Features
8 jan 18

The self-drive contingent at CES 2018

As the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas kicks off for real this Monday, here’s an overview of the companies offering self-drive technology at CES 2018. 

The line between cars and electronic gadgets is blurring. One of the major fronts of technological advancement in automotive industry is self-drive technology.

At a closed conference at CES 2018 on Sunday, Chinese EV startup Byton revealed its concept car, which will come with considerable and upgradeable autonomous-driving features. 

Tech website Digital Trends listed all companies offering self-drive technology at CES 2018 (follow on Twitter via #CES2018). And it’s a pretty long list.

  • Almotive. Developers of proprietary autonomous driving capabilities with off-the-shelf cameras and other low-price components. Licensed to test-drive in Hungary, France and California. Hoping to expand this in 2018 to Japan, China and other U.S. states.
  • Aptiv. An important player in the automotive components sector and partner of Lyft. Both jointly offer CES attendees the chance to hail self-driving rides from the Las Vegas Convention Center (pictured). 
  • Argo.ai. Its two founders formerly headed the self-driving vehicle teams at Google and Uber, respectively. Recipient of a $1 billion investment by Ford. Will develop a new software platform for Ford’s fully autonomous vehicle, coming in 2021. 
  • Aurora. Secretive startup staffed by former Google, Tesla and Uber talent, which recently announced it will work with Hyundai and VW on self-drive technology.
  • Baidu. Chinese search engine giant with huge automotive ambitions, showcasing Apollo 2.0, its open, autonomous driving platform; and Apollo Pilot, its Level-3 autonomous driving solution.
  • Cisco. Networks specialist eager to get in to the (highly network-reliant) autonomous-vehicle space.
  • Clarion. Hitachi subsidiary that not only makes car stereos, but also automotive software – including for autonomous valet parking. 
  • Green Hills Software. Partnering with Renesas Electronics at CES to demonstrate the Connected Cockpit Vehicle, a platform which manages navigation, multimedia, climate control, and more.
  • Intel. Developing Linux into a system fit for the autonomous vehicles of the future. Showcasing an auto reference platform at CES.
  • Navya. France-based manufacturer of self-driving shuttle buses, which at CES is partnering with Keolis to showcase autonomous robotaxis. 
  • Nutonomy. Self-drive software developer, recently acquired by Aptiv.
  • Nvidia. The graphics giant has expanded into several new areas, including machine vision. The company has partnered with Audi for autonomous tech development.
  • Qualcomm. Produces the electronic chips that make autonomous driving possible, for example via V2E (vehicle-to-everything) communications over the 5G network. Also developing contactless EV charging.
  • Transdev. A French company, which recently launched the Rouen Normandy Autonomous Lab project – Europe’s first project with autonomous EVs available to the public.
  • Torc. A robotics company with “one of the oldest self-driving car teams”. It developed the Asimov self-drive system back in 2007, for which it received a third place in the DARPA Urban Challenge. Now showcasing a complete self-driving car.
  • University of Waterloo (Canada). Developed software that powers the Renesas autonomy vehicle, which is available for demos at CES. 
Authored by: Steven Schoefs