At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) earlier this month, we got the chance to visit with key players in the automotive industry and hear what they had to say about the future of autonomous vehicles. Contrary to a year ago, the industry is no longer talking about level 5 autonomy by 2021—most people are, rightly, thinking of the move to full autonomy as an evolution, not a revolution.

We’re happy to see the industry taking baby steps toward this milestone. We believe that self-driving cars can move the needle in the right direction relative to road safety—but with vehicle manufacturers feeling pressure to race to market, steps can get skipped. That’s why Designated Driver seamless teleoperation is so important: It’s a bridge between getting to market faster and doing so with a safe, reliable product. Read about how we built Designated Driver from the ground up with safety in mind >

News from CES
We noted a few announcements and press takeaways from CES that support the autonomous vehicle evolution:

From VentureBeat, “Nvidia announced that its Drive AutoPilot is the first automated driving system that meets standards for Level 2-plus autonomous cars. That means that the car can automatically handle steering, acceleration, and deceleration in the driver’s environment, as well as features like cruise control and lane centering.”

From ZDNet, “Sprint has announced at CES 2019 that Greenville, South Carolina, will see its first smart city build-out based on both its Curiosity Internet of Things (IoT) platform and mobile 5G network connectivity. As part of the project, Sprint will deploy Massive Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (Massive MIMO) technology as well as a dedicated IoT network and “micro-positioning” technology aimed at enabling connected vehicles, smart machines, and autonomous drones to operate and react in real time.” Read about why 5G could be important for driverless vehicles >

From Forbes, “Most major companies, even those who historically haven’t been automotive suppliers, touted products that could one day make their way into autonomous, or even semi-autonomous cars and robotaxis. Samsung prepared versions of their displays that could be plastered all over the vehicle. Intel showcased an in-vehicle entertainment system for passengers taking robo-rides. Every company doing anything in communications had a solution for connected and autonomous cars.”

Our commitment to safety
As evidenced by the strong showing at CES, the driverless industry is booming. At Designated Driver, we aim to help it boom, safely. In compliance with ISO 26262, all of our processes are designed and implemented to ensure that our customers, including R&D teams within automotive companies, device manufacturers and others, can be confident that our technology platform and certified remote operators will enhance their autonomous offerings and provide unparalleled support.