State Of Autonomy: December Recap

Sebastian Thrun of Google’s AV project is offering an online course in programming autonomous cars. Study hard and maybe you can take his job?

Every month, I recap the news articles I’ve consumed around autonomous vehicles, calling out the highlights and keeping track of market projections. This is also your chance, dear readers, to nominate a topic for discussion in the following month.

Happy new year everyone! 2015 wrapped up with some big stories, including a Google-Ford joint venture, signs of autonomous life from the Far East, and some refreshing activity from legislators. In less than a week, all of the carmakers and suppliers who matter will be at CES to showcase their latest advances in self-driving technology and V2X connectivity. I’ll be there to snag as many free tote bags as possible and hopefully photobomb some real journalists.

I’m excited/afraid to publish one of my pieces next month, currently titled, Privacy Is The Enemy Of Progress. I recommend staying tuned for that, if nothing else.

This Month’s Highlights:

• Baidu (The Chinese Google) Completes Its First Test Of AVs On Public Roads; Claims It Will Produce Driverless Buses Within Three Years
• Google And Ford Announce Partnership In AV Development
• U.S. Dept. Of Transportation Offering $40MM “Smart City Challenge” Prize To A Midsize City With The Most Appealing Infrastructure Proposal
• Industry Insiders Project Cost Of LIDAR Will Drop From $75,000 To $100 In Next Five Years
• California DMV Proposes Regulations To Require A Specially Licensed Driver For Operating Autonomous Vehicles
• Google’s Sebastian Thrun Offers “Basics Of Programming An Autonomous Car” Course At Udacity.com
• Juniper Research Estimates 20MM Autonomous Cars On Roads By 2025
• Documents Reveal Google Has Been Discussing Autonomous Vehicle Rollout With UK Government For Several Years
• Feds Propose Revising Crash Test Protocols To Consider ADAS (Active Driver Assistance Systems)

Predictions:

Predictions are based on official statements from manufacturers, technology companies, and industry consultants. Exact year claimed may be +/- 1 due to statement variations or because I was lazy in making the chart.

Media Coverage:

Reminder: the media coverage depicted here merely represents my personal consumption of articles written this month by newsworthy sources. When certain stories go viral, I usually only represent them here by the first one or two outlets to publish the story.

Coming In January:

• The First 500 Words You Should Read About Autonomous Cars (early January)
• Privacy Is The Enemy Of Progress (late January)
• Your suggestion? Send a tweet to @mitchturck

Reactions From The Public:

Re: Human Drivers Crashing Into AVs Because The Latter Obey The Laws

Re: Delphi Announcing New V2V Technology At Upcoming CES Showcase

Re: Limitations Of Self-Driving Cars In Poor Weather