Apple’s efforts to get into the self-driving car industry have been shrouded in layers of mystery and speculation for years. But at long last, physical proof that a car does indeed exist has been spotted the wild, after Apple took its autonomous driving tech out for a spin on California streets this week. [More]
self-driving cars
Feds Release Guidelines For Self-Driving Cars, But Does It Really Matter Yet?
By 9.13.17
While we might dream of a day where we can sit behind the wheel of a vehicle reading a book or watching a movie, all while the car drives itself, that day remains many moons away. But here’s the thing about technology — it changes, and it changes quickly. To that end, federal safety regulators are working to ensure that carmakers create safe systems to prepare for the day that self-driving vehicles are actually on the road. There’s a catch, though: It’s all voluntary. [More]
Lyft Will Soon Offer Free Rides In Self-Driving Cars In San Francisco
By 9.7.17
Ride-hailing service Lyft is nudging its way into the world of self-driving cars, announcing today that it will soon be offering rides in autonomous vehicles to customers in the San Francisco Bay Area. [More]
Samsung Joins Everyone Else, Starts Testing Self-Driving Cars In California
By 9.1.17
Putting “California” and “cars” together in one sentence evokes a nice mental image of a convertible cruising down the scenic coastal curves of state Route 101. These days, though, the big thing in the Golden State is less about drivers having fun in the sun, and more about taking drivers out of the picture altogether. [More]
Lyft Wants To End Car Ownership — This Is How They Want To Do It
By 7.21.17
It’s no secret that Lyft has its sights set on a country without individual car ownership — with the company’s co-founder calling it a “$9,000 ball and chain” that people have to drag along in their daily lives — but now the ride-hailing service is elaborating further on how exactly it can accomplish that goal. [More]
Waymo And Lyft Teaming Up To Work On Self-Driving Cars
By 5.15.17
If Uber and Google haven’t already stopped wearing the Best Friends Forever necklaces they exchanged way back when, well, they’re definitely chucking those things in the garbage now: Google’s Waymo is partnering up with Uber’s sworn enemy, Lyft, to collaborate on autonomous vehicles. [More]
The Real Problem With Self-Driving Cars: They Actually Follow Traffic Laws
By 5.11.17
In the century or so that people have been driving, two different sets of rules have developed: The official laws that we’re supposed to obey, and the unofficial code of the road that bends and often breaks those laws. For example, we all know — whether we like it or not — that many highway drivers are going to exceed the speed limit. But what happens when you introduce self-driving cars that are designed to always follow the rules and don’t understand why other drivers are extending their middle fingers in their direction? [More]
Samsung To Start Testing Self-Driving Cars
By 5.2.17
Another day, another tech giant getting into the self-driving car business: This time it’s Samsung, which has received approval to test autonomous vehicle technology on its home turf. [More]
Google’s Waymo Now Offering Self-Driving Car Rides To The Public
By 4.25.17 — Updated: 5.10.17
Google’s Waymo is taking another step toward its driverless car future in Arizona, where the company is now accepting applications for a new program that gives regular people access to its fleet of self-driving minivans. [More]
Uber Halts Self-Driving Car Tests After Arizona Crash
By 3.27.17
Days after one of Uber’s self-driving test vehicles was involved in a crash in Arizona, the ride-hailing company says it will halt its autonomous experiment, at least for now. [More]
Uber Signs Deal To Add Mercedes-Benz Vehicles To Self-Driving Fleet
By 1.31.17
For its first generation of self-driving cars, Uber partnered with automakers Ford and Volvo, and used the driving technology that it has developed itself on cars that it now owns. The transportation network company has now made a deal with Daimler AG to add the company’s Mercedes-Benz autonomous vehicles to the Uber fleet once they’re ready. [More]
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 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]
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]
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]
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]
