Have you seen the footage of a Waymo robotaxi going up in flames?

Waymo robotaxis have been having their moment as the sole autonomous vehicle on the roads in San Francisco. In October of last year, after an incident involving a pedestrian, Cruise – the General Motors owned self-driving offering – was accused of covering up information relating to an accident and its permit was removed by the California DMV.

That doesn’t mean Waymo, which is owned by Google, hasn’t had its own safety issues: last June, one of its vehicles killed a dog and more recently a cyclist was struck and injured having been obscured from sensors by another vehicle at an intersection.

All this is to say that the safety of driverless cars is up in the air. For many, this means they shouldn’t be on the roads; San Franciscans have understandably felt used as test subjects in the robotaxi experiment. Driverless vehicles drove more than nine million miles on public roads with test permits last year.

A recent “attack” on a Waymo robotaxi that saw the vehicle’s windows smashed before it was set alight by a firework. The cab had attempted to drive through San Francisco’s Chinatown on the first day of the lunar new year – something that a human driver would know to avoid.

Crowds brought the vehicle to a stop at the intersection between Jackson st. and Grant Avenue, where it was covered in graffiti before violence escalated.

Via Reuters.

But it’s difficult to wholeheartedly call it ‘violence’ or an attack, given that it is just a car – there were no passengers and, obviously, no driver. The Jaguar I-Pace operated by Waymo was the only ‘casualty’.

“The vehicle was not transporting any riders and no injuries have been reported,” Waymo said in a statement. “We are working closely with local safety officials to respond to the situation.”

The company previously described the vandalism as an isolated case, but another Waymo rider told Reuters he rode in a Waymo the next day through another San Francisco crowd that shot fireworks at the car.

“Once they saw the Waymo, they started pointing directly at the Waymo instead of up in the sky,” said Nathan Flurry, who recorded the scene. Flurry describes himself as a Waymo fan.

As well as the incidents involving robotaxis, some are saying that there’s a more generalized fear of AI at play.

“We are seeing people reaching a boiling point over tech that they do not want and does not make their lives better,” said Missy Cummings, director of the George Mason University Autonomy and Robotics center and a former adviser to U.S. traffic safety regulators.

Peskin, the city supervisor, said it may not have been an “anti-tech thing” but rather just criminal mischief by “a bunch of hoodlums.”

True, the streets had been almost completely clear of vehicles as pedestrians grouped to watch the fireworks. The crowd had parted for the occasional car to pass, but the Waymo robotaxi came to a halt in the middle of it all. A fire department spokesperson confirmed the Waymo vehicle partially blocked the road.

Waymo didn’t respond to questions on Monday about why the car drove into the crowded public event. The incident gives rise to another point in the driverless vehicle debate, according to Bryant Walker Smith, a professor at the University of South Carolina with expertise in autonomous-vehicle law: whether self-driving cars can or should be able to detect areas busy with pedestrians and navigate around them.

“I would be interested in hearing from Waymo about how its navigation accounts for these kinds of incidents,” he said.

Aaron Peskin, president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, who has called for more regulation of autonomous vehicles, said “most normal car drivers know that they have to avoid Chinatown during the Lunar New Year holidays. The computer doesn’t understand that.”

He further argued the disruption wasn’t an “anti-tech thing” but just criminal mischief by what he described as “a bunch of hoodlums.”

Although we couldn’t possibly comment on the folk in the crowd, we are inclined to agree that, although representative of festering resentments, the incident wasn’t really motivated by anti-AV rhetoric.

The Safe Street Rebels operated a campaign of disruption to driverless vehicles from their introduction to roads in 2022. Having realized a traffic cone on the hood of a driverless car interfered with sensors, halting it until a human employee ‘rescued’ it, the protestors disabled the vehicles across the city.

The Waymo incident has none of the flair or careful thinking that Safe Street Rebels have demonstrated; in their efforts to increase road safety, outright violence is off the cards.

More likely, the crowd was irritated by the interruption of a car cutting through and without a driver to exchange angry gestures with the car itself was the target of their annoyance. Then, of course, the lack of driver makes it spectacularly easy to escalate – hostility, if we can even call it that, isn’t that damaging to a vehicle the way that fireworks are.

California state Senator Dave Cortese, who is proposing legislation to give local governments more power to regulate self-driving cars, said the fact that the car drove into a crowded area during fireworks underscored the technology’s shortcomings.

“What is becoming abundantly clear is that AV technology is not as sophisticated as the industry would like us to believe.”

This after an incident in 2023 that saw a Cruise robotaxi get stuck in wet cement: “It thinks it’s a road and it ain’t, because it ain’t got a brain and it can’t tell that it’s freshly poured concrete,” resident Paul Harvey told SFGate.

The Waymo robotaxi was in the wrong place at the wrong time, poor thing, but while the incident isn’t all that different to a Boris Bike thrown into the Thames, it is a reminder of the social tensions the introduction of AVs stirs up.

Probably pleased not to be in headlines for once, GM’s Cruise has hired a new Chief Safety Officer, naming the lucky holder of the newly created role as Steve Kenner. After October’s accident, founder and CEO Kyle Vogt and COO Dan Kan both resigned, nine executives were chopped and 24% of staff were laid off from Cruise.

Steve Kenner appointed Cruise Chief Safety Officer.

That may have signalled the end, but Kenner’s new role suggests Cruise isn’t done yet. He previously served as VP of safety at self-driving truck company Kodiak and before that was Chief Product and Safety Officer at another driverless truck outfit, Locomation.

“I have worked on safety critical technologies throughout my career, I believe in the safety potential of autonomous vehicles, and I want to safely and responsibly realize that potential,” Kenner said in a statement.

General Motors hopes to relaunch services and regain Cruise’s license to operate soon – potentially the Waymo robotaxi incident will slow proceedings, a warning to the companies testing the safety of AVs in San Francisco.

The post Death of an innocent? Waymo robotaxi set alight appeared first on TechHQ.

• BYD electric cars’ price attractiveness boosts sales.
• The company now produces more cars than Tesla.
• BYD is also strong in trucks, forklifts and industrial vehicles.

Elon Musk once scorned the cars produced by Chinese EV manufacturer BYD, saying, “I don’t think they have a great product. I don’t think [the BYD car is] particularly attractive, [and] the technology is not very strong.” But last year saw the Chinese company produce more EVs than the US-based Tesla.

The brainchild of battery specialist Wang Chuanfu, BYD has grown over the last 30 years, and produced 42,000 more vehicles than its main Western rival, Tesla, in 2023. In addition to private vehicles, BYD is also the world’s largest manufacturer of battery-electric buses and has contracts with several metropolitan authorities, including Los Angeles, Amsterdam (Holland), and Frankfurt (Germany). The company is also highly active in industrial vehicle manufacturing, such as forklifts, in-facility vehicles like those found in large warehouses and distribution centers, and freight-carrying trucks.

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Chuanfu is one of the world’s wealthiest individuals, having built a global business empire from its beginnings as a small producer of replacement batteries for consumer devices.

BYD electric cars priced competitively

The company is planning to open production facilities in Hungary to target the European market and has its sights set on a manufacturing plant in Mexico, from where it can approach the highly lucrative North American market. BYD electric cars prices are low: the company offers a vehicle in its domestic China market for the equivalent of $10,000. Small wonder that the highly-protected US automotive sector is worried. Even Elon Musk has backtracked on his criticism of BYD, stating that his comments were made years ago. Now, he says, “Their cars are highly competitive these days.”

BYD electric cars price saw them beat Tesla in late 2023 – but at what eco-cost?

Tesla’s market valuation at the time of writing was ten times more than BYD’s at $780bn, yet it’s worth remembering that market valuations are often driven by factors outside the pure market-led influences such as numbers of sales. In Tesla’s case, the “Musk” effect is a factor, where trust in a company, apparent in its market value, can be inflated or deflated by the reputation of the people making decisions at the head of the business.

2nd “1978 Garrett Electric Vehicle Proposal (17682634870)” by Alden Jewell is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Electric vehicles are in increasing demand. The International Energy Agency predicted that there would be around 14 million EV sales by the end of 2023, a 35% increase from the previous year. According to The Financial Times [paywall], executives at BYD hoped to capture 10% of the global market for electric vehicles.

Choosing a green car

Electric vehicles are often positioned as offering a lower overall carbon footprint from conception, through R&D and production, through use, and to eventual scrapping or recycling. The green credentials of any EV depend on many factors, though. For electric vehicle owners in France and parts of Scandinavia, the costs of running an EV and total life emissions are lower than in Poland, for example. In the latter, electricity generation is dominated by coal burning, while France and Scandinavia’s proportion of “green” energy is higher, lowering carbon output. In the UK, running an electric vehicle costs owners around 30% less than a petrol or diesel version of the same make and model.

Environmentalists are quick to point out, however, that green electricity – generated from renewable sources – is produced in addition to carbon-heavy “traditional” power, rather than as a replacement. Lowering one’s carbon footprint requires more action, therefore, than switching to an electrically-powered personal transport vehicle.

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Cheap electric vehicles like those potentially offered by a new generation of Chinese manufacturers like BYD will therefore not, on their own, reduce climate change. The price of BYD electric cars makes them attractive, certainly, but in no sense the green panacea they may wish to be.

Increased demand for electricity will add weight to the global demand for fossil-fuel-generated electricity, not reduce it. The dream of a $10,000 electric car may assuage more consciences among drivers who can afford it, but do little to avert the accelerating climate catastrophe that current weather conditions globally are showing.

The post BYD outstrips Tesla as Earth warms appeared first on TechHQ.

• Autonomous vehicles are transforming supply chains in a number of ways.
• They also have potential to maximize urban car parking space and valet parking.
• While these may not be Blade Runner applications of autonomy, they can have a huge impact.

Leading self-driving car developers may be facing roadblocks in ramping up their urban operations, but vehicle automation is racing ahead in other settings. For example, cost-effective and eco-friendly tow robots are helping to transform supply chains through improved yard transport operations.

Having trialed the supply chain tech with DHL France in 2023, Unmanned-Transport-as-a-Service provider ex9 – a startup based in Évry, a short drive south of Paris – is making its fleet of autonomous electric shunting robots available globally.

Tow robots – transforming supply chains

The firm’s tow robots, designed to alleviate congestion and delays at logistics hubs, slide under road transport trailers to replace human-driven cabs.

In 2023, the International Road Transport Union (IRU) forecast that driver shortages could double in five years. “An aging population – particularly in Europe and the United States where less than 13% of workers are under 25 – partially explains driver shortages, suggesting that the available pool of national workers may not be enough to cover the gap,” writes the IRU.

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Tow robots can automate the common tasks of shunting operators and drivers thanks to a software stack tailored for industrial use and logistics maneuvers. Perception, localization, dynamic control, and path routing are supported by a sensor kit fitted to the autonomous robot tractors.

Ex9 claims that automation can increase the rate of pre-loading and so-called “drop & hook” shunting operations, while reducing costs and lowering the risk of accidents. What’s more, being battery-powered, the self-driving freight technology helps to drive down the emission of diesel fumes at the depot – both by shuttling trailers back and forth using electric power and by cutting waiting times, reducing the amount of diesel engine idling by incoming and outgoing trucks.

Trendsetting container transport

Tow robots for streamlining road freight operations are another check in transforming supply chains. Progress happening elsewhere includes fully automated port operations – such as the Port of Long Beach, US – where autonomous vehicles can be seen shuttling containers on the harbourside.

Sea freight is critical to reducing supply chain emissions, with some shipping operators investigating the use of hi-tech sails. Vessels can be in and out of the harbor in as little as 48 hours, which is a major triumph of terminal operating systems. Unloaded containers from a single cargo ship could stretch as far as 70 miles if placed end-to-end.

Using Automated Rail Mounted Gantry cranes, @PatrickTerminal – Sydney Autostrad achieved a global-first full automation of container transport between yard and rail wagon. Powered by our drives and #automation tech, the cranes increase efficiency, sustainability, and safety! pic.twitter.com/nKWwMeW8fa

— Siemens Aus & NZ (@Siemens_Aus) October 5, 2023

So far, so good, but what about bad weather? Supply chain delays can propagate quickly, and self-driving systems need to be resilient. What happens to wheel-based odometry when tyres slip in damp conditions? A coastal climate of heavy rain, fog, and sea spray could obscure camera images. Fortunately, there’s no need to panic – at least if you’re using radar-based localization systems, which have no such limitations in keeping autonomous vehicles on the right path.

Besides container-carrying self-driving vehicles, other port machinery, such as rubber-tyred gantry cranes and ship-to-shore lifting equipment, can also benefit from the 360-degree all-weather sensors. Navtech – a developer and manufacturer of industrial-grade radar – boasts that sensors operate reliably in rain, fog, dust, dirt, and in all light conditions, including complete darkness.

Use cases beyond transforming supply chains

On TechHQ we’ve written about how other advances – such as quantum computing – can be brought into play, further transforming supply chains. And being able to stack and retrieve large items efficiently has applications beyond optimizing container shipping and improving throughput at logistics hubs.

A growing application for self-driving vehicle robots is automated parking for cars and even bicycles. Parking space is tight in many cities across the globe, and stacking vehicles vertically is attracting interest from industrial automation experts such as Japanese firm GIKEN (see YouTube clip).

In fact, there are a number of providers worldwide working on automated vehicle parking projects, including Stanley Robotics, which has shown how airport parking can be transformed. In this case, a low-riding robotic platform slips under the vehicle and gently raises the car or light truck by an inch or so, using anchors alongside each wheel.

Robots can pack vehicles much more tightly than human drivers to maximize available parking space. They also simplify what can be a dull and repetitive task for human drivers – which is where automation really comes into its own. Valet parking at hotels is another related use case.

Stanley Robotics claims that self-driving parking robots can increase parking capacity by 50%. They also remove a pain point for customers and make parking, in the firm’s words, hassle-free.

Robo-parking – saving space, reducing risk.

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A key component in all of these autonomous vehicle success stories is that the self-driving element is something that combines with a regular vehicle to perform a well-described and predictable task. In the case of tow robots, it’s shunting a trailer to and from its yard slot. And for parking systems, it’s storing and fetching vehicles.

Also, in all the scenarios we’ve discussed, the environment is well-controlled. Port access is restricted, and likewise for logistics hubs and robot-operated parking facilities. Self-driving algorithms can be better protected from surprises than they can, for example, on the open road or in unpredictable urban settings. There are security gains too – tightly packed vehicles are not easy for thieves to get into and drive away (setting aside cybersecurity threats).

People may be disappointed not to find self-driving taxis whizzing effortlessly around their city. But that’s not to say that autonomous vehicles aren’t making an impact.

Parking promises to be more available and less tedious for drivers. And in deployments that may be less visible to consumers, autonomous vehicles are transforming supply chains.

The post Transforming supply chains: an autonomous vehicle success story appeared first on TechHQ.

• Cruise driverless cars have been involved in several pedestrian accidents recently. 
• After financial losses and spending cuts from General Motors, Cruise is in trouble. 
• Almost a quarter of all Cruise employees laid off as part of future planning. 

For every step forward, Cruise driverless cars seem to take several back. And bad times for the company continue as General Motors subsidiary Cruise announced it would lay off around a quarter of its workforce last week. Following months of trouble and financial loss, the self-driving car business will cut 900 jobs.

It’s been a rocky few months for the company – and that’s putting it lightly. In October, the California Department of Motor Vehicles ordered Cruise driverless cars be removed from the state’s roads and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced an investigation into its fleet.

Some groups have been protesting Cruise driverless cars since as early as July 2023. Placing a cone on the hood disabled the vehicles. (Photo by Josh Edelson / AFP).

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The action came after two accidents involving pedestrians. The first, in August, saw a self-driving car hit a pedestrian at 1.4mph as the person attempted to cross the road. The accident began a negative shift in public opinion of the company.

Then, in October, a driverless vehicle dragged a woman 20 feet along the road after hitting her. She had been thrown into the path of the Cruise driverless car, having been hit by a human-driven car.

Following the incident, not only were Cruise’s permits revoked, but the California DMV accused the company of withholding information and video regarding the incident.

Something like that is particularly damning for a company that’s so reliant on public trust and cooperation from regulators.

Soon afterwards, Cruise voluntarily paused testing operations. All of its US vehicles have now been pulled.

A report from the October incident said the driverless car “braked aggressively” but wasn’t able to stop in time. Both incidents happened at night. Despite all that, Cruise maintains that its safety record “continues to outperform comparable human drivers.”

In late November, GM announced it would cut spending on Cruise. “We expect the pace of Cruise expansion to be more deliberate when operations resume and spending will be substantially lower in 2024 than it was in 2023,” said chief executive Mary Barra at an investor event.

Cruise lost more than $700 million in the third quarter, bringing total losses since 2016 up to $8bn.

Ouch!

Are Cruise driverless cars a rushed and ultimate failure?

Cruise driverless cars – strategic restructing, or does this mark the end?

In recent weeks, both Kyle Vogt, Cruise’s chief executive, and its co-founder Dan Kan resigned. Then, on December 13^th, Reuters reported that nine key people high up in the company were dismissed amid the ongoing safety investigation.

“Following an initial analysis of the October 2nd incident and Cruise’s response to it, nine individuals departed Cruise,” according to a memo.

“We are committed to full transparency and are focused on rebuilding trust and operating with the highest standards when it comes to safety, integrity, and accountability,” the memo said. “As a result, we believe that new leadership is necessary to achieve these goals.”

Among those dismissed were chief legal and policy officer Jeff Bleich and senior vice president of government affairs, David Estrada.

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Dispelling any misconceptions that those at the top would be the only ones to feel the consequences of the company’s failures, the next day layoffs amounting to 24% of Cruise’s workforce were announced.

The company’s statement on the layoffs says that after some time examining processes, systems tools and how it operates, the job cuts reflect “a more deliberate go-to-market path, meaning less immediate need for field, commercial operations and corporate staffing.”

“These changes reflect our decision to focus on more deliberate commercialization plans with safety as our North Star.”

Regarding the job cuts, a GM spokesperson said “GM supports the difficult employment decisions made by Cruise.”

“We knew this day was coming, but that does not make it any less difficult —especially for those whose jobs are affected,” Mo ElShenawy, president and chief technology officer at Cruise, wrote in a memo to employees announcing the layoffs. The note added that impacted employees will receive an email “in a few moments,” letting them know whether they are “affected by this staffing reduction.”

Mo ElShenawy in signidicantly happier days at Cruise.

That added suspense was much appreciated by employees, we’re sure.

When Cruise was operative, it had driverless cars in San Francisco, Phoenix, and Austin. ElShenawy added that the company has the goal of “simplifying and focusing our efforts to return with an exceptional service in one city to start with,” though he did not share further details on which city Cruise is planning on returning to once – or if – it resumes operations.

Laid-off employees will remain on payroll through February 12^th, the memo added, and are eligible for up to an additional eight weeks of severance pay depending on time spent at the company.

Cruise isn’t the only driverless vehicle company facing trouble. Also facing safety questions, Tesla recalled more than two million cars after the US regulator found its driver assistance system, Autopilot, partly defective.

An obsession with driverless cars that forecast them as the next frontier of transport has meant rollout is potentially rushed and ultimately unsafe. Rather than worry about transport emissions or improving the public transport sector, companies have raced to deliver the first successful driverless fleet, and – so far – they have failed every time.

The post An onslaught of applicants to drive taxis as Cruise lays off 900 appeared first on TechHQ.

It’s said that elite racing drivers can feel the road through their bodies. Pressed into their seat, hands on the wheel, they are able to detect fine details of the track below and set the steering and speed to match the surface conditions. However, it takes talent, years of experience, and a race-engineered vehicle to achieve this.

In the meantime, there are over a billion cars on the road. And while some of those motorists may think that they can feel the road like a racing driver, accident rates suggest otherwise. Plus, adding autonomous vehicles to the mix remains a work in progress and raises a number of safety concerns.

Wouldn’t it be good if we could fix all of this? And, according to automotive software firm Tactile Mobility, we can. What’s more, the raw inputs are already there thanks to electronic hardware that’s been part of vehicle designs for years.

“There’s a wealth of data that exists in every vehicle,” Yagil Tzur – VP of Product at Tactile Mobility – told TechHQ. “Every car has a CAN network, sensors, and electronic control units (ECUs).”

Model calibration: sample vehicles are driven on a proving ground to dial-in the analytic capabilities of the automotive software.

To turn those inputs into insights, the firm uses machine learning to create what is, in effect, a virtual sensor stack capable of deciphering grip levels, steering health, and other valuable vehicle performance characteristics.

The process begins by taking cars to a proving ground where they can be driven on a wide range of road conditions at different tyre pressures and set up to mimic different numbers of passengers, for example.

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Model calibration then weights the observed behaviour against readings that are available on the CAN bus such as wheel speed, engine torque, yaw rate, and many other signals.

When complete, the automotive software can estimate the wheel grip and provide real time updates on tyre wear – all without having to fit any additional hardware. And having a virtual sensor stack designed to feel the road has got car manufacturers and suppliers interested.

Investors in Tactile Mobility include Porsche Ventures and Goodyear Ventures, which both came on board in 2021 as part of a USD $27 million series C funding round.

Why EVs are tough on tyres

Governments around the world are incentivising drivers to purchase battery-powered electric vehicles (EVs). And while that will improve air quality on city streets, it makes life a whole lot tougher for the rubber that connects cars to the road – due to the increased weight and high torque of EVs.

Tyre performance is critical to vehicle safety, and the importance of those four contact patches is often overlooked by regular drivers – so much so that the US Department of Transportation mandated that automobiles be fitted with tyre pressure monitoring systems (TPMS), as part of the TREAD act, in the early 2000s.

Similar legislation was introduced in other countries, and today all cars have TPMS sensors. However, those systems by no means feel the road. Instead, they simply trigger a warning light to indicate low tyre pressure once the value passes a crude threshold.

Virtual sensors provide a much more granular view of tyre performance, giving drivers not just a warning that something is wrong, but adjusting lifetime estimates so that failures don’t happen in the first place and timely replacements can be made.

Tzur sums up the gains of having Tactile Mobility data as being like TPMS on steroids. What’s more, having real world information on tap could help tyre companies further improve their designs – for example, to cater for the specific demands of EVs.

Tyre developers already spend big sums on research and development, but feedback from virtual sensors that feel the road could enrich the amount of information that designers have to work with.

“99% of testing is performed on brand new tyres,” Tzur points out. “Companies have less information on the performance of mid-worn tyres.”

Wisdom of the cloud

There are two sides to Tactile Mobility’s business. First is the onboard virtual sensing, which presents its data to other ECUs on the CAN bus and helps to finesse advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) such as cruise control. But there are also cloud-based solutions enabled by the feel-the-road technology.

For example, as the install base increases (Tactile Mobility is working with various automotive OEMs in the US and Europe – and has publicly mentioned Ford Motor Company as a partner; Porsche is also listed on its website), some very interesting crowd-sourcing opportunities arise.

The setup is well-suited to characterising the quality of the road surface and sharing this information with local authorities – to schedule maintenance and fill potholes – as well as other interested parties, such as insurance firms.

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It’s possible to use the technology to generate a road friction map, which could advise on speed adjustments to reduce the chance of accidents. Potentially, insurance premiums could take into account the quality of the road surface and data would help accident investigations.

Also, should a vehicle experience a driving incident, that information could be shared to warn nearby motorists. “If there’s an adverse event, the data can be sent to the cloud at high priority to communicate with other vehicles,” said Tzur.

Once vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications become more commonplace, the adverse event alerting process could even happen directly to give drivers (and autonomous vehicles) additional reaction time.

Tactile Mobility has its origins in fleet management, where a forerunner of its systems helped to guide road transport operators on fuel management. And performance coaching feedback could also cross over into its feel-the-road virtual sensing stack – for example, to help drivers prolong tyre life on their vehicles.

Navigating self-driving roadblocks

It’s possible too that self-driving cars, which are having a bunch of bad press lately, may also benefit from better road surface data enabled using machine learning methods such as those deployed by Tactile Mobility.

For example, autonomous vehicles can be spoofed by lines painted on the road, but virtual sensors capable of feeling the road ahead may be able to better distinguish between legitimate markings and rogue ones.

The post Feel the road: virtual sensor stack gains traction appeared first on TechHQ.

• Tesla recalls millions of cars over autopilot issue.
• NHTSA investigation discovers issue after almost 1,000 crashes.
• Musk defended its autopilot system despite the recall.

Tesla has recalled over 2 million cars after a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) investigation found the autopilot system can be and is being misused by drivers.

This is the second recall of Tesla’s automated driving features this year, following almost 1,000 crashes – some of which have resulted in fatalities. Perhaps peculiarly then, it took an external investigation to prompt the recall.

The two-year investigation remains open as regulators monitor the effectiveness of Tesla’s solutions.

While “automated technology holds great promise for improving safety,” it must be “deployed responsibly,” said an NHTSA spokesperson. The mass recall, the most significant in Tesla’s history so far, is a response that aims to to improve automated systems and prioritize safety.

Practically every US Tesla made since 2012 is affected by this recall. Over the last 11 years, however, many cars, including Teslas, have been gaining updated features that automate various driver tasks, including automatic emergency braking, and cruise control. The end goal for many car manufacturers is to produce fully self-driving cars, but this has proved to be more challenging than was initially hoped, with a range of issues arising that are yet to be resolved.

Despite almost 1,000 crashes, it took an external investigation to get Tesla to recall its cars.

The latest problem is Tesla’s Autosteer feature, part of Tesla’s basic autopilot package, that falls short of being completely autonomous.

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Models affected by the recall

According to the NHTSA, the recall affects the following autopilot Tesla models:

• 2012-2023 Model S vehicles
• 2016-2023 Model X vehicles
• 2017-2023 Model 3 vehicles
• 2020-2023 Model Y vehicles

That’s right – almost all Tesla models sold in the US are affected. If you’re unsure whether your car is affected, input your vehicle ID number on the NHTSA recall page or via the Tesla website.

The reason behind the recall

According to an NHTSA statement, there are certain scenarios where the Autosteer controls may not prevent drivers from misusing the technology. “In certain circumstances when Autosteer is engaged, the prominence and scope of the feature’s controls may not be sufficient to prevent driver misuse of the SAE Level 2 advanced driver-assistance feature.”

In response to the inappropriate autopilot use in so broad a range of Tesla models, the recall aims to rectify the system and ensure drivers remain attentive when using autopilot. Yes, autopilot may sound like you can sit back, take a nap, and let the car do all your work, but this is not the case, any more than it is when you engage cruise control in other cars.

In essence, the name is part of the “cool” sheen necessary when selling factories full of new cars. The reality is that the driver must pay attention at all times, with their hands on the steering wheel, and be prepared to act if Autosteer encounters a situation it can’t manage.

Yes, the name’s confusing, and it looks cool, but believe us, Tesla will TELL you when you can stop actively driving its vehicles.

Unfortunately, the NHTSA discovered that 956 crashes occurred when the autopilot feature was in use. Upon closer inspection though, investigators narrowed their focus to 322 accidents that were directly related to autopilot use in Tesla vehicles. Such accidents are believed to be caused by drivers relying too heavily on the Autosteer system and united disengagements of it.

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Tesla’s response

According to the recall notice, Tesla did not act in accordance with the NHTSA’s analysis. To combat this “malfunctioning” autopilot system, Tesla is releasing a free software update for the models mentioned above (all those equipped with versions of Autosteer).

Although the Autosteer feature has a unique design, the NHTSA investigation found that the “system can provide inadequate driver engagement and usage controls that can lead to foreseeable misuse of the system.”

This latest update will limit certain parts that are operated by the basic versions of Autosteer. Tesla is also working to improve warnings and alerts for drivers. This update doesn’t mean Teslas will become fully autonomous, though. Drivers will still need to pay attention. The update aims to make it harder for drivers to ignore warning signs when Autosteer is in use, or canceled and requiring human intervention.

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Tesla’s enhancements will include additional alerts and controls, a simplification of the process of activating and deactivating Autosteer, making all visual alerts more noticeable, and potentially pausing the use of this feature under certain circumstances, such as when a “driver repeatedly fails to demonstrate continuous and sustained driving responsibility while the feature is engaged.”

In other words, the car’s systems will assess how you use them, and refuse to speak to you unless you do what they want you to.

Yes – four decades after Knight Rider made it seem like fun, the world has a car that can sulk.

Tesla owners should receive a letter in the mail explaining this recall, but these are not expected until at least February 10^th, 2024.

Autopilot issues are nothing new for Tesla. In February this year, over 360,000 Tesla cars were recalled over worries about the potential for its full self-driving software to prompt vehicles to behave in an unsafe manner, especially around intersections.

Tesla has issued a statement on X, owned by Tesla CEO Elon Musk. In the statement, Tesla defended its autopilot system, pointing to statistics that suggest Autosteer results in fewer crashes when engaged. “Safety metrics are emphatically stronger when Autopilot is engaged than when not engaged.”

Tesla’s stock took a significantly smaller knock than some of its cars after news of the recall broke.

According to Tesla, in the fourth quarter of 2022, the recorded crash rate was just one for every 4.85 million miles driven. In contrast, without using Autopilot, the crash rate was reported to be one crash for every 1.40 million miles driven.

This latest recall is already showing its effects, with share prices dropping slightly, but enthusiasm for Teslas is unlikely to come to a skidding halt just yet. After all, Tesla remains at the cutting edge of self-driving technology, and will continue to be a key player in future autonomous vehicle production.

“A series of horrific and even fatal accidents” prompted the investigation. Tesla stands by its sytem, despite issuing recall.

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• Autonomous vehicles “to make traffic lights redundant” says British lord.
• Automated Vehicles Bill close to becoming law in the UK.
• How far can technology be an answer to infrastructural neglect?

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Self-driving skillset – game theory for autonomous vehicles

Although autonomous vehicles haven’t really hit the UK’s roads, they’re one of the hottest topics at the moment. In fact, the legal framework to enable self-driving cars to be used on Britain’s roads was included in the King’s speech (the announcement to Parliament of policies the government intends to enact in the next session) in early November.

Packaged as the solution to the environmental damage that cars do, driverless cars are fast becoming the given answer to any infrastructural issue. Keen to keep up with global developments, the government has introduced the Automated Vehicles Bill, which had its second reading in the House of Lords recently – meaning it’s very close to becoming a functioning reality.

Transport Minister Lord Davies presented the Automated Vehicles Bill, which seeks to address some of the challenges that spring from the new technology – including by providing for corporate entities to assume responsibility for how self-driving vehicles behave, underpinned by a robust framework of safety standards, monitoring and enforcement.

He stressed: “Self-driving vehicles offer an unprecedented opportunity to improve the safety and connectivity of our road network. Unencumbered by fatigue, distraction, frustration or intoxication, and built from the ground up to obey the rules of the road, self-driving vehicles could one day far exceed the standards of even the safest human drivers.”

The Bill ensures that there’s clear legal liability pathway, so there’s no confusion over who’s responsible in crashes involving autonomous vehicles: When the car is in self-driving mode, the company running the vehicle would be liable; drivers retain responsibility for non-driving aspects like insurance and roadworthiness.

Among those weighing in was Lord Moylan, who was the Deputy Chairman of Transport for London back when now-disgraced former Prime Minister Boris Johnson was Mayor of the city. In the debate, Lord Moylan claimed that London wouldn’t need traffic lights if automated vehicles replace human-driven ones; TfL has plans to spend big on upgrading its traffic light system.

Apparently, the “extremely comprehensive traffic light system” still depends on SCOOT software that’s been used for upwards of 20 years.

“But why will anyone ever need traffic lights? Automated vehicles do not need them.”

“If their motion is dependent on their sensing where other vehicles are, together with communication with a satellite at the same time, they will not need traffic lights. What will happen to traffic lights?”

So, (forgive us if we’ve misunderstood) because at some point in the relatively near future traffic lights will – as he sees them – be defunct, there’s no need to spend any more money on them.

Auto-Uber?

Standing before his peers, Lord Moylan went on to demonstrate his rich inner life and vivid imagination. If all automated vehicles were privately owned or communally/corporately owned with fleets of pods, “You summon them like an Uber and they arrive, take you somewhere and then park, vanish or find another passenger somewhere.”

“Let us imagine 80 of those lined up nose to tail, very safely moving along Piccadilly from Hyde Park Corner up to Piccadilly Circus, each containing an individual passenger—and bang close to each other because it will be very safe. It will be 80 passengers moving up Piccadilly.”

Because, famously, a group of say 87 people have never before travelled along the same stretch of road at the same time.

The Lord Moylan did concede that his imaginary vehicles would have the same function as a bus.

Alternatively, we could imagine a fleet of pods, so close they almost touch, could almost be connected, following the same route and allowing passengers on and off at certain points.

Lord Moylan acknowledged the need for traffic lights to enable pedestrians to cross. That’s also where trains and automated vehicles would differ because the streets of London see far more foot traffic than its train tracks.

He also said that automated vehicles would be safer than human-driven ones are, in the same way computer-driven tube trains are. Indeed, the phrase “driverless tube” is a political one in London, but it refers almost exclusively to the debate as unmanned trains are yet to hit the underground.

It may actually be the underground train system that would be replaced, along with taxis, buses and privately owned, human-driven vehicles on the streets, by Lord Moylan’s vision of automated vehicles across London.

He further told the UK’s upper chamber that automated vehicles should be seen as addressing the “last mile problem” rather than longer distance travel issues.

Last mile logistics refers to the final step of a journey, be it for a parcel or a human. It’s most commonly considered as the final step of the delivery process from distribution center or facility to the end-user.

In the terms in which Lord Moylan is talking, it’s not about getting into London, but to your hotel once you’re there.

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Autonomous vehicles navigate market prospects

Booking an autonomous vehicle once you’ve arrived in London will no doubt ease the last mile for those that can afford it; hailing a black cab may be preferable to catching the tube, but all the traffic makes it excruciatingly slow!

But really it seems like a move that will impact London’s tourists and richest, without touching the experience of those living in the further reaches of the city. It might be slowest of all, but a bus journey is still (just about!) less than two pounds. Those without the means to afford premium transport options should still be able to travel.

Does America have better autonomous vehicles?

One reason that driverless cars were easier to integrate in the US is that such vehicles they do well on vast stretches of road where there aren’t likely to be sudden pedestrians to hit (or to avoid, depending on your point of view). The highway system in the US is therefore an ideal testing ground for the technology. It was once it had proved itself well enough to move into cities and serve as an automated cab driver that issues arose.

In fact, it’s gone so badly that the industry has had to beg US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg for help. A coalition of lobbying groups sent Buttigieg a letter last week imploring him to support AV development or risk being outpaced by China. The subtext to this is the grounding of GM’s subsidiary, Cruise, after a crash involving one of its vehicles.

Autonomous vehicles – dividing the UK. Like almost everything else right now.

Now, following a two-year investigation into crashes that occurred in autopilot mode, Tesla has recalled two million cars. That recall applies to near enough every Tesla sold in the US since 2015, when the Autopilot feature launched. The news breaks a week after a former employee at the company told journalists the technology in the cars was unsafe.

So things are going really well with the technology.

Last week, the Guardian published a piece that states driverless vehicles have “failed miserably.” It goes on to argue that public transport is a much better focus. It’s worth pointing out that in context, Lord Moylan’s vision for autonomous vehicles is as a form of public transport.

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Driverless just a drive by? San Franciscans remain hostile to the robotaxi

Public transport (though after national privatization, perhaps it should be reframed as “transport the public may use occasionally, and at great cost”) is a tried and true solution to the problems driverless cars will apparently fix – if it’s done right.

It’s certainly possible that the more technological solution that is autonomous vehicles might go some way to fixing the same problems. But using them as a catch-all solution to avoid investing in public transport infrastructure is simply anti-public ideology masquerading as futurism. It’s the equivalent of pouring billions of pounds into the high-tech protein pill industry because you’re ideologically opposed to restaurants. No bad thing in isolation, but very poorly motivated and missing a lot of the point.

Oh, and invest in the freaking traffic lights – even in the automated future, interaction with street architecture will help avoid accidents like the ones that have dragged Cruise back a step.

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• Cruise self-driving vehicles deemed unsafe for the public. 
• DMV suspends the company’s self-driving license with immediate effect. 
• TWU says self-driving cars fall significantly short of professional human drivers on safety.

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Driverless just a drive by? San Franciscans remain hostile to the robotaxi

Cruise self-driving taxis are once again in the firing line – and this time they’ve been taken off the roads. On Tuesday, California ordered General Motors’ Cruise unit to remove driverless cars from state roads. The Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) said it had suspended Cruise’s autonomous vehicle (AV) deployment and driverless testing permit, effective immediately.

That means efforts by the company to test cars without safety drivers are at an end. It’s seen as a major setback to the self-driving business that GM has called a major growth opportunity and, in turn, to the AV industry as a whole.

Driving lesson #1: do not mess with the DMV.

“This could be a big blow to Cruise,” said Bryant Walker Smith, a law professor at the University of South Carolina. “This plays into the narrative about the technology and the companies failing. The whole industry will suffer as a result.”

Public savior or AV dream-killer? The DMV in the State of California.

According to a statement by the DMV, “based on the performance of the vehicles, the department determines the manufacturer’s vehicles are not safe for the public’s operation,” citing “an unreasonable risk to public safety.”

The state of California says Cruise “misrepresented” the safety of the technology. The DMV said Cruise can challenge the suspension within five days – the company hasn’t yet said whether or not it will. Cruise said in a statement: “We will be pausing operations of our driverless AVs in San Francisco. Ultimately, we develop and deploy autonomous vehicles in an effort to save lives.”

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Seeing the future of self-driving cars coming

In a call before the ruling, GM CEO Mary Barra said Cruise robotaxis have better safety records than human drivers. According to the company, the DMV was reviewing an incident that happened on October 2^nd, where one of its self-driving vehicles was braking but didn’t avoid striking a pedestrian, who was struck by a (human) hit-and-run driver and thrown into the path of the Cruise robotaxi.

“When the AV tried to pull over, it continued before coming to a final stop, pulling the pedestrian forward,” Cruise said.

The DMV’s version of events, as laid out in the Order of Suspension, is that the Cruise vehicle initially came to a hard stop and ran over the pedestrian. After coming to a complete stop, it then attempted to do a “pullover maneuver while the pedestrian was underneath the vehicle.” The car crawled along at 7 mph for about 20 feet, then came to a final stop. The pedestrian remained under the car the whole time. It added that its teams are analyzing the incident to “identify potential enhancements to the AV’s response to this kind of extremely rare event.”

In fairness, this is the kind of accident that’s almost impossible to imagine and plan for – until it happens. It’s also the kind of accident where a human-driven behicle would be unlikely to have performed better.

Where California leads…

It seems hasty to completely revoke Cruise’s permits to operate as a result of this incident. But the DMV says the company didn’t initially disclose all video footage of the accident. It said “Cruise’s vehicles may lack the ability to respond in a safe and appropriate manner during incidents involving a pedestrian.”

The video footage Cruise provided the day after the incident only showed events up until the complete stop. No one at Cruise told the officers or showed any footage of the subsequent pullover maneuver and dragging. The DMV only learned of that from “another government agency.” When asked directly, Cruise did provide the rest of the video.

Does Cruise now face a Mission: Impossible on self-driving cabs?

Safety concerns aside, it casts doubt onto whether Cruise would be forthcoming if its vehicles really were a danger. On the Tuesday before the DMV’s decision was announced, GM executives repeated the view that Cruise was a massive growth opportunity during an earnings conference call. In June, Barra reiterated a forecast that Cruise could generate $50 billion a year in annual revenue by 2023.

She told analysts that “We […] see a tremendous upside opportunity and growth.”

This isn’t the first time that the safety of the vehicles has come into question. In August, after a Cruise robotaxi crashed with an emergency vehicle, the DMV said it was investigating “concerning incidents” involving AVs operated by Cruise in San Francisco and asked the company to take half its robotaxis off the roads. On October 17^th, Reuters reported that US auto safety regulators had opened a probe into whether Cruise was taking sufficient precautions to safeguard pedestrians.

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Self-driving skillset – game theory for autonomous vehicles

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said it had received two reports from Cruise of incidents in which pedestrians were injured, and identified two further incidents via videos posted on websites. Unionized transit workers and other critics of robotaxis hailed the suspension.

The Transport Workers Union of America (TWU), which represents airline, railroad, and transit workers and has harshly criticized self-driving vehicles, said that companies like Cruise must meet measurable safety standards.

“Despite the propaganda pushed by tech executives, Cruise has shown the world that robots are incapable of even coming close to achieving the high standards human operators meet each and every day,” TWU President John Samuelsen said.

Back to the parking garage, Little Tommy. At least, for now…

In San Francisco, robotaxis take paying passengers on journeys day or night, but this latest incident shows how far there still is to go before the tech is really viable.

Days after the California ruling, Cruise announced its fleets in other US cities would now be operated with human oversight.

This is not by any means the first time Cruise’s delf-driving robotaxis have caused  public disquiet.

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Every industry has its collection of buzzwords, including the automotive sector. And one phrase that’s trending particularly highly is ‘software-defined vehicle’. Automobiles have had electronic control units (ECUs) to control the various parts of the vehicle, including the engine, transmission, safety systems, and infotainment – to give just a few examples – for decades.

However, while it’s true to say that software has long been a part of keeping vehicles on the road, up until now, that code has been tied very closely to the hardware – in the main, embedded devices featuring automotive-grade microcontrollers.

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Autobrains builds scalable approach to realizing AV ambitions

Contemporary automobiles can have up to 180 ECUs as carmakers have added more systems to their designs to appeal to buyers, provide more automation, and boost safety. It’s an approach that compartmentalizes the various functionality; software that sits on each of those microcontrollers can change little throughout the lifetime of the car or truck.

The concept of a software-designed vehicle breaks out of that mold and enables OEMs to continuously update their designs to include new functionality. It’s an approach that’ll be familiar to anyone who owns a modern smartphone.

Previous generation mobile devices, just like legacy vehicles, had software applications that were built in and users typically only got to experience new apps when they bought a more up-to-date phone. And then came Apple and Google’s app store model, which changed everything.

Discussing the challenges and opportunities of software-defined vehicles

This month, OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers gathered in Austria at Vienna’s Hofburg Imperial Palace to debate the challenges and opportunities of software-defined vehicles, as part of The Autonomous Main Event 2023. And given how well the app store approach has worked well for smartphone makers, developers, and customers, it’s no surprise to hear the model mentioned multiple times during the panel discussion.

However, as the experts pointed out, there are some key differences between mobile and automotive ecosystems. In the smartphone world, Apple and Google control the app stores for iPhone and Android devices, respectively. But in the automotive domain, who would control such a software-defined vehicle app store? Simon Fürst of BMW Group makes the point that OEMs would need to agree on a universal platform upon which the car makers and other stakeholders could host their apps.

Certainly, automotive firms are keen to use software – delivered through a suitable marketplace – as a way of differentiating themselves, particularly if hardware platforms are shared or at least similar. Electric vehicles, which are expected to dominate new car sales in the near future, are based upon so-called skateboard chassis that some industry experts believe could become white-label goods. The differentiation would then have to come through design, including software-defined vehicle functionality.

Picking up on the topic of design, Maria Anhalt – CEO of Elektrobit, an automotive software developer – commented that adopting a software-defined vehicle approach means that stakeholders can start from the user experience (UX) and work down to the hardware. This contrasts with the methodology of starting with the vehicle platform and working up, which is arguably more common in the automotive sector.

Panel discussion: experts share their views at The Autonomous Main Event 2023.

Listening in to issues raised ahead of the panel session, it’s clear that things are far from straightforward for established automotive players. Car makers, especially those with 100-year histories, tend to be evolutionary rather than revolutionary. The appeal of firms such as BMW and Mercedes is strongly tied to the brand and its heritage. And against this backdrop, it’s no surprise that new entrants have been able to be more disruptive.

App store advantage

The car industry is based around a three-year model cycle, but consumers are used to seeing new mobile devices every 12 months. However, pursuing a software-defined vehicle strategy would allow auto firms to become much more nimble in offering new functionality to customers with out having to carry out upgrades at the dealership or changing the underlying hardware.

Anhalt noted that automotive software has been forecast to grow in value as a fraction of the overall vehicle from hundreds to thousands of dollars. For car makers that can keep customers on side, there’s the potential to grow revenue streams. But it could point to a very different future for car buyers. Upgrades could be tied to users rather than vehicles, so each time models are re-sold, new owners would need to fork out to re-activate features.

It's time to accelerate your #opensource journey in #automotive #tech! Join us at #EclipseCon2023 on Oct 16-17 for the Eclipse SDV Community Day. Let's build the future of mobility together through open source. https://t.co/u0vnOe6htX pic.twitter.com/bL6TUDDwEl

— Eclipse Software Defined Vehicle (@SDVeclipse) September 12, 2023

Already, car makers benefit from the data gathered from connected vehicles. Developers can use the information sent to the cloud to build digital twins, which can enable predictive maintenance and deliver other efficiency savings.

Monitoring the performance of automotive systems helps to provide feedback so that architecture can adapt to unknowns – a scenario that’s amplified for fully autonomous vehicles, where no matter how many miles are driven, it’s impossible to account for all eventualities. But a balance has to be struck.

Flexibility may provide the means to adapt to unknowns, but having a stable architecture is more straightforward for OEMs to maintain. Also, upgrades need to be verified. No developer wants to fix one issue only to create a problem somewhere else.

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Smart city connectivity essential to avoid AV jam

Part of the brief for this year’s event, organized by The Autonomous, was to move beyond the hype surrounding self-driving vehicles and discuss how industry players can team up to unlock the potential of AVs. Smart connected vehicles have much to offer, but the challenges of building higher levels of autonomy have been underestimated.

Artificial intelligence can add to the perception of vehicles on the road, but that has to sit on top of other layers – for example, to provide fail-safe recovery when unexpected events occur. Self-driving success stories so far have been along predictable routes – for example, autonomous trucks are now commonplace at large port facilities.

Returning the app store model, phones have become computers in our pockets and ultimately a software-defined vehicle will become a computer on wheels, which opens the door to developments in mixed and augmented reality.

Christian Sobottka, of Harman International and who was also on the panel debating the challenges and opportunities of software-defined vehicles, commented that creating recurring value from future vehicles will be based around experiences.

Much like we don’t necessarily consider what’s inside our phones, future car buyer may care less about the underlying technology and instead prioritize the ability to download apps and activate features that matter to them.

The post App store model: blessing or curse for software-defined vehicle developers? appeared first on TechHQ.

• China wants to expand a ban on using iPhones in sensitive departments to government-backed agencies and state companies.
• The move, a blow to Apple, comes after military and government personnel were barred from using Tesla vehicles.
• If the ban is extended, as seems possible, it could harden the trade war between the US and China.

Tesla vehicles have been barred around specific locations or occasions in China since last year, out of concern that the vehicles’ impressive array of sensors and cameras—and the sheer fact that Tesla is a foreign company—could threaten national security.

Now, the Chinese government is looking to do the same with iPhones. Reports have surfaced that Chinese authorities are actively restricting use of the Apple flagship product in sensitive departments, government-backed agencies and state companies.

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US-China trade war: New executive order, same old mistakes?

The restrictions around Teslas are not a concern unique to Xi’s government. Even as Chinese automakers gear up for a big push into the West, anxieties about how those vehicles could phone their robust trove of data home are already mounting on American soil. In fact, national unease about the surveillance powers of new modes of transportation is hardly novel.

China imposes a ban on Tesla due to data security concerns. Source: X

But for China — Apple’s most significant market — to ban the use of iPhones among officials may be a major blow to the US tech giant. According to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), the Chinese government has banned officials at central government agencies from bringing foreign-branded phones, including the iPhone, into offices, or using them for government work. Citing unnamed sources, the article says China seeks to “cut the country’s reliance on foreign technology,” beef up cybersecurity, and keep sensitive data from leaking to foreign governments.

The move by China is not surprising and is, in fact, considered a tit-for-tat following the US’ “rip and replace” bans of Huawei and ZTE hardware and ever-expanding attempts to ban TikTok at the local, state, and federal level. The US even recently broadened restrictions on the export of high-performance artificial intelligence chips by Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD).

Especially in the last two years, tensions between the US and China have intensified. Washington actively worked with allies to block the Chinese access to vital equipment to keep its chip industry competitive. Beijing did not meekly accept the sanctions though, proceeding to restrict shipments from prominent US firms, including plane maker Boeing and chip company Micron Technology.

Beijing also ordered central government agencies and state-backed corporations in 2022 to replace foreign-branded personal computers with domestic alternatives within two years, marking one of the most aggressive efforts to eradicate key overseas technology from within its most sensitive organs.

The latest ban by China is a big blow to Apple’s iPhones

There is no denying that for over a decade, China has been seeking to reduce reliance on foreign technologies, asking state-affiliated firms such as banks to switch to local software and promoting domestic semiconductor chip manufacturing. The latest move though is a first that broadly targets foreign-made smartphones.

The move could be a significant blow to Apple, considering China is still one of its biggest markets, accounting for around 19% of its overall revenue. Moreover, China still plays a crucial role in Apple’s supply chain, even as the company transfers manufacturing to countries like India and Vietnam. Apple CEO Tim Cook visited the country just four months ago, praising it for its rapid innovation and long ties with the US giant.

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AMD seeks Taiwan alternatives as US-China chip war simmers

For context on China’s large part of the iPhone maker’s bottom line, it’s worth noting that Apple has changed its iOS software to appease the country, such as limiting AirDrop’s time window to 10 minutes, and in a more geopolitically sinister move, removing the Taiwanese flag emoji.

The WSJ also reported that managers have notified staff of the ban via chat groups or meetings. Separately, a source who regularly deals with Chinese central government agencies told CNN that Chinese officials had already been following an unwritten rule of shunning iPhones since before the pandemic despite the apparent absence of a formal policy. 

According to sources, central government officials now use smartphones made by major domestic companies, especially Huawei. Bloomberg also reported that Beijing intends to extend that restriction far more broadly to many state-owned enterprises and other government-controlled organizations.

China is the world’s largest market for the iPhone. Source: X

“If Beijing goes ahead, the unprecedented blockade will culminate a yearslong effort to root out foreign technology used in sensitive environments, coinciding with Beijing’s effort to reduce its reliance on American software and circuitry. It threatens to erode Apple’s position in a market that yields roughly a fifth of its revenue, and from where it makes the majority of the world’s iPhones through sprawling factories that employ millions of Chinese,” Bloomberg’s report reads.

Is China changing its stance on Apple?

Apple’s latest quarterly results showed that China, which has the world’s biggest number of internet users and largest smartphone market, is still one of the company’s strongest-performing regions. Source: Bloomberg

Considering Apple’s relationship with Beijing and its importance to the economy, it “has historically been viewed as relatively safe in China from government restrictions,” KeyBanc Capital Markets analyst Brandon Nispel said in a report Wednesday. “Is the government changing its stance?”

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Did Huawei defy US Sanctions with its Mate 60 Pro?

Maybe. But despite rising resentment of American efforts to contain China’s rise in technology prowess, Apple still enjoys widespread popularity in China. In fact, iPhones are among the nation’s bestsellers, and are common in both the government and private sectors. China was also a highlight of Apple’s results last quarter, helping offset a sluggish period. 

What happens if Beijing turns the screw further on the iPhone in retalliation for Washington’s increasing hostility to Chinese technology?

If nothing else, it will make the trade war between the two nations even colder and more bitter even than it has been recently.

Are we entering the hardball stage of the US-China tech war?

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