What's Driving Driveless Vehicles? The "Inside" Scoop! - April 21, 2017

Kym McNicholas On Innovation

Just months after Apple confirmed it is in fact developing a driverless vehicle, California THIS WEEK has given the hardware and software giant permission to test them on the streets of the Golden State. This adds yet another major competitor in the autonomous vehicle race for what some reporters are calling the future of safer driving. And while Tesla, Mercedes-Benz, Infiniti, and BMW are all in this race in terms of building the hardware. It looks as though Apple is focused not necessarily on creating the vehicle itself, but the platform. And while we don’t know if it’s building the platform on NVIDIA’s new Drive PX2 system, which uses graphics processing unit or GPU technology, it is being used by 80 different partners, including Tesla and Audi. For those of you with a Tesla, the “autopilot” was built upon NVIDA’s new Drive PX2 system and the autonomous driving technology within Audi’s new A8, expected to be released this summer, will be as well. So, I brought in the senior director of automotive for NVIDIA to talk about what’s driving your driverless vehicle, the difference between the autonomous driving technology in a Tesla versus the upcoming Audi A8. We also talk about the safety of autonomous vehicles. While I can understand how an all-driverless transportation network could be safer as computers can be more predictable and actually communicate seamlessly with one another via Bluetooth connectivity, I question how safe truly can it be when you have a mix of humans and computers on the roadways as humans are unpredictable. Shapiro also addresses the liability issue if and when an accident does occur. Plus, Shapiro addresses how manufacturers can develop a car that meets the public AND lawmakers where they are now, and guides them to where they want them to be technology-wise in order to accelerate adoption. Also on the show, a very different type of company that is competing in the autonomous driving market. It’s called, “Local Motors.” It’s taking a unique approach. It’s crowd sourcing the design of future vehicles by posting challenges that inspire engineers, designers, and developers around the world to get involved and submit their design of future vehicles. A that people are already buying to use on private property such as government facilities and even amusement parks. We talk to Local Motors Chief Strategist Justin Fishkin about what I think is going to be the biggest disruption soonest in the automotive driving space. And since this show is all about autonomous driving, we couldn’t do a show about the future car without touching on the future of infotainment, and at the forefront is The QT company, which announced recently that it’s integrating NVIDIA DRIVE Design Studio – which allows The QT Company to provide a 3D system development system for manufacturers to create the ultimate infotainment presentation for drivers. Alistair Adams, who’s the global automotive product manager for The QT Company, explains how manufacturers are using their platform to create the ultimate media experience in autonomous cars.