This Week in AV News

Autonomous Last Mile Delivery Market Worth $4.2 Billion by 2030

• Autonomous last mile delivery is a form of logistics that has gained some momentum over the past couple of years and should see extreme growth by 2030. One of the reasons is due to the continued growth of e-commerce and with that comes the expectation of a timely delivery. Last Mile Delivery offers a solution to this challenge. With autonomous delivery drones and self-driving vehicles on the ground, the potential for this market is extremely high. These autonomous vehicles will likely serve two main purposes: delivery of goods from warehouses to stores, and outlets and for delivery of goods to end customers. Amazon, Postmates, and Nuro are three large players that have tested and deployed their self-driving vehicles.

Waymo and Cruise expand to several cities – San Francisco, Houston, Santa Monica

• Waymo is now available to tens of thousands across all of San Francisco. The robotaxi service is expanding to 47 square miles of the city. The service isn’t yet available to those who download the app and request a ride. The company is in the process of onboarding more riders from its waitlist, which they expect to complete soon. This week, Waymo also launched in Santa Monica. After many months of testing, the company made its driverless vehicles open to the public. Those interested can get an activation code that will allow them to ride free for one week by signing up at an event or online. In Houston, GM’s Cruise has opened its service to customers. Cruise has said it will operate 7 days a week from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. in approximately 11 square miles of the city. Typically the company will launch with a small fleet and then scale up from there depending on demand.

Hyundai, Kia will use Tesla’s NACS charging ports starting next year

• The two auto giants will adopt the North American Charging Standard ports for their electric vehicles in the U.S. and Canada. This will give customers access to thousands of Tesla Superchargers across the two countries and Mexico. These ports are the most direct current, fast-charging plugs in the U.S. and their stations are in prime locations. Both will allow their vehicles to use the ports starting in the fourth quarter of next year. “Having this kind of sprawling access to chargers will no doubt boost customer satisfaction, elevate the EV ownership experience, and enable drivers to reach more destinations across the continent on electricity,” said Seungkyu (Sean) Yoon, President & CEO of Kia America, in a statement.

Waymo has come out with an idea for driverless cars to communicate with pedestrians

• One of the biggest questions facing driverless cars has been their ability to communicate with others around them. Waymo has an idea that would fix this problem. The driverless Jaguar I-Pace vehicles will use their roof domes, which are wrapped in LED displays, to communicate messages to other road users. The company is currently incorporating two messages. Pedestrians in front of the vehicle will see shifting grey and white rectangles meant to signal that the vehicle is yielding to them. Behind the vehicle, a yellow pedestrian symbol will let them know there is a pedestrian crossing. These visual signals will join other audio cues that Waymo employs to communicate on the roadway.