Google Has A Wiper For Its LiDAR To Handle Bird Shit And Rain And Look At It Go

LiDAR—a laser-based radar that essentially allows an autonomous car to “see”—is crucial for making self-driving vehicles work. But just like your windshield, a LiDAR dome is going to run into Mother Nature. Waymo, the self-driving car project of Google, has a solution: tiny wipers for the LiDAR dome. Brilliant! The...

Sep 10, 2025

Uber Really, Really Doesn't Want The Public To See Its Court Battle With Google

After being denied arbitration to keep its court case from the public eye, Uber is appealing a judge’s decision in another attempt to keep its major court battle over self-driving technology with Google’s Waymo out of the headlines as much as possible. The court case involves Google’s Waymo accusing Uber...

Sep 10, 2025

Ford Will Add Android Auto And Apple CarPlay With An Update If You Have SYNC 3

Back in December, Ford announced that all 2017 models will include both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity through its SYNC 3 infotainment system. Now, Ford has some decent news for 2016 model year owners: CarPlay and Android Auto is now available by way of a free update via Wi-Fi,...

Sep 10, 2025

Uber Threatens To Fire The Self-Driving Car Guru At The Center Of Its Fight With Google

Uber has threatened to fire the executive at the center of its litigation with Google if he refuses to turn over any files he allegedly stole from the tech giant. The story of how self-driving guru Anthony Levandowski left Google for Uber is a weird, complex tale of , and...

Sep 10, 2025

Elon Musk On His Own Company's Technology: 'Safe, But Unpleasant'

Your run-of-the-mill corporate CEO couldn’t get away with this shit. In a series of tweets on Sunday, Tesla founder Elon Musk revealed that a new Autopilot , and then went on to say that, Autopilot—of which the latest version is designed by Tesla, which, so you’re clear, is his company—is...

Sep 10, 2025

Faraday Future's Not-CEO Quasi-Resigns From Yet Another Job

If you’ve followed the story of Faraday Future, you know the electric autonomous vehicle start-up has dealt with . FF’s main financier, the Chinese tech giant LeEco, , with its CEO Jia Yuenting over his leadership and financial acumen. Now, Jia—the main face and quasi-CEO of FF—is stepping down from...

Sep 10, 2025

Chinese Tech Titan LeEco Reportedly Makes Huge Layoffs In More Possible Bad News For Faraday Future

CNBC is reporting that main financier, Chinese tech conglomerate LeEco, is expected to lay off as much as 80 percent of its U.S. staff and, citing anonymous sources, “may” continue its investment in the electric autonomous vehicle start-up. That isn’t encouraging. The layoffs follow a decision over the weekend by...

Sep 10, 2025

Tesla To Allow Free Supercharging Again But Only If You Have The Hookup

Back in November, Tesla announced it would no longer offer free access to its global Supercharger network, an obvious bummer to Tesla owners everywhere. But now, the automaker’s bringing back the consumer benefit—but only under limited circumstances. But now, under a new referral program unveiled this month, free Supercharging is...

Sep 10, 2025

Autonomous Cars Must Let Us Wander And Explore Without A Destination In Mind

The more I think about autonomous cars, the more questions I have. And sometimes these questions can get pretty surreal. For example, the latest question I had sounds, on the surface, like a paradox: how should an autonomous car let us get around without completely limiting our freedom to wander...

Sep 10, 2025

Uber's Paying Back NYC Drivers Millions Of Dollars After Shorting Them For Years

Uber, in the latest blemish of a never ending firestorm that began months ago, announced Tuesday that it has underpaid New York City drivers since late 2014. In what the company described as an effort to win regain trust of drivers, it’s planning to dole out an average of $900...

Sep 10, 2025

Faraday Future Employees Reportedly Leaving In Droves; CFO Says The Company's Fine

On Tuesday, electric car startup Faraday Future’s main financier—the Chinese tech conglomerate LeEco—announced a significant round of layoffs at its US operations. While that doesn’t seem to bode well for Faraday, the startup’s chief financial officer told staff that LeEco’s cuts won’t affect it, . Nonetheless, scores of more employees...

Sep 10, 2025

Employee Injuries At The Tesla Factory Are Way Above Industry Average

Workplace conditions at Tesla’s California factory have been scrutinized for months, after an employee in February , sparking a renewed effort to unionize the Fremont facility by the United Auto Workers. And claims the automaker’s own internal data shows that injury rates at Fremont exceed what’s found across the industry....

Sep 10, 2025

The Tesla Model 3 Will Do 0-60 In 5.6 Seconds

Over at , new specs on the have emerged in the form of what appears to be a retail comparison chart for the Model S and the automaker’s new, more affordable sedan. The newest insight? The Model 3 will move 0-60 in 5.6 seconds, a time Tesla confirmed today to...

Sep 10, 2025

Faraday Future Wants To Raise A Billion Dollars

It’s been a shit week for Faraday Future. The autonomous vehicle start up learned its main financier, LeEco, planned to significantly scale back its U.S. operations, signaling a potential death knell for Faraday’s car ambitions. And now that Faraday is looking to raise a cool $1 billion to keep the...

Sep 10, 2025

There's A Shazam For Cars But It's Got A Huge Problem

A company called is in the computer vision business, which allows your phone to take the matrices of pixels it gets from its camera and identify and understand what it’s ‘seeing.’ Now, Blippar’s app can ‘see’ cars, and can identify them with 97.7% accuracy. That’s incredibly impressive, but there’s a...

Sep 10, 2025