When something is free, but it’ll take a long time to get it, there’s always the chance that someone will try to take advantage of the situation to make a profit off impatient people. In Colorado, the attorney general’s office is investigating a scalping scheme that involves scammers hoarding driver’s license appointments with the Department of Motor Vehicles, then turning around and selling them to undocumented residents. [More]
Transportation & Infrastructure
Colorado Investigating Scammers Who Hoard DMV Appointments, Sell Them To Undocumented Residents
By 1.8.16
VW Reportedly Considering Buying Back More Than 50,000 Emissions-Cheating Cars In The U.S.
By 1.8.16
Volkswagen may buy back tens of thousands of vehicles in the United States if the company can’t find an easy way to remove “defeat devices” that allow the cars to evade emissions standards. [More]
United Airlines Fined $2.75M For Tarmac Delays, Treatment Of Disabled Passengers
By 1.8.16
In October, United Airlines apologized to a disabled passenger who ended up crawling off the plane after he was told he’d have to wait up to 50 minutes for a wheelchair. This is just one of several complaints related to United’s treatment of disabled passengers. When combined with penalties for stranding passengers on the tarmac for more than three hours, the airline now faces federal fines of $2. 75 million. [More]
Walgreens “Nice!” Orange Slices Recalled Because Glass Shards Have No Nutritional Value
By 1.7.16
If you shop at Walgreens, you’re probably familiar with its “Nice!” line of house-brand products, which includes bottles of mandarin orange slices. Unfortunately, some of those bottles might contain something that isn’t very nice: pieces of glass. [More]
Uber Settles With NY Attorney General Over 2014 Data Breach
By 1.7.16
Ride-hailing services have vital information about both their drivers and their readers on file. For drivers, they have license and vehicle information, as well as personal information used for payment. For passengers, a location-based app knows where users are, creating a Marauder’s Map of cars and people in a city. NeW York State has settled with ride-hailing company Uber for $20,000 over a 2014 breach, and the company also agreed to encrypt and limit access to passenger location information. [More]
General Motors Unveils 200-Mile Charge Chevrolet Bolt EV
By 1.6.16
The way people get around is changing, and General Motors thinks they have the answer in their new Bolt EV, a new 200-mile charge electric vehicle expected to be on the market next year. [More]
Ford Plans To Triple Its Autonomous Vehicle Fleet
By 1.5.16
Less than a month after Ford said it would take an autonomous, driverless vehicle prototype for a few spins on the West Coast, the carmaker revealed plans to accelerate its foray into cars of the future by tripling its fleet of self-driving cars. [More]
Volkswagen Reportedly Having Trouble Finding “Defeat Device” Fix
By 1.5.16
Just a day after the Department of Justice filed a potential multibillion-dollar civil lawsuit against Volkswagen for installing so-called “defeat devices” in vehicles to skirt federal emissions standards, a new report says that the German automaker has run into difficulties finding a fix for the nearly 500,000 affected “clean diesel” cars in the U.S. [More]
Black Angus Burgers Sold At Walmart May Contain Pieces Of Wood
By 1.5.16
Do you have any boxes of Walmart house brand Black Angus beef burgers with Vidalia onions lurking in your freezer? If so, time to check labels: almost 90,000 pounds of that specific burger type (about 44,784 boxes) has been recalled because there may be “extraneous wood materials” in the meat. [More]
U.S. Files Civil Lawsuit Against Volkswagen Over Emissions Scandal
By 1.4.16
It may be a new year, but that doesn’t mean Volkswagen can wash its hands of the ongoing diesel emissions scandal affecting 11 million vehicles. Today, the U.S. Dept. of Justice filed a civil lawsuit against the carmaker over its use of “defeat devices” to cheat on emissions tests.
Report: Emails Show Takata Manipulated Data On Airbags
By 1.4.16
When a slew of automakers announced last fall that they would no longer use airbag inflators from Takata, at least one cited concerns that the company had “misrepresented or manipulated test data.” Recently unearthed emails from engineers and others within the Japanese auto parts maker suggest those alleged deceptions were blatant and widely known. [More]
GM Investing $500M In Lyft, Hopes You Will Eventually Get Rides From Self-Driving Fleet
By 1.4.16
The world of business partnerships is kicking off 2016 with a bang, bringing together the old world of cars with the new. GM, the occasionally troubled behemoth carmaker founded in 1908, and Lyft, the once-mustachioed ride-hailing service (that isn’t Uber) founded in 2012, are embarking together on a half-billion dollar plan to bring the future to a street near you. [More]
Looking Ahead: 5 Big Issues To Follow For 2016
By 1.1.16
Now that 2015 is done and we finally learned that Luke Skywalker is actually Faye Dunaway’s daughter (and sister!), it’s time to take off the party hats, sweep up the confetti, and do the walk of shame forward into the uncharted territory of the year to come. [More]
Some GM SUV Owners Say Their Vehicles Are Making Them Sick
By 12.31.15
From time to time you might feel a bit nauseated while driving (or riding) from point A to point B, and that’s pretty normal. But it appears that some General Motors SUV owners are having a bit more than just a little bout of carsickness while trolling around in their vehicles. [More]
Uber Is Thinking Of Getting Into The Travel Business
By 12.31.15
While yes, you certainly travel some distance when you’re riding in a car you had pick you up, Uber is apparently considering expanding its travel business beyond ride-hailing. [More]
Sidecar Calling It Quits, Ceasing Service Dec. 31
By 12.29.15
There will be one less ride-sharing company to shuttle you and your packages around the city come January 1: Sidecar plans to shutter its ride and delivery service by the end of the year. [More]
Eighth U.S. Death Linked To Takata Airbag Defect; Additional Vehicles Added To Recall List
By 12.23.15
Yet another death has been linked to Takata airbags that can explode and spew potentially lethal shrapnel at passengers, federal regulators said on Wednesday, increasing the number of fatalities in the U.S. to eight, and nine worldwide. [More]
