Awesome Autonomous

We’ve all seen those robotic vacuum cleaners. The Grain Weevil is like that, only it’s designed to safely spread out and level loose grain in silos. This hard-working little ‘bot roams around silos, zig-zagging through the grain and pushing it around with its screw drive treads and shovel. Multiple robots can also work together to maintain larger silos.

Ascento’s agile robot has a pair of articulated legs that roll on bicycle wheels. This design allows it to ride on uneven surfaces, up and down hills, and even climb stairs with ease. It can autonomously drive at speeds up to 12 km/h and 8 hours per charge. Ascento has created a version designed specifically for autonomous security patrolling.

The Halfgrid is an environmentally-friendly design for a fully-autonomous urban transportation system. It runs on static overhead cables, decreasing traffic and emissions. Each independently-powered transportation pod is just the right size for a single person. The pods could also be used to move cargo.

Autonomous luxury with zero emissions and zero crashes sums up Cadillac’s third Halo Concept vehicle. The slick, two-passenger EV sports a range of self-driving and connected tech. The use of biometric input, AI machine learning, and GM’s Ultifi software redefines how passengers cruise in its serene cabin.

US Route 129 aka “Tail of the Dragon” is one of America’s greatest and most daunting roads. With 318 curves over its 11 miles, it’s claimed more than a few vehicles and lives. CGP Grey took his dad’s Tesla there to see how the car’s “self-driving” beta handled the twisty and turny road. Uncut drive footage here.

The soon-to-be-released Skydio 2 drone is supposed to be capable of automatically tracking and following subjects in challenging situations. Warped Perception got his hands on an early unit of the autonomous flyer to see just how good it is at tracking and avoiding obstacles, and the results are very impressive.

Roborace is a new racing series with autonomous vehicles. Science reporter and smart guy Tom Scott scored some time with his hands off the wheel of one of these cars, while it did all of the work driving him around the UK’s famed Silverstone circuit. We’d love to see this at full speed, though safety concerns prevent that at present.

Robomart is an automated platform that combines food delivery with ride-hailing systems. The idea is to have autonomous vehicles carrying produce or meals roving around, ready for nearby customers to hail them. Stop & Shop will test the system in 2019.

BMW Motorrad spent 2 years developing a motorcycle that can start, accelerate, turn, and stop on its own. But the company won’t sell the bike to consumers. The data they’ve gathered will be used to integrate safety features into their production bikes.

“Why fly when you can be driven?” That is the driving question behind Volvo’s electric and autonomous concept car. The 360c is meant as an alternative to short plane trips, letting you work, relax, and even sleep in a spacious cabin while the car drives itself.

Honda’s concept autonomous ATV is designed to work like a robotic pack mule, carrying loads to work sites, and also performing tasks like plowing snow, tilling soil, or harvesting crops with attachment modules. It’s rugged, has a 4-wheel drivetrain, and runs on electric power.

More in-car footage of a Roborace prototype autonomous car as it flies through the twisty, turny street circuit set up for the Hong Kong E-Prix 2017. When you’re done with that pro driver Nicki Shields compete against the self-driving race car here.

The world’s first hands-free interstate cruising system is here, and we were one of the first to test it out on a trip from Cleveland to Memphis via Chicago. We were left thoroughly impressed by this “Super Cruise” setup, and what it means for the future of highway travel as we know it.

Mercedes-Benz’s parent company Daimler worked with Bosch to create a parking system with cars that park and retrieve themselves. The cars and the car park are equipped with sensors that guide the car to a free space. Drivers use an app to summon their rides.

The YARA Birkeland will be the world’s first autonomous and zero-emission container ship. It will be manned when it launches in 2018, but is expected to launch, sail and dock on its own by 2020. It will reduce YARA’s diesel truck haulage by up to 40,000 trips a year.

It’s common knowledge that you can generate a small amount of electricity from a potato paired with copper and zinc electrodes. Engineer Marek Baczynski decided to take this idea to the next logical step, harnessing this potato power and using it to drive a robotic brain and wheels.

Roborace is knee-deep in the development of cars for its fully-autonomous racing series, and they just dropped some amazing footage that shows one of their test cars running a lap of Berlin’s Formula E track. Top speed for the test lap was 124 mph, but their goal is 190 mph.

Every Tesla rolling off the assembly line now includes the hardware needed for full autonomy. While the capabilities still need to be rolled out to customers via software, this impressive demo video shows off how their self-driving cars see the world.

Automotive innovators Local Motors latest creation is an autonomous 12-passenger electric bus that’s designed to offer door-to-door rides, smartphone-based ride hailing and payment, and remote monitoring from a control center. Initial prototypes start road tests in DC soon.