Tesla’s Autopilot has faced a slew of issues and controversies this year following the first fatal crash to occur while the semi-autonomous function was activated: from Germany asking the company to change the feature’s name to updates that included radar and driver enhancement safety checks. Now, the electric carmaker is making another change, rolling out an update that limits the vehicle to driving at the speed limit when on certain roads. [More]
Transportation & Infrastructure
Uber Packs Up Its Self-Driving Cars And Takes Them To Play In Arizona
By 12.22.16
Not even 24 hours after the California Department of Motor Vehicles revoked the registrations of 16 self-driving Uber cars that had been operating in San Francisco, the ridesharing company has announced it’s found a new sandbox where it can play with its toys. [More]
Uber Pulls Plug On Self-Driving Cars In San Francisco After State Revokes Registrations
By 12.21.16
Uber announced Wednesday evening that it has pulled the plug on its controversial self-driving car program in San Francisco after only one very contentious week of operation. [More]
Uber Wants To Drive You To People Now, Not Just Places
By 12.21.16
Can’t remember what restaurant your friends said to meet you at? Forget if that’s South Main Street or North Main Street? Too far along in the evening’s entertainments to dial your phone and ask? Uber is now happy to figure out where you’re supposed to be going by taking you directly to your friends. [More]
Smart Cars Under Investigation After 8 Reports Of Engine Fires
By 12.21.16
There are a lot of things you don’t want to happen to your car, but having it go up in flames for no apparent reason is likely close to the top of the list. Yet, that’s apparently occurred to eight Smart vehicles in the last two years. [More]
Philly Uber Customer Surprised By Attempted $28,639.14 Charge
By 12.20.16
You would probably remember taking a ride long enough to cost tens of thousands of dollars. So one Uber customer was more than a little surprised to find her bank flagging and blocking a $28,639.14 charge from the ride-hailing company. [More]
Uber Admits Its Self-Driving Cars Have A Problem Handling Bike Lanes
By 12.20.16
The rules of the road don’t just cover cars — there are conveyances of the two-wheeled variety out there as well. Considering many human drivers don’t understand how to share the streets with bicycles, it’s somewhat unsurprising that Uber is admitting that its autonomous vehicles are having a hard time dealing with them as well. [More]
Regulators Investigating 1M Dodge Trucks, SUVs Linked To Rollaway Incidents
By 12.20.16
Six months after confusing gear shifters made headlines following the death of Star Trek Actor Anton Yelchin, federal regulators have opened a preliminary investigation into one million Dodge trucks and SUVs with similar shifters after receiving more than 40 complaints the vehicles have rolled away after drivers put them in the “Park” position. [More]
Delta, Alaska Airlines End Codeshare, Frequent Flyer Partnerships
By 12.19.16
Delta Air Lines and Alaska Airlines customers will be losing one way of earning frequent flyer miles starting next spring, as the two airlines are ending their codesharing and frequent flyer partnerships. [More]
Waymo Preparing To Test Self-Driving Minivans On Public Roads
By 12.19.16
A week after Google renamed its self-driving car project Waymo, the company is expand its testing to a fleet of autonomous minivans that will be hitting streets soon. [More]
Uber Claims It Doesn’t Need California’s Permission For Self-Driving Cars
By 12.16.16 — Updated: 12.20.16
The public slapfight between Uber and the California Department of Motor Vehicles continued on Friday afternoon, with the ridesharing service declaring that it’s new self-driving cars don’t need a special permit to operate in San Francisco. [More]
Settlements Allow Auto Dealers To Continue Selling Unrepaired Recalled Vehicles As “Safe”
By 12.16.16
If you bought a used car from a dealership that proudly claims to put each vehicle through “125-point” or “172-point” inspections, you might assume that your vehicle is safe to drive and that it isn’t under recall for a potentially deadly defect. However, a number of big names in used cars — including CarMax and General Motors — have recently entered into settlements with federal regulators that could allow used car dealers to continue marketing their vehicles as safe even while they may have unrepaired defects. [More]
Self-Driving Ubers Run Red Lights In San Francisco; Company Blames Humans
By 12.15.16
You know those self-driving SUVs that Uber has unleashed on San Francisco? The ones that the state of California says are illegal and wants off the roads, since the company didn’t seek approval yet? Yesterday, others on the roads noticed one of the vehicles running a red light, which Uber blames on the car’s human operator. [More]
California Says Self-Driving Uber Cars In San Francisco “Illegal”
By 12.15.16
Yesterday, Uber announced that it is now offering rides in self-driving vehicles for users in San Francisco — an announcement that apparently came as a surprise to the California Department of Motor Vehicles, which has advised the ridesharing service that it is breaking the law by operating this autonomous cars without DMV approval. [More]
UPDATED: Comcast Workers Don’t Seem To Care That Their Truck May Have Caused Half-Dozen Accidents
By 12.14.16
[This story has been updated with a statement from Comcast]
Perhaps the most-common complaint we hear about Comcast repair crews is their absence: just getting one to come can sometimes be a challenge. But when there is actually a repair crew in your neighborhood, you would expect them to, y’know, maybe care if their presence causes a half-dozen car accidents. And yet, video appears to show a Comcast crew in Indiana acting with indifference to the vehicular chaos apparently triggered by their presence. [More]
You Can Now Hail A Self-Driving Uber In San Francisco
By 12.14.16
If you want to hail a ride in San Francisco, but don’t want to deal with that pesky “talking to the driver” thing, Uber has good news for you. The ridesharing service has expanded its fleet of autonomous vehicles-for-hire to its home market. [More]
Google Spinning Self-Driving Car Project Off Into Company Called ‘Waymo’
By 12.13.16
Google’s self-driving car project is now a separate company and it has a new name: it wants you to call it Waymo. Perhaps short for “way more” driverless cars? [More]
Proposed Safety Rule Would Require Cars Be Able To “Talk” To Each Other
By 12.13.16
The U.S. Department of Transportation has proposed a new rule that would mandate vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) on all new cars, saying the technology has enormous potential to reduce crashes and possibly save lives. [More]
