On Thursday evening, around 7 pm PDT, Tesla is slated to unveil the newest vehicle in its lineup: one that will be able to drive itself. A purpose-built Tesla robot taxi--a "Cybercab," in the electric automaker's parlance--is meant to establish the company as less a manufacturer of cars than a maker of pathbreaking robotics technology. "The way to think of Tesla is almost entirely in terms of solving autonomy and being able to turn on that autonomy for a gigantic fleet," CEO Elon Musk told Tesla investors in April. As Musk takes the stage tomorrow at the Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. movie studio in Burbank, California, and attempts to usher that substantial (and difficult!) The robot devil will likely be in the robot details.

Robot taxis are coming soon to a street near you. Argo AI, a robocar venture backed by Volkswagen and Ford, recently announced plans to deploy the first commercial autonomous taxi service in Germany by 2025. The battery-powered vehicles will be outfitted with laser lidar sensors, radar, cameras, and AI-enabled software. It's part of the growing interest in self-driving public transportation that could be cheaper and safer than regular cabs. "When considering an imminent threat, like an animal running in front of a vehicle, the control systems of the vehicle make an instant decision to brake or take other evasive actions," David Linthicum, the chief cloud strategy officer of Deloitte Consulting, told Lifewire in an email interview.

I'm in the middle seat of a Chrysler Pacifica minivan, heading north on Dobson Road in Chandler, Arizona, when I notice we may have taken a wrong turn. Under normal circumstances, I would just lean forward and ask the driver for an explanation. There is, after all, no driver to ask. Last October, Alphabet's self-driving subsidiary Waymo emailed its customers in the suburbs of Phoenix to let them know that "completely driverless Waymo cars are on the way." For several years, Waymo has offered its autonomous taxi service to a small group of people, but the rides typically included a safety driver behind the steering wheel. Now, Waymo is saying more of those rides will take place sans safety driver, a sign that the company is growing confident in the accuracy of its technology.

Tesla's battery research partner has released a new paper on a battery cell that could last over 1 million miles, which they say is going to be particularly useful in'robot taxis' -- something that Tesla wants to bring to market. When talking about the economics of Tesla's future fleet of robotaxis at the Tesla Autonomy Event, Tesla CEO Elon Musk emphasized that the vehicles need to be durable in order for the economics to work: The cars currently built are all designed for a million miles of operation. The drive unit is design, tested, and validated for 1 million miles of operation. But the CEO admitted that the battery packs are not built to last 1 million miles. Earlier this year, Musk said that they built Model 3 to last as long as a commercial truck, a million miles, and the battery modules should last between 300,000 miles and 500,000 miles.

Although the robot taxi is a proof-of-concept, the volume market introduction of automated vehicles represents the main cyber-physical challenge, necessitating drastically increased design complexity. Challenges and possible architecture and design process solutions are discussed.

The automobile industry has never taken a break from innovating since the debut of the Motorwagen, the world's first car. Automakers are continuously attempting to make their vehicles faster, safer, and more comfortable. To make driving more comfortable car manufacturers looked to automation technologies to make driving less tedious. To start with, (Level 1) automation enhanced the quality of driving using technologies like cruise control. Taking things a step further, cars began to feature assisted steering and acceleration (Level 2).

The Domino's announcement came on the heels of Yum Brands Inc.'s YUM -0.27% Pizza Hut joining sides with Toyota Motor Corp. TM 0.95% in a similar robot-car pact. The partnerships were touted by car companies looking for any edge in the development of driverless vehicles that could transform the way people get around and take deliveries in cities around the world. For the pizza companies, they're a way to keep up with technology that could make deliveries cheaper and more efficient, potential benefits that have caught the attention of companies in a range of businesses. Most visions of driverless cars have highlighted robot taxis. But many experts are starting to see around-town deliveries as an especially promising arena for driverless cars, and it may even develop sooner than robot taxis.

As the arrival of driverless cars gets closer, cities are scrambling to get ready. And for good reason: The driverless car promises to reshape the urban landscape as we know it. Little wonder, then, that the potential changes are creating excitement--and fear--among city planners. As they host test fleets of robot vehicles and figure out how to rework ordinances to prepare for the autonomous future, they're imagining what life is going to be like when the streets are filled with cars that can largely think for themselves. Some see an opportunity to create on-demand public transit that gets people where they're going faster and reaches more of the population. Or redirect traffic to make it easier to hold functions like farmers markets.

This market research report was originally published at Tractica's website. It is reprinted here with the permission of Tractica. The 2018 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) was dominated by the central theme of artificial intelligence (AI) becoming much more visible and tangible. AI had a dedicated marketplace and the impact of AI could be felt across the show floor. Ironically, the biggest news coming out of this year's "AI themed" CES was the power blackout caused by a result of the deluge of rain that hit Las Vegas during its opening days.

On the roads, the autonomous age is moving from the future into the present. Cars that can drive themselves have already logged millions of miles, but with a driver poised to take over if needed. Waymo, a branch of Alphabet, the parent company of Google, is offering commuters in Phoenix the ability to hail a Chrysler minivan without anyone behind the wheel. Audi expects to begin selling a version of its A8 sedan that can take over completely in traffic jams and similar situations. And next year, General Motors Co. has promised to put robot taxis into service.