Company / division: Carmakers
Building Ford’s Next-Generation Autonomous Development Vehicle – Medium (Dec 27, 2016)
Many of the major auto manufacturers are underway with their own testing of increasingly autonomous vehicles, though they’re still a long way from production – Ford has said it intends to provide such vehicles in 2021 for ride-sharing/hailing services. But this is an increasingly crowded space and one of the biggest questions is which manufacturers will make their own versus licensing technology from Alphabet’s Waymo or others.
via Building Ford’s Next-Generation Autonomous Development Vehicle – Medium
Two top Faraday Future executives just resigned – The Verge (Dec 23, 2016)
It’s hard to avoid the sense at this point that this company is in enormous trouble, along with its investor LeEco, both of which seem to have overspent in an aggressive pursuit of new product and geographic markets.
via Two top Faraday Future executives just resigned – The Verge
Behind the scenes at Faraday Future, an electric carmaker on the brink of collapse – The Verge (Dec 22, 2016)
A pretty damning take on Faraday Future and its current financial situation, ahead of a big launch at CES early next month. It’s hard to avoid the sense that both Faraday Future and its largest investor LeEco are struggling with the results of over-ambitious expansion plans.
via Behind the scenes at Faraday Future, an electric carmaker on the brink of collapse – The Verge
Honda, Alphabet’s Waymo in talks over self-driving technology | Reuters (Dec 22, 2016)
Google (now Waymo) partnered with Fiat Chrysler some time ago to use Chrysler Pacifica minivans for testing autonomous technology. This second partnership suggests some momentum, though it’s not yet clear how this fits in with Honda’s in-house autonomous R&D efforts.
via Honda, Alphabet’s Waymo in talks over self-driving technology | Reuters
The Tesla Advantage: 1.3 Billion Miles of Data – Bloomberg (Dec 20, 2016)
This is a huge oversimplification – Tesla’s cars aren’t entirely autonomous, and mostly use their limited autonomy on highways, whereas truly autonomous vehicles need to learn how to drive in far more complex urban environments. But having production cars actively using the technology certainly helps Tesla.
via The Tesla Advantage: 1.3 Billion Miles of Data – Bloomberg
Master Plan, Part Deux | Tesla (Jul 20, 2016)
This is Tesla’s four-part new master plan for the next few years: “Create stunning solar roofs with seamlessly integrated battery storage; Expand the electric vehicle product line to address all major segments; Develop a self-driving capability that is 10X safer than manual via massive fleet learning; Enable your car to make money for you when you aren’t using it.” Autonomy and sharing – the last two bullets – are the key ones from a broader tech perspective, and this is the first hint we’ve had that Tesla will participate in sharing, though its vision is more aligned to the future vision of the Ubers and Lifts of the world than their current business model – autonomy + sharing. Given how effective Musk and Tesla have been at achieving the broad strokes of the first “master plan”, they seem likely to succeed again, and there are few concrete timelines here to miss.
via Master Plan, Part Deux | Tesla