Getting that 7-Eleven Slurpee is getting easier

As the testing and experiments in autonomous driving continue to ramp up all over the world here are some of the most interesting approaches:

• Toyota makes 10 million cars and each last approximately 10 years and each year driving something like 10 000 miles. Put it all together the Toyota Fleet each year is driving a trillion miles. The vehicles encounter a multitude of different operational design domains such as urban suburban, rural, night, day, rain, dust, storms, wind, and a multitude of others. However, to get to the trillion-mile reliability mark for autonomous cars they can’t possibly drive all of those miles and it’s just going to take way too long so the Toyota Research Institute is using simulation tools.
• Nissan did a 100-car pilot in 2022 with Vanderbilt University in Tennessee to test vehicle-to-infrastructure such as intelligent intersections and traffic management systems. They estimate if 10% of the vehicles could be controlled with autonomous cruise control it would reduce traffic jams.
• Autonomous vehicle company Nuro is focused on building zero-occupant autonomous vehicles for delivery services. Nuro is one of the few companies to have permits to operate on public roads and live delivery services are happening with partner 7-Eleven in Mountain View, California.
• Amsterdam has chosen to have no more cars in the city. Autonomous shuttle services will bring people from rural/semi-urban home areas to micro-mobility hubs. From there, you can take a train to the edge of the city. Then you can take a subway or take a tram within the city boundaries.
• in partnership with Nissan and Namie City, Japan (near the Fukushima earthquake) the entire mobility service there is being reshaped. The field operation tests announced are aimed at assessing receptiveness among residents and visitors to the community. The tests include the operation of an EV shuttle service that runs in a loop around the central district of Namie town at a high frequency, using roadside stations as mobility hubs. The hubs connect to other vehicles, including personal vehicles, which serve as “spokes” and are used for travel to nearby areas.