What We’re Reading

• Ford withdraws petition seeking U.S. approval to deploy self-driving vehicles (Reuters, March 30, 2023)

  Following last year’s strategic decision to shutter joint venture Argo AI and focus on partially automated vehicle technology, Ford Motor Co. has now withdrawn its request for U.S. regulatory approval to deploy self-driving vehicles for ride-hailing and delivery services without human controls such as steering wheels, pedals, and gear controls. 

  “As evidenced by the planned shutdown of our ADS partner Argo AI, we believe the road to fully autonomous vehicles, at scale, with a profitable business model, will be a long one,” Ford said in its February 13 letter to NHTSA withdrawing its petition, adding it was “more prudent” to focus on alternative technologies that “do not require an exemption.”

  Ford’s decisions to shelf its jointly run operation of Argo AI with Volkswagen resulted in a $2.7 billion non-cash pre-tax impairment. 

• GM Will Stop Offering Apple CarPlay on Future EVs (Car and Driver, April 2, 2023)

  In the ongoing battle to control dashboard content, GM will no longer offer the widely popular Apple CarPlay on EV models, starting with the 2024 Chevy Blazer EV. Although GM will continue to offer the tech on ICE models, GM said it intends to offer its own built-in infotainment system jointly developed with Google on future EVs in order to provide improved integration between Google Maps and the rapidly expanding charging network infrastructure.

  “We have a lot of new driver assistance features coming that are more tightly coupled with navigation,” GM’s executive director of digital cockpit experience, Mike Hichme, told Reuters. “We don’t want to design these features in a way that are dependent on a person having a cellphone.”

  According to the article, initial online reaction to GM’s decision to phase out CarPlay was overwhelmingly negative. Consumer sentiment appears to be especially critical of GM’s apparent decision to get rid of the extremely popular feature that allows smartphone mirroring since data bypasses the car in this mode, thereby preventing GM from gathering highly valuable data on consumer tendencies and preferences.  Privacy advocates also were quick to note that this decision will make it much easier for GM to generate more revenue through various subscription services as it learns more about its vehicle occupants.

• Aurora officials aiming for driverless big rigs on Texas routes in ‘24 (The Trucker, April 4, 2023)

  Autonomous trucking technology company Aurora Innovation announced on Monday that its self-driving stack, Aurora Driver Beta 6.0, will be utilized to operate 20 driverless trucks on a dedicated route along Interstate 45 between Dallas and Houston starting in 2024. The project, which the company has branded “Aurora Horizon,” is the culmination of six years of research and development. Aurora Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer Sterling Anderson confirmed through a website post that “[t]he Aurora Driver is now Feature Complete—meaning all policy disengagements have been removed, and we have implemented all of the technical capabilities it needs to power trucks built for it in commercial service on our Dallas to Houston launch lane.”

  Although Aurora currently has freight-hauling partnerships with FedEx, Werner Enterprises, Schneider, and Uber Freight on Texas pilot routes utilizing safety drivers, this announcement positions the company to move forward with its more ambitious plan of fully driverless freight-hauling services.  According to Anderson: “With the release of Aurora Driver Beta 6.0 and the achievement of our Feature Complete milestone, we’ve completed the development of our self-driving system architecture. ... Our focus now turns to assembling the evidence required to close the Aurora Driver Safety Case in anticipation of launching our product commercially next year. As we collect this evidence, we’ll continue to refine and validate the Aurora Driver’s performance and expand our pilot operations, which are designed to give us a clear look at the totality of our customers’ operations and our product’s role and influence in them, and allow our partners to integrate autonomous trucks into their commercial operations at ever-greater scale.”