driverless cars

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GM Recalls All Cruises for Software Change After Injuries

California revoked the vehicle's license

(Newser) - General Motors' Cruise autonomous vehicle unit is recalling all 950 of its cars to update software after one of them dragged a pedestrian to the side of a San Francisco street in early October. The company said in documents posted by federal safety regulators on Wednesday that with the updated...

California Suspends Cruise's Driverless Taxis

Robotaxis have become increasingly controversial in the state

(Newser) - After a series of incidents involving Cruise robotaxis, California has decided to halt their operation in the state effective immediately. Cruise is one of two companies (the other is Waymo, owned by Google's parent company) with driverless taxi fleets in California; the suspension order issued by the state's...

Mystery of Fatal Tesla Crash With No Driver Is Solved

NTSB report finds that Autopilot was not in use after all in 2021 crash

(Newser) - Authorities say they know why no one was in the driver's seat when a Tesla Model S crashed in 2021, killing the two men inside, and it's not the reason initially believed. Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board determined that the driver moved into the back seat...

After Arrest, Driverless Tesla Guy Does It Again

California's Param Sharma defiant despite recent fatal crash in Texas

(Newser) - A man has been arrested after repeatedly riding in the backseat of a Tesla in Autopilot mode, with no one in the driver's seat—something he says he'll continue to do regardless. California Highway Patrol said it was aware of "an incident involving a man riding in...

Startup Reveals Self-Driving Taxi With No Steering Wheel
Is This the Car of the Future?

Is This the Car of the Future?

Bezos-owned Zoox reveals self-driving taxi with no steering wheel

(Newser) - Taxi service could someday look quite different: Zoox, a self-driving startup acquired by Jeff Bezos' Amazon in June, on Monday revealed its autonomous taxi prototype. The robotaxi, which does away with the steering wheel, pedals, and driver's seat entirely, "reimagines the entire premise of a car," per...

Waymo Launches Fully Driverless Ride Service

Phoenix vehicles will no longer have backup drivers

(Newser) - Waymo is allowing the general public to hitch a ride in its driverless autonomous vehicles in Phoenix, expanding a service it had been quietly offering to a select group of riders for the past year. The vehicles, which will have no back-up drivers behind the wheel to take over in...

A Self-Driving Uber Killed Her. Her Family Targets Where She Died

$10M claim says city of Tempe, Ariz., had brick path that encouraged people to jaywalk

(Newser) - Family members of the first American killed by an autonomous Uber vehicle have settled with Uber itself, but now they're going after an Arizona city for the homeless woman's death. Per the Arizona Republic , Elaine Herzberg, 49, was killed March 18, 2018, in Tempe by an Uber Volvo...

Driverless Cars Could Turn Into 'Red Light District on the Move'
Study Finds
Illicit Side Effect
of Driverless Cars
study says

Study Finds Illicit Side Effect of Driverless Cars

It's likely people will use them for sex, researchers say

(Newser) - One possible side effect of driverless cars that may not have occurred to you? An increasing number of people having sex in cars. In a new study from the Annals of Tourism Research titled " Autonomous vehicles and the future of urban tourism ," researchers note that self-driving cars could...

Apple Employee Allegedly Stole Self-Driving Car Tech

Zhang Xiaolang was arrested as he was about to leave for China

(Newser) - A former Apple engineer was arrested as he was about to board a flight from San Jose to China Saturday, accused by US prosecutors of stealing tech secrets from the firm with the plan of passing them along to a Chinese startup, the Washington Post reports. Zhang Xiaolang, once a...

Tesla Crash Leaves Cops With One Big Question

A Tesla sedan rear-ended a fire department truck at 60mph

(Newser) - A Tesla sedan with a semi-autonomous autopilot feature rear-ended a fire department truck at 60mph apparently without braking before impact, but police say it's unknown if the autopilot feature was engaged. The cause of the Friday evening crash, involving a Tesla Model S and a fire department mechanic...

Report: Self-Driving Uber Detected, Ignored Pedestrian

It was set not to react to 'false positives'

(Newser) - Uber's self-driving technology detected a pedestrian before a deadly crash in Arizona earlier this year but didn't react quickly enough because it had been set to ignore "false positives," the Information reports, citing "two people briefed on the matter." The sources say the vehicle'...

Driverless Bus Crashes 2 Hours After Vegas Launch

It was the other driver's fault, city says

(Newser) - The robots won this one. A driverless shuttle bus was involved in a minor crash with a semi-truck less than two hours after it made its debut on Las Vegas streets Wednesday in front of cameras and celebrities. The human behind the wheel of the truck was at fault, police...

Domino's Delivering Pizzas, Ditching Actual Delivery Guy

Chain begins test with driverless cars

(Newser) - No ring of the doorbell, just a text. No tip for the driver? No problem in this test, where Domino's and Ford are teaming up to see if customers will warm to the idea of pizza delivered by driverless cars. Starting Wednesday, some pizzas in Domino's hometown of...

Tesla May Bring Big Change to Car Insurance

It plans to bundle it, and maintenance, into total price of car

(Newser) - If cars are becoming safer as they incorporate self-driving features—the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration last month confirmed Tesla's first-gen Autopilot reduced Tesla vehicles' crash rate by 40%—consumers and experts alike are wondering when auto insurers will slash rates to reflect the minimized risk. Tesla CEO Elon...

Quadriplegic Gets First Driverless License

Paralyzed in 2000, Sam Schmidt gets a second chance to drive cars

(Newser) - Ever since he was a little boy, Sam Schmidt wanted to race cars. He was living that dream, driving in the Indy Racing League when a crash on a test run in Orlando severed his spinal cord in 2000, leaving him paralyzed in all four limbs. On Wednesday, however, Schmidt...

Feds Roll Out Self-Driving Car Guidelines

They're not going to leave it up to the states

(Newser) - Obama administration officials have rolled out a plan they say will enable automakers to get self-driving cars onto the road without compromising safety. In drawing up 112 pages of guidelines, the government tried to be vague enough to allow innovation while at the same time making sure that automakers, tech...

Finally, a Car That Makes Potholes All but Disappear

The tech is available for the first time in midsize non-luxury cars

(Newser) - Potholes aren't just uncomfortable to drive over: The damage caused by them costs America's drivers $3 billion annually, reports the American Automobile Association in a study it released Wednesday. Good thing, then, that Ford's 2017 Fusion V6 Sport sedan should be able to handle them. The American...

Volvo: By 2020, No One Will Die in Our Cars

Company makes bold pledge

(Newser) - Volvo has just come out with a gutsy move, making what CNN Money is calling a "shocking pledge"—that not a single person will be killed or even seriously injured in a new Volvo car or SUV by 2020. (Not including a driver who does something "really,...

GM Teams With Lyft on Ride-Sharing, Driverless Cars

Detroit giant makes $500M investment

(Newser) - General Motors and ride-hailing company Lyft are forming an unprecedented partnership that could help them beat their rivals to the self-driving future. Lyft said Monday that GM invested $500 million in the company as part of a $1 billion round of fundraising. GM gets a seat on Lyft's board...

Hackers Hijack a Jeep —From 10 Miles Away

Downside of cars that resemble smartphones? Control can be grabbed

(Newser) - In a stunt arranged by Wired , two "security researchers" hacked their way into a Jeep Cherokee carrying writer Andy Greenberg in St. Louis and, from a basement 10 miles away, took over the vehicle and steered it into a ditch. And it's not a one-off. Charlie Miller and...

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