Tesla chief executive Elon Musk has promised “a million” self-driving taxis on the road in 2020, with full self-driving capabilities ready this year.

Musk made the remarks at an “Autonomy Investor Day” at the company’s Palo Alto headquarters on Monday, where executives gave details on a new neural network chip for autonomous driving that is to be built into all new Tesla cars.
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The company also gave more information on its strategy of relying on cameras and radar to help the car make self-driving decisions, and eliminating the laser-based LIDAR that most competitors are using in addition to other sensors.

LIDAR is “expensive and unecessary”, Musk said at the event, saying cameras and radar provided all the information needed for self-driving vehicles and predicting that rivals would “dump LIDAR”.

Musk said Tesla designed the new chip from the ground up, beginning in 2016.

Never having built a chip before, the company has produced “the best chip in the world”, he said.

The unit is placed behind the glove box in new vehicles, and features redundancy so that if one chip fails a second can take over.

He said Tesla has been training its Autopilot self-driving software to handle unpredictable events such as other cars cutting in front of the vehicle.

An update handling cut-ins was pushed live three months ago, he said.

Musk argued all the hardware necessary to make Tesla vehicles self-driving is already present, with only software improvements remaining.

“It’s a very difficult software problem,” he said.

But he went on to claim it would be solved within months, with cars able to autonomously navigate dense urban areas such as New York and San Francisco by the end of the year and autonomous taxis to follow next year.

Source= www.silicon.co.uk
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A taxi driver was attacked with a machete and hammer after being called to a house in Trafford.

Police say two people have been arrested following the incident in Flixton.

Officers told how the taxi driver was called to an address on Irlam Road.

There the offenders opened the front doors and began to attack the driver with weapons.

It's not thought his injuries were life threatening.

During the robbery they stole £100 before running off. The car was also damaged.

On the GMP Trafford North Facebook page, officers said: "Two offenders have been arrested in connection to a robbery on a taxi driver on Irlam Rd, Flixton.

"They have called for a taxi from an address and as the taxi pulls up, the two open the drivers door and the front passenger door and attack the driver with a machete and a hammer.

"They steal £100, damage his taxi and then run off.

"The following day, the same taxi company receive a call for a taxi from the same location with the voices sounding similar.

Source= M.E.N. 
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 UBERK

A SOZZLED reveller was stung with a £300 Uber bill after forgetting to change her home address - instead ordering one to Newcastle.

Helen Dryden, 25, had been on a boozy day out with pals in London when she ordered a taxi back to take her back to her home in Guildford.

But she forgot her home address was still set to Newcastle where she went to university - 270 miles away.

Tipsy Helen then fell asleep in the back of the Uber - waking up and hour later to discover she was 60 miles north in Milton Keynes.

She then had to explain her mistake to the driver, who was forced to do a U-turn and take her 75 miles away to the right address.

Helen said: "I couldn't believe it. The whole day ended up costing me about £400.

"I feel so embarrassed. I was a bit too drunk and just fell asleep.

    I got too drunk. I'm supposed to be getting more responsible as I get older but it's not happening so far"

source= www.thesun.co.uk
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 Birmingham taxi drivers have apologised to the public after their go-slow demonstration caused mass disruption in the city centre - but have warned it could get worse.

Dozens of black cabs brought traffic in and around Pagoda Island to a standstill on Monday morning during the protest over the city council's  Clean Air Zone plans and will protest again today (April 24).

National Express diverted a number of buses, particularly routes serving south Birmingham, while some commuters abandoned them on the roundabout and walked through the gridlocked vehicles on foot instead.

West Midlands Police officers were also present with the force saying they will take action against any driver causing 'deliberate obstruction' by remaining stationary.

Around 40 Hackney carriages lined up on Smallbrook Queensway shortly before 8am but it is estimated up to 80 took part in the two-hour crawl.

It was the first of nine protests to be held over the coming days, some of which will target the evening rush hours.

Raja Amin, president for the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union Midlands council which is leading the campaign, declared the demonstration a success and warned that even more drivers could join in over the course of week.

He said: "We wanted to show Birmingham City Council that we are not going to take their policy lying down.

"Most people said to us before that it is too early, people are on holiday, schools and colleges are closed, it might not have an impact.

"But the sheer number of drivers who turned up meant it was very successful.

"They didn't even have to go anywhere, today they went 25 yards up the road and brought the city to a gridlock during a holiday period.

"I think everyone wanted to see how this one would go but now they are getting more together.

"I think there will be more drivers taking part."

A few of the taxi drivers involved in the go-slow protest

The Clean Air Zone will launch in Birmingham in January 2020 imposing an £8 daily charge on any car travelling inside the A4540 ring road which falls below certain emission standards.

Diesels older than EURO 6 (2015) and petrols older than EURO 4 (2006).

Earlier this month the council's Licensing and Public Public protection committee approved new emissions policies for Hackney carriage and private hire drivers

While they made some concessions to the drivers they did not meet all of their demands, such as exemption from the charge as well as more money towards converting to LPG or buying a new vehicle.

The council admitted hundreds of drivers will still have to upgrade or replace their cars.


Mr Amin said: "My message to the public at large is that I apologise from the bottom of my heart for any inconvenience caused to their journey or travel.

"We are sincerely sorry to them. But we didn't bring this, it is the council's ridiculous policy being imposed on us that has made us do this.

"We don't enjoy doing this to the public. This was a last resort.

"This isn't a sudden thing we have been saying for months.

"We just want to have a dialogue with the council.

"The public should talk to councillors and tell them to sit around the table with us, we want to negotiate.

"Our doors are open, let's compromise, build a bridge and walk over it."

Birmingham City Council response

Cllr Waseem Zaffar, transport and environment chief, issued an updated statement today.

He did not acknowledge the disruption caused by the go-slow demonstration but emphasised that the authority is spending £15m of its £39m Clean Air Zone funding from the Government supporting Hackney carriage and private hire drivers.

Cllr Zaffar said: "I’m aware of the concerns of how the Clean Air Zone will affect Hackney carriage and private hire drivers.

"As I’ve said on many occasions, I totally understand that the introduction of the CAZ will have an impact on anyone driving a vehicle that does not meet modern emission standards, and I get the drivers’ concerns.

"My late father was a driver in Birmingham, I have a lot of family and friends who are drivers and I’ve in the past represented the taxi trade as a trade union official - I understand this will be challenging and that’s why we worked very hard to get £15m from Government to support drivers through the change.

source- BBC