Driverless

• [New] Motional plans eventually to put fully driverless vehicles on public roads, as well as launch a multimarket service with Lyft in major U.S. cities in 2023.
• [New] Kroger will open its automated fulfillment centers in 2021, FreshDirect built out an automated fulfillment facility in D.C. using Fabric's technology, while Walmart started testing grocery delivery via autonomous vehicles.
• [New] After years of development and testing Walmart will be using fully autonomous box delivery trucks to make deliveries in Arkansas starting in 2021.
• [New] Figures from Statista suggest that automation in the global mining industry will be a $4m industry by 2026, and developments such as the use of 32 220-tonne autonomous vehicles at China's Xiwan coal mine suggest that the mining industry is prime for a significant expansion of autonomous technology.
• Several outlets are reporting that the focus for automotive companies, at least in the consumer sector, will be more on electric vehicles than autonomous vehicles at CES 2021.
• Hyundai Motor Group will apply Level 3 autonomous driving technology to mass production models in 2022 and push for commercialization projects for autonomous driving technologies such as robotaxi services in 2023.
• The driverless trains will be fully automated, which will eliminate the possibility of human error and after the start of driverless services on the Magenta Line (Janakpuri West-Botanical Garden), the Pink Line of Delhi Metro is expected to have driverless operations by mid-2021.
• After starting driverless services on the 37 kilometre long Magenta Line, another major corridor of the Delhi Metro, the 57 kilometre long Pink Line will also have driverless operations by the mid-2021.
• The central government has reaffirmed a goal to adopt highly autonomous cars on a massive scale by 2025 in its finalized blueprint (in Chinese) for intelligent and electric vehicles released late October.
• AFRL is running a separate project, dubbed R2-D2, to develop an autonomous drone using AI-driven systems that is expected to square off against a human pilot in a fighter jet by 2024.
• Velodyne Lidar has announced plans to bring LiDAR sensors for driverless cars into mass production in 2021 - with a target price of USD $500 and a feature list and form factor that will appeal to self-driving car original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) around the world.
• Motional, a driverless technology developer, and Lyft last week announced plans to launch a multimarket robotaxi service in major U.S. cities, beginning in 2023.
• Motional, a global leader in driverless technology, and Lyft announced plans to launch a multimarket robotaxi service in major US cities, beginning in 2023.
• Magna International expects strong growth for driver assistance systems and believes that fully autonomous cars will become a reality if controlled settings by 2025.
• Within the next 5-10 years, 90% of US cars are expected to be replaced by self-driving cars with 1-3 levels of autonomous driving functionality, and the amount of data generated is expected to increase further.
• In regard to the big picture out of Detroit, the Hummer is expected to be the first vehicle to showcase GM's next-generation electric vehicle platform and batteries under the $20 B plan to shift to electric and autonomous vehicles through 2025.
• FO packaging is expected to gain wider adoption as 5G, AI, and autonomous driving take flight in the coming years - and revenue stemming from FO packaging is expected to reach $2 B - $2.5 B by 2025.
• Tesla chief Elon Musk has saidhe expects his company to create a truly complete autonomous vehicle by 2020, and the number of vehicles capable of operating with a lesser degree of autonomy - such as automated braking and lane-changing - will become an increasingly common sight.
• Tesla chief Elon Musk has said he expects his company to create a truly complete autonomous vehicle by 2020, such as autonomous braking system and autonomous lane-changing - will become an very common sight.
• By 2030, experts expect further breakthroughs in areas such as healthcare analytics, autonomous vehicles, and intelligent tutoring systems.
• The global market for autonomous vehicles will be worth $556.67 billion by 2026 and the smart transportation market is projected to surpass $130 billion by 2024.
• The demand for autonomous vehicles on a global basis in 2020 is projected at 6.7 thousand units.

Last updated: 17 January 2021