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Today is Juneteenth, the US federal holiday that marks the end of slavery in the United States.
About 10 years ago, there was a lot of talk about who was winning the self-driving car race. One of the problems with that debate – apart from assuming there would be a single winner – was that no one had a reliable way to measure it. This was an early era full of demos and bull, but little – at least what the public, and people like me, had access to.
Consulting and research implementation Autnmy AI developed a generative AI platform to create a rating system that assesses and rates autonomous vehicle companies in an effort to answer that question in real time. And this week, the startup released the Road to Autonomy Directory, which searches relevant public databases worldwide, including federal and state reports, SEC filings, public exchanges, and other information. The system measures the company’s performance, scale, revenue, commercial partnership, productivity, and safety record based on that data and provides an update every 12 hours. There are four indexes that measure robotaxis, autonomous driving license companies, autonomous trucks, and delivery bots.
One important note, according to Autonmy AI founder Rob Grant, the AI platform isn’t just about extracting information from the internet. “We agreed in advance, we are not removing the information,” he said. “If it’s publicly available or available under a Creative Commons license, we’ll use that information. We have license data that we pay people, and under that agreement.”
The indicators take a global approach, which produces interesting results. Another highlight for Grant is the strong level of China in many categories.
As of Friday, the leader of the robotaxi was absent Waymo. It was China Baidu The Apollo Go program — just a little bit. Waymo was in second place, followed by Chinese companies Pony.ai again We Ride. Tesla he was in fifth place.
A small bird
I was recently reminded by a little bird to check out the Texas automated traffic tracker tool that was introduced in May. And I’m glad they did; it looks like Tesla, Waymoagain Zoox they built their various ships in the province. Reminder: This does not mean that all of these are for commercial use. Zoox, for example, cannot operate commercially until it receives an exemption from the federal government. It currently has the ability to offer rides in a custom-built robotaxi but cannot charge customers.
As of May 28, Waymo had 577 autonomous vehicles registered with the state. It now has 620 of them, about a 7.5% increase in less than a month. Tesla now has 69 registered autonomous vehicles, a 64% increase from 42 on May 28. Zoox, which had 35 autonomous vehicles last month, now has 43.
Avride, Nuroand a subsidiary of Volkswagen MOIA stuck at 317, 47, and 12, respectively.
Got a tip? Email Kirsten Korosec at [email protected] or my Signal at kkorosec.07, or email Sean O’Kane at [email protected].
Deals!
Cargofya logistics company that uses AI to automate logistics operations, has raised $11 million in Series A funding led by iu.ventures, Toloka, and Movens Capital. Des Traynor, founder of Intercom, and several angel investors, also participated.
CarroSingapore-based car marketplace, has acquired Australian used car platform CarPlace, Reuters reports. Terms were not disclosed.
Gatik, the startup that invented short self-driving trucks, has announced a multi-year partnership with PepsiCo. The companies would not share the value of the deal, but it points to PepsiCo’s commitment to Gatik, which already operates driverless trucks in major food and beverage stores in Arkansas, Arizona, and Texas.
QuantumScape announced a joint research agreement with Honda R&D Co. to accelerate solid-state battery development and related manufacturing processes.
A car manufacturer Stellantisthe beginning of self-driving He heardand the giant Uber they have entered into an agreement to jointly develop and supply driverless robots.
XDOFa data-focused startup for robotics training, has raised $70 million from Thrive Capital, Spark Capital, a16z, Lux, and WndrCo.
Notable readings and other stories
A video posted on Reddit shows a driver running a stop sign and crashing into a private car in Dallas. TechCrunch confirmed that it was Avride the robotwhich was recommended by the Uber app. An Avride spokesperson said no injuries were reported and that information from the incident is being reviewed “to further refine our technology and procedures, as part of our normal procedures.” When asked about the response of the self-driving system and the human safety operator who was driving, Avride said, “Our safety review is ongoing, so we cannot provide specific details at this time.”
Tesla owners in China have found a workaround for the car’s distracted driving mechanism: small plastic heads.
At X, people saw a Tesla with a San Francisco County and San Francisco International Airport-approved limousine permit sticker. An SFO spokesperson told TechCrunch that “Tesla has been granted a limousine permit to operate at SFO. This is traditional limousine equipment, meaning the cars have a human driver. Tesla has not been granted a permit for any independent operation at SFO.”
Mobileyewhich established itself as a provider of autonomous vehicle technology, is now making moves to become a robotaxi operator. The company plans to launch a robotaxi service in an unnamed US city in 2027. History lesson: Mobileye founder and CEO Amnon Shashua told me back in 2020 that to crack the holy grail of passenger car autonomy, you need to pursue roboaxis first.
Uber plans to launch a premium robotaxi service in Houston in mid-2027, making it the second US market under its partnership with the EV maker. Lucid and the introduction of autonomous vehicles Nuro.
Waymo recalled its array of nearly 4,000 traffic lights to prevent them from driving in highway construction areas. Waymo has taken its robotaxis off highways in recent weeks and has reported at least 13 incidents of its robot driving on sections of highway that were closed for construction. Here are the details to be aware of: The software fix is ”under development,” which means the problem is not fixed.
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