Fully autonomous vehicles are already operating on city streets, but a study published last year in AI and Ethics reported that 74% of survey respondents said they do not trust AVs nor believe AVs can perform better than a normal driver. However, a number of companies are developing technologies to enhance safety for and around autonomous vehicles in urban areas. According to Statista, 58 million autonomous vehicles are projected to be sold globally in 2030. Cities need to be ready for them. "The nation's city leaders see that AV technology is here so it cannot be ignored or left in a regulatory limbo while it operates on our streets," said Houston city council member and Vice Mayor Pro Tem Martha Castex-Tatum in testimony to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure earlier this year.

A lot of media coverage of self-driving technology has focused on a handful of big companies with well-known brands: Google, Uber, Tesla, and GM. But there's another company working on self-driving technology that might ultimately prove even more important. That company is Mobileye, an Israeli startup that was acquired by Intel in 2017. But it has something that's arguably even more important: a dominant position in today's market for advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS). Mobileye had a very public split with Tesla back in 2016, but it continues to do business with a lot of other carmakers.

It's not like academic researchers have the time or money to command a fleet of self-driving mapping vehicles, which is why Argoverse is so important to that community. A self-driving car is only as good as its maps. Automakers around the world have made efforts to create high-definition maps of as many roads as possible as they ramp up AV development, so that their cars can have the best idea possible of the surrounding world. But while most groups don't seem too keen on the idea of giving those maps away, Ford's Argo AI is taking a different approach. Argo AI announced on Wednesday that it has created a public repository for its self-driving-car development data, including high-definition maps.

Nissan has tested a prototype of its most advanced autonomous car on public roads in Tokyo with the final product due to be ready by 2020. The ProPILOT operates autonomously on urban roads and freeways using artificial intelligence from 12 sonars, 12 cameras, nine millimetre-wave radars, six laser scanners and a high-definition map. Developers say this allows it to analyse complex scenarios in real time and navigate even the most challenging city conditions such as crossing busy intersections. The ProPILOT operates autonomously on urban roads and freeways using artificial intelligence from 12 sonars, 12 cameras, nine millimetre-wave radars, six laser scanners and a high-definition map. Developers say this allows it to analyse complex scenarios in real time and navigate even the most challenging city conditions such as crossing busy intersections.

China is creating roadblocks for U.S. auto makers and tech companies to bringing self-driving cars to the world's largest auto market. Citing national security concerns, China is limiting the amount of mapping that can be done by foreign companies, as General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co., Alphabet Inc. and Apple Inc. rush to develop self-driving cars or the software behind them. High-definition maps are crucial for autonomous cars to help them discern their exact location, navigate tricky intersections and avoid fixed objects such as buildings. Global car makers already need to form a partnership with a local company to open factories in China, but some are skeptical they will be able to find a way to operate their autonomous-car software in China because of the mapping restrictions. Brian McClendon, an industry pioneer who helped created Google Maps and later led Uber Technologies Inc.'s self-driving effort, said he doubted U.S. software would ever be adopted for self-driving cars in China.

Mapmaking used to be the domain of a select group of cartographers that would gather, review, and plot out data onto sheets of paper. The chances that you actually knew a cartographer in the past were probably pretty slim--but not anymore. Today and in the future, virtually everyone is or will be a contributor to the increasingly detailed maps that represent the world we live in. As our vehicles become increasingly automated, they need ever more detailed maps and not just the maps we get from Google or Apple on our smartphones. The self-driving car will need much more information.