Electrical, Electronics, and Avionics
Level 4 (High driving automation)

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News
Unmanned Systems

Taking ‘Eyes-Off’ the ADAS Future

So-called “hands-off” driver-assistance systems are now ubiquitous enough that they scarcely merit particular attention — or explanation. They’re no longer exclusive to luxury brands,...

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News
Software

Nodar's GridDetect: Look, Ma, No Lidar!

The streets of Munich look different when seen through a Nodar point cloud created by a set of stereo cameras. Nodar’s Hammerhead technology uses two standard, automotive-grade CMOS cameras...

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Articles
Software

The ‘Framework’ for AV Development

Over the last 100 years, the transportation industry has been developed primarily around human operators. For example, roadway signs were designed to be easily seen, read and interpreted by humans....

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Articles
Unmanned Systems

AV Simulation Testing Faces a Long and Winding Road

Right now, millions of virtual vehicles are driving millions of virtual miles. Their long-term digital mission is to make high-level vehicle automation a reality. Settling on the best...

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News
Manned Systems

Volkswagen Plants Autonomous-Testing Flag in Austin

Volkswagen Group of America announced on July 6 that it would launch an autonomous test fleet of ID.Buzz EVs in Austin, Texas. The company said that the three-year program would...

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Articles
Power

Kodiak Targets Class 8 Electric Truck for Autonomous System

Kodiak Robotics introduced what it claims is an industry-first at the 2023 Advanced Clean Transportation (ACT) Expo: an autonomous Class 8 truck that is fully electric. Kodiak...

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News
Manned Systems

WCX 2023: Can You Drive like SAE J3300

A valid driver’s license from any country put attendees in the driver’s seat at SAE WCX 2023, allowing them to test their driving skills using SAE J3300, the driving skills standard used to...

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News
Manufacturing & Prototyping

Spelling Ford with an ‘E’

One year ago, Ford Motor Co. kicked off a new era in its long history when it bifurcated into two strategically interdependent auto businesses. Ford Blue, the “traditional” business, is responsible for...

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Articles
Data Acquisition

Toyota’s Advanced R&D Puts Humans First

Gill Pratt has a gift for explaining complex topics in simple terms. And as Toyota Motor Co.’s chief scientist and CEO of the Toyota Research Institute (TRI), he also speaks frankly about the...

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News
Unmanned Systems

Autonomous Trucking Hits Rocky Road

Within a four-week stretch – from roughly mid-February to mid-March – a steady stream of autonomous-trucking news hit. A quick summary: As several startups in the autonomous-truck development...

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Articles
Test & Measurement

The Road to Zero Prototypes

The concept of designing, engineering and manufacturing a new vehicle without physical prototypes is typically viewed as either impractical or mythical. Even as virtual development processes have become...

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Articles
Unmanned Systems

Tesla’s FSD Recall Impacts AV Industry

On February 16, 2023, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced that Tesla had voluntarily agreed to recall 362,758 Model S, Model X, Model 3 and Model Y vehicles – the...

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Road Ready
Energy

Volvo’s Electric High-Wire Act

Under a circus-size tent in downtown Stockholm, Volvo recently introduced its new high-wire act — one with its share of nail-biting risk.

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Supplier Eye
Manned Systems

CASE Struggles to Fulfil Expectations

The saying ‘Two steps forward, one step back’ describes the overall progress of CASE — Connected, Autonomous, Shared and Electrified vehicles and infrastructures. While electrification and...

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News
Unmanned Systems

Volvo Engineers Luminar Lidar into 2024 EX90

Consumer skepticism over autonomous vehicles is running rampant, thanks largely to Tesla’s broken-record promises to make “Full Self Driving” a reality — along with high-profile...

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News
Manned Systems

AV Life After Argo AI

The recent shuttering of Argo AI, one of the autonomous-vehicle industry’s leading tech companies, by Ford and Volkswagen might come as a surprise to commuters in San Francisco and in Phoenix, Arizona. Those who...

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News
Unmanned Systems

Steering Toward Full Vehicle Autonomy

The vision of fully autonomous vehicles (SAE Levels 4 and 5) is fast approaching. Making this vision a reality requires automotive OEMs to move beyond the current levels of vehicle autonomy to...

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News
Energy

Hopeful but Closer Scrutiny for SAE Level 4 Automation

As the auto industry and its suppliers, along with technology developers and startups, recalibrate for what appears to be a new and more pragmatic phase of automated-driving...

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News
Manned Systems

Autonomous Transit Bus Nears Its First Year of Operation

Since May 2022, Michigan State University students, faculty and staff have been able to ride within campus boundaries on an autonomous electric bus, one of the largest...

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Editorial
Manned Systems

Platooning Still Promising for Trucking

There is “no business case” for platooning, or the electronic coupling of two or more trucks in close formation. That was the assessment of Daimler Trucks in 2019 when it decided to pause its...

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Technical Innovation
Manned Systems

Peterbilt, Aurora Reveal SAE Level 4 Autonomous Truck

Peterbilt and Aurora have unveiled an autonomous-capable truck at CES 2022 in Las Vegas. The autonomous drive system, dubbed Aurora Driver, is making its commercial truck debut in a...

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News
Connectivity

Data Drives Driverless Truck Launch

Transforming raw data into high-quality structured data is a critical path to properly fueling machine-learning (ML) models and deploying artificial-intelligence (AI) applications across autonomous...

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News
Software

Sony Jumps into AV Sensors, Software

The growing prominence of sensor-based driving systems is creating opportunities for electronics companies to enter the auto industry. After years of speculation about Apple launching an electric...

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Articles
Manned Systems

Making the Strategic Move into AV Testing

Traditional powertrain testing can be full of challenges. But it doesn’t compare to the often-bizarre edge cases that confront those testing automated-vehicle systems. Just ask Tom Tasky. He...

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News
Regulations/Standards

C-2VX Is Finally Gaining Momentum in the U.S.

Vehicle to everything (V2X) communications has had a rough go in North America. After more than a decade of development on the Wi-Fi-based dedicated short-range communications (DSRC)...

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Articles
RF & Microwave Electronics

The ‘Buzz’ in Driverless Shuttling

Promising the future “digital driver will be even safer than the human driver,” Christian Senger, divisional director at Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles (VWCV), announced in mid-May that his...

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Technical Innovation
Sensors/Data Acquisition

WCX 2021: Top Engineers Talk Industry Transformation

Despite more than a year of COVID-19, lockdown, component shortages and uncertainties, the outlook for mobility engineering hasn’t shifted too dramatically during the global...

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News
Manned Systems

Making Safety Standard

I’m not sure who claims to have coined the often-repeated phrase, “Safety comes standard.” But that tagline came to mind as authorities in Texas and officials with the National Transportation Safety Board...

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Articles
Power

Hau Thai-Tang Is Engineering a New Ford

Security at Ford’s Dearborn Proving Ground was tight on a frigid January day when we arrived for SAE’s interview with Hau Thai-Tang. The gate guards were armed with infrared thermometers, and...

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