Nvidia (NVDA) is well-known for its autonomous vehicle efforts, and at the company's GTC 2021 conference, it's rolling out three technologies to support its future self-driving capabilities: Nvidia Drive Hyperion 8, Drive Chauffeur, and Drive Concierge. Taken together, the technologies help Nvidia push deeper into the autonomous car space. What's more, the technologies provide drivers and passengers with their own personal AI assistant while their car drives them down the street. Drive Hyperion 8 combines a series of sensors including 12 cameras, nine radars, 12 ultrasonic sensors, and one front-facing lidar. The whole setup is meant to be modular so automakers can take and leave what they want.

A mere two months after acquiring Uber's self-driving car unit (and a $400 million investment from the company), autonomous vehicle startup Aurora is partnering with the world's largest automaker. On Tuesday, the company announced a partnership with Toyota and Japanese auto parts supplier Denso (via The Verge) that will see the three firms work together to develop and test vehicles with Aurora's Driver technology. They'll first integrate the hardware and software into a fleet of Toyota Sienna minivans before deploying it within a full-scale robotaxai service. "By the end of 2021, we expect to have designed, built and begun testing an initial fleet of these Siennas near our areas of development," the company said. "It brings our companies together to lay the groundwork for the mass-production, launch and support of these vehicles with Toyota on ride-hailing networks, including Uber's, over the next few years."

SAN FRANCISCO – A former Google star engineer charged with stealing trade secrets from its self-driving car program has agreed to plead guilty in a deal with prosecutors, according to court documents filed Thursday. Anthony Levandowski, 39, was a founding member of an autonomous vehicle project in 2009 called "Chauffeur," one of Google's more ambitious undertakings. Several years later Levandowski began thinking of leaving Google for another self-driving endeavor that was eventually named "Otto," the plea deal said. He began negotiating with ride-sharing giant Uber to invest in or buy Otto while he was still working at Google, and admits having downloaded a whole series of documents a few months before his resignation in January 2016. "Prior to my departure, I downloaded thousands of files related to Project Chauffeur," Levandowski said in court documents.

We count on machines for our anti-lock brakes, cruise control and more. Tesla's autopilot and Google's self-driving pod are even stronger examples. But Yamaha has taken a distinct approach, building a human-like robot that sits on a motorcycle and rides it.

Toyota today revealed some of the inner workings of an automation package meant to help drivers rather than replace them. The company also said that if that package had been in operation, it could have prevented or mitigated a recent three-car accident in California. The announcement came at CES 2019, which takes place this week in Las Vegas. Toyota has often spoken of its two-stage research project for self-driving cars. In the long run, it plans to offer a truly driverless technology called Chauffeur.

But they couldn't find any takers. In meetings with a prime parts supplier to the car makers and then with the senior leadership of a major auto company, the pair gave presentations on their vehicle's capabilities, the number of miles it had driven and the broad strokes of how their self-driving software saw the road. The reaction, they say, was utter disinterest--and dismay that they were experimenting on public roads rather than on a test track. "Self-driving technology didn't make sense to them," Mr. Urmson says. "And it seemed so far out of the playbook that it wasn't even addressable."

Waymo self-driving cars will be used to chauffeur "early riders" to and from their Walmart online grocery pickup location. Waymo self-driving cars will be used to chauffeur "early riders" to and from their Walmart online grocery pickup location. The future is here and soon it will be toting grocery shoppers around Phoenix. Walmart and Waymo -- formerly Google's self-driving car project -- announced on Wednesday the launch of a pilot program that will allow consumers to make their grocery pickups with the help of an autonomous vehicle. Participants in Waymo's "early riders" program will be able to take a driverless shuttle service to and from Walmart whenever they purchase groceries from Walmart.com using the retailer's online grocery pickup service.

Many people in Silicon Valley believe in the Singularity--the day in our near future when computers will surpass humans in intelligence and kick off a feedback loop of unfathomable change. When that day comes, Anthony Levandowski will be firmly on the side of the machines. In September 2015, the multi-millionaire engineer at the heart of the patent and trade secrets lawsuit between Uber and Waymo, Google's self-driving car company, founded a religious organization called Way of the Future. Its purpose, according to previously unreported state filings, is nothing less than to "develop and promote the realization of a Godhead based on Artificial Intelligence." Mark Harris is a freelance journalist reporting on technology from Seattle. Sign up to get Backchannel's weekly newsletter, and follow us on Facebook and Twitter. Way of the Future has not yet responded to requests for the forms it must submit annually to the Internal Revenue Service (and make publically available), as a non-profit religious corporation. However, documents filed with California show that Levandowski is Way of the Future's CEO and President, and that it aims "through understanding and worship of the Godhead, [to] contribute to the betterment of society." A divine AI may still be far off, but Levandowski has made a start at providing AI with an earthly incarnation. The autonomous cars he was instrumental in developing at Google are already ferrying real passengers around Phoenix, Arizona, while self-driving trucks he built at Otto are now part of Uber's plan to make freight transport safer and more efficient. He even oversaw a passenger-carrying drones project that evolved into Larry Page's Kitty Hawk startup. Levandowski has done perhaps more than anyone else to propel transportation toward its own Singularity, a time when automated cars, trucks and aircraft either free us from the danger and drudgery of human operation--or decimate mass transit, encourage urban sprawl, and enable deadly bugs and hacks. But before any of that can happen, Levandowski must face his own day of reckoning.

Many people in Silicon Valley believe in the Singularity--the day in our near future when computers will surpass humans in intelligence and kick off a feedback loop of unfathomable change. When that day comes, Anthony Levandowski will be firmly on the side of the machines. In September 2015, the multi-millionaire engineer at the heart of the patent and trade secrets lawsuit between Uber and Waymo, Google's self-driving car company, founded a religious organization called Way of the Future. Its purpose, according to previously unreported state filings, is nothing less than to "develop and promote the realization of a Godhead based on Artificial Intelligence." Mark Harris is a freelance journalist reporting on technology from Seattle. Sign up to get Backchannel's weekly newsletter. Way of the Future has not yet responded to requests for the forms it must submit annually to the Internal Revenue Service (and make publically available), as a non-profit religious corporation. However, documents filed with California show that Levandowski is Way of the Future's CEO and President, and that it aims "through understanding and worship of the Godhead, [to] contribute to the betterment of society." A divine AI may still be far off, but Levandowski has made a start at providing AI with an earthly incarnation. The autonomous cars he was instrumental in developing at Google are already ferrying real passengers around Phoenix, Arizona, while self-driving trucks he built at Otto are now part of Uber's plan to make freight transport safer and more efficient. He even oversaw a passenger-carrying drones project that evolved into Larry Page's Kitty Hawk startup. Levandowski has done perhaps more than anyone else to propel transportation toward its own Singularity, a time when automated cars, trucks and aircraft either free us from the danger and drudgery of human operation--or decimate mass transit, encourage urban sprawl, and enable deadly bugs and hacks. But before any of that can happen, Levandowski must face his own day of reckoning.

The car was once a physical embodiment of freedom and liberty, allowing us to drop everything and take to the open road. Today, it's a symbol of oppression -- a mobile prison cell where drivers "do time" as they sit in traffic on their daily commute. Over the next decade, this may change: Self-driving technology will allow passengers to focus their attention on other tasks. That same commute could become a source of great excitement, a private moment in the day for work or pleasure. There are still technological challenges to be overcome before self-driving vehicles can be allowed onto the streets.