Autonomous Cars Will Start Testing Again

Most autonomous vehicle companies have interrupted tests due to the new coronavirus pandemic. For safety reasons, when companies operate under normal conditions, there are two people in autonomous cars. In Covid-19 period, it becomes almost impossible to maintain social distance in these conditions.

In Pennsylvania in a controlled manner, firms are back in business. Most companies said that the two-month pause did not cause delays in development. Pittsburgh, Uber, Aurora Innovation, Argo AI and Aptiv recently partnering with the Hyundai Motor Group are competing to develop autonomous cars quickly and safely. Companies say they work from home during this process, and all companies claim to have made progress in the autonomous vehicle race.

“Productivity remains very high and employees work against the timelines they set at the beginning of the year with their own efforts,” said Sarah Abboud, chief executive of Advanced Technologies Group, responsible for the San Francisco-based company.

Karl Iagnemma, president and CEO of the Boston-based Hyundai-Aptiv Autonomous Driving Joint Venture, said his company does not anticipate material changes in its technology roadmap.

Chris Urmson, CEO and co-founder in Aurora, wrote in an April blog post that things look different these days, but they are more committed to their missions than ever before.

Argo, located in the Pittsburgh office Strip District, started daily temperature checks and allowed shifts to start at least 30 minutes apart to limit contact with colleagues. In addition, testers had received extensive refresher training to ensure that their driving skills were sharper than ever before.

Argo installed a plastic barrier inside the car to separate the two employees. He also installed new air filters to be cleaned weekly with UVC light, an ultraviolet light spectrum that can be used as a disinfectant.

Uber, the center of the Advanced Technologies Group in the Strip District and Aptiv, which recently moved to Hazelwood Green, has not yet begun testing.

Aptiv continued some test operations and improved its simulation capabilities in Boston, Las Vegas and Singapore. Iagnemma said the company plans to continue some tests at the Pittsburgh facility’s private car park, but will not begin public road tests for a few more weeks.

Abber said that Uber was running thousands of scenarios in the simulation and continued to operate their parked cars.