Author: Steve

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Becoming a Third Row Guest

Quick announcement –– Last week I told the Third Row team I would transition from being a “host” of the podcast to being a “guest” or guest host on the podcast. What does this mean from a practical perspective? Not much. I don’t want to abandon the team and will likely still come on podcasts […]

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Chinese Researchers Train Neural Net to See in the Dark

I’m constantly amazed with what neural networks can do. Many people say autonomous cars need LIDAR because cameras don’t work well in the dark. Leaving aside the fact that cars have headlights, check out these results. The researchers seem to have improved significantly on the previous state of the art in neural net based low […]

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Waymo CEO Krafcik Celebrates Fifth Anniversary as CEO

So five years into John Krafcik’s gig as CEO, how are things going at Waymo? Well, they’re just starting to ramp up on road testing after shutting down for two months. That’s good news. John says the time off road doesn’t matter, because Waymo has so many miles in simulation. Of course, a simulation can’t […]

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Waymo “Chief Safety Officer” Steps Down

Amir Efrati has the scoop on Waymo over at The Information: Deborah Hersman, who last year joined Alphabet’s Waymo division to improve the safety-related practices at the self-driving car developer, has stepped down, The Information has learned. She remains a consultant to the company, which recently raised $3 billion from outside investors. At Waymo, Hersman […]

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Autopilot Live Miles Counter Updated

At the request of several readers (thank you for the reminder), I’ve updated my Tesla Autopilot lives miles counter, based on Lex Fridman’s estimates. Don’t take this too seriously, it’s just an estimate. I think it reports different numbers on different browsers, so there’s probably some floating point bugs or something –– but it gives […]

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MobilEye still plans to launch Robotaxis in 2022

Some self-driving developers are delaying plans to launch commercial robotaxi services. Global supplier Mobileye, on the other hand, is sticking to a tight schedule.  The company has already said it would deploy autonomous vehicles in ride-hailed fleets in 2022. Speaking Tuesday at a virtual version of EcoMotion, Israel’s signature mobility technology conference, Mobileye CEO Amnon […]

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GM Extending Super Cruise for City Driving

Hannah Lutz brings us the latest on GM Super Cruise at Automotive News: General Motors is developing a new version of its Super Cruise driver-assist technology that isn’t limited to highways, bringing hands-free capability to city centers and neighborhood streets. The technology, internally called Ultra Cruise, complements the Super Cruise system, which works on more […]

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Zoox “explores new opportunities”

Since its founding six years ago, self-driving startup Zoox has devoted its efforts exclusively to creating a brand-new, bespoke people mover. But amid the current pandemic, the company has explored the possibility of using its prototypes for package deliveries.  Automotive News Translation: If we don’t raise capital or sell the company soon, Zoox is going […]