Kia is finally sharing some specs for the EV9 electric SUV, and they may be good news for families planning road trips. The three-row EV will now include Level 3 self-driving (that is, the car drives itself in some situations but may need you to take over) in some countries when you spring for the GT-line trim. The planned Highway Driving Pilot will use LiDAR and other sensors to let you "take a break" from driving, where conditions allow. The EV9 might also deliver more range than you'd expect for an SUV this size. Kia claims the RWD Long Range model with a 99.8kWh battery will offer up to 336 miles of range, based on WLTP testing.

Early computer vision studies aimed at developing computerized driver intelligence appeared in the mid-1980s when scientists first demonstrated a road-following robot.36 Studies performed from the mid-1980s until 2000 established the fundamentals for automated driver intelligence in related tasks, including detection of pedestrians,39 lanes,3 and road signs.9 However, the vast majority of initial computer vision algorithms aimed at detecting objects required developers to manually program dedicated features. The increase in computational power available in recent years changed the way AI models are created: Features are automatically extracted by training various neural network architectures on raw data. Automatic feature extraction outperformed and replaced the traditional approach of manually programming an object's features.

Elon Musk will aim to quiet any doubts about Tesla's standing in the electric car race on Wednesday when the serial entrepreneur convenes an investor day. Invoking his trademark flare, Musk promised to reveal "Master Plan 3" at the gathering, entailing "the path to a fully sustainable energy future for Earth," he said on Twitter in early February. The event, which will be held at Tesla's factory in Texas, will be webcast at 2100 GMT on Wednesday. "Since he is making promises for all citizens of the earth, and not only investors, there better be something pretty big," said Jessica Caldwell, an auto industry expert at Edmunds.com. Caldwell would like to see more clues on how Tesla plans to boost production.

Ford is not taking any chances with owners missing car payments - the company is working on a system that prompts the vehicle to repossess itself. A newly awarded patent describes a car self-driving back to the showroom or a scrapyard if the owner does not answer messages about their delinquent account. The American carmaker would start the process by disabling'comfort features,' playing noises inside the car and limiting where the vehicle can drive. If all else fails, Ford will activate the self-driving feature and the owner has no choice but to give up the car. While patent applications do not always turn into real-world services, Ford describes using a'repossession computer' that could be installed to let it take control of functions.

Dom Toretto likes to keep it old school. At the premier for the "Fast X" trailer last week, Vin Diesel revealed part of the sequel's plot that will follow it and, allegedly, mark the end of the Fast and Furious franchise. During an interview with Variety, Diesel was asked who he would like to see star in the next film, and he took the opportunity to make a pitch for Robert Downey Jr. to join the crew. "Without telling you too much about what happens in the future, there's a character who is the antithesis of Dom who is promoting AI and driverless cars and a philosophy that with that goes your freedom," Diesel said. "There is somebody that believes that's the future, and that's at direct odds with the Toretto mentality."

The days of shotgunning the front seat may soon be over thanks to BMW, which has taken backseat luxury to new levels in its high-tech £110,000 smart car. MailOnline took a ride in the new fully-electric BMW i7, which has 5G connectivity, interior mood lighting and a super-wide'theatre screen' in the back. The 8K screen, which measures 32x9 inches, folds out from the sun roof at the touch of a button and streams video from Netflix, YouTube and more. BMW gave me a ride during my morning commute through west London - a welcome alternative to the cramped and temperamental Underground. BMW i7, part of the legendary Series 7 range, boasts 5G connectivity, interior mood lighting and a theatre screen' in the backseat The new vehicle's proudest feature is the theatre screen, which, at 32x9 inches is really super-wide The BMW i7 is a new electric variant of the BMW 7 Series, which has been in production by the German automaker since 1977.

Using LiDAR to get one step closer to fully automated vehicles and how Tesla is trying to accomplish the same goal but going different paths. LiDAR, radar, and sonar all sound so similar they got to have something in common right???? That was my first thought when I first heard about LiDAR. After a quick google search, I found out that LiDAR, radar, and sonar are actually very similar to one another. All 3 of these have the same goal: creating an accurate 3D map of their environments.

The automobile industry is undergoing a significant transformation thanks to advancements in AI technology. Self-driving cars: AI is enabling the development of autonomous vehicles that can navigate roads and traffic without human input. This technology has the potential to greatly reduce the number of accidents caused by human error and to improve overall efficiency on the roads. Predictive maintenance: AI-powered systems can analyze data from cars to predict when maintenance is needed, allowing for more efficient and cost-effective upkeep. Personalized experiences: AI can be used to personalize the driving experience by analyzing data about the driver's preferences and habits.

The self-driving era is here, just not the one that was promised. Instead of sleek pods without steering wheels ready to chauffeur buyers off the lot, there are mostly driverless Chevy compacts, Chrysler minivans, and Ford box trucks with bolted-on hardware trundling around bits of the U.S. southwest and, as of August, a short loop of roads in Ontario. But while the current reality has fallen far short of automaker predictions, it's worth stopping to acknowledge that there are trucks driving around public Canadian roads making deliveries, without a soul inside. The technological achievement of the feat has huge implications for business, and society, but the latest industry outlook, humbled by past failures, points to a more gradual rollout. "People think there will be a magic day where suddenly everything will be autonomous, but that's not how this is going to work," said Raquel Urtasun, a leading artificial intelligence researcher and chief executive of Toronto-based autonomous outfit Waabi Innovation Inc. "You will have certain areas where this technology is going to deploy, and then those areas will expand under more and more difficult situations."

The Mercedes-Benz S-Class now has a model that can drive around totally unaided – as long as you are in one specific car park in Germany. It is an impressive achievement, but how far have we really come since New Scientist proclaimed 15 years ago that a fully driverless car "may not be far off"?