Displaying Items By Tag: Autonomous

File this one to the "we'll believe it when we see it" folder. Toyota is apparently now the owner of a patent for an autonomous tanker vehicle that refuels or recharges your car "on the fly." While that conjures images of a Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker extending a fuel boom to an F-16, it's unclear from the filing whether the cars would be in motion or parked.

This seems to be a high-level patent, one where a company is simply staking a claim to an idea rather than having a fleshed-out product. Discovered by The Drive, it shows a nondescript boxy trailer that contains the various types of fuel. It's attached to an autonomous car that can be summoned by a customer, who provides the make and model of their car and selects different octane grades of petrol, diesel, hydrogen, or recharging for EVs. 

Honda is looking to become the world’s first carmaker to mass produce Level 3 autonomous vehicles, as per Reuters. These cars will be capable of driving themselves in congested motorway traffic while legally allowing drivers to take their eyes off the road.

TOKYO — Honda said on Wednesday it will be the world's first automaker to mass produce sensor-packed Level 3 autonomous cars that will allow drivers to let their vehicles navigate congested expressway traffic.

"Honda is planning to launch sales of a Honda Legend (luxury sedan) equipped with the newly approved automated driving equipment" before the end of March 2021, Honda said in a press release. The Honda Legend is mechanically similar to the Acura RLX sold in the United States.

Can a self-driving vehicle ever really be as aware of its surroundings as a human being? It would mean for computers to actually learn from past experiences and recognize patterns in order to navigate new and/or unpredictable situations.

In early 2009, the Google Self-Driving Car Project was born, evolving over the years into what we now know as Waymo.