Ford's New Co-Pilot360 System Doesn't Seem Like A Particularly Good Co-Pilot

Ford a host of new tech features today that will be standard on all of its models by 2020. They’re calling the whole thing Ford Co-Pilot360. The important base set of features lets the car brake for you in emergencies and keep you in your lane. But that co-pilot name...

Sep 12, 2025

Lyft Is Offering A Flat Monthly Subscription Service For Frequent Riders

Ride-hailing company Lyft is testing out a new monthly subscription model—a la Spotify or Netflix—that would provide passengers a set number of rides for a fixed cost. For now, it seems, the terms may vary, depending on the customer. The rollout of Lyft’s subscription model apparently began in earnest last...

Sep 12, 2025

Apparently Autonomous Cars Will Need Smarter Door Hatches Too

Autonomous cars, if they do in fact one day takeover the roads, will someday hopefully eliminate the need for a driver at the wheel. In that future scenario, German auto parts supplier Kiekert believes traditional door hatches also won’t be necessary. Apparently future humans will struggle with opening doors. Kiekert...

Sep 12, 2025

Why Uber Could Be Held Criminally Liable In Fatal Crash Involving Autonomous Car (Updated)

Under an executive order signed this month by Arizona’s governor, Uber could be held criminally liable for a fatal crash involving one of its self-driving cars that struck and killed a pedestrian Sunday. Arizona’s Republican Gov. Doug Ducey’s , implemented March 1, lay out a specific list of licensing and...

Sep 12, 2025

Video Shows Pedestrian In Fatal Uber Crash Stepped In Front Of Self-Driving Car: Police (UPDATED)

A video from an Uber-owned self-driving car that fatally struck a woman on Sunday shows that she abruptly moved in front of it, police , a factor that could play into the investigation of the crash. Sylvia Moir, police chief in Tempe, Arizona, where the crash occurred, told the Chronicle...

Sep 12, 2025

Get Real About Self-Driving Cars

Yesterday’s news that a self-driving struck and killed a pedestrian in Arizona made it clear that Silicon Valley has succeeded in setting impossibly high expectations for autonomous driving technology. That needs to change. The crash occurred around 10 p.m. Sunday in the City of Tempe. Police have said that an...

Sep 12, 2025

Elon Gets His Money, Now He Has To Deliver

Tesla shareholders on Wednesday approved a compensation package for CEO Elon Musk that could net him close to $56 billion, so long as he meets incredibly ambitious milestones. The pay package was approved by a “wide margin,” , despite . The approval gives Musk an additional $2.6 billion in stock...

Sep 12, 2025

People Aren't Sure If They'd Sue After An Accident With A Driverless Car

A big looming question over this week’s news that an Uber self-driving car fatally struck a pedestrian is who should be held liable if an autonomous vehicle kills a person. If a is any indication, many of us really have no idea. J.D. Power teamed up with law firm Miller...

Sep 12, 2025

Almost Everyone Uses Two People For Testing Autonomous Cars Except Uber

Video released this week of a fatal crash involving an Uber-owned self-driving car showed the vehicle’s safety operator was . Safety drivers are a common feature of self-driving car tests conducted on public roads today, but the fact Uber had an autonomous car deployed with a solo operator appears to...

Sep 12, 2025

LIDAR Maker Velodyne Shifts Away Blame In Fatal Uber Self-Driving Crash

Investigators examining this week’s fatal crash involving a pedestrian struck by a self-driving Uber are scrutinizing the vehicle’s automated driving technology, and why it didn’t register a pedestrian in the middle of the road before the collision. On Friday, Velodyne, which makes LIDAR sensors used by Uber, said its technology...

Sep 12, 2025

Waymo CEO: Our Self-Driving Car Tech Would've Avoided Deadly Uber Crash

The head of Google’s self-driving car unit, Waymo, said on Saturday that his company has “a lot of confidence” that its self-driving car technology would’ve safely handled the situation that confronted an Uber-owned autonomous car last week when it fatally struck a pedestrian. Waymo CEO John Krafcik told a gathering...

Sep 12, 2025

Google's Waymo Partners With Jaguar Land Rover To Build 'Up To' 20,000 Autonomous I-Paces By 2020

Google’s self-driving car unit, Waymo, is partnering with Jaguar Land Rover to build an autonomous version of the automaker’s new all-electric , with the goal of deploying the vehicles on Waymo’s soon-to-debut commercial ride-hailing service sometime in 2020. Waymo made the announcement Tuesday in Manhattan, amid a particularly sensitive moment...

Sep 12, 2025

Uber's Autonomous Test Cars Had Volvo's Safety Systems Disabled

Ever since autonomous Volvo XC90 test car fatally struck a pedestrian in Tempe, Arizona last week, many people familiar with modern car technology have asked this: why didn’t Volvo’s own automatic braking or crash avoidance systems kick in? Now we know. According to one supplier, Volvo’s standard systems were disabled...

Sep 12, 2025

Google's Waymo CEO: We'd Fight A Ban On Human Driving

When it comes to autonomous driving, car enthusiasts are first in line to nix the idea. There’s a bit of an overarching fear that, one day, human drivers could be rendered unnecessary and . But even the CEO of the company with the most advanced autonomous driving fleet on the...

Sep 12, 2025

Uber Won't Renew Permit To Test Self-Driving Cars In California After Fatal Crash

The fallout for Uber continues. After a fatal crash involving one of the company’s self-driving Volvo XC90's, Arizona’s governor banned Uber from testing autonomous cars in the state. Now the company says it won’t renew a permit to test robot vehicles on California roads. The company plans to let its...

Sep 12, 2025