Silicon Valley News Update
Week Ending October 6, 2017
This week we saw some interesting developments across the Automotive ecosystem and beyond. Below are some key highlights:
- Tesla says world’s largest battery installation is halfway done. Read More
- Ford and Lyft announce partnership to bring self-driving cars to the masses. Read More
- Tesla snubbing NVIDIA, developing its own self-driving chip. Read More
- Who wins in the autonomous-car economy? Read More
- General Motors to ramp up electric vehicle plans, 20 new models planned over next 6 years. Read More
- Toyota and Mazda to create new electric car company together. Read More
- Ford creates team to ramp up electric vehicle development. Read More
- FCA loses a staggering $20,000 on every one of its all-electric cars. Read More
- Autoliv acquiring LiDAR assets of Sweden’s Fotonic i Norden AB. Read More
- Cadillac‘s Super Cruise provides a glimpse into the self-driving future today. Read More
- This new solid-state thermal vision sensor could improve self-driving tech. Read More
- Waymo built a secret world for self-driving cars. Read More
- ZF’s CEO details strategy for mobility future. Read More
- Baidu‘s Apollo project seems to gain momentum. Read More
HMP Commentary:
This week, Ford announced a new partnership with Lyft to bring self-driving cars to the ride-hailing service and its users. They will begin working together to develop software that will allow Ford’s vehicles to operate with the Lyft mobile app. Back in August 2017, Toyota announced it was acquiring a 5-percent stake in Mazda. The two companies also just signed an agreement to jointly develop basic technologies for electric vehicles under a new corporate name.
Over the last year, Tesla has been building a new autopilot technology to reinforce its in-house hardware capabilities after going through a tough divorce with Mobileye. By developing AI chips in-house, it will make Tesla less reliant on NVIDIA in the future. The automotive safety systems firm, Autoliv, has agreed to acquire some of Sweden-based firm Fotonic i Norden ’s LiDAR and time of flight camera systems technologies. The Alphabet Team is working in secret on a piece of software that may be the key to self-driving cars called Carcaft, named after the popular game World of Warcraft.
General Motors has long tried to position itself as a leader in electric vehicles and just announced it will plan to roll out up to 20 all-electric vehicles over the next six years, including two new EVs in the next 18 months. Ford Motor decided to boost development funds for new electric vehicles and to form a team to accelerate global development of electric vehicles. A new Far Infrared (FIR) sensor from Israeli company AdaSky, is the first to offer an FIR camera with built-in machine learning software for processing the results. ZF is getting ready for an autonomous future by doubling down and expanding its mechanical and safety systems. Rather than develop new technology in-house, ZF, plans to adapt its current offerings for self-driving cars, and collaborate with other Silicon Valley players to enhance its core products. Baidu is planning to begin mass producing autonomous cars by the end of 2020 with the Apollo autonomous driving program and it is expected to be soon running on roads; having an AI platform that can handle cities by December 2020.
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Links:
- https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/10/tesla-says-worlds-largest-battery-installation-is-halfway-done/
- https://futurism.com/ford-and-lyft-announce-partnership-to-bring-self-driving-cars-to-the-masses/
- https://arstechnica.com/cars/2017/09/report-tesla-snubbing-nvidia-developing-its-own-self-driving-chip/
- https://www.caranddriver.com/features/whats-the-autonomy-economy-feature
- https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/02/gm-to-ramp-up-electric-vehicle-plans-with-20-models-over-next-6-years.html
- http://www.express.co.uk/life-style/cars/861833/Toyota-Mazda-electric-car-partnership
- https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/02/ford-creates-team-to-ramp-up-electric-vehicle-development.html
- http://www.businessinsider.com/fca-loses-20000-on-every-one-electric-car-2017-10
- https://cleantechnica.com/2017/09/30/autoliv-acquiring-lidar-assets-swedens-fotonic-norden-ab/
- http://www.motorauthority.com/news/1113010_cadillacs-super-cruise-provides-a-glimpse-into-the-self-driving-future-today
- https://techcrunch.com/2017/09/11/this-new-solid-state-thermal-vision-sensor-could-improve-self-driving-tech/?ncid=rss
- https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/08/inside-waymos-secret-testing-and-simulation-facilities/537648/?utm_source=feed
- http://www.autonews.com/article/20170929/MOBILITY/170929747/zf-ceo-details-strategy-for-mobility-future
- http://www.globalconstructionreview.com/perspectives/china-launch-fully-autonomous-car-2020/