In autonomous and self-driving vehicle news are Z Advanced Computing, Baidu, Apollo Go, AutoGo, Perrone Robotics, Waymo, S-E-A, Ford, StradVision, AMD, NTT, Z Advanced Computing
In this Article
Z Advanced Computing’s AI Recognized fro Level-5
Z Advanced Computing, Inc. (ZAC), a Cognitive Explainable-AI (CXAI) startup, has been praised by Auto Connected Car and Investors Hangout for developing AI technology that could enable full Level-5 autonomous driving. Unlike traditional neural networks and deep learning models, ZAC’s brain-inspired Concept-Learning algorithms require only a few training samples and use far less computing power and energy.
ZAC’s AI has demonstrated advanced 3D object recognition in projects with the U.S. Air Force and Bosch-BSH, excelling in understanding complex and rare real-world situations—an essential ability for self-driving vehicles. The company’s technology eliminates reliance on remote tele-operators, massive simulated data, or geofenced operating zones.
Founded and led by Dr. Saied Tadayon, ZAC holds over 450 inventions (including 14 U.S. patents) and is advised by leading scientists such as Nobel Laureate Prof. David Lee and LASIK inventor Prof. Gholam Peyman. ZAC’s applications extend beyond autonomous vehicles to fields such as medical imaging, security, satellite data, and smart cities.
Baidu Apollo Go and AutoGo Permitted in Abu Dhabi
Baidu’s Apollo Go and UAE-based AutoGo have entered a major new phase of their partnership to expand a fully driverless robotaxi fleet in Abu Dhabi. Following months of successful autonomous testing, the companies secured one of Abu Dhabi’s inaugural fully driverless commercial permits from the Integrated Transport Centre (ITC), allowing them to launch robotaxi services for residents and visitors. The expanded partnership aims to deploy hundreds of vehicles and establish the emirate’s largest driverless fleet by 2026. The announcement, made during Abu Dhabi Autonomous Week, highlights the UAE’s growing commitment to smart mobility. Apollo Go, already operating in 22 cities worldwide, has logged over 240 million autonomous kilometers and completed more than 17 million rides.
Perrone Robotics: Detroit’s Autonomous Electric Shuttle Service
Perrone Robotics announced that its CONNECT autonomous shuttle service in Detroit has surpassed one year of continuous operation, making it the longest-running public autonomous electric shuttle program in the U.S. Launched in August 2024, the fleet uses Ford E-Transit vans equipped with Perrone’s patented TONY and MAX autonomous vehicle technologies. Operating along a 10-mile route through downtown Detroit, the zero-emission shuttles have expanded ridership and routes, proving the viability of large-scale autonomous public transit.
Backed by a $1.5 million contract, the program demonstrates safe, accessible, and sustainable mobility that meets strict U.S. safety and manufacturing standards. Perrone Robotics, with over 20 years of autonomy experience, continues to advance scalable AV solutions built and patented in the U.S. CEO Paul Perrone emphasized that Detroit’s success shows autonomy can be deployed “safely, reliably, and at scale.”
Waymo Expands to Freeways
Waymo, Alphabet’s autonomous ride-hailing division, has begun operating its fully driverless robotaxi service on freeways across the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, and Phoenix. The expansion includes curbside service at San Jose Mineta International Airport, adding to Waymo’s growing list of airport access points. Initially, the freeway service will be limited to early-access riders before a wider rollout. The company has implemented extensive safety measures to manage the challenges of high-speed autonomous driving. This marks a significant step forward for Waymo, solidifying its lead in the robotaxi market as competitors work to match its progress in real-world autonomous operations.
S-E-A Secures U.S. Patent
S-E-A announced that its STRIDE® (Small Test Robot for Individuals in Dangerous Environments) robotic platform—engineered to simulate pedestrian and cyclist behavior for vehicle safety testing—has been granted a U.S. patent. STRIDE is a low-profile, overrunable platform designed for vulnerable road user (VRU) simulations, offering precise RTK-GPS localization, realistic movement, wireless control, and an emergency stop for safe and repeatable testing.
With an open-source ROS software stack and Python-based scripting, the system integrates easily into ADAS and autonomous vehicle research environments. Capable of speeds up to 12.4 mph, operating on varied terrain, and supporting highly customizable scenarios, STRIDE enables accurate recreation of real-world pedestrian and cyclist dynamics—addressing a longstanding challenge in vehicle testing.
S-E-A plans to expand STRIDE’s applications across VRU simulation and autonomous driving evaluations, reinforcing its commitment to advancing forensic engineering and vehicle safety technologies.
Ford Expands BlueCruise
Ford is broadening access to its BlueCruise hands-free highway driving system, extending availability beyond the Mustang Mach-E to the Puma, Puma Gen-E, Kuga, and Ranger PHEV beginning in spring 2026. The system, already approved in 16 European markets, allows “hands-off, eyes-on” driving across more than 135,000 km of designated Blue Zones.
Ford drivers worldwide have logged over 888 million km using BlueCruise, and expanding the feature to more model lines will make hands-free driving accessible to a wider range of customers. BlueCruise uses radars, cameras, lane-marking detection, speed-sign recognition, and a driver-facing camera to ensure safe operation. It manages steering, braking, acceleration, and lane positioning from highway speeds to stop-and-go traffic.
Once engaged in a Blue Zone, drivers may remove their hands from the wheel while continuing to watch the road. The system confirms road, lane, and driver-attention conditions before enabling hands-free mode.
BlueCruise will be offered through subscription on eligible 2026 model-year vehicles equipped with the Driver Assistance Pack, with pricing to be announced closer to launch.
StradVision and AMD Partner to Advance AI Vision
StradVision has partnered with AMD in a multi-year collaboration to develop AI-powered vision perception technology for autonomous vehicles. The partnership integrates StradVision’s SVNet and MultiVision software with AMD’s automotive SoCs, enabling real-time, multi-camera perception for tasks like object and pedestrian detection, lane and free-space recognition, and environmental understanding for vehicles up to Level 4 autonomy.
The collaboration will be showcased at CES 2026 using AMD’s Versal AI Edge Series Gen 2 VEK385 Evaluation Kit, highlighting high-performance, power-efficient perception capabilities. The companies aim to reduce system complexity and energy consumption while supporting scalable, software-defined vehicle architectures, enhancing safety and enabling smarter autonomous driving systems.
NTT Develops Standard for Assessing Remote AV Video Quality
NTT has created a technology that automatically evaluates whether video from autonomous vehicles is sufficient for operators to detect sudden obstacles. The Parametric Object-Recognition-Ratio-Estimation model, now adopted as ITU-T Recommendation P.1199, considers factors such as video bitrate, resolution, frame rate, frozen frames, and vehicle speed to determine the reliability of object recognition in remote monitoring scenarios.
The system enables real-time assessment of monitoring video quality and can alert operators when it falls below safe levels, allowing intervention such as slowing or stopping vehicles. NTT plans field trials to confirm that these alerts improve efficiency and safety for remote operators of Level 4 autonomous vehicles.