Weekly Connected and Autonomous Vehicle News

Connected and Autonomous Vehicles:

🙂 Waymo Expands its Robotaxi Service Across Silicon Valley. “The Waymo vehicles will be available around-the-clock, and the new territories add to the 55 square miles of coverage already offered in the San Francisco Bay Area, the company said Tuesday.”

👍 Entropy Robotics Works With SRI to Advance Autonomous Navigation in Challenging Environments. As part of the collaboration, Entropy Robotics will receive intellectual property from SRI‘s visual navigation suite, enabling autonomous navigation in austere and GPS-denied environments.

🚘 Japan’s Nissan Tests Driverless Vehicles in City Streets Filled With Cars and People. “The driverless technology from Nissan Motor Corp., which uses 14 cameras, nine radars and six lidar sensors installed in and around the vehicle, highlights Japan’s eagerness to catch up with players like Google’s GOOG -2.55%↓ Waymo that have taken the lead in the U.S. Waymo is going to land in Japan this year. Details haven’t been disclosed, but it has a partnership with major cab company Nihon Kotsu, which will oversee and manage their all-electric Jaguar I-PACE sport-utility vehicles, first in the Tokyo area, still with a human cab driver riding along.”

🥇1.5 Million Kia Connect Users and Counting. “In 2019, still known under the name UVO Connect, roughly 32,500 users were registered for the service. Over the years, Kia Connect has experienced exponential growth – more than tripling its user base between 2021 and 2024 with an increase of 32 percent just between 2023 and 2024.”

🤷‍♂️ Pony.ai CEO on Tesla’s Robotaxis: ‘We Haven’t Seen Their Large Scale Testing Yet.’ “The co-founder and CEO of Pony.ai refused to be drawn on whether he thinks Tesla TSLA -5.33%↓ will launch its robotaxi service this year.”

🚗 NTT Data’s Transatel teams with Toyota for connected cars in LATAM. “NTT Data announced that its global cellular connectivity subsidiary Transatel has formed a partnership with Toyota Motor Corp. to support the carmaker’s deployment of connected vehicle services in Latin America. Under the partnership deal, Transatel multi-network (e)SIM cards are now integrated into Toyota vehicles produced for the LATAM market.”