Valley's Autonomous Vehicle Tech Firm Velodyne Lidar Announces 3-Year Sales Agreement with Baidu

Velodyne Lidar, Inc. (Nasdaq: VLDR) today announced a three-year sales agreement with Baidu for its Alpha Prime™ lidar sensors. The Alpha Prime sensors will be utilized for autonomous applications. Velodyne's low-cost, high-scale manufacturing delivers attractive pricing for Baidu and its Apollo partners

Baidu and Baidu’s Apollo program, an open-source autonomous vehicle software platform, selected the Alpha Prime for its range, resolution and field of view that collectively address the high-performance requirements for autonomous vehicles. Quality 3D lidar vision is a critical component for autonomous vehicles to accurately perceive the environment.

The Alpha Prime sensor produces millions of data points per second, enabling precise, reliable navigation in real time to detect objects, vehicles and people that might pose a collision threat. The Alpha Prime can help autonomous vehicles navigate roadways at various speeds, traveling in a range of road conditions such as rain, sleet and snow. This powerful lidar will enhance the vehicle capabilities.

Baidu has been a strategic investor in Velodyne since 2016. Baidu and Velodyne share a strong commitment to advancing autonomy and safety on roadways.

“In fulfilling our intelligent driving mission, Baidu works with innovation leaders like Velodyne to bring a safe, efficient autonomous driving experience to everyone,” said Yaoming Shen, Sr. Optical Engineer, Baidu.

“Velodyne greatly values our relationship with Baidu, a strategic business partner and investor, and we are deeply committed to our combined work in the Chinese market,” said Wei Weng, Executive Director of Asia, Velodyne Lidar. “They are a trailblazer of intelligent driving technology and deployment, and their accomplishments and influence span global markets. Alpha Prime provides safe, efficient navigation for autonomous vehicles.”

Velodyne’s Alpha Prime is a next generation lidar sensor that utilizes Velodyne’s patented 360-degree surround view perception technology to support autonomous mobility. A result of over ten years of lidar development and learning, the Alpha Prime supports autonomous operation across a broad range of road settings, including urban and highway environments. Velodyne has multiple manufacturing sources available, including in the United States, Japan and Thailand, to produce high-quality sensors at scale to address customer needs.

Velodyne Lidar (NASDAQ: VLDR) ushered in a new era of autonomous technology with the invention of real-time surround view lidar sensors. Velodyne is the first public pure-play lidar company and is known worldwide for its broad portfolio of breakthrough lidar technologies. Velodyne’s revolutionary sensor and software solutions provide flexibility, quality and performance to meet the needs of a wide range of industries, including autonomous vehicles, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), robotics, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), smart cities and security. Through continuous innovation, Velodyne strives to transform lives and communities by advancing safer mobility for all. For more information, visit www.velodynelidar.com.

Amazon Acquires Autonomous Ride-hailing Start-up Zoox for ~$1.2 Billion

Amazon has signed an agreement to acquire Zoox, a California-based company working to design autonomous ride-hailing vehicles from the ground up. Aicha Evans, Zoox CEO, and Jesse Levinson, Zoox co-founder and CTO, will continue to lead the team as they innovate and drive towards their mission.

Though no official financial details were revealed but according to media reports including NYTimes.com, Amazon has reportedly shelled out about $1.2 billion US dollars to buy the six-year-old self-driving vehicle technology startup.

Founded in 2014, Zoox is autonomous vehicle company targeted at robo-taxi market by developing a fully autonomous, purpose-built fleet designed for Artificial Intelligence (AI) to drive and humans to enjoy.\

Tesla CEO Elon Musk reacted to the Amazon's acquisition news Musk by taking a jab at Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on Twitter. In his tweet, Musk called Amazon CEO a copycat but used a yellow cat icon instead of the word "cat."

.@JeffBezos is a copy 🐈 haha https://t.co/plR7uupqBG

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 26, 2020

Notably, while Tesla cars are built to go directly to customers Zoox's vehicles are designed for ride-hailing purpose and Amazon will more likely use Zoox for its package delivery process.

"This acquisition solidifies Zoox's impact on the autonomous driving industry," said Aicha Evans, CEO of Zoox. "We have made great strides with our purpose-built approach to safe, autonomous mobility, and our exceptionally talented team working every day to realize that vision. We now have an even greater opportunity to realize a fully autonomous future."

"Since Zoox's inception six years ago, we have been singularly focused on our ground-up approach to autonomous mobility," said Jesse Levinson, Zoox co-founder and CTO. "Amazon's support will markedly accelerate our path to delivering safe, clean, and enjoyable transportation to the world."

Zoox's ground-up vehicle focuses on the ride-hailing customer, with tightly integrated features designed to provide a revolutionary passenger experience. Zoox's approach to invention provides flexibility and the means to iterate rapidly to continuously deliver a superior experience for customers.

Tesla says its Cars Automatically Stop for Traffic Lights

After testing on public roads, Tesla is rolling out a new feature of its partially automated driving system designed to spot stop signs and traffic signals.

The update of the electric car company's cruise control and auto-steer systems is a step toward CEO Elon Musk's pledge to convert cars to fully self-driving vehicles later this year.

But it also runs contrary to recommendations from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board that include limiting where Tesla's Autopilot driving system can operate because it has failed to spot and react to hazards in at least three fatal crashes.

[caption id="attachment_144778" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Traffic Aware Cruise Control – Traffic-Aware Cruise Control maintains the car’s speed in relation to surrounding traffic.[/caption]

In a note sent to a group of Tesla owners who were picked to test the stop light and sign recognition feature, the company said it can be used with the Traffic Aware Cruise Control or Autosteer systems.

The feature will slow the car whenever it detects a traffic light, including those that are green or blinking yellow. It will notify the driver of its intent to slow down and stop, and drivers must push down the gear selector and press the accelerator pedal to confirm that it's safe to proceed.

The company warns in the note obtained by The Associated Press that drivers must pay attention and be ready to take immediate action “including braking because this feature may not stop for all traffic controls.”

The note says that over time, as the system learns from the fleet on the roads, it “will control more naturally.” Tesla didn't respond to multiple requests for additional details, but the website Electrek.co reported last week that the new feature is being sent to the wider Tesla fleet as part of an over-the-Internet software update for thousands of vehicles. The feature won't come until later in other parts of the world, the website said.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the US government's road safety agency, said in a prepared statement Monday that the agency “will closely monitor the performance of this technology,” adding that drivers must be ready to act and law enforcement agencies will hold them responsible.

Jason Levine, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety, a nonprofit watchdog group, said Tesla is using the feature to sell cars and get media attention, even though it might not work. “Unfortunately, we'll find out the hard way,” he said.

Whenever one of its vehicles using Autopilot is involved in a crash, Tesla points to “legalese” warning drivers that they have to pay attention, Levine said. But he said Tesla drivers have a history over-relying on the company's electronics.

"Tesla's sensors have routinely demonstrated an inability to be accurate at a level that is comforting when imagining people being reliant upon it when approaching a stoplight at full speed,” Levine said.

The NTSB has ruled in three fatal crashes that Tesla's Autopilot system was partly to blame, and it has expressed frustration with NHTSA for failing to act on the board's recommendations. Last month the board, which has no regulatory powers, took the unusual step of accusing NHTSA of contributing to the cause of a March 2019 Tesla crash in Florida.

The March 1, 2019, crash in Delray Beach, Florida, killed the 50-year-old driver of a Tesla Model 3. The car was traveling 69 miles per hour (111 kilometers per hour) when neither the driver nor the Autopilot system braked or tried to avoid a tractor-trailer that was crossing in its path. The car struck the trailer, which sheared off the Tesla's roof. The report also blamed the truck and the Tesla driver in the crash.

NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt said in March that the crash was the third “where a driver's overreliance on Tesla's Autopilot and the operational design of Tesla's Autopilot have led to tragic consequences.” NHTSA said it will review the NTSB's report.

The Delray Beach crash was remarkably similar to one in 2016 in Williston, Florida, which also killed a Tesla driver. In that crash neither Autopilot nor the driver stopped for a crossing tractor-trailer.

Tesla maintains that its vehicles operating on Autopilot are about twice as safe as those in which the system isn't engaged. The company says in the fourth quarter, drivers using Autopilot had one crash for every 3.07 million miles driven.

~ With Inputs from PTI

Chinese Automobile Firm to Launch 500 Satellites A Year to Guide Its Autonomous Cars

Early last month, Chinese automobile firm Geely has announced that it is constructing an intelligent satellite production and testing centre in Taizhou City for satellite guided navigation of its autonomous cars.

By the end of 2020, Geespace, which is the Geely operating company established in 2018 for the development, launch, and operation of low-orbit satellites, will begin the launch of its commercial low-orbit satellite network.

[caption id="attachment_144196" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Geely Satellite Production and Testing Centre[/caption]

Headquartered in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, Geely aims to produce 500 satellites a year by around 2025, with around 300 highly-skilled staff.

The upcoming cutting-edge facility, for which Geely Holding Group is investing 2.27 billion yuan ($326 million), will include a modular satellite manufacturing centre, satellite testing centre, satellite R&D centre, and cloud computing centre.

The facility, established under Geely Holding Group’s tech subsidiary, Geely Technology Group, will be able to develop and produce a variety of different satellite models and marks the first time a private enterprise has begun to produce satellites in China.

Geely’s expansion into low-orbit satellites marks a significant milestone in the creation of a truly smart three-dimensional mobility ecosystem. Low-orbit satellites will be able to offer high speed internet connectivity, highly precise navigation, and cloud computing capabilities.

[caption id="attachment_144195" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] High Precision GPS[/caption]

This low-orbit satellite network will offer much higher centimeter accurate precision for autonomous vehicles such as lane change and accident avoidance via precise GPS location data usable by vehicles on roads or in the air.

These low-orbit satellites are designed to have a limited lifespan ranging between one to ten years and to naturally disintegrate into earth’s atmosphere at the end of their lifecycle.

New Consortium to Develop a Common Computing Platform for Autonomous Vehicles

Leading companies from the automotive and computing industries announced at last week a collaborative effort toward making fully self-driving vehicles a reality. The new Autonomous Vehicle Computing Consortium (AVCC), officially launched at Arm TechCon in San Jose, brings together industry leaders from automotive, automotive supply, semiconductor and computing to serve as the leading organization for autonomous computing expertise.

• A group of leading automotive and technology industry companies including a, Bosch, Continental, DENSO, General Motors, NVIDIA, NXP Semiconductors and Toyota have joined forces to help accelerate the delivery of safer and affordable autonomous vehicles at scale.


• Autonomous Vehicle Computing Consortium (AVCC) commits to making fully self-driving vehicles a reality through industry-level collaboration.


• The AVCC will start its work by developing a set of recommendations of a system architecture and a computing platform to promote scalable deployment of automated and autonomous vehicles.

Leading companies from the automotive and computing industries announced at last week a collaborative effort toward making fully self-driving vehicles a reality. The new Autonomous Vehicle Computing Consortium (AVCC), officially launched at Arm TechCon in San Jose, brings together industry leaders from automotive, automotive supply, semiconductor and computing to serve as the leading organization for autonomous computing expertise. Together with the consortium’s growing membership, the initial AVCC members Arm, Bosch, Continental, DENSO, General Motors, NVIDIA, NXP Semiconductors and Toyota will collaborate to help solve some of the most significant challenges to deploy self-driving vehicles at scale.

The first step toward achieving this vision and the common objective of AVCC is to develop a set of recommendations of a system architecture and a computing platform that reconciles the performance requirements of autonomous systems with the vehicle-specific requirements and limitations in terms of size, temperature range, power consumption and safety. These recommendations will be specially developed to move autonomous vehicles from today’s prototype systems to deployment at scale.

Member companies understand the technological complexities and obstacles to overcome for the deployment of autonomous vehicles. They aim to work together to enable solutions that address these challenges and create an ecosystem of industry experts to focus on innovations that to meet these goals. Working groups will share ideas and study common technological challenges, facilitating cross-industry collaboration to help the automotive industry work together by defining, educating and publishing for the benefit of all.

AVCC calls on all interested parties, and members of the automotive ecosystem worldwide to accept the challenge to build the future of the industry one milestone at a time, one breakthrough at a time while sharing with the technical community each one of those important advances.

To learn more about the Autonomous Vehicle Computing Consortium and opportunities to support the mission of accelerating the delivery of safe and affordable autonomous vehicles at scale.

“The future of mobility and the safe, scalable deployment of advanced driver assistance systems to fully autonomous vehicles for mass production requires unprecedented industry collaboration,” said Dipti Vachani, senior vice president and general manager, Automotive and IoT Line of Business, Arm. “The AVCC brings together leaders from across the automotive industry landscape to tackle complex foundational technological and computing challenges to accelerate our path to a truly autonomous future.”

“As well as the development of hardware, there is a large and sophisticated autonomous vehicle software stack required,” said Michael Meier, director of engineering and product management, Drivers Assistance and Automated Driving, Bosch. “As part of the AVCC, Bosch will help to develop recommendations for software APIs for each building block in an autonomous system.”

“Denso is looking forward to creating a shared platform to focus innovation as part of the AVCC,” said Takuya Fukushima, AVCC board member, AD & ADAS Electronics Engineering Division, Denso Corporation. “The consortium brings together expertise, knowledge and innovation with a shared goal and focused strategy. It will facilitate and manage workgroups to share ideas and study common technological challenges.”

“The massive amount of technological innovation required to power fully self-driving vehicles at scale requires collaboration at an industry level,” said Massimo Osella, AVCC chairman of the board, and lab group manager, Research & Development at General Motors. “We are delighted to join this group of key leaders in the automotive industry. As the AVCC, we are working together to create the ‘go to’ organization for autonomous computing expertise to help bring this technology to market.”

“The hardware and software requirements for autonomous vehicles are enormous, requiring an energy-efficient, high-performance AI platform to process sensor data and achieve the highest levels of safety,” said Gary Hicok, senior vice president of Automotive Hardware and Software Systems at NVIDIA. “As the leader in AI computing, we are working closely with transportation innovators, tackling the complexities of developing and deploying safe autonomous vehicles at scale.”

“The path to delivering autonomous vehicles is long and complex,” said Kamal Khouri, vice president and general manager of Advanced Driver Assistance Solutions at NXP Semiconductors. “NXP welcomes the opportunity to work with the AVCC to define the computing architectures needed to help solve the huge challenge of deploying safe self-driving vehicles.”

“The AVCC understands the technological complexities and obstacles that need to be overcome for the deployment of autonomous vehicles,” said Satoru Taniguchi, AVCC board member, and project general manager, Electronics Control System Development Division at Toyota Motor Corporation. “Toyota aims to work with the other AVCC members to deliver a conceptual computing platform that addresses these challenges.”

BMW unveils 'Vision M NEXT' Its Electric Autonomous Car

In future, drivers will be able to choose whether they wish to be driven or do the driving themselves. With the BMW Vision M NEXT, the BMW Group is revealing its take on how driving pleasure might look in future for those who enjoy taking the wheel themselves. It offers a foretaste of the BMW M brand’s electrified future by placing the focus squarely on the actively engaged driver. Intelligent technologies on board provide comprehensive yet carefully targeted assistance to turn them into the ultimate driver.

Hosting the exclusive world premiere of the BMW Vision M NEXT is the new #NEXTGen infotainment platform at BMW Welt. This standalone event concentrating on personal mobility solutions “made by the BMW Group” adds another regular fixture to the calendar of car shows / technology & future-focused trade events around the world which the company already attends. The Group’s latest technological advances in the fields of design, autonomous driving, connectivity, electrification and services will be showcased here, alongside spectacular world premieres such as that of the BMW Vision M NEXT.

[video width="1280" height="720" mp4="https://www.indianweb2.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/PF0006947_sceneId16364_preview.mp4"][/video]

“The BMW Vision M NEXT provides a glimpse into the future of sporty driving,” says Adrian van Hooydonk, Senior Vice President BMW Group Design. “Where the BMW Vision iNEXT illustrated how autonomous driving is set to transform life on board our vehicles, the BMW Vision M NEXT demonstrates how state-of-the-art technology can also make the experience of driving yourself purer and more emotionally engaging. In both models, the focus is firmly on the people inside. Design and technology make the ‘EASE’ and ‘BOOST’ experiences more natural and more intense.”

The EASE and BOOST experience concepts.



The BMW Vision iNEXT and BMW Vision M NEXT Vision Vehicles represent prototype versions of BMW’s future experience concepts “EASE” and “BOOST”. EASE encompasses all the experiences during a journey when the vehicle assumes the task of driving. Here, the vehicle is transformed into a living space on four wheels, where the passengers can feel safe and secure. From rest and relaxation, via talking, interacting and enjoying in-car entertainment, all the way to maximum concentration – the experiences on offer with the EASE concept are as varied as the occupants’ needs. BOOST, meanwhile, stands for the ultimate active driving experience. The EASE and BOOST concepts are underpinned in equal measure by the building blocks for the BMW Group’s future, comprising the innovation areas of Autonomous driving, Connectivity, Electrification and Services (ACES). The Design lends these areas visual expression and makes the underlying technology something you can engage with (D+ACES).

Exterior exudes BMW sports-car DNA.



“The BMW Vision M NEXT is a progressive hybrid sports car that makes a very clear and confident statement, in terms of both appearance and interaction,” says Domagoj Dukec, Vice President BMW Design. The emotion-stirring exterior design clearly announces the BMW Vision Vehicle’s performance potential, borrowing styling cues from both classic and contemporary BMW sports cars in the process. The BMW Vision M NEXT draws its inspiration from the iconic BMW Turbo and groundbreaking BMW i8 plug-in hybrid and adopts a future-focused interpretation of design elements such as the low-slung, wedge-shaped silhouette, gullwing doors and striking colour scheme. The unmistakable sports-car proportions are composed of surfaces characterised by clarity and pared-down styling. The front and rear ends are finished in the matt-neon shade Thrilling Orange, producing a vivid contrast against the exterior’s otherwise silk-matt Cast Silver metallic paintwork. This use of colour blocking gives the Vision Vehicle an added air of modernity and emphasises its inherent dynamism.

The actual driving experience in the BMW Vision M NEXT is every bit as captivating as its exterior looks. The Power PHEV drive system in offers the choice between electric all-wheel drive and pure rear-wheel drive, with either all-electric propulsion or the power of a turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine. System output of 441 kW (600 hp) produces a top speed of 300 km/h (186 mph) and enables the BMW Vision M NEXT to sprint from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in just three seconds. There is also a BOOST+ mode that puts extra power on tap at the push of a button. The maximum range when driving in all-electric mode is 100 km (62 miles) – more than enough to complete the majority of journeys purely on electric power. This means the BMW Vision M NEXT is a sports car that would also be suitable for use in city centres where zero-emissions zones may come into force in the future.

Incorporating a modern take on classic design icons: the front end.



The expressive front-end design serves up a confident and modern interpretation of classic BMW icons. The signature BMW kidney grille is flanked on either side by triangular elements in Thrilling Orange, which serve to accentuate the air intakes at the sides and the integral headlights. These elements combine with the blade-shaped air intake below the kidney grille to create a cutting-edge racing aesthetic.

The soft outer curves of the kidney grille openings are reminiscent of a turbine’s air intake and give the front end added dynamic impact, while the colour gradient used for the inside of the two kidney elements creates a sense of depth. The grille openings are each blanked off by a transparent layer with a laser-etched, illuminated pattern that seems to be floating inside – a highly sophisticated touch that gives added emphasis to this section of the car.

The BMW Vision M NEXT headlights are positioned on the outer edges of the front end, higher up than the kidney grille. Arranged one above the other rather than side by side, their constituent elements represent a highly distinctive interpretation of BMW’s classic four-eyed front end. The headlights hand a debut to Laser Wire lighting technology, whereby glass fibres coated with phosphorous are used to produce headlight elements with a new, super-slim and extremely precise form. All of which further underscores the Vision Vehicle’s future-focused character.

Trailblazing dynamism: the flanks.
The low-slung, wedge-shaped sports-car silhouette of the BMW Vision M NEXT, the reward climb of its flank lines and the diagonal splash of contrasting orange colour endow it with dramatic forward-surging intent, even when standing still. The black side skirts made from recycled carbon fibre make the car look even lower on the road. The sports-car silhouette frames a small number of crisp lines running along the clearly sculpted surfaces. The lines of the powerfully contoured shoulders are also used to create the effect of the iconic Hofmeister kink, instead of incorporating it into the window graphic in the usual BMW fashion. The design is broken up by a gill-like aperture that narrows as it sweeps back from the window surface towards the tail, giving the car a more elongated appearance. A second look reveals another highlight in the form of the Air Flow. This opening located just in front of the rear wheels is designed to carefully channel the onrushing air towards the rear end in a way that further improves aerodynamics.

Precisely engineered gaps in the wheels’ intricate, three-dimensional multi-spoke design result in low weight, maximum rigidity and reduced drag and so optimise the transfer of power to the road. The spokes’ open, three-dimensional architecture maximises cooling of the large brake discs at the front, while inserts optimise aero efficiency at the rear. The rear wheels on the BMW Vision M NEXT measure 22 inches in diameter, making them one inch larger than the front wheels (21 inches) and further emphasising the car’s wedge-shaped appearance.

Low-slung, broad and extremely dynamic: the rear end.

The broad, low-slung rear end makes a stylistic statement with its distinctly sporty tone. Its colour scheme divides the car’s sculptural tail into two sections. The top section in Thrilling Orange creates a visual link between the coloured areas of the flanks, further adding to the impression of width. The area below it is made from recycled carbon fibre and incorporates an aerodynamically optimised diffuser. The design of the rear window takes its cue from the BMW M1. The three-piece louvres are made from glass and emphasise the horizontal focus of the rear-end styling.

The rear lights feature the same Laser Wire technology used for the headlights. Their glass lenses frame the rear end in a sweeping flourish on either side, bringing its width and sporting presence to the fore. Inside each light unit, a single wafer-thin glass fibre produces an abstract ECG trace of a heartbeat fashioned with pin-sharp precision. The two-dimensional reinterpretation of the distinctive pair of BMW roundels from the BMW Turbo and BMW M1 – a gift to BMW aficionados – gives them the impression of floating in the rear lights’ transparent lenses.

Focusing on the driver: the interior.



Facial recognition technology allows the car to unlock automatically as the driver approaches. Pressing the touch sensor on the gullwing doors prompts them to swing open, revealing a cabin that merges the driver and vehicle into one. The classy, minimalist interior revolves entirely around the actively engaged driver, both stylistically and technologically. The interior appears as if cut from a single mould, with functional elements such as the air vents integrated almost out of sight. Its geometry is deliberately restrained in nature so the driver can devote their attention entirely to the driving experience. The seat shells form part of a seat sculpture with a flowing design. They are upholstered in a foam material with shape memory properties that moulds itself to, cushions and supports the body to optimum effect. The head restraints seem to hover above both seat shells, increasing the sense of lightness. The extremely comfortable seating position immerses the driver in the driving experience.

Eyes on the road, hands on the wheel: the BOOST Pod.



“The entire interior is focused on the BOOST Pod. The geometry has a deliberately low-key feel so that the driver can concentrate fully on the driving experience,” explains Domagoj Dukec. Taking pride of place in the interior, the BOOST Pod forms the interface between driver and vehicle. It brings together all the control options and information across three distinct visual tiers in the driver’s direct field of view. The first plane is formed by the horizontally arranged steering wheel featuring two small displays. Following this in the driver’s line of sight is a Curved Glass Display, a new addition whose transparent surface stretches around the steering wheel like a visor. The full-surface Augmented Reality Head-Up Display in the windscreen constitutes the third plane. Everything therefore happens directly in the driver’s line of sight. The driving settings can be modified on the steering wheel, while information such as revs, road speed, energy management, the driver’s heart rate and availability of BOOST+ mode is spread among a total of five clusters in the Curved Glass Display behind. BOOST+ mode can be engaged at the touch of a button to release extra power. The car alerts the driver when the ideal moment arrives to activate BOOST+.

Taking driver focus to the next level: focus logic.

“In the BMW Vision M NEXT, intelligent technologies help the driver and deliver the right content at the right time. Operation is clear and intuitive, with all information presented in the driver’s direct field of view. This is a deliberate counterpoint to the BMW Vision iNEXT, which focused on multimodal operation from every seat,” continues Dukec.

The BMW Vision M NEXT therefore shows the way ahead for BMW’s fabled driver focus. The cabin’s geometry and technology have both been devised to help focus attention on the task of driving and prevent distractions. To this end, the information displayed is adapted to the current speed – based on the principles of focus logic. As the vehicle speeds up, the information centres increasingly on driving-related data and moves into the driver’s eye-line. It is possible to communicate with the Intelligent Personal Assistant at all times while driving – if drivers wish to book the visionary Valet Parking Service for their destination, for instance. Here, a concierge is on hand when they arrive to take the vehicle, park it and bring it back again at the desired time. All done simply and seamlessly using the MyBMW App.

Innovative materials for a luxurious ambience and optimum performance.



“We have designed a modern and luxurious interior with the help of innovative materials. Whereas its geometry is clear and restrained, individual details are showcased like top-class accessories,” says Dukec. The pioneering mix of materials employed in the BMW Vision M NEXT, including woven synthetic fibres, anodised titanium and painted surfaces, has never been seen before in a vehicle in this form, which is why it brings out the car’s character to such stunning effect. Use of leather has been kept deliberately to a minimum, which is why it only adorns the design details that the driver’s and passenger’s hands touch directly, such as the steering wheel and door pull handles. Instead, the interior is dominated by a Midnight Blue microfibre fabric whose look and feel are akin to leather, but is also highly distinctive. Judicious use of Thrilling Orange contrasts injects additional sporting flair.

A particularly striking touch here is the accent line in the driver’s area that runs forwards from the seat over the BOOST Pod, indicating the ideal line of sight over the road. A light element in the BOOST Pod further strengthens this line.

The metallic surfaces in Titanium Bronze have a warm, shimmering tone, adding to the exclusive ambience in the car’s interior. Neat design touches such as the barely visible pockets in the door and centre console allow everyday essentials to remain securely stowed away even when cornering at high speed. The gyroscopic cupholder is able to compensate for strong lateral and longitudinal dynamic forces. A glance upwards reveals both the visible roof structure made from recycled carbon fibre and the headliner, whose tone-in-tone paint finish with mild sheen effect blends in perfectly with the rest of the interior’s colour scheme.

The past and future of dynamic driving.

With its enthralling blend of design and driving experience, the BMW Vision M NEXT fuses BMW’s sporting heritage with the possibilities of tomorrow’s world, and illustrates how the D+ACES building blocks for the future will be able to enhance how the driver experiences a car’s dynamics.

~ Business Wire India feed (Images & video from www.press.bmwgroup.com )

7 Technology Trends to Impact Business In 2019

With the increasing dependency on technology, hanging on to old methods of yesterday’s internet, even as an idea, seems obsolete. The current world of business welcomes you with wide open arms as long as your business is driven by good technology.

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As for small businesses, the need for an innovative approach has become more of a mandate. Due to which, the start-up industry has witnessed an uprise in technology-driven ventures. The existing small businesses will have to move on to the latest tech breakthroughs. If they don’t catch up with the latest trends, they would soon find themselves fading away faster than the unportable telecom industry.

With augmented reality, automation, the internet of things and machine learning ruling 2018, the year 2019 seems all set to witness a technological revolution. There are predictions that 2019 will transform the consumption of tech-related products. Here are a few tech trends that are expected to lead the way for businesses in 2019:

1. AI v/s AI

Artificial Intelligence is already a hit in 2018. It turned out to capture nearly 40% of businesses through Automation. By integrating Artificial Intelligence solutions to execute specific tasks, businesses have gained a competitive edge and now provide a higher-quality service experience for consumers. The existing trends indicate the exceeding integration of chatbots into businesses. So much so that chatbots are now developed into everyday products for consumers. Amazon’s Alexa and Amy (the new virtual assistant from X.ai) are two of such examples.

Artificial Intelligence is also gaining popularity as chatbots across digital platforms are being integrated for on-the-go assistance to consumers. The year 2019 will see Artificial Intelligence taking off to the future with more intelligent integrations. As of now, Artificial Intelligence is being used to duel against Artificial Intelligence itself. That’s right. The best way to make Artificial Intelligence smarter is by putting it against itself. Today, Artificial Intelligence creates images of objects and the same technology is used to recognise the reality of it.

2. 3D Metal Printing

The last couple of years has been dedicated to Plastic 3D printing, which has now been taken from a prosumer to a consumer level. Now, it’s time for 3D metal printing to be the next big wave in this industry. The giants in business are already making it big in the 3D Metal Printing game. For one, GE is already printing metal fuel nozzles for its Leap Jet Engines. Sports and fitness market leader Nike is printing metal cleats. Fear not, small businesses will also benefit more than market giants with 3D Metal Printing. With the small accommodating size of a 3D Metal Printer, small businesses can venture into the jewellery or toys industry. This will change the competitive landscape within SMB’s across all industries. Companies entering the market with this technological breakthrough will be on solid ground to take on the next decade.

3. Internet of Things for Everything

Rumour has it that the internet of things will be a choice for every business on earth in no time. The IoT impact is more immediate than that any other consumer-built technology. While Virtual Reality (VR) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) provide in-depth knowledge and perspective, their technologies are at least one step behind from what someone is actually experiencing in the real world.

That is what the IoT offers. Within the country, small businesses have been using IoT to sell smart homes and workplaces. While across the world, IoT's impact on retail companies is especially significant. This year, Amazon opened a number of Amazon Go stores – ones that allow consumers to enter these stores with a scan through their smartphone.

Once they enter, in-store cameras and sensors track their purchases. When the customers leave, the system charges their account for the total amount, dispersing the role of a cashier. Other competitors have awakened to this move by Amazon and have started integrated IoT to their customer experiences.

For instance, Target is using customer-sensing overhead lights to guide app users around the store and help them find specific products they're looking for – all through an app. Other retailers aren’t far behind; they are deploying IoT solutions for an immediate competitive advantage. Retail is just the start; IoT is ready to disrupt other industries such as finance, healthcare and automotive. IoT will soon become the standard in nearly every industry. Small businesses can only take advantage of the situation and be the ones to get it to market as soon as possible.

4. Data-Driven Healthcare

For years, doctors and hospitals around the world have collected information on various diseases, their diagnoses and treatments for research. Most of this information is stored within individual databases. Today, healthcare has adopted big data analytics to harness the unique ability to link patient information from vast databases in a way where the privacy of the patient is secure. Soon, analytics will move from reporting to prescriptive practices. It will create the possibility for truly personalized healthcare by allowing providers to impact bigger health determinants such as genetics and behaviours.

5. Autonomous Driving

The year 2018 has seen automakers join Google, Uber, and a growing number of startups to harness the technological advances to power next-generation of autonomous vehicles. Soon autonomous driving will overtake the driving of conventional vehicles within the next decade. The arrival of self-driving technology has already begun changing the design possibilities for all types of vehicles. There have been talks on the creation of new vehicle categories that don't yet exist. It will also change the dynamics of the economy in transportation. The mode of transit will also improve with faster, self-driven buses, vans and more in-between created vehicles. Small businesses across the world are already designing futuristic cars that have built-in safety features for autonomous driving. In India, we are waiting for innovators and disrupters to take the plunge and drive the Autonomous Driving industry home.

6. Video Content & Growing Digitalization

Internet video will be the leading driver of global Internet traffic in 2019, completely blowing things like data, file sharing, and gaming out of the water. There is a claim of video content taking over more than 80 per cent of all the web traffic by 2019. It only makes senses for businesses to adopt this as part of their strategy to map themselves in the minds of consumers.

Research analysts also state 90% of customers making purchase decisions come from engaging product videos. With the exponentially growing rate of digitalization, customers have lesser time to invest and more retention of video content. Around 64% of customers are likely to buy a product online immediately after watching a video about it. Small businesses must start integrating video content into their business strategy and create a narrative. It is quickly proving to be one of the most effective ways to create a brand and weave a story that strategically places one’s business as a top-of-mind-product for customers.

7. Blockchain & Remittances

For those who don’t know what Blockchain technology is all about – it describes as a technology which enables a peer-to-peer network of interconnected devices to store data rather than rely on central computers and defined locations (Read more). It is also a distributed ledger system that lets transactions happen within less or no time through cryptographically secured blocks of data. From offering upgraded security and authentication in agreements and supply chains to building real peer-to-peer business networks across retail, energy, and more, Blockchain has a great influence on the way business is being channelled today.

SMBs have been adopting blockchain development rapidly. It helps SMBs with the capability to transact and authenticate large-scale transactions quickly. It is one of the trends that showed immense growth in 2018 and will continue to do so. As a matter of fact, Blockchain is the technology behind cryptocurrencies across the globe. One other such cryptocurrency that is growing rapidly is Ripple. It doesn’t use Blockchain, it rather uses hash tree aka Merkle tree to allow instant remittances across borders without added marginal fees. One such Ripple based digital payment service provider is InstaReM. It allows small and medium businesses to make international money transfers in 55+ countries and does not add any added FX margins to it. And the best part is that there are no hidden charges as well. The only charge is a nominal fee to cover the cost of processing your transaction. InstaReM ensures complete transparency and provides one with an accurate breakup of the remittance.

This is a great time for small businesses to take note of the expansion possibilities and to plan their path ahead. There are too many good choices and one hard decision to make. But technology is going to be a compulsion in whatever they decide to venture into. The year 2019 is going to be far more promising in technology than we all imagine it to be.

Nissan to Hire 550 Tech Pros for its Digital R&D Hub in Kerala for Electric and Driver-less Cars

Japan's automobile major Nissan Motors will open its global digital Research & Development hub for autonomous/driver-less cars at Technopark in Thiruvananthapuram of Kerala and for same the company would hire about 550 technology professionals by March 2019.

IndianWeb2.com first reported about Nissan's R&D hub in June this year. The Hub, which is focused on innovation in automated and electronic vehicles will be shared by the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance, a strategic partnership between French and Japanese manufacturers.

According to Tony Thomas, Corporate VP & CIO of Nissan Motor Corp, "Hiring is on for the cream of innovation talent, as this is not a global offshore centre, but a global team."

The carmaker has already signed up 350-plus professionals in domains such as software development, UI/UX, big data, analytics, machine learning, artificial intelligence and Internet of Things (IoT). The 25,000-sq ft facility at Technopark Phase III can accommodate 200 more engineers and innovative brains, Thomas said.

Notably, since July this year, these 350-odd new recruits hired by Nissan for its first Global Digital Centre in India were working at the Infosys campus in Thiruvananthapuram, as Infosys had offered its office space Nissan Digital Hub project till the new facility was set up.

In last couple of years, Kerala has had inked several partnership and MoUs with Tech firms in India as well as abroad. Last MOnth, aircraft maker Airbus Group has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Kerala state government for setting up BizLab Innovation Centre in Thiruvananthapuram.

In March this year, the state government had tied up with Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for a space tech park and incubator for startups in space technology. Called as 'ISRO-Space Technology Incubation Center (S-TIC)', the space park will be up and running in June next year.

Source - Financial Express

[Top Image - Guardian.ng]

Nissan's First Digital Innovation Hub To Set up in Kerala, India for R&D in Electric and Autonomous Vehicles

Japan's automobile major Nissan Motors will set up Its first digital innovation hub in India in Technocity, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, which will be a research and development (R&D) facility of sorts that will also be shared by the Renault Nissan Mitsubishi Alliance.

The main idea to develop the digital hub is to focus on the R&D towards electric and autonomous vehicles. To begin with, the Kerala government Kerala government has allotted space of 30 acres to Nissan in order to setup the hub during the first phase. In the second phase, the government will give Nissan additional 40 acres. Nissan's digital and innovation hub will be called Nissan knowledge city.

Nissan’s digital hub in Kerala will be its first in India, and will function as the nerve centre of the company’s research in electric and automated vehicles. The government of Kerala will sign the Memorandum of Understanding with Nissan on 29 June, 2018.

The reason that Nissan chose Kerala to set up its first digital innovation hub are; existing talent pool in IT and engineering, airport connectivity, cost effectiveness, quality of life, social amenities and the lack of traffic problems, among other things.

The upcoming digital and innovation hub will act as a talent pool of people who will be working on new-age technologies that can be utilized in automobiles such as cognitive analytics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning and so on. Once the hub is up and running, Nissan will be creating approximately 3,000 direct jobs along with few thousand indirect jobs as well.

Nissan along with its auto making partners Renault and Mitsubishi, is aiming at launching 17 electric models to achieve an annual vehicle sales of 14 million units by 2022.

Nissan's digital hub in Kerala will be company's fifth digital hub globally after having centres in Japan, China, France and USA. To start off with, the company will occupy the Technopark Phase III campus and a part of the co-developer space as well. The Renault Nissan Mitsubishi Alliance is betting big on electric vehicles and aims to not only launch 17 new electric models by 2022 but also rake in annual electric vehicles sales to the tune of 14 million units as well.

Also Read - Kerala To Have India's First Online Clearance System for Startups

Notably, Indian automobile major Bharat Forge has also been working on its R&D and technology strategy in the Electric Vehicle space over the last few years. The company has recently made a strategic investment of $13.5 million (£10 million) or about Rs.90 crores in Tevva Motors, a British and Israeli electric truck company.

Speaking about Kerala, the state has been a front-runner when it comes to adopting new-age technologies. In April, Kerala Blockchain Academy (KBA) of state-run Indian Institute of Information Technology & Management (IIITM-Kerala) has become the first Indian Institution to get membership of Hyperledger Project hosted by Linux Foundation.

In March, Kerala tied up with Indian space agency Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to incubate and promote startups in the satellite and space technology sector.

Via - auto.ndtv.com

[Top Image - reports.nissan-global.com]

Nissan's First Digital Innovation Hub To Set up in Kerala, India for R&D in Electric and Autonomous Vehicles

Japan's automobile major Nissan Motors will set up Its first digital innovation hub in India in Technocity, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, which will be a research and development (R&D) facility of sorts that will also be shared by the Renault Nissan Mitsubishi Alliance.

The main idea to develop the digital hub is to focus on the R&D towards electric and autonomous vehicles. To begin with, the Kerala government Kerala government has allotted space of 30 acres to Nissan in order to setup the hub during the first phase. In the second phase, the government will give Nissan additional 40 acres. Nissan's digital and innovation hub will be called Nissan knowledge city.

Nissan’s digital hub in Kerala will be its first in India, and will function as the nerve centre of the company’s research in electric and automated vehicles. The government of Kerala will sign the Memorandum of Understanding with Nissan on 29 June, 2018.

The reason that Nissan chose Kerala to set up its first digital innovation hub are; existing talent pool in IT and engineering, airport connectivity, cost effectiveness, quality of life, social amenities and the lack of traffic problems, among other things.

The upcoming digital and innovation hub will act as a talent pool of people who will be working on new-age technologies that can be utilized in automobiles such as cognitive analytics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning and so on. Once the hub is up and running, Nissan will be creating approximately 3,000 direct jobs along with few thousand indirect jobs as well.

Nissan along with its auto making partners Renault and Mitsubishi, is aiming at launching 17 electric models to achieve an annual vehicle sales of 14 million units by 2022.

Nissan's digital hub in Kerala will be company's fifth digital hub globally after having centres in Japan, China, France and USA. To start off with, the company will occupy the Technopark Phase III campus and a part of the co-developer space as well. The Renault Nissan Mitsubishi Alliance is betting big on electric vehicles and aims to not only launch 17 new electric models by 2022 but also rake in annual electric vehicles sales to the tune of 14 million units as well.

Also Read - Kerala To Have India's First Online Clearance System for Startups

Notably, Indian automobile major Bharat Forge has also been working on its R&D and technology strategy in the Electric Vehicle space over the last few years. The company has recently made a strategic investment of $13.5 million (£10 million) or about Rs.90 crores in Tevva Motors, a British and Israeli electric truck company.

Speaking about Kerala, the state has been a front-runner when it comes to adopting new-age technologies. In April, Kerala Blockchain Academy (KBA) of state-run Indian Institute of Information Technology & Management (IIITM-Kerala) has become the first Indian Institution to get membership of Hyperledger Project hosted by Linux Foundation.

In March, Kerala tied up with Indian space agency Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to incubate and promote startups in the satellite and space technology sector.

Via - auto.ndtv.com

[Top Image - reports.nissan-global.com]

Autonomous Vehicles May Be The World's Single Largest Industry By 2050

Autonomous vehicles industry is going to be big, not soon, but by the year 2050, one can expect the industry to explode to the tunes of a whopping $7 trillion.

According to a recent survey done by Strategy Analytics for Intel, Autonomous vehicles will most likely be the single greatest opportunity for the creation of value and wealth during the 21st Century, with the self-driving vehicles industry growing on to become a $7 trillion industry by 2050 making it one of the single largest industry, globally.

Considering companies like Uber, Lyft and Google's Waymo are already much ahead in the driverless cars race with Waymo even claiming to have completed over 3 million miles already, the $7 trillion figure isn't that hard to digest. The race has in fact become so intense that the players have already started clinging in each other claws to get ahead. Earlier this year, Uber was sued for allegedly stealing proprietary information regarding self-driving cars from Alphabet’s Waymo. In addition to these aforementioned big players, there are many other firms like Nutonomy, Skymind, Torc Robotics, Mentor and Lvl5 who all want a piece of what is expected to be one of the most disruptive innovations of the last two centuries.

Autonomous vehicles aren't like any another invention. They're the need of the future. As of today, Automobile manufacturing industry employs over 50 million people and produces nearly a whopping 100 million vehicles each year. It is almost large enough to represent the equivalent of the world's sixth largest economy. However, these huge numbers are still not capable of catering to the needs of a population nearing the 10 billion people mark. Hence, there's needs to be a change in vehicle infrastructure we have today and autonomous vehicles can be that change. In addition to adding more driving years to the elderly, autonomous vehicles can also make a positive difference in pollution and climate change caused by vehicles. Their efficiency in terms of their ability to communicate with each other and infrastructure can eliminate traffic congestion and the need for street lights.

Not only will the acceptance of autonomous vehicles change the way we travel, but it will also have a massive impact on the way we live. According to experts, once we start relying on autonomous vehicles and become mentally strong enough to give them charge of our driving seat, while we enjoy the ride on a passenger seat, it is possibly going to be a watershed moment for AI's acceptance.

The study done for Intel is in sync with an earlier one done by Boston Consulting Group where it predicted that the global autonomous cars market will be worth a whopping $42 billion by 2025 and a jaw-dropping $77 billion by 2035. According to it, a quarter of all cars sold could be autonomous vehicles by then.

Unfortunately though, India won't be a major part of these figures as the Indian government for now isn't open to driverless cars as according to them, it will result in loss of jobs, something which goes against their ideology. Instead, they are more into promoting the trend of electric cars. Recently, India’s power minister Piyush Goyal announced that the government is aiming to have an all electric-car fleet on Indian roads by the year 2030.

Autonomous Vehicles May Be The World's Single Largest Industry By 2050

Autonomous vehicles industry is going to be big, not soon, but by the year 2050, one can expect the industry to explode to the tunes of a whopping $7 trillion.

According to a recent survey done by Strategy Analytics for Intel, Autonomous vehicles will most likely be the single greatest opportunity for the creation of value and wealth during the 21st Century, with the self-driving vehicles industry growing on to become a $7 trillion industry by 2050 making it one of the single largest industry, globally.

Considering companies like Uber, Lyft and Google's Waymo are already much ahead in the driverless cars race with Waymo even claiming to have completed over 3 million miles already, the $7 trillion figure isn't that hard to digest. The race has in fact become so intense that the players have already started clinging in each other claws to get ahead. Earlier this year, Uber was sued for allegedly stealing proprietary information regarding self-driving cars from Alphabet’s Waymo. In addition to these aforementioned big players, there are many other firms like Nutonomy, Skymind, Torc Robotics, Mentor and Lvl5 who all want a piece of what is expected to be one of the most disruptive innovations of the last two centuries.

Autonomous vehicles aren't like any another invention. They're the need of the future. As of today, Automobile manufacturing industry employs over 50 million people and produces nearly a whopping 100 million vehicles each year. It is almost large enough to represent the equivalent of the world's sixth largest economy. However, these huge numbers are still not capable of catering to the needs of a population nearing the 10 billion people mark. Hence, there's needs to be a change in vehicle infrastructure we have today and autonomous vehicles can be that change. In addition to adding more driving years to the elderly, autonomous vehicles can also make a positive difference in pollution and climate change caused by vehicles. Their efficiency in terms of their ability to communicate with each other and infrastructure can eliminate traffic congestion and the need for street lights.

Not only will the acceptance of autonomous vehicles change the way we travel, but it will also have a massive impact on the way we live. According to experts, once we start relying on autonomous vehicles and become mentally strong enough to give them charge of our driving seat, while we enjoy the ride on a passenger seat, it is possibly going to be a watershed moment for AI's acceptance.

The study done for Intel is in sync with an earlier one done by Boston Consulting Group where it predicted that the global autonomous cars market will be worth a whopping $42 billion by 2025 and a jaw-dropping $77 billion by 2035. According to it, a quarter of all cars sold could be autonomous vehicles by then.

Unfortunately though, India won't be a major part of these figures as the Indian government for now isn't open to driverless cars as according to them, it will result in loss of jobs, something which goes against their ideology. Instead, they are more into promoting the trend of electric cars. Recently, India’s power minister Piyush Goyal announced that the government is aiming to have an all electric-car fleet on Indian roads by the year 2030.

74% Indians Prefer Self-Driving Cars, Says IBM

In October 2016, we reported that a survey by World Economic Forum had revealed that as much as 85 percent of adult Indians are willing to ride in self-driving vehicles. Now, after six months, an another survey conducted by tech giant IBM has revealed that Indian consumers show a high level of interest in the intelligent, intuitive and self-driving cars.

Titled "Auto 2025", the survey was conducted across 16 countries and shows that Indian consumers are very interested in all aspects of automated car functioning such as self-driving, self-healing, self-configuring, and self-integrating. Indians selected self-driving capabilities most often with 74% of people preferring it. Even the least selected self-integrating capability is appealing to 69% of Indian consumers, said the survey.

The survey finding said that 53% of Indian consumers consider themselves tech-savvy, which is much ahead of the 38% number in growth market and 40% in mature market.

"Consumers in India are more keen on trying out new things, with ongoing digitisation, and they are more aggressive than the growth markets," said Alexander Scheidt, VicePresident and Executive Partner, Global Automotive Industry leader, IBM.

Scheidt added that over 10% of the population in India, which is a huge number, is open to new models and new ways of mobility which should prompt the industry to think about catering to the needs and providing the services.

The survey also said that 97% of Indian respondent want to own or drive a car in the next ten years, and among them -- 35 years and older respondents expect their use of personal cars as their primary mode of transportation to drop by 12% by 2025, but anticipate their use of car & ride-sharing will double.

Sriram Lakshminarayanan, automotive Industry Leader, Client Innovation Center, IBM India, said "Autonomous cars is still a wish-list item for India since most of the cars in the country are not even application enabled". He added that the first steps towards automation and connected cars in India should be subscription-based services that offer basic utility alerts such as headlights left open, doors unlocked, or car-tracking facility on the driver's smartphone.

To recall, nuTonomy, a MIT startup which had already launched its self-driving cabs on the roads of Singapore, last year, thinks that self driving cars will not work in India due its dense traffic condition [Read Here].

Notably, teams at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) are currently meticulously working on ‘autonomous vehicle solutions’ or self driving car which can tackle Indian roads with dense traffic.

[Top Image - Shutterstock]

Bosch, Nvidia To Develop AI-Powered Autonomous Vehicle System

Germany-based multinational engineering and electronics company, Bosch, has joined hands with US-based semiconductor company, Nvidia in a mission to gift the world with an artificial intelligence (AI) system for autonomous vehicles.

Bosch CEO Dr Volkmar Denner and Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang announced the association at the recently held Bosch Connected World event in Berlin, which is the German company’s annual Internet of Things (IoT) event.

The partnership will see both the companies coming together to give birth to an AI self-driving car computer, which will be built on Nvidia’s highly performing deep learning software and hardware. The AI will allow people to train their vehicles remotely, operate them autonomously and even update them easily via the cloud. The AI will be made available to the mass market.

According to details unveiled at the Berlin event, the AI self-driving car computer will be based on Nvidia’s high-tech Drive PX technology, an open Artificial Intelligence car computing platform that will give automakers and suppliers the power to speed the production of their autonomous vehicles.

In addition to this, the platform will boost of the freshly announced, currently in vogue Xavier AI supercomputer. For the uninitiated, the Xavier AI supercomputer is the world’s first single-chip processor conceived and developed to achieve Level 4 autonomous driving – the level at which a car is capable of driving itself without having any human intervention. According to Nvidia, the Xavier AI chip can process up to 30 trillion deep learning operations in a second while consuming just 30 watts of power.

This technology, which is an amalgamation of surround vision, deep learning and sensor fusion, enables vehicles to understand their surroundings, locate themselves on an HD map, and select a safe route forward for itself, all in real time. This is what makes it is so precise and successful.

According to Nvidia, the company is hopeful of delivering a technology enabling Level 3 autonomous driving capabilities by the end of 2017, and Level 4 capabilities technology by the end of next year. Level 3 is the level at which the car is capable of driving itself but still requires human guidance in certain situations.

The company's CEO also noted that while many big brands like Tesla, Ford and Audi are currently working on delivering an autonomous vehicle technology of their own, such vehicles would be requiring unprecedented levels of computer power which is unfortunately not possible for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) to currently provide.

Since no one can predict all the infinite number of scenarios that could take place on a road, hence it is almost impossible to write a coded software that can drive on itself. But, according to tech experts, this challenge can be solved to a certain extend with all the recent breakthroughs made in the field of deep learning and artificial intelligence.

Leading Tech experts are optimistic that AI now has the power of gifting sufficient learning capabilities to a vehicle which can help it in better understanding how to handle unexpected situations on the road. However, the real challenge here is to train the AI on a masses of data, scenario and situations so as to make it learn how it needs to react in order to ensure that the vehicle can make a safe progress in the widest range of potential situations that it might encounter while on the move. But, Bosch and Nvidia seemed to be ready to take on this challenge with all their might. Let's see if they're successful in their mission.

India is Building Its Own Self-Driving Cars Equipped for Indian roads

A while ago, Uber founder and CEO Travis Kalanick jokingly said that India will be the last place on the planet to see the company’s self-driving cars on its roads. His reasons for the statement were simple; according to him, the driving patterns that road users and drivers or riders follow in the country aren't favourable for self-driving cars.

Prior to Kalanick's statement, Karl Iagnemma, nuTonomy’s CEO had echoed the same sentiments about India and self-driving cars. nuTonomy is a MIT startup that has recently decided to put self-driving cabs on the roads of Singapore.

While the world might be skeptic about the future of self-driving cars in the country, the youngsters in the country are focused on proving them wrong. Teams at the most prestigious institute in the country, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) are currently meticulously working on ‘autonomous vehicle solutions’ or driverless solutions of their own. The students are focused on developing the ideal technology for tackling Indian roads. The projects have reportedly already caught the attention of various leading Indian automotive companies.

The IIT teams are now gearing up to compete for the Rise Prize by Mahindra, which gives a chance to two teams to win a prize money of $1 mn for two projects, the Solar Challenge and the Driverless Car Challenge. The participating teams includes teams from IIT Kharagpur, IIT Kanpur and IIT Bombay, among many others.

The team at IIT Kharagpur is currently testing the autonomous vehicles that they have built from ground up within their campus. IIT Kanpur has plans similar to its Kharagpur counterpart. After their respective universities, the cars will be then tested on Indian roads.

The Mahindra Group’s Driverless Car Challenge has a total of 31 shortlisted teams that have to build a driverless car that will work not only work on civilised Western roads, but also work smoothly in tricky Indian traffic scenarios.

IIT Bombay and Kharagpur are also individually testing their technology on Mahindra’s electric car, Mahindra E2O. They plan to turn the car into a driverless car as part of the Mahindra RISE Prize Driverless Car Challenge.

While Uber and nuTonomy aren't sure about seeing their autonomous vehicles on Indian roads anytime soon, a recent survey conducted by Boston Consulting Group has revealed that as much as 85 percent of adult Indians are willing to ride in self-driving vehicles. So, let's see if the Indian institutes are able to realise this particular dream of the Indian citizens.

India is Building Its Own Self-Driving Cars Equipped for Indian roads

A while ago, Uber founder and CEO Travis Kalanick jokingly said that India will be the last place on the planet to see the company’s self-driving cars on its roads. His reasons for the statement were simple; according to him, the driving patterns that road users and drivers or riders follow in the country aren't favourable for self-driving cars.

Prior to Kalanick's statement, Karl Iagnemma, nuTonomy’s CEO had echoed the same sentiments about India and self-driving cars. nuTonomy is a MIT startup that has recently decided to put self-driving cabs on the roads of Singapore.

While the world might be skeptic about the future of self-driving cars in the country, the youngsters in the country are focused on proving them wrong. Teams at the most prestigious institute in the country, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) are currently meticulously working on ‘autonomous vehicle solutions’ or driverless solutions of their own. The students are focused on developing the ideal technology for tackling Indian roads. The projects have reportedly already caught the attention of various leading Indian automotive companies.

The IIT teams are now gearing up to compete for the Rise Prize by Mahindra, which gives a chance to two teams to win a prize money of $1 mn for two projects, the Solar Challenge and the Driverless Car Challenge. The participating teams includes teams from IIT Kharagpur, IIT Kanpur and IIT Bombay, among many others.

The team at IIT Kharagpur is currently testing the autonomous vehicles that they have built from ground up within their campus. IIT Kanpur has plans similar to its Kharagpur counterpart. After their respective universities, the cars will be then tested on Indian roads.

The Mahindra Group’s Driverless Car Challenge has a total of 31 shortlisted teams that have to build a driverless car that will work not only work on civilised Western roads, but also work smoothly in tricky Indian traffic scenarios.

IIT Bombay and Kharagpur are also individually testing their technology on Mahindra’s electric car, Mahindra E2O. They plan to turn the car into a driverless car as part of the Mahindra RISE Prize Driverless Car Challenge.

While Uber and nuTonomy aren't sure about seeing their autonomous vehicles on Indian roads anytime soon, a recent survey conducted by Boston Consulting Group has revealed that as much as 85 percent of adult Indians are willing to ride in self-driving vehicles. So, let's see if the Indian institutes are able to realise this particular dream of the Indian citizens.