehicle types than there are today. Truck buyers usually made their purchases because they needed the capability, and pretty much everyone else bought cars.…