Rivian, a U.S.-based electric vehicle maker known for its premium electric trucks, SUVs, and delivery vans, has made a bold new claim about the future of driving. The company, which focuses heavily on advanced software and clean-energy technology, says its cars could become so autonomous that owners won’t even need to be inside them. 

According to CEO RJ Scaringe, Rivian aims to reach this level of full driverless capability by 2030, allowing vehicles to run errands, pick up friends, and travel completely on their own.

Steps Toward Full Autonomy

Scaringe explains that Rivian’s next major features include “hands-off everywhere” driving and point-to-point navigation similar to Tesla’s FSD. These systems will still require driver attention at first. But he believes that soon after, cars will no longer need monitoring. By 2028 or 2029, he suggests Rivian vehicles could complete solo trips while owners stay at home.

Why This Matters

Robotaxis like Waymo already drive without humans in certain cities, showing how quickly the field is advancing. Driver-assist systems such as GM’s Super Cruise and Tesla’s FSD (Supervised) allow hands-free driving but still depend on human supervision. 

The challenge now is to make fully driverless technology safe, affordable, and available in everyday cars. Whoever achieves this first will gain a huge advantage, giving people extra time to rest, work, or relax while commuting.

Tesla’s Driverless Claims

Tesla CEO Elon Musk is also pushing hard toward this goal. According to Reuters, Tesla is testing fully driverless Model Y vehicles in Austin and aims to deliver the first units by June. Musk says these cars will operate with no driver involvement. Further reports say that Tesla will soon launch unsupervised FSD in Austin, allowing vehicles to navigate without human monitoring. These updates show that Tesla remains a major competitor in the race toward full autonomy.

Major Challenges for Autonomous Cars

Developing safe and reliable driverless cars has proven far harder than early predictions suggested. Many challenges remain, including safety validation, rare road scenarios, and regulatory approval. Still, rapid progress in AI is pushing the industry forward. 

Old rule-based approaches are being replaced with AI models that learn, adapt, and generalize better. With Rivian, Tesla, GM, and Waymo all improving their autonomous systems, the dream of personal driverless cars is closer than ever, though not guaranteed.

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Baidu’s Apollo Go has signed a cooperation agreement with Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) to introduce autonomous ride-hailing services in the city. This marks a significant step in Apollo Go’s global expansion, as Dubai becomes its first international market outside mainland China and Hong Kong. The partnership aligns with Dubai’s vision of advancing smart mobility and integrating autonomous technology into its transportation network.

100 Apollo Go Robotaxis by 2025, expanding to 1000 by 2028

The initial phase of the project will see 100 Apollo Go RT6 robotaxis deployed in Dubai by the end of 2025. These autonomous vehicles are designed for safe and efficient driverless mobility, equipped with high-reliability systems and an intuitive user experience. By 2028, the fleet will expand to no fewer than 1,000 vehicles, supporting Dubai’s goal of making 25% of its transportation autonomous by 2030. This large-scale deployment underscores the city’s commitment to pioneering self-driving technology.

150 Million KM of safe driving & 10 Million rides completed

Apollo Go has a proven track record in autonomous driving, having completed over 150 million kilometers of safe driving and provided more than 10 million rides. The RT6 robotaxis are designed with advanced safety features, ensuring a comfortable and reliable ride. With experience in large-scale operations in cities like Wuhan, China, Apollo Go is well-prepared to manage the complexities of an urban environment like Dubai. The company will collaborate closely with Dubai authorities to adapt the technology to local regulations and road conditions.

Dubai’s advanced infrastructure helps Apollo Go’s expansion plans

Dubai has been at the forefront of supporting autonomous vehicle initiatives, making it an ideal location for Apollo Go’s international expansion. The city’s intelligent infrastructure and commitment to innovation provide a strong foundation for autonomous mobility services. Testing will begin in central areas of Dubai to ensure the technology adapts smoothly to local traffic patterns and urban challenges.

Apollo Go expands globally with support from Hong Kong and the UAE

Baidu’s global ambitions for Apollo Go were further strengthened when it received the first autonomous vehicle test license in Hong Kong in November 2024. Dubai’s selection as the first market for full fleet deployment highlights the trust and support of the UAE government. This partnership follows Baidu CEO Robin Li’s meeting with UAE leaders at the World Governments Summit in February 2025, where strong backing was expressed for Apollo Go’s vision of sustainable and intelligent urban transportation.

What is the future of Smart Urban Mobility?

Apollo Go aims to revolutionize urban mobility by providing safe, efficient, and intelligent transportation solutions. As cities worldwide embrace smart transportation, Baidu’s expansion into Dubai marks a key milestone in making autonomous ride-hailing a reality on a global scale. The partnership with RTA is a major step towards achieving a smarter and more connected future for urban transport.

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The automobile industry continues to adapt to time and advancing technology. The latest pinnacle of this development is self-driving cars. Many brands are chasing this technology, which allows for a journey without the driver’s intervention. Users have been gradually getting accustomed to the presence of self-driving cars in our lives and have been watching its progress with anticipation. However, a recent study by J.D. Power indicates that consumer confidence in fully automated, self-driving vehicles is on the decline. Here are the details…

Consumer Confidence in Self-Driving Cars Declines for Second Year in a Row

Self-driving vehicles have been a part of our lives for some time now and their popularity continues to grow. However, as their usage increases, so does the number of incidents involving them. News of accidents involving these cars frequently becomes a trending topic on the internet and social media. Naturally, this impacts societal psychology.

A recent study by J.D. Power found that consumer confidence in fully automated, self-driving vehicles has declined for the second consecutive year. On a scale of 100, trust points went down by 2 points to 37 this year, after already dropping by 5 points last year. The report says people are not ready for self-driving cars in many ways.

They feel least comfortable riding in one or using self-driving buses and trains. Despite the decline in consumer confidence, the study also found that consumers are more open to self-driving cars if they have had experience riding in one. For example, 67% of respondents who had ridden in a robotaxi expressed confidence in the technology.

Of course, this fear won’t change anything. Autonomous-driving vehicles are already reaching more users every day, and it doesn’t seem like users’ fears will alter this trend. Admittedly, this technology isn’t perfect today, which explains why people might feel this way. However, it’s worth noting that self-driving is a relatively new technology. There’s still much room for improvement, and regardless, the future belongs to autonomous technologies.

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Autonomous driving technologies are becoming more widespread with each passing day. Today, many companies are testing their self-driving vehicles in cities where they have permission to operate. However, this technology also brings up some problems. For example, who is to blame when these not yet perfect cars make a mistake? In China’s Hangzhou province, there is growing concern about the increasing number of self-driving cars, authorities are considering the idea of penalizing vehicle owners or managers for traffic violations committed by these cars. Here are the details…

Who’s Responsible When Self-Driving Cars Breaks the Law?

As self-driving car technology continues to develop rapidly, fully autonomous driving is becoming increasingly popular. For example cities like Chicago, Los Angeles, Beijing, and Hangzhou have even started self-driving car trials. But there’s a lingering question: If a self-driving car breaks a traffic rule, who’s to blame? The passenger or the car’s owner? Should they be fined?

A recent report reveals that the city of Hangzhou has submitted a draft proposal focused on the testing and use of smart, connected vehicles. This draft outlines two key points:

• All smart, connected vehicles must link to a central management platform.
• A liability framework is established to handle legal and regulatory issues.

If a self-driving vehicle without passengers commits a traffic violation, the owner or manager of the vehicle will be fined as per the law. Additionally, the organization responsible for testing and using the vehicle will have to cover the costs of any accidents they’re liable for. Of course, this idea is not new; in the U.S. car owners are already held responsible for any accidents caused by their self-driving technology. The rules in Hangzhou are still a draft and may change, but they show the city’s plan for regulating these vehicles.

However, the debate is not over. Some say it’s unfair to blame the owner for mistakes made by a car they’re not driving. Others argue that since the owner is in charge of the vehicle, they should be held accountable for any mistakes. It remains to be seen how these new rules in Hangzhou will actually work, but they’re a big step toward making self-driving cars safer for everyone. Especially when you consider how advanced China is in this area.

What are your thoughts on this subject? In the event of an accident, who do you think should be held responsible: the owner of the vehicle or the person who developed the technology?

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Partnerships between technology companies continue to increase, resulting in better products and less time and money wasted. The last of these partnerships is between ZTE and autonomous driving computing processor developer Black Sesame Technologies. The two companies will work together on ZTE’s first autonomous driving chip and shape the future together.

Black Sesame Technologies partners with ZTE for self-driving cars

Self-driving and other modern features continue to spread in the auto industry. This situation attracts the attention of big tech companies. Companies like Apple and Huawei are entering the auto industry, challenging decades-old manufacturers, one of these brands is ZTE. While the company has been investing in self-driving technologies for a while, it will speed up the process thanks to its collaboration with Black Sesame Technologies.

According to the agreement between Black Sesame Technologies and ZTE, the two companies will use their accumulated knowledge in autonomous self-driving computing chips and vehicle operating systems to develop ecosystems. This will result in local chips and software that meet market demands. Currently, Black Sesame Technologies has a comprehensive product portfolio that supports automakers in every step of production.

Including proprietary automated image processing ISP, auto-grade deep neural network accelerator NPU, Huashan series high-performance autonomous driving computing chip, Shanhai artificial intelligence development platform, Hanhai autonomous driving middleware, auto-grade integrated detection algorithm, BEST Data closed-loop solution and BEST Drive autonomous driving solution.

These technologies have been very useful for the company as well. Earlier in August, Black Sesame Technologies closed its C+ funding round, raising over $500 million in the combined C and C+ rounds. Based on this, it is possible to say that ZTE has chosen a strategically successful partner. It is a question of interest when this partnership will bear its first fruit.

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On Tuesday, the Chinese multinational automotive company Geely announced that their premium electric brand, Zeekr, will partner up with Waymo. This partnership is to build an all-electric, self-driving vehicle for the Waymo One ride-hailing autonomous fleet in the United States.

For those unaware, Waymo LLC is an American autonomous driving technology development company that is a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc (Google’s parent company).

Both Geely and Waymo stated in a press release that the ride-hailing cars would be designed and developed by Zeekr, Geely’s electric mobility brand, at a facility in Gothenburg, Sweden using “a new proprietary and open-source mobility architecture.” Once the cars are delivered to Waymo in the United States, the company plans on setting it up with their autonomous driving technology called Waymo Driver.

The company did not provide any specific timeline of when we can expect the vehicles to hit the streets but stated that the cars would be introduced in the Waymo One fleet in the years to come. However, the company has already has been testing its self-driving vans in Phoenix, Arizona for more than a year now.

Google first established its self-driving car project in 2009. It was later re-named Waymo and made a separate subsidiary of Alphabet. However, after almost 13 years of its establishment, it looks like we still have a while before Waymo offers a widespread, fully autonomous ride-hailing service to the general public.

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Autonomous vehicles are gradually gaining ground all over the world, propelled by the increasing deployment of the 5G technology. As 5G connectivity continues to grow, we also expect to see more startups and carmakers with commercial-ready autonomous vehicles like AutoX’s.

Tech giant and Cloud computing powerhouse Microsoft has announced a partnership with German carmaker Volkswagen to produce autonomous vehicles. The partnership will utilize Microsoft’s expertise in cloud technology to fast-track the development of Volkswagen’s self-driving model.

Volkswagen and Microsoft had already established a partnership which saw the carmaker deploy Microsoft’s cloud technology for connected cars. Volkswagen is merely expanding Microsoft’s cloud technology deployment to fully autonomous vehicles. Using Microsoft’s Azure Cloud computing platform, the carmaker hopes to develop an Automated Driving Platform (ADP) that would be the fulcrum of further development in the area of autonomous driving systems.

Microsoft Azure is the well-developed and powerful cloud computing arm of Microsoft. The arm offers an array of services and solutions that are increasingly becoming more effective as many organizations and businesses migrate their critical resources to the cloud for greater security, speed, and overall versatility.

Volkswagen had realized the huge data requirements needed for the development of its autonomous vehicle systems under the framework of the Autonomous Driving Platform, and with this partnership with Microsoft, the company would be able to speed up the development cycle of the autonomous driving systems from months to weeks, deploying the huge computing and data capabilities of Microsoft’s cloud technology.

An increasing number of carmakers who are now adding connected and autonomous vehicles into their production profile have realized the important role of tech companies in developing autonomous systems. The technologies available via cloud services could indeed mark a turning point in fast-tracking the development of autonomous driving and its subsequent deployment on public roads in the years to come.

Volkswagen, therefore, joins General Motors and Cruise as automakers who have tapped from the cloud technologies available through Microsoft Azure in developing self-driving systems.

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A couple of months prior, we had reported on AutoX and Alibaba’s Amap partnering to launch a RoboTaxi ride service in China. Now, AutoX has officially launched this service in Shanghai, just shortly after its successful pilot.

The RoboTaxi ride hailing service is now open to the general public, marking a transmit milestone for China’s largest city. AutoX RoboTaxis are booked via Alibaba’s AutoNavi (also known as Amap, Gaode, or 高德) smartphone app. Furthermore, its launch also arrives after AutoX entered into a strategic partnership with Letzgo, a major taxi based firm in Shanghai. In other words, the RoboTais can also be hailed through Letzgo’s smartphone app as well.

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Letzgo currently operates over 16,000 vehicles in more than 18 cities including Shanghai, in China. The company will also employ trained staff to operate RoboTaxis. This partnership will have AutoX provide its AutoX Driver platform while Letzgo will operate its daily fleet operations. Notably, the company is also taking various precautionary steps to keep customers safe during this time of crisis.

Before starting a trip, riders will have to say the last four digits of heir phone numbers to a voice recognition system within the vehicle. While on the way, passengers can also monitor their progress through a display. Additionally, this screen will also showcase the objects around the vehicle and display information that reveals how an autonomous vehicle views the world and makes decisions.

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Alibaba‘s Amap and AutoX have partnered up to launch a self driving vehicle as Robotaxi, in China’s ride-hailing network for commercial service in China. The service is being launched first in Shanghai.

The city of Shanghai is the first area where collaboration is launching its service, which is named ‘AutoX RoboTaxi.’ This is big news considering it is the first time a self-driving service has been available on a major ride hailing platform in China. The service is being offered by AutoX (also known as AutoNavi and Gaode) alongside the Alibaba owned, Amap Co. Ltd.

The process of using the service is relatively simple and quite similar to any regular taxi hailing service. A user must enter their pickup and drop locations, after which, the application will list all vehicles that can fulfill the request, including AutoX RoboTaxi vehicles. One can choose between the regular and autonomous vehicles selections and the app will simply send a car closest to the user in either case.

According to AutoX CEO, Dr. Jianxiong Xiao, “The seamless combination of autonomous and human-driving fleets is crucial for the adoption and commercialization of self-driving technology. The service area of autonomous vehicles is an ever-increasing yet geo-fenced region, and the fleet size takes time to grow. This combination is a must-have for an autonomous driving company to be able to provide a truly useful service for all riders.”

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At the moment, other self-driving car services only offer drops at fixed locations. However, the AutoX’s service will have users be picked up and dropped off at any location within the city. This provides a greater degree of flexibility and is a lot more viable and convenient for its customers. Furthermore, AutoX vehicles are capable of going speeds up to 80km/h and has also been developed with the recent pandemic in mind.

The AutoX service is streamlined identity confirmation and ride starting process, which is completely touchless. For its self driving car, AutoX employs the V2X technology that is connected to servers via 5G networking. This allows the vehicle to communicate with road infrastructure like traffic lights, and obtain other information as well. At the moment, the RoboTaxi service is the first real-world application of Shanghai’s V2X infrastructure, which was recently built as part of China’s national New Infrastructure Initiative.

The practical applications and implications of this service is enormous. Not only does it open a new breed of service to the existing industry, but it also further advances the technology behind it and its implementation. This will also help the large population of Shanghai to move freely around the city with lower risks and go about daily commutes to subway stations, grocery stores, and more. The service will have 100 cars in its arsenal and will even start accepting free promotional rides to early users from 27th April 2020.

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Self-driving or autonomous vehicles have prevailed for a while now. But their usage has only come into the light now during the COVID-19 pandemic. Neolix, a Chinese self-driving delivery company has been transporting medical supplies and food in its autonomous vans to the most affected areas like the epicenter in Wuhan. Seeing its potential, the Chinese government has announced to subsidize up to 60% of the total cost of the vehicle’s price to the companies willing to purchase them.

Neolix started manufacturing its self-driving vans only in May 2019. Since then, the company has only produced 125 units. But now, due to the vehicle’s potential amidst the coronavirus outbreak, the company has received over 200 orders for its vans. Further, after the Chinese government’s announcement of subsidizing the cost of the self-driving vans to any firm purchasing them for the greater good, the company now expects to manufacture and sell more than 1,000 units of them by the end of this year.

Autonomous vehicles have always been thought to be dangerous on roads with normal vehicles and pedestrians. However, as most of the regions in the world are now facing forced shutdowns, the roads are mostly less congested and thus advanced self-driving vehicles can be used in a large manner without hesitation to transport necessities to affected areas.

(Source)

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A recent survey carried out by the Capgemini Institute has revealed that more persons in China are enthusiastic about the emerging self-driving/autonomous car technology than in the United States (US).

The survey had over 5000 respondents and while more than half of the respondents from China showed more positivity about self-driving cars, those from the U.S. and the U.K. are the least excited about the prospect of leaving the driver seat for robotic technology to take up the chauffeur’s duties.

China has set lofty objectives for the take off of autonomous vehicles in the country. Late last year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued its “Internet of Vehicles Development Commission”. The document sets 2020 as a milestone for changing from pilot tests to substantial scale adoption of autonomous vehicles. A report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance also showed that the number of Chinese companies with testing permits for self-driving cars had rocketed from zero to 35 in the last 18 months.

In an interview, Markus Winkler, global head of automotive at consultancy Capgemini SE stated thus; “In China, but also in other Asian countries, we are seeing more excitement about ‘the new’ generally. The acceleration in the last few years comes from the government as well.”

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On the whole, manufacturers are ramping up their research and development efforts in autonomous vehicles. Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk recently referred to self-driving technology as “transformative” to the electric car manufacturer, in an investor call last week.  Other established automotive companies like Honda Motor Co., Ford Motor Co. and Volkswagen AG are ramping up investment in driverless technologies. General Motors Co.’s self-driving unit this week drew $1.15 billion in fresh investment, valuing it autonomous vehicle arm – GM Cruise LLC at $19 billion.

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