For a long time, the phrase 'driverless cars' has been something of a misnomer. With the technology still being developed, safety concerns have necessitated at least one, and sometimes two, human monitors inside of autonomous vehicles. These monitors check the status of a vehicle and are ready to take over control should it become necessary. Of course, 'self-driving cars with fully alert engineer attendants' doesn't quite have the same ring to it...

  In theory, there's no reason why a fully autonomous vehicle would need pedals or a steering wheel. If a driverless car is turning, accelerating and braking entirely on its own, the auto parts that allow humans to perform these tasks become redundant. Author: Justin Tejada, The Connected Car

Tragically, many serious auto accidents were only milliseconds away from being prevented. Piloting a multi-tonne automobile is a game of inches, especially at high speeds. The difference between a major collision and a close call can be the amount of time between when a driver thinks about hitting the brakes or turning the wheel, and the time it takes him or her to actually do it. Author: Sam Chase, The Connected Car

What is the worst confluence of driving conditions you can possibly imagine? It's probably nighttime in a densely populated city. There would be a vision-obscuring blizzard making the roads slick and unreliable. Traffic would be thick and moving irregularly. Worse, the drivers around you would have seemingly little regard for your safety, or even their own. Even the road signs would be difficult to see. Welcome to life for drivers in Moscow. Aut...

  Proponents of autonomous vehicles believe that self-driving cars will help cure a bevy of problems that plague our streets, including over a million annual road traffic deaths globally and the unsustainable emission of greenhouse gases. Author: Sam Chase, The Connected Car

  In June, lift-hailing company Lyft and the Boston-based autonomous driving startup NuTonomy announced a 'strategic R&D partnership' to improve the AV customer experience for our driverless future. Author: Justin Tejada, The Connected Car

  There's a reason there are consumer autonomous systems already being rolled out for highway driving without an equivalent for city driving. Cars on a highway behave rationally for the most part, which makes it easier for the artificial intelligence that controls an autonomous system to operate since it is programmed logically. Author: Sam Chase, The Connected Car

  The modern automotive industry does not revolve around vertically integrated companies with end-to-end control from production to assembly to sales. Author: Sam Chase, The Connected Car

If there's one thing transportation experts and autonomous vehicle experts can agree on it's that no one really knows what the future of mobility looks like. There are so many variables - developing technology, legislative uncertainties and shifting social norms - that still need to be determined before we know how vehicular autonomy will shape our society. Any proclamations about our self-driving future are educated theories at best, and sh...

Every year, tens of thousands of Americans die in car accidents. It's a horrific reality, but one that has become normalised. With the exception of drunk driving and texting while driving, seldom do you see campaigns that raise awareness about general traffic accidents and the deaths that arise from them. One of the biggest benefits of self-driving cars is the potential to dramatically reduce the number of traffic fatalities. Author: J...

There are more than a few reasons why owning an electric car is desirable. In a world where climate change is a constant concern, owning a vehicle that lowers one's carbon footprint feels like a moral imperative to some. With ten times fewer moving parts than a gas-powered car, EVs also typically require far less maintenance. And that's just one way that they can save owners money. Running a car on electricity is, simply put, less expensive ...

There is no shortage of news about self-driving cars coming out of the US. Silicon Valley is considered a global hub of autonomous vehicle development. And each of the Big Three automakers is pouring enormous resources into the industry, with promising results. On the regulatory front, many new bills and and regulations that would create a more welcoming environment for testing autonomous vehicles have been introduced at both the state and l...

In the connected car sector, the 'V2' prefix is familiar shorthand, referring to technology that links vehicles to various other properties. These commonly centre around over-the-air connections enabled by telematics technology. Vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) tech allows cars to 'speak' to one another, which can mitigate the risk of collisions and establish safer, more efficient traffic patterns. Vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) enables cars to connect ...

  With few exceptions, the otherwise permissive states for self-driving car testing have prohibited the operation of autonomous vehicles on public roads without a human supervisor in the front seat. It's not hard to understand why. Author: Sam Chase, The Connected Car

The act of publicly insulting a rival can be an art form unto itself. For example, Dorothy Parker once wrote of Audrey Hepburn's acting: 'Miss Hepburn ran the whole gamut of emotions - from A to B'. Then there's football coach Steve Spurrier, who once said of a rival coach, 'I saw a story saying Jim Haslett comes in at 4:30 every morning. That's not doing him much good'. Author: Sam Chase, The Connected Car

  Owning an enormous fleet of vehicles is not a particularly desirable operation. Large car rental companies, while still viable, find themselves to be in a significantly less advantageous position than they were a decade ago thanks to - among other factors - the proliferation of ride-hailing services. Author: Sam Chase, The Connected Car

When Volkswagen unveiled its self-driving 'Sedric' concept this past March, some people couldn't help but chuckle. It didn't have anything to do with the underlying concept, which was that Sedric would be 'the ideas platform for autonomous driving in the Volkswagen Group'. Rather, it was the physical appearance of the car. With a wide body, a vertically elongated windshield and hanging wheel wells covering the tires completely, it looked like not...

In newer vehicles, automated safety features make getting behind the wheel safer than ever. Some cars now provide an alert when the vehicle drifts out of its lane or if another car is driving up in a blind spot. The services do a good job of making drivers more aware of their surroundings and forcing them to pay more attention. But they are not perfect. Author: Justin Tejada, The Connected Car

Car keys have come a long way from their original iterations as simply pieces of custom-cut metal that could be inserted into a vehicle's ignition system. Remote keyless systems were first introduced in the early 1980s, allowing drivers to unlock their vehicle from a distance with the push of a button. They've become so commonplace, it's hard to imagine a time without them. Author: Justin Tejada, The Connected Car

For some, hearing the phrase, 'Individualised, highly flexible, totally efficient local public transport' sounds like an oxymoron. It certainly is not a way many would describe the current state of public transportation. Buses, subways and other forms of public transit are pretty much the exact opposite of 'individualised', as crowded cars are a twice daily reality for commuters worldwide. And the only way most of them can be characterised a...