Pony.ai and Baidu have received licenses to operate L4 robotaxis in Beijing China, expanding their operations.

Pony.ai’s permit to test its autonomous vehicle technology with a driver was revoked due to the DMV’s concerns about its safety drivers.

Pony.ai will integrate its autonomous technology into GAC vehicles, which can be hailed using Ontime’s platform or Pony.ai’s PonyPilot+ app.

Pony.ai has agreed to recall three of its robotaxis that had specific software involved in an October crash.

While performing a lane change, a Pony.ai autonomous vehicle hit a center divider and traffic sign in Fremont, Calif. Nobody was injured in the accident.

Pony.ai will be working with China FAW Group on design and manufacturing of its robotaxis and autonomous trucks. The company completed Series C fundraising of $267 million.

Several companies are now following in Waymo’s footsteps and suspending testing of autonomous vehicles. Argo AI, Aurora, GM’s Cruise, Pony.ai and Uber all announced they have suspended driverless vehicle programs in efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19, the novel coronavirus. Waymo said yesterday it is temporarily suspending its Waymo One ride-hailing service in the…

The regulations, set to take effect on August 1, grant permission for autonomous vehicles to operate with no driver present in certain parts of the city.

The UN announced that it will be extending the current limit for autonomous vehicle speeds from 60 km/h to 130 km/h.

Ruqi Mobility’s funding round included participation from autonomous vehicle industry leaders Pony.ai and WeRide.

Steve and Mike interview Fady Saad from MassRobotics and Eric Anderson from AWS about the new AWS Robotics Accelerator program

Plus and blank check firm Hennessy Capital Investment Corp. terminated their SPAC merger. The companies said this was a mutual decision made because of “recent developments in the regulatory environment outside of the United States.”

Woven Planet said this acquisition will play a key role in the development of its Arene vehicle development platform.

HD mapping startup Carmera and Toyota collaborated on multiple projects from 2018-2020 in Detroit, Michigan, and Japan.

The consolidation of the capital-intensive autonomous vehicle industry continued today. While Lyft is the latest company to abandon the development of autonomous vehicles, it won’t be the last. Lyft sold its self-driving unit, Level 5, to Toyota subsidiary Woven Planet Holdings for $550 million in cash. Lyft will receive $200 million upfront and $350 million…

Momenta, a Beijing-based developer of autonomous vehicle technology, raised a $500 million Series C round of funding. The round was led by SAIC Motor, China’s biggest automaker, Toyota, and Bosch. Momenta has now raised more than $700 million since it was founded in 2016. Momenta is developing what it calls the “brain” of autonomous vehicles,…

California’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) yesterday released its annual Disengagement Report, which breaks down the number of times a human driver takes over control of an autonomous driving system being tested on the state’s public roads. The DMV released reports for 29 companies for the period from December 2019 to November 2020. Waymo (29,944.69)…

In 2020, autonomous vehicles left other technology applications in the dust. Other areas of robotics receiving funding or merger and acquisition activity included supply chain automation, surgical robots, and quadrupeds.

While investment in robotics and automation continued apace in November 2020, the total amount was about half of what it was in the same month a year ago.

In the latest episode of The Robot Report Podcast, we speak with Aaron Prather, senior advisor for technology, research, and planning at FedEx, about robotics opportunities in logistics, as well as about recent autonomous vehicle deals.

Inceptio expects to begin production of autonomous trucks by the end of 2021 and begin operating a trucking network in 2022.