Autonomous Driving

Today's Stories

1. 1

   Decart launches a virtual world that lets engineers test self-driving cars without leaving the office

   On June 10, AI research lab Decart released Oasis 3, a 'world model' (software that generates realistic video of roads, traffic, and weather conditions) that engineers can use to test self-driving car software in simulation rather than on real streets. The system can generate hours of photorealistic driving footage in real time, and is now available via API (a plug-in connection that developers can add to their own software). The goal is to cut the enormous cost and time required to gather real-world driving data by replacing some of it with convincing virtual scenarios.

   Faster, cheaper self-driving testing means the technology could reach consumer vehicles sooner — and with fewer on-road experiments near your neighborhood.

2. 2

   Waabi's CEO says Gen Z employees outperform industry veterans at her self-driving truck startup

   Raquel Urtasun, co-founder and CEO of Waabi — a Canadian startup building autonomous (driverless) trucks now valued at over $1 billion — told Fortune on June 13 that she deliberately hires younger workers over seasoned trucking or tech industry veterans. Her reasoning: people without deeply ingrained habits are faster to embrace AI-first workflows, while experienced professionals sometimes resist the new tools. 'Fear can paralyze your ability to embrace that change,' she said.

   If more companies follow Waabi's lead, career-changers and recent graduates who are comfortable with AI tools may have a real hiring edge over people with decades of traditional industry experience.

3. 3

   Tesla's FSD self-driving software gets the green light in Denmark

   Tesla's FSD (Full Self-Driving — the company's hands-free highway and city driving feature) received regulatory approval in Denmark as of June 10, adding another European country to its list of approved markets. Elon Musk also disclosed that Tesla is designing a new generation of AI chips (the specialized processors that power the car's driving decisions) intended for use in both self-driving cars and humanoid robots. Tesla's stock slipped about 2.5% on the same day.

   Tesla drivers in Denmark can now activate the hands-free driving feature, and the new chip design suggests Tesla's next-generation vehicles and robots will share the same AI brain.

4. 4

   Qualcomm expands its AI hardware into self-driving cars and humanoid robots

   Qualcomm — best known as the company that makes the chips inside most Android smartphones — announced an expansion of its AI ecosystem (the collection of chips, software tools, and partner companies built around its technology) to include autonomous vehicles and humanoid robots. The move, reported on June 11, means Qualcomm wants the same type of chip that runs your phone's AI features to also power the brains of driverless cars and walking robots.

   If Qualcomm succeeds, the AI chip powering your next phone and the one steering a driverless taxi could come from the same company — potentially driving down costs across all three product categories.

5. 5

   Ben Thompson's Stratechery explores how AI changes the business model of e-commerce and autonomous vehicles

   In a June 18 interview on Stratechery, analyst Ben Thompson spoke with Michael Morton about how AI is reshaping online shopping — and touched on autonomous vehicles as part of a broader conversation about distribution (how products reach customers) versus referral models (earning money by directing customers to sellers). The discussion highlighted that self-driving vehicles are increasingly part of the logistics and delivery equation for e-commerce companies.

   As driverless delivery vehicles become commercially viable, the cost of shipping goods to your door could drop, which would reshape which online retailers win and lose.