In autonomous and self-driving vehicle news are Polestar, Mobileye, Beep, Oxa, Transurban, Plus, HUBER+SUHNER, Cyngn & Recogni.
In this Article
Polestar & Mobileye
Polestar and Mobileye (Nasdaq: MBLY and PSNY) are to collaborate to bring autonomous technology to Polestar 4 with potential for other vehicles, using the Mobileye Chauffeur™ AV platform that will be manufactured and integrated by ECARX.
The intended collaboration reflects Polestar’s mission to not only deliver world-class design and sustainability in its cars, but cutting-edge innovation as well. Mobileye Chauffeur will add an extra layer of on-demand convenience to Polestar’s performance electric vehicles that are primarily designed for driver engagement and exciting dynamics.
Polestar 4, that went on sale in China recently and globally in 2024, lays the foundation for this technology by featuring a Mobileye SuperVision™-based advanced driver assistance system from the start.
At launch, Chauffeur will offer hands-off and eyes-off, point-to-point autonomous driving on highways, as well as eyes-on automated driving for other environments, in identified operational design domains.
Thomas Ingenlath, Polestar CEO, comments: “We are very keen to push innovation in our performance electric vehicles together with Mobileye. We know that driving yourself is not always fun and exciting – this technology means our customers could enable autonomous driving when they want, making all future journeys enjoyable.”
Both SuperVision and Chauffeur feature Mobileye’s EyeQ™ systems-on-chip, RSS™-based driving policy, 360-degree surround camera system, and REM™-powered Mobileye Roadbook™ map. Chauffeur upgrades SuperVision with the newest EyeQ6 system-on-chip along with next-generation active radar and lidar sensors, providing the additional sensing layer needed for eyes-off autonomous operation – demonstrating how existing eyes-on systems build a bridge to fully autonomous driving.
“We congratulate Polestar on innovating in consumer vehicles through this program and are proud of our continuing work with the Geely Group in adopting our technology portfolio,” said Prof. Amnon Shashua, President and CEO of Mobileye. “Mobileye Chauffeur will offer consumers a safer, accessible way to enjoy autonomous vehicles as the next revolution in personal transportation. It’s the pinnacle of two decades of our experience applying AI in more than 150 million vehicles worldwide.”
More details about the integration will be released closer to production launch.
Beep & Oxa
Beep Inc., provider of autonomous shared mobility solutions, and Oxa, the autonomous vehicle software developer, announced a partnership to deploy vehicles driven by Oxa’s self-driving software product, Oxa Driver, as Beep continues to advance its testing and operations across the United States.
Marking U.K.-based Oxa’s entry into the U.S. market, the strategic partnership will see Oxa’s autonomy software installed in a variety of vehicle types operated by Beep, from current passenger shuttles to future vehicle platforms. The first initiative in the partnership is a fleet of Beep autonomous and electric shuttles driven by Oxa Driver, Oxa’s software that enables safe and energy-efficient self-driving of any vehicle type in any environment. Two of the Beep shuttles featuring Oxa software are currently operating at the recently opened SunTrax test facility in Auburndale, Florida – the first location in the U.S. specifically designed for connected autonomous vehicle and standard automotive testing in a single site. Oxa is utilizing the facility to showcase its passenger transportation solution ahead of public availability later this year.
Oxa Driver combines sensor data from cameras, lidar and radar, enabling it to gain a more comprehensive view of the world around it than vehicles that rely on cameras alone. This fused sensor technology is the first-of-its-kind deployed in a passenger shuttle in the U.S. The software uses AI to accurately sense and predict changes to the vehicle’s environment while learning from previous journeys, which is key to improving the capability of the technology over time.
“We are thrilled to be working with Beep to deploy our unique autonomy solution to enable safe, secure and efficient passenger transportation in the United States,” said Gavin Jackson, CEO at Oxa. “This marks a significant step forward for Oxa and the future of self-driving technology. Through partnering with Beep, we have the potential to drive several thousand vehicles over the coming years to make Oxa software the most widely utilized AV platform on the planet.”
“We’re delighted to partner with Oxa to bring new and enhanced electric, autonomous vehicles to market as we continue to expand our testing and our business across the United States,” said Joe Moye, CEO at Beep. “Oxa’s self-driving software, integrated with our command center and service management software, provides a safe and sophisticated autonomous solution that will enhance our passenger experience and operational capabilities, making more accessible, true autonomous use cases a near-term reality. Safe, shared autonomous transportation promises a major impact on traffic congestion, road safety and the environment, and we’re pleased to have a partner who shares these priorities and values in Oxa.”
This latest announcement follows a successful Series C funding round for Oxa, which raised more than $140 million for the business earlier this year, as well as a new strategic partnership with Google Cloud through which Oxa is leveraging a number of Google Cloud products to help develop, test, validate and verify its self-driving technology.
Transurban & Plus for Automated Freight
World-leading toll-road operator, Transurban, announced a partnership with Plus, a global Silicon Valley-based autonomous driving software company, to advance Transurban’s automated freight program and take advantage of the resources and talent in Victoria, the home of Australian innovation.
The partnership will build on the success of Transurban’s first self-driving truck trial on CityLink and the Monash Freeway last year to explore how Plus’s Level 4 autonomous driving technology, combined with smart road infrastructure, could help make trucking safer, more efficient, and more sustainable in Australia.
Countries around the world are starting to explore the benefits of self-driving trucks on public motorways. The combination of global and local expertise that enables smart roads to communicate with self-driving trucks through this partnership sets Victoria up to be an international leader in this space.
With road freight projected to grow steadily in the coming decades, self-driving trucks have the potential to transform the freight industry by moving more goods, more quickly, and more sustainably. This will also deliver positive economic and social outcomes for consumers, motorists and Governments by reducing congestion and improving road safety, while helping to address the shortage of truck drivers.
Starting in 2017, Transurban’s comprehensive CAV testing program has worked with governments and industry to roll out 11 successful trials of fully and partially automated vehicles on motorways across Australia and North America to test how they respond to road infrastructure.
Transurban’s successful 2022 trial was the first time in Australia that a highly automated self-driving truck was tested in live traffic conditions on public motorways.
The partnership between Transurban and Plus will leverage Plus’s state-of-the-art autonomous driving software and global commercial deployment experience, which includes the cooperation with IVECO, the global commercial vehicle brand of Iveco Group, to co-develop self-driving trucks for Europe. Highly automated trucks enabled by Plus’s technology are already delivering freight in the U.S. for world-class fleets and being tested on public roads in Germany with IVECO.
Plus’s autonomous driving software uses the latest advances in generative AI, machine learning, computer vision, and other state-of-the-art algorithms to empower vehicles with superhuman awareness and control. Integrated with advanced lidar, radar, and camera sensors, Plus’s software can detect and precisely track objects, predict their movement, and then safely maneuver the vehicle.
Scott Charlton, CEO of Transurban, said: “This partnership will support long-term opportunities for automated freight, including potential benefits to reduce congestion and improve road safety and traffic flow, and is a continuation of Transurban’s work in this area. Automated transport technologies are going to transform the way we move goods around cities, and with vital connections between ports and other freight hubs, our roads offer ideal conditions to facilitate this new technology.”
Tien-Ti Mak, General Manager for Strategic Innovation at Transurban, said: “Transurban roads are some of the most technologically sophisticated in the world, and we’re excited to combine our infrastructure and operational expertise with Plus’s innovative technology to bring the benefits of automated freight one step closer. The adoption of self-driving trucks in specific environments can have positive outcomes for Victoria by improving road safety, increasing productivity, reducing congestion and importantly, creating jobs for the future.”
“At Plus, we have seen first-hand through our global deployments the transformational impact that our autonomous driving solutions can have on transportation to improve safety, efficiency and sustainability,” said Shawn Kerrigan, Co-Founder and COO at Plus. “We are delighted to partner with Transurban to drive autonomous trucking development in Australia to the next level, and show the unparalleled benefits in road safety and operational efficiency delivered by a collaboration between the world’s most advanced autonomous driving software and smart infrastructure provider.”
Paul Guerra, CEO for Victorian Chamber of Commerce, said: “We congratulate Transurban on this wonderful initiative. Through driving a culture of innovation, Victoria attracts talent, investment, and businesses. Not to mention tens of billions of dollars in local industry revenue. Fostering an innovation ecosystem and supporting startups is a strategic pillar for meaningful employment and economic prosperity, as we look to ‘future-proof’ the workforce of Victoria. We recognize that this support is vital for economic growth, job creation and the productivity of the State.”
HUBER+SUHNERfor HL Klemove
HUBER+SUHNER is awarded the contract to manufacture and supply antennas in radar for autonomous driving to HL Klemove, top Korean autonomous driving solution provider.
By that, HUBER-SUHNER is successfully extending its customer landscape in this application to the Asian market after being nominated by various major European Tier 1 latest.
Autonomous driving is considered one of the forms of mobility with great future potential.
HL Klemove, top Korean autonomous driving solution provider, has nominated HUBER+SUHNER as a partner for the development and production of antennas, which are used in radar sensors for ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance System) and autonomous driving. Start of production is planned for 2024.
“Beyond the technical solution as such, we were assured by the product and process development competence as well as the capability of HUBER+SUHNER, from engineering to series production,” says Han-yeol Yu, the head of Autonomous Sensor R&D Center, HL Klemove.
One of the prerequisites for autonomous driving is the faithful mapping of the vehicle’s surroundings by means of radar. HUBER+SUHNER 3D antenna technology, based on metallised plastic, plays a decisive role in ensuring that driver assistance systems can detect the position, relative speed and direction of movement of other road users and objects from a long distance and even at high speeds with the utmost reliability.
“With this nomination by HL Klemove, HUBER+SUHNER is setting another strong example in the implementation of its strategic growth targets namely in the automotive sector in Asia and in particular in the use of 3D antenna technology,” says Drew Nixon, COO Transportation segment at HUBER+SUHNER.
Cyngn 100 Pre-Order of DriveMod Forklifts
Cyngn Inc. (the “Company” or “Cyngn”) (Nasdaq: CYN), a developer of AI-powered autonomous driving solutions for industrial applications, recently secured a pre-order of 100 DriveMod Forklifts from Arauco, a global provider of sustainable forestry products. Once deployed, this order represents up to $5 million in annual recurring EAS license revenues while addressing only a small portion of Arauco’s existing forklift fleet.
Cyngn and Arauco announced their collaboration after a successful paid project that achieved Arauco’s requirements for moving large, heavy wood bundles on unstandardized pallets; the requirements were previously unmet by existing industrial automation solutions. Arauco initially selected Cyngn for the project based on the Company’s demonstrated ability to operate many different vehicle types autonomously using its advanced DriveMod software. The project was executed successfully in collaboration with BYD, resulting in a first-of-its-kind electric autonomous BYD forklift (“DriveMod Forklift”).
DriveMod is an end-to-end autonomy system that enables the conversion of standard industrial vehicles into fully autonomous ones by utilizing Ouster’s advanced lidar sensors, other AV hardware components, and Cyngn’s software stack and AI models. DriveMod can be installed into new vehicles off the assembly line or retrofitted into existing vehicles. With advanced lidar sensing, the DriveMod platform performs at levels higher than autonomous industrial vehicles that use legacy sensor technology.
Since partnering with Ouster in January 2023 and adding the REV7 digital lidar sensor to its DriveMod platform, Cyngn has delivered products to customers and forged partnerships to manufacture electric autonomous DriveMod Stockchasers (Columbia Vehicle Group), DriveMod Tuggers (Motrec), and DriveMod Forklifts (BYD) with leading manufacturers eager to meet the growing demand for autonomous industrial vehicles.
“Cyngn is pushing the boundaries of industrial autonomy with their AI-powered DriveMod platform,” said Angus Pacala, CEO of Ouster. “By adding our high-performance REV7 sensors to the DriveMod platform, Cyngn gives eyes to its industrial vehicles, allowing them to navigate seamlessly and extract rich insights from their environment in any condition.”
Cyngn developed proprietary computer vision algorithms that are bundled into a Pallet Stack Attribute Estimation sub-system within the DriveMod perception stack. DriveMod also uses lidar to inform the location of its vehicles within the site. Fusing sensor data from lidar and other sensors, DriveMod’s advanced autonomy software enables:
- Position and pose estimation of DriveMod Forklifts within a site with centimeter-level accuracy and 6 degrees of freedom
- Detection and identification of pallet stacks
- Precise localization and orientation of pallet stacks relative to the DriveMod Forklift
- One-shot pallet stack enumeration (counts the number of pallets in a stack from a single viewing)
- Detection of edges and center of pallet pockets
“Ouster’s high-quality sensors enable the impressive performance of Cyngn’s autonomous vehicles,” said Lior Tal, CEO of Cyngn. “The vertical field-of-view the lidar provides is critical for indoor environments and gives DriveMod Vehicles more coverage of blindspots than a human operator.”
Cyngn’s DriveMod platform, supplemented by Ouster lidar and outfitted to a growing number of material handling vehicle models will continue supporting modern manufacturers around the globe by tackling labor shortage challenges, enhancing workplace safety, and improving operational efficiency.
About Cyngn
Cyngn develops and deploys scalable, differentiated autonomous vehicle technology for industrial organizations. Cyngn’s self-driving solutions allow existing workforces to increase productivity and efficiency. The Company addresses significant challenges facing industrial organizations today, such as labor shortages, costly safety incidents, and increased consumer demand for eCommerce.
Recogni Intros Pegasus
Recogni Inc. the leader in AI-based processing for autonomous vehicles, announced the availability of Pegasus, a PCIe card that allows Recogni’s Scorpio, the world’s first 1000 TOPS (Peta-Op) class inference solution for autonomous mobility, to be configured for any autonomous mobility application. When using Pegasus in conjunction with the Recogni SDK, customers are able to experience the value of Scorpio’s high compute capabilities, with low power consumption, low latency and low system cost.
“The need for autonomous capability is growing rapidly across all forms of transportation, and Recogni is committed to providing the most powerful, purpose-built solutions for autonomous mobility, regardless of use case,” said Marc Bolitho, CEO of Recogni. “Being able to easily integrate Scorpio into any autonomous mobility application with our new Pegasus PCIe card and Recogni’s SDK showcases the multiplatform flexibility, as well as the robustness and readiness of our solutions. We’re pleased to empower our customers with system architectural flexibility and fast deployment in autonomous mobility applications.”
Pegasus can process up to four 8 megapixel cameras to provide front and surround views, and uses the Recogni SDK to convert, compile, profile and deploy models. Perception output includes 3D object detection, vulnerable road user detection, lane detection, free space detection, and traffic light/sign detection. This makes Pegasus a flexible solution for a variety of autonomous mobility applications, including robotaxis, autonomous trucking, drones, autonomous delivery vehicles, and autonomous aviation.
Unlike traditional solutions that are based on legacy technology and repurposed for the monumental task of AI perception processing for autonomous mobility, Recogni’s system is purpose-built to overcome compute and power efficiency barriers specific to autonomous mobility. Using Pegasus in conjunction with the Recogni SDK proves that Recogni’s purpose-built accelerator, Scorpio, is ready to be implemented in a variety of autonomous applications. In addition, because Pegasus has a high degree of development and deployment flexibility, it allows for much faster time to market for any autonomous mobility application.
“Having been in the automotive and autonomous driving industry for decades, it became clear that autonomous capabilities would only be able to go so far when using existing technology,” said Dr. Yvonne Lutsch, Investment Principal, Bosch Ventures. “Recogni has proven that to move the industry forward, it requires purpose-built technology that is powerful, flexible, and easy to integrate. And Recogni continues to demonstrate their credibility as an autonomous technology provider.”