Google Maps now lets you search for food, gas, and more along your navigation route

Google tends to bring new tricks to Android first, well, because it can.

Source: www.pcworld.com

The car, via Android Auto (which does not mean Android in the car itself) is attractive to buyers of new cars. Using the conventional automotive model this modest innovation may take 12-18 months to reach the market. The next wave of car buyers will not be willing to wait, and may opt for car sharing, even Uber to get around. 

ADAS kit accelerates development of surround view applications – New Electronics

Renesas Electronics has announced the ADAS Surround View Kit. An extension of the ADAS Starter Kit, the Surround View Kit is said to simplify and accelerate the development of surround view applications when combined with the Starter Kit.

Source: www.newelectronics.co.uk

Pretty amazing what you can do with low cost Linux and some auto grade cameras. Makes you wonder why all cars don’t have surround view – they will.

Autonomous driving features make e-cars cheaper, study finds

plug-in vehicles can save up to $1,800 in battery costs if they are equipped with self-driving functions.

Source: www.automotive-eetimes.com

Interesting predictions, autonomous plugins seem to be symbiotic, increasing driving range as well as offsetting increased battery size for safety and redundancy. If this works out for Tesla, they actually have over $4K in new revenue when they sell the autopilot feature, $2500 price plus $1800 cost reduction minus $350 extra battery. Does that make sense?

The Making of Renesas Skyline Fleet

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Watch this short summary of the effort taken by Renesas to create a development platform for autonomous driving

Source: vimeo.com

This is the beginning of a lengthy path to autonomous driving, and a giant leap by Renesas to accelerate it.

Driverless cars will learn from their mistakes

How Danny Shapiro, are sceptical: “The connectivity is something I’m not sure I’d like to rely on for any kind of collisions avoidance system,”

Source: www.pcauthority.com.au

How many of your friends own an Audi? It seems the mass quantity of cars need to be part of this, not just the premium segment. Also, will they learn from their mistakes on the road or on a closed track? I prefer field testing.

Tesla Adds High-Speed Autonomous Driving to Its Bag of Tricks

first time they will be unleashed for driving 70 miles per hour along twisty, though clearly marked, highways for long stretches. (Other manufacturers like Volvo and Mercedes-Benz recently introduced their own semiautonomous features, but limit the functions to lower speeds

Source: www.nytimes.com

I guess this is called Level 2 autonomous, a big leap to level 3 and then level 4, but impressive that Tesla has trumped the European teams. Like soccer, they will not like this to have the Americans winning so expect a fast comeback in the media. This is global capitalism at work.

Elon, Take the Wheel! We Test Tesla’s New Autopilot Feature

Tesla’s Autopilot ventures beyond the Mercedes-Benz S-class Intelligent Drive in three areas: it will control your direction of travel for miles on end versus the Benz’s 11 seconds, with no hand contact on the steering wheel; it executes lane changes on command; and it provides automatic parallel parking when conditions permit.

Source: blog.caranddriver.com

If Apple ever builds a real car, it will be a Tesla. My friend has one, I hope he gets the update to autopilot OTA.