[240813] #May Mobility #Tesla #Hesai

1. How autonomous vehicles can herald a new era for airports

• Autonomous vehicles (AVs) are seen as solutions for airports facing space constraints, staffing issues, and rising passenger demand.
• A whitepaper by Cities Today Studio and May Mobility highlights the growth of AVs as public transport to airports since December 2023.
• Phoenix Sky Harbor is the first airport to offer AV shuttles, averaging 200 trips daily, with significant growth in monthly trips.
• AVs improve traffic flow and safety at congested airports, according to Michael O’Shaughnessy from Phoenix Sky Harbor.
• May Mobility notes increasing airport interest in AVs and highlights their potential benefits for employees and customers.
• Airports are integrating AVs into public transit and focusing on enhancing customer experiences and operations.
• Dallas Fort Worth International Airport is planning for autonomy to innovate and improve airport services.
• Pittsburgh’s airport is expanding AV testing to landside areas to enhance revenues, operations, and sustainability.
• Automation may help airports address staffing shortages as baby boomers retire, according to Airports Council International.
• Maurice Jenkins of Miami-Dade County sees AVs enhancing human capital and improving operational efficiency.
• AVs can manage increased passenger throughput and address issues like parking shortages, shuttle reliability, and traffic congestion.
• Despite ongoing business case evaluations, Phoenix’s success with AVs indicates their potential transformative impact on airport transportation.

2. The Path to a Driverless Future – How Helm.ai is Building the World’s Safest, Most Scalable Autonomous Technologies

• Vlad Voroninski, CEO and Co-Founder of Helm.ai, believes assisted driving is the best pathway to achieving Level 4 (L4) fully autonomous driving.
• Helm.ai focuses on scalable AI software for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and L4 autonomy.
• The company uses unsupervised learning, termed Deep Teaching, for perception, intent prediction, path planning, and generative simulation.
• Helm.ai licenses its software to OEMs and differentiates itself with unique IP for scalability, cost-effectiveness, and handling rare cases.
• Its AI technology learns human-like driving behaviors from real driving data.
• Financially backed by Goodyear, Honda, and Mando Corporation, Helm.ai raised $55 million in Series C funding in August 2023.
• The company recently launched VidGen-1, a generative AI model for simulating realistic driving scenes.
• Voroninski envisions more ADAS in the near future, scalable L4 deployments, and the intersection of autonomous driving with robotics.

3. Cybertruck Spotted With LiDAR; FSD V12.5 Stack Merge Confirmed by Musk

• A Cybertruck prototype was spotted with LiDAR in San Jose, indicating progress towards FSD and Autopilot features.
• Elon Musk confirmed on X that the Cybertruck will receive FSD with version 12.5, the next major update.
• FSD v12.5 will merge the highway and city streets stacks, improving transition and Autospeed functionality.
• Vehicles testing FSD on Chuck’s turn are running v12.5, suggesting its release is imminent.
• Anticipated features for v12.5 include Park Seek and Banish Autopark.
• Tesla uses LiDAR for ground-truth data to validate FSD’s depth perception and distance measurements for accuracy.

4. Baidu Selects Hesai as Exclusive Long-Range Lidar Provider for Next-Generation Robotaxis

• Hesai Technology has been chosen by Baidu as the exclusive long-range lidar supplier for its Yichi 06 robotaxi platform.
• The lidar deal, valued at $200-300 million, supports Baidu’s plan to deploy 100,000 robotaxi vehicles in China.
• The Chinese robotaxi market is forecasted to reach $162.6 billion by 2025 and $403.6 billion by 2030.
• Baidu’s current and upcoming Apollo Go robotaxis utilize Hesai’s high-performance Pandar series lidar.
• Hesai held a 74% share of the global robotaxi lidar market in 2023, with over 380,000 units shipped.
• The sixth-generation Apollo Go vehicles will be significantly cheaper, costing around $28,500.
• Hesai has a strong global presence, serving customers in over 40 countries to promote safe autonomous driving.

5. JFK Airport testing self-driving shuttles in parking lots. Here’s how they work.

• JFK Airport is testing self-driving shuttles in a pilot program by the Port Authority.
• The electric shuttles, using “Light-AR” technology and multiple sensors, transport people and luggage at 9 mph.
• Two shuttles operate from 8 a.m. to noon, Monday to Friday, for the next two months.
• Shuttle drivers will remain on board for safety and will eventually control the vehicles remotely.
• The program aims to improve service efficiency without reducing shuttle driver jobs.
• Travelers have mixed reactions, with some trusting the technology and others preferring human judgment.