If you are not as paranoid as Musk, automatic driving may not need to divide any technical routes. But standing on the opposite side of LiDAR, Tesla may have missed the best time to develop fully autonomous driving. More info: What is LiDAR? LiDAR is not to replace millimeter-wave radar and vision, but to match with other sensors as a heterogeneous sensor. Through these three different sensors, a heterogeneous fusion can be made to ensure the overall perception security and improve sensitivity and accuracy.

Waabi, founded by AI pioneer and visionary Raquel Urtasun, today launched out of stealth to build the next generation of self-driving technology. Waabi's innovative approach unleashes the power of AI to'drive' safely in the real world, bringing the promise of self-driving closer to commercialization than ever before. Waabi also announced today a $83.5-million (USD) Series A financing with backing from best-in-class investors across the technology, logistics and the Canadian innovation ecosystem. The round, which is among the largest Series A rounds ever raised in Canada, was led by Khosla Ventures with additional participation from Uber, Radical Ventures, 8VC, OMERS Ventures, BDC Capital's Women in Technology Venture Fund (WIT), Aurora Innovation Inc., AI luminaries Geoffrey Hinton, Fei-Fei Li, Pieter Abbeel, Sanja Fidler and others. AI and self-driving pioneer Raquel Urtasun is the founder and CEO of Waabi.

Who is liable for a car accident when no one's driving the car? That was one of several questions explored by experts in Arizona's autonomous vehicle industry during a special symposium last Thursday as representatives from public and private sectors hashed out what the near future looks like for driverless cars. As more self-driving cars move around the East Valley, stakeholders and policymakers gathered in Chandler to discuss how Arizona will adapt to the rapidly-developing technology. "A lot of work needs to be done," said Jill Sciarappo, senior marketing director for Intel, "and we need to come together to solve a lot of problems to make that happen." A reoccurring theme of the symposium, organized by the Chandler Chamber of Commerce, involved the liability factors involving self-driving cars.

A number of companies have pared down the Level 5 challenge to make it more tractable. Some are limiting their locations to easier to navigate areas, like Voyage's effort based in retirement communities. Others are looking at applications that don't involve moving humans, like grocery delivery robot company Nuro, which has teamed up with Kroger to pilot autonomous delivery. Finally, other companies like Aptiv (with Lyft) and Cruise (part of GM) are tackling the broader challenge of Level 4, but with some operational constraints. They've limited their vehicles to areas that are accurately mapped and monitored, and where they can get needed infrastructure updates.

Participants and startups in the emerging self-driving vehicles industry (components, systems, trucks, cars and buses) have been at it for over almost 60 years. The pace accelerated in 2004, 2005 and 2007 when DARPA sponsored long-distance competitions for driverless cars, and then again in 2009 when Uber began its ride-hailing system. As the prospects that self-driving ride-hailing fleets, vehicles, systems and associated AI would soon be a reality, startups, fundings, mergers and acquisitions have followed reaching a peak in 2017. Thus far in 2017 more than 55 companies and startups offering everything from solid state distancing sensors to ride-share fleets and mapping systems – plus five strategic acquisitions – raised over $28.2 billion! Listed below are month-by-month recaps of self-driving-related fundings and acquisitions as reported by The Robot Report.

Uber and Lyft might be the leading ride-hailing companies in the U.S. currently, but it seems that other companies are also making a foray into the market. Didi Chuxing, the Chinese ride-hailing company is reportedly setting up a new lab at Mountain View, California, which will focus on intelligent driving systems, artificial-intelligence-based transport security and self-driving. According to Recode, Didi wants to move its AI operations to California since it is gradually becoming a "Mecca of the self-driving industry" and has the talent pool available for the same. Didi first gained recognition outside China when it acquired Uber's China assets in August 2016. The company seems to be hot on Uber's trail since it has also employed former Uber engineer Charlie Miller.