Vueron Newsletter
No. 215
2025.06.24
| Amazon Zoox Self-Driving Taxi Company Inks Vegas Resort Partnership | ||
| LiDAR | AEye’s Apollo Lidar Sensor Wins Prestigious AIIA Intelligent Perception Industry Leadership Award | |
| LiDAR | AEVA’s 4D LiDAR Solution Targets GPS-Free Navigation Needs | |
| Canadian Startup Waabi Is Bringing Self-Driving Trucks to Texas: CEO Interview | ||
| WeRide Teams Up with Renault to Bring Autonomous Shuttle to Roland-Garros Again |
1. Amazon Zoox Self-Driving Taxi Company Inks Vegas Resort Partnership
- Amazon-owned Zoox has partnered with Resorts World Las Vegas to launch a robotaxi service for resort guests.
- Under the partnership, Zoox becomes the official autonomous mobility provider for the luxury hotel and entertainment destination.
- The custom-built Zoox vehicle, featuring no steering wheel and carriage-style seating for four, will offer guests a novel, premium transportation experience.
- A 133 kWh battery and four-wheel steering enable extended operations and high maneuverability on urban streets.
- Zoox-branded pick-up and drop-off points will be installed at the resort, accompanied by on-site promotional activities.
- The service will initially be available to early adopters enrolled in the Zoox Explorer program, with public rollout planned afterward.
- The robotaxi route will offer convenient access to local venues such as the Las Vegas Convention Center and T-Mobile Arena.
- Both companies aim to redefine hospitality and travel by combining personalized autonomous mobility with luxury experiences.
Zoox has partnered with Resorts World Las Vegas to launch a guest-focused autonomous shuttle service, blending high-tech mobility with premium hospitality.
2. AEye’s Apollo Lidar Sensor Wins Prestigious AIIA Intelligent Perception Industry Leadership Award
- AEye’s flagship 1550 nm lidar sensor, Apollo, has won the Intelligent Perception Industry Leadership Award at the AIIA2025 Automotive Intelligence Pilot Innovation Awards in China.
- Apollo was recognized for its precision, adaptability, and role in accelerating lidar adoption in the automotive industry.
- The sensor leverages AEye’s software-definable architecture to deliver long-range, high-resolution perception for autonomous and assisted driving.
- Apollo’s capabilities help vehicles operate reliably in complex scenarios, enabling safer and more intelligent mobility solutions.
- AEye emphasized the strategic importance of recognition in China, the world’s largest lidar market, further cementing its global position.
- The Apollo sensor will be demonstrated at EAC2025 in Hangzhou, where attendees can experience its features firsthand.
- AEye’s 4Sight™ platform enables dynamic applications such as advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), smart infrastructure, and logistics.
- The company reiterated its commitment to innovation in perception technologies that enhance transportation safety and performance.
3. AEVA’s 4D LiDAR Solution Targets GPS-Free Navigation Needs
- Aeva Technologies has partnered with Swiss delivery company Loxo to deploy its 4D LiDAR sensor, Atlas, which enables GPS-free localization using real-time velocity and direction data.
- Unlike conventional LiDARs that rely solely on distance measurements, Atlas integrates direct motion tracking into the hardware, offering enhanced navigation capabilities in GPS-denied environments.
- The solution is particularly valuable in dense European cities, tunnels, and urban canyons where GPS signals are often unreliable.
- Aeva’s sensor eliminates the need for external odometry or map-based positioning by measuring the motion of each detected point.
- Compared to competitors like Luminar and Ouster, Aeva distinguishes itself with hardware-embedded velocity sensing, improving real-time responsiveness.
- As demand grows for GPS-independent navigation in delivery and robotaxi sectors, Aeva’s technology is well-positioned to address this challenge.
Aeva Technologies’ Atlas LiDAR enables precise, GPS-free navigation in dense urban environments by embedding real-time motion tracking directly into the sensor hardware.
4. Canadian Startup Waabi Is Bringing Self-Driving Trucks to Texas: CEO Interview
- Waabi, a Toronto-based startup led by former Uber self-driving chief Raquel Urtasun, plans to deploy fully driverless long-haul trucks on Texas highways by the end of 2025.
- Founded in 2021, Waabi distinguishes itself by using generative AI to simulate diverse driving scenarios, reducing reliance on real-world testing.
- The company has raised over $280 million from investors including Khosla Ventures, Nvidia, and Uber.
- Urtasun emphasizes that AI adoption in trucking will be gradual and create new job categories like remote vehicle assistance and terminal operations.
- Waabi has partnered with Uber Freight and Volvo to pilot and develop autonomous freight vehicles.
- Its 99.7% simulator realism success rate underpins the company’s confidence in its AI-first approach to autonomous driving.
- While headquartered in Canada for AI and research, Waabi builds its trucks in the U.S. to bypass trade barriers and speed deployment.
- Urtasun envisions broader applications for Waabi’s AI and robotics beyond trucking, including healthcare and automation across industries.
Waabi aims to revolutionize long-haul trucking with fully driverless vehicles powered by generative AI, beginning in Texas and expanding globally through strategic partnerships and simulation-driven development.
5. WeRide Teams Up with Renault to Bring Autonomous Shuttle to Roland-Garros Again
- WeRide and Renault Group have partnered for the second consecutive year to deploy a Level-4 autonomous minibus shuttle service during the 2025 Roland-Garros tennis tournament in Paris.
- The Robobus operates on a 2.8km route, covering key access points around the venue, and now includes a new night service from 10pm to midnight to accommodate more guests
- The service has proven safe and reliable, even under complex low-light conditions with mixed traffic environments.
- This collaboration builds on their growing footprint in Europe, following the March 2025 launch of Europe’s first fully driverless commercial Robobus in Drôme, France, and a trial service in Barcelona.
- WeRide’s CEO emphasized the importance of the European market in its global expansion, highlighting regulatory approvals in five countries and ongoing commercial operations.
- Renault affirmed that public readiness for autonomous mobility has shifted from experimentation to adoption, citing deployments across France and Spain.
- The partnership reflects both companies’ shared mission to scale autonomous, sustainable public transportation across Europe.
WeRide and Renault are expanding their autonomous shuttle service at Roland-Garros, reinforcing their commitment to commercializing Level-4 driverless mobility solutions across Europe.
*Contents above are the opinion of ChatGPT, not an individual nor company
