North America

One of Uber’s autonomous SUVs was involved in a crash in Tempe Arizona on Friday 25th March. No one was harmed in the accident.

On 2nd March the West Virginia senate made the announcement that it passed a bill requiring police to obtain a warrant before engaging in drone surveillance.

The American microchip producer is to buy Mobileye, an Israeli maker of self-driving car technology, for $15.3 billion, a record deal in the driverless car sector.

Lewis Cohen, a partner at Hogan Lovells in the New York office discusses what autonomous driving and autonomous vehicles (AVs) mean for the real estate sector and how developers will need to change and evolve along with the mobility trends.

The lawsuit was filed in San Francisco federal court last Thursday by Waymo, which is a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc (the parent company of Google), and is devoted to the development of autonomous vehicle technology, being responsible for the iconic bubble shaped cars out on the road.

Ryan Abbott, Professor of Law and Health Sciences, University of Surrey School of Law, has proposed that AI and robots need to be treated as individuals with inventorship, especially as it relates to liability.

Interview with Tony Di Benedetto, CEO of Drone Delivery Canada.

Both nuTonomy and the mayor of Boston confirmed at the end of November 2015 that nuTonomy driverless cars will be on the roads before the end of the year. While the headlines about autonomous vehicles often go to Google and Tesla, and recently Uber, nuTonomy is establishing itself in this growing market. The startup, based in the US and Singapore, is a leading developer of self-driving software for vehicles, developing a complete solution for point-to-point mobility.

The Executive Order issued by President Trump’s that aims to reduce regulations on small businesses has sparked concerns in the drone industry.

A record fine has been paid by a drone company that specialises in aerial photography, for illegal flights in congested airspace.

In upstate New York, an organisation has called for a ban on self-driving cars from the state’s roads for fifty years. The Upstate Transportation Association (UTA) cites fears of job loss and damage to the local economy resulting from the switch to autonomous vehicles.

“Watson OnStar Go will allow for Voice Payments in the vehicle with Exxon Mobile and other partners.” – Mary Barra CEO General Motors.

Google’s self-driving car project will soon be graduating from its experimental “X” lab status inside the company to become a standalone unit of Alphabet, possibly with a view to spinning off as an independent company.

At the end of October a group of prestigious US universities collaborated on a document trying to put together a technical roadmap for Robotics in the US. Its central purpose is to update Congress on the state of the art in robotics and to help policymakers determine where to channel resources in order to realise robotics’ great promise as a technology. We summarise some of the main findings below.

Uber has suspended its testing of self-driving cars in San Francisco after being instructed by the DMV that they required a permit, like the other 20 companies testing their technology in the area.

A report from the National Science and Technology Council looks at the current state of AI in the US and makes a series of recommendations for federal agencies.

Only hours after launching its new service of offering passengers rides in self-driving cars, it has been told to stop. Regulators in California state that Uber requires a state permit to continue with its new program, or face legal action.

Ride-sharing company Uber wants the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation to delay policy recommendations that govern the testing of driverless cars.

Drawing inspiration from Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics, Silicon Valley Robotics have launched a Good Robot Design Council, as well as guidelines for roboticists and academics on the ethics involved in development, creation, and use of robots.

Reports from a drone expo in California indicate that the successful adoption of drones by law enforcement agencies could well lead to an increase in their use and expanded UAV fleets.