​Is Using A Self-Driving Car Kosher For Shabbat?

I'm not Jewish, so I'm no expert on the observation of Shabbat. But from what I can tell, an autonomous car should be totally cool with God. And I think I've got a Rabbi to back me up. There are two problems with driving according to Halakha, or Jewish law....

May 2, 2025

​Nissan's Autonomous Car Claims Were Nuts, And Ghosn Admits It

When Carlos Ghosn pledged to bring a self-driving car to market in 2020, we thought Nissan's CEO was being a tad ambitious. Now he's clarifying exactly what the automaker is planning, and none of it will let you play Zombie Commando on your commute. Speaking at the Foreign Correspondents' Club...

May 2, 2025

This Toyota Scientist Is Wrong About Urban Sprawl And Self-Driving Cars

Ken Laberteaux is a senior principal scientist for Toyota North America, and he's convinced that will increase pollution, exacerbate urban sprawl, and ruin our families. I'm pretty sure there's something in there about killing kittens too, but I may have missed it in his haze of pessimistic, contrarian bullshit. At...

May 2, 2025

Why The FBI Fears Self-Driving Cars Could Be 'Lethal Weapons'

Who's afraid of the adorable, panda-looking from Google and its autonomous friends? The nation's top law enforcement agency, apparently. But they see the upside to them too. In a report obtained by the UK's newspaper via an open records request, the FBI predicts autonomous cars will have a "transformative" effect...

May 2, 2025

This Simple Hack Lets Your Mercedes S-Class Become Semi-Autonomous

The , but thanks to regulations, it can't be considered autonomous. But this simple hack changes all of that. The big Merc has a number of cameras and sensors that keeps it in its lane at speed, but if you take your hands off the wheel for a few seconds,...

May 2, 2025

Driverless Cars Will Hit UK Roads Next January

The British government gave the green light for the public testing of driverless cars and will spend $17 million on up to three cities that will be selected to host the trials. Starting in next January, each project is expected to last between 18 and 36 months with the government...

May 2, 2025

Nevada DMV Is Offering Special Plates For Autonomous Cars

One of our readers was taking his daughter to the DMV for her driver's test (she passed!) when he noticed these personalized license plate options: ones for 'driverless' and 'requires a driver' autonomous cars. I think these are the first plates of their kind in the US. The design of...

May 2, 2025

​The Stig Is Terrified Of Self-Driving Cars

It's easy to understand why some of us don't like the idea of autonomous cars. We enjoy the drive, adore the freedom, and practiced heel-toe downshifts for too damn long to give it up. But Ben Collins – former Stig and current halfwit – apparently gets paid to play fear...

May 2, 2025

Voice Recognition Systems In Cars Suck And Are Terrible

If you spend an inordinate amount of time screaming people's names into your dashboard in an attempt to get your car's horrible voice recognition system to make a simple phone call, prepare to be vindicated. Tomorrow, industry quality ratings giant J.D. Power is set to lay the smackdown (do people...

May 2, 2025

Americans Feel Good About Self-Driving Cars But Don't Want Them Yet

The are coming. Make no mistake about that. The powers-that-be may not drag us Jalops kicking and screaming from our manual-tranny E30 beaters, but there are a lot of other buyers interested in their potential benefits. So how do people really feel about self-driving cars? According to a new study...

May 2, 2025

Any Car Could Be Autonomous With A Robot Chauffeur

During my recent , after about hour 300 of slogging across America's infinitely-wide state, Oklahoma, I found myself daydreaming about the possible benefits of an autonomous car. But I wanted to keep this archaic old RV, so I thought what about an autonomous driver-bot? This should be a thing, right?...

May 2, 2025

​We're One Step Closer To Transparent Solar Windows For Cars

Researchers at Michigan State University have created a new type of solar concentrator that sucks up the sun's rays but – and this is the important part – it's transparent. That puts us one step closer to making our windows solar collectors, although we're still not there quite yet. First...

May 2, 2025

Customizable, Solar Powered E-Ink Parking Signs Need To Happen

The comments in the got me thinking, which is never a good thing. Why are we stuck with static signs stacked end-on-end? What if these signs could change throughout the day depending on the time and regulations? Enter the solar powered e-ink display. Now before I get started, I should...

May 2, 2025

​The Mercedes S550 Plug-In Hybrid Has An Eco-Friendly Foot Massager

Mercedes is out with its , and in addition to packing a 8.7 kWh battery that can run the S for up to 20 miles on pure electricity, it's featuring some pretty interesting tech, including a gas pedal with haptic feedback. Merc's engineers put a lot of effort into making...

May 2, 2025

​Auto Lenders Are Risking People's Lives With Remote Shut Down Devices

It's the nightmare scenario. Your child is having an asthma attack and you need to rush her to the hospital, but your car won't start. It happened to Mary Bolender, but it wasn't a mechanical issue. Her lender had remotely disabled her car for missing a payment. Ms. Bolender isn't...

May 2, 2025