There are many reasons robotics companies fail. From an ill-conceived idea to poor execution or the inability to raise funding, building and running a sustainable robotics company is challenging. This is never a fun recap to write. We don't want to see startups fail, but inevitably many do. The last couple of years have been especially difficult thanks to a global pandemic, economic uncertainties and ongoing supply chain issues.

Perrone Robotics, Inc., a leading provider of fully autonomous vehicle (AV) technology and turnkey vehicle solutions for the mobility of people and things, and Local Motors Inc., the world's leader in shared electric autonomous shuttles, have signed an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) agreement. The two companies have agreed to develop next-generation autonomous shuttles that will integrate Perrone's autonomous vehicle technology into Olli, the shuttle designed and manufactured by Local Motors. The collaboration brings together two leading innovators in the autonomous vehicle industry. Perrone Robotics holds a Pioneer Patent for its "MAX" General Purpose Robotics Operating System, and with its TONY solution the company has perfected a "drop-in any vehicle" retrofit kit approach to autonomy, making it one of the most flexible and adaptable solutions available. Local Motors' Olli line complements Perrone's innovation, leveraging 3D printing and agile processes to deliver fully integrated vehicles that evolve at the speed of customer needs.

Local Motors with its Olli robot shuttle is progressing at a furious pace making others look - well - pedestrian. This genuinely symmetrical (no U-turns) multipurpose machine has the essential large sliding doors for the disabled and fast entry/exit. Designed to purpose, envisaging easy configuration for hospital patients on beds, etc. 3D printed, its in-wheel motors from Protean Electric provide vectored traction for bad weather and Local Motors is even progressing air-less tires. In an industry first, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company has developed a non-pneumatic (airless) tire (NPT) and wheel assembly to support autonomous vehicle transportation in a city setting. It trials soon with Jacksonville Transportation Authority on Local Motors Olli 2.0 AV in collaboration with Beep, Inc. Roaring ahead, Local Motors just announced a partnership with Liftango to build software for on-demand routing and passenger pick up/drop off for Olli 2.0. IDTechEx reports predicted these things and the latest one, "Robot Shuttles for Smart Cities 2021-2041" roadmaps a lot more that will come from the Teslas of this industry.

Two of Local Motors' competitors -- EasyMile and Navya -- import their vehicles from France and are able to get exemptions for R&D purposes. Local Motors is petitioning the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, complaining that "smaller, innovative American vehicle manufacturers" like themselves are at a disadvantage, hindering competitiveness and endangering American leadership in autonomy and new technology development. "American companies creating American jobs building American cars have a higher bar to get vehicles on the road for purposes of research and testing than foreign companies importing vehicles," David Woessner, head of regulatory affairs for Local Motors, tells Axios. "The technology is moving faster than the regulatory environment can keep up with," adds Randell Iwasaki, executive director of Contra Costa Transportation Authority, which is trying to deploy both U.S. and foreign-made shuttles on public roads. Two of Local Motors' competitors -- EasyMile and Navya -- import their vehicles from France and are able to get exemptions for R&D purposes.

AI and machine learning can produce background checks on people and companies in minutes instead of days.

The annual Cannes Lion Festival of Creativity brings together worldwide leaders in the creative communications world. It's the foremost event for ad agencies and for globally recognized consumer brands to hear about new ideas on the cutting edge of technology, imagination and virtualization, like Watson. Rather than the typical summary presentations of strategic direction and top-to-top meetings that are the norm at Cannes, IBM decided to show clients just what Watson can do. IBM's presence at Cannes includes IBM iX, which is now firmly positioned among the leaders in Gartner's Magic Quadrant for Digital Marketing Agencies. You can also see some of IBM iX's great work on their YouTube channel.

Walt Disney World in Florida appears poised to launch the highest-profile commercial deployment of driverless passenger vehicles to date, testing a fleet of driverless shuttles that could cart passengers through parking lots and around its theme parks. According to sources with direct knowledge of Disney's plans, the company is in late-stage negotiation with at least two manufacturers of autonomous shuttles – Local Motors, based in Phoenix, and Navya, based in Paris. It's unclear whether contracts would go to both or just one of the companies. The sources, who asked not be identified to avoid offending Disney, said the company plans a pilot program later this year to transport employees in the electric-drive robot vehicles. If that goes well, they said, the shuttles would begin transporting park visitors sometime next year.

Walt Disney World in Florida appears poised to launch the highest-profile commercial deployment of driverless passenger vehicles to date, testing a fleet of driverless shuttles that could cart passengers through parking lots and around its theme parks. According to sources with direct knowledge of Disney's plans, the company is in late-stage negotiation with at least two manufacturers of autonomous shuttles – Local Motors, based in Phoenix, and Navya, based in Paris. It's unclear whether contracts would go to both or just one of the companies. The sources, who asked not be identified to avoid offending Disney, said the company plans a pilot program later this year to transport employees in the electric-drive robot vehicles. If that goes well, they said, the shuttles would begin transporting park visitors sometime next year.

It's been 15 years since a degenerative eye disease forced Erich Manser to stop driving. Today, he commutes to his job as an accessibility consultant via commuter trains and city buses, but he has trouble locating empty seats sometimes and must ask strangers for guidance. A step toward solving Manser's predicament could arrive as soon as next year. Manser's employer, IBM, and an independent carmaker called Local Motors are developing a self-driving, electric shuttle bus that combines artificial intelligence, augmented reality, and smartphone apps to serve people with vision, hearing, physical, and cognitive disabilities. The buses, dubbed "Olli," are designed to transport people around neighborhoods at speeds below 35 miles per hour and will be sold to cities, counties, airports, companies, and universities.

Want to receive a weekly deep dive into all things auto, transportation, & logistics tech? Click here to subscribe to our auto tech newsletter. Momentum in auto tech is at an all-time high, with investors funding private startups in the field at a record pace. Of course, much of the buzz has revolved around autonomous driving software, with startups like Zoox seeing $200M funding rounds, tech corporates looking to capitalize, and major automakers working feverishly to catch up. Validating the reliability of fully autonomous vehicles will be no small feat, with RAND estimating that tens or hundreds of billions of test miles might have to be driven to properly gauge their safety. While many players are meeting this challenge head-on, a number of other startups are also developing autonomous tech for more focused applications.