Tag Archives: driverless cars

Here comes Waymo on I-45

Posted on February 25, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

They’ve actually been on this road for a couple of months, but now they’re doing more. Waymo will begin hauling freight for North America’s largest logistics firm on autonomous big rigs traveling between Dallas and Houston on Interstate 45. The … Continue reading →

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Why do driverless trucks love I-45?

Posted on December 14, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

For a combination of reasons. Texas, particularly the stretch of highway between Houston and Dallas, has emerged as one of the nation’s main proving grounds for autonomous trucking, with freight trucks driving themselves from pickup destinations to shipping warehouses hundreds … Continue reading →

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Still more driverless trucks

Posted on October 9, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

A familiar story by now. Some trucks hauling FedEx deliveries from Dallas to Houston may soon be missing a key feature: drivers. Autonomous vehicle company Aurora announced this month it has partnered with FedEx and truck-manufacturer PACCAR to begin testing … Continue reading →

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Driverless Lyft service coming to Austin

Posted on August 29, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

We’ll see what the demand is. People in Austin who use the ride-hailing service Lyft will have the option of selecting a self-driving car starting in 2022. But, at least initially, two humans will sit in the front as “test … Continue reading →

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Is it a car that flies or a plane that drives?

Posted on July 17, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

It’s a little of both. A prototype flying car has completed a 35-minute flight between international airports in Nitra and Bratislava, Slovakia. The hybrid car-aircraft, AirCar, is equipped with a BMW engine and runs on regular petrol-pump fuel. Its creator, … Continue reading →

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Tesla crash update

Posted on May 11, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Interesting. Federal investigators on Monday released their preliminary assessment of a deadly crash in Spring involving a Tesla, though many details of the incident remain under scrutiny, including whether anyone was in the driver’s seat at the time of the … Continue reading →

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Tesla disputes official account of that autopilot crash

Posted on May 1, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Can’t say I’m surprised. Tesla officials are disputing numerous assertions of local police related to a recent deadly crash in the Spring area, reiterating statements by founder Elon Musk that autopilot was not engaged on the vehicle. Further, company officials … Continue reading →

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Your driverless pizza delivery is finally on its way

Posted on April 27, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Still not sure what the allure of this is. Autonomous cars will begin delivering Domino’s pizzas to Houstonians through a new partnership between the pizza chain and Nuro, a California startup, the companies announced Monday. Domino’s is rolling out Nuro’s … Continue reading →

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What’s up with that Tesla autopilot crash?

Posted on April 25, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

I assume you’ve heard about this. Woodlands Fire department, Montgomery County Hospital District and Cypress Creek EMS were dispatched around 9 p.m. Saturday to a fire in the woods in the Carlton Woods Subdivision on Hammock Dunes Place. Several neighbors … Continue reading →

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A bad streak

Posted on November 13, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Twenty years. Geez. For 20 years, Texans have been dying to get somewhere, and there is little sign they will stop anytime soon. Saturday marks 20 years of at least one death a day on Texas roads, a grim milestone … Continue reading →

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How Nuro is doing in the pandemic

Posted on August 18, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

An interesting update on the little driverless grocery (and other things) delivery serives. As recently as last fall, Nuro appeared to be years away from widespread adoption. The company, which operated in Arizona and California, arrived in Houston in 2018 … Continue reading →

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So how safe are those driverless cars?

Posted on June 27, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Safer than human-driven cars, but maybe not by as much as you might think. A new study says that while autonomous vehicle technology has great promise to reduce crashes, it may not be able to prevent all mishaps caused by … Continue reading →

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Nuro expands its service in Houston

Posted on June 6, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

First groceries, now prescriptions. Nuro’s fleet of autonomous vehicles is expanding its footprint in Houston, partnering with CVS to deliver prescriptions in a delivery service that is expected to begin as early as next month. Mountain View, Calif.-based Nuro’s autonomous … Continue reading →

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And now a few words from our city transportation planner

Posted on May 21, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Didn’t know we had one, did you? Well, we do, his name is David Fields, and he had a few things to say to Chron reporter Dug Begley in a recent Q&A: As you look at upcoming plans and projects … Continue reading →

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Nuro set to roll out

Posted on February 17, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Ready or not, here they come. Self-driving delivery vehicles that carry no humans will hit Houston roads next month. Nuro, a San Francisco technology company, is planning to deploy its next-generation autonomous delivery vehicles in Houston after receiving federal approval. … Continue reading →

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It’s the year 2020…

Posted on January 19, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

But where are the flying cars? And hyperloops? And other things we were promised? Uber will deploy flying cars When Uber Technologies Inc. pledged to deliver on a promise of the Jetsons, it gave itself just three years to do so. The … Continue reading →

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How Nuro is mapping Houston

Posted on January 5, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Really interesting story. On the muggy streets of suburban Houston, amid McMansions, bright green lawns and stately oak trees, a futuristic race is quietly afoot. The contestants are not people but late-model Toyota Priuses outfitted with an array of sophisticated … Continue reading →

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More driverless trucks

Posted on August 25, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Look out on I-45. When Don Burnette worked at Otto, a self-driving truck startup, his team hit some pretty big milestones. It recorded the first shipment of cargo delivered by a self-driving truck: 50,000 cans of Budweiser in 2016. It … Continue reading →

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Add HEB to the autonomous grocery delivery trend

Posted on July 15, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

In San Antonio, at least. Maybe in Houston later if it goes well for them. Customers near an H-E-B in suburban San Antoni0 can soon get their eggs, fruit and tortillas dropped off by a vehicle with no one at … Continue reading →

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Uber’s vision for the future

Posted on July 5, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

I feel like this is more wishcasting than real planning. Still, some of it may happen, and if nothing else we should be aware of what it’s all about. When Uber envisions the future, it not only wants to put … Continue reading →

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What if we didn’t expand I-45?

Posted on June 24, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

It’s an awful lot of money that comes with a ton of negative effects and which, if the I-10 expansion is any guide, will have short-lived positive effects. So maybe we should just, like, not do it? A massive remake … Continue reading →

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Here comes the driverless pizza delivery vehicle

Posted on June 21, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Gotta admit, this has me scratching my head. There goes another high schooler’s job: Domino’s Pizza Inc. plans to test unmanned pizza delivery in Houston later this year. The chain, known as a technology leader in the restaurant industry, is … Continue reading →

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Metro’s driverless shuttle finally debuts

Posted on June 20, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Nice to have good weather. TSU’s Tiger Walk isn’t just for pedestrians anymore. The region’s first autonomous shuttle to carry passengers debuted Wednesday along the tree-lined walk, the center of the Texas Southern University campus. Operated by Metropolitan Transit Authority, … Continue reading →

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DART to study driverless buses

Posted on June 11, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

We’ll see what this means in practice. Dallas Area Rapid Transit has joined a national association of transit and transportation agencies to explore how autonomous buses could shuttle people around cities in the future. The Automated Bus Consortium plans to research driverless buses and run pilot … Continue reading →

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The driverless shuttle at TSU is ready to roll

Posted on June 4, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

I spotted this on Twitter earlier this week. You may have heard the term autonomous vehicles. These are vehicles that can guide themselves down the road on their own. This technology is being adapted for public transportation. A 2017 statute … Continue reading →

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The timeline for driverless cars

Posted on June 3, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

We know they’re coming, but how long it takes them to get here really matters. For Elon Musk, the driverless car is always right around the corner. At an investor day event last month focused on Tesla’s autonomous driving technology, the … Continue reading →

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How secure is the future of ridesharing?

Posted on May 27, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Just a couple of recent stories that got me thinking. Item One: Uber’s business model isn’t all there: While there’s optimism about elements of the core business, the company lost more than $3 billion on operations in 2018, revenue growth slowed … Continue reading →

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Here comes the Kroger driverless grocery delivery car

Posted on April 21, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Who wants to order some groceries, in certain selected ZIP codes? Kroger, the nation’s largest grocer, has launched a self-driving grocery delivery service in Houston, the latest salvo in a hyper-competitive grocery market that has supermarket chains investing heavily in … Continue reading →

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Here come the driverless trucks

Posted on March 31, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Coming soon to a freeway near you. Self-driving 18-wheelers will soon cruise next to you down Interstate 10 and other major Texas freeways. TuSimple, a California-based autonomous truck start-up, has been mapping routes and plans to haul commercial loads from Arizona … Continue reading →

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Driverless car pilot ends in Frisco

Posted on March 30, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

I’d love to know what we learned from this. For about eight months, a fleet of bright orange self-driving vans have been rolling around Frisco. The autonomous vehicles — and the pilot run by Silicon Valley-based Drive.ai — will be permanently parked on … Continue reading →

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Driverless grocery deliveries

Posted on March 20, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Coming soon to Houston. Some local shoppers soon could see their produce pull up in a Prius in one of the first forays into autonomous vehicles in the Houston area, a move observers said is sure to spur more robot … Continue reading →

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Driverless taxis have arrived

Posted on December 12, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

In Phoenix. Google offshoot Waymo announced it is launching the nation’s first commercial driverless taxi service in this and other Phoenix suburbs. The 24/7 service, dubbed Waymo One, will let customers summon self-driving minivans by a smartphone app, a la … Continue reading →

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Metro’s autonomous vehicle pilot to start in January

Posted on November 21, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Here it comes, TSU. Last spring, METRO announced a plan to run an autonomous bus along TSU’s Tiger Walk, a shared-use path that cuts across the campus. Now, the transit agency said it will start a pilot program in January. METRO CEO Tom … Continue reading →

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Autonomous cars in Arlington

Posted on September 3, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Who wants a robot to drive them to a Cowboys game? Arlington visitors and residents will soon be able to request an autonomous vehicle on demand in the city’s entertainment district. The city approved a one-year contract with Silicon Valley-based … Continue reading →

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