A little over a year ago, Apple was speeding up its quest to join the electric car market, announcing that it hoped to have a vehicle ready by 2019. Fast forward to today, and the company is reportedly putting the brakes on that plan. [More]
self-driving cars
GM President: You Won’t Have Your Own Self-Driving Car Right Away
By 10.10.16
People looking ahead to the future of automobiles realize that car ownership might not work the same way in the near future as car ownership now. Cars with semi-autonomous features like emergency braking and adaptive cruise control are common, and autonomous cars and trucks will available to the public soon. You’ll just be hailing one before you buy one, at least if you want a car from General Motors. [More]
Volvo Planning To Sell A Fully Self-Driving Car In 5 Years
By 9.29.16
Another day, another major auto manufacturer announcing plans for a self-driving vehicle: this time it’s Volvo, which says it will offer a fully autonomous car to luxury buyers in five years. [More]
Google Self-Driving Car Involved In Another Crash
By 9.26.16
One of Google’s self-driving vehicles has been involved in another crash while cruising the streets of Mountain View, CA, the company confirmed, after another driver ran a red light and crashed into the Lexus RX 450h. [More]
Uber’s Self-Driving Pickups Start Today In Pittsburgh
By 9.14.16
The next time Pittsburgh residents hail an Uber, they could have a new option: the company is kicking off its self-driving car pickup service in the city today. [More]
Mercedes Pulls Potentially Confusing Ads For 2017 E-Class That Call The Car ‘Self-Driving’
By 7.29.16
Fully autonomous cars will be available to consumers someday, but not yet. After consumer advocates, including our own parent organization, Consumer Reports, complained to Mercedes and to the Federal Trade Commission about the misleading nature of an ad that shows off a new model’s driver-assist features. The car isn’t autonomous, but advocates were concerned that the ads imply that it is. [More]
Google Says Its Self-Driving Cars Can Learn Cyclists’ Hand Signals
By 7.6.16
From cars that squeeze cyclists out of their lanes to vehicles that fail to see when a biker is turning, people traveling on two wheels have many complaints with those traveling on four wheels. Cyclists might be happier to ride alongside self-driving vehicles in the future, as Google says its driverless cars can not only recognize their hand signals, but can understand them, remember them, and then reference those signals in the future. [More]
NHTSA Is Looking Into Fatal Crash Of Tesla Model S In Autopilot Mode
By 6.30.16
Last fall, Tesla released a beta version of Autopilot, a software upgrade that would let the car take over some driving functions, including steering, cruise control, and lane changes. Today, the company announced some sad news: the first fatal crash in of one of the company’s vehicles while in autopilot mode happened in northern Florida in May. [More]
Uber’s First Self-Driving Car Is Now Rolling Along Pittsburgh’s Streets
By 5.19.16
There’s a new self-driving car on the block, and it’s currently roaming the streets of Pittsburgh. Uber’s first autonomous vehicle, a hybrid Ford Fusion outfitted with sensors, radars, laser scanners, and high-resolution cameras, is on the road. [More]
GM & Lyft Set To Test Self-Driving Taxis Within A Year
By 5.5.16
It hasn’t taken General Motors long to figure out how to spend its $500 million investment in Lyft. A month after the carmaker said it would use some of those funds to rent SUVs to prospective drivers, the partners unveiled plans to begin testing self-driving taxis on public roads in California. [More]
Google & Fiat Chrysler Rumored To Be Working On Driverless Minivans Together
By 5.3.16
Taking the kids to soccer practice in the future might still involve minivans, but mom and dad won’t necessarily be driving them. Rumor has it that Fiat Chrysler and Google are teaming up to develop an autonomous vehicle based on the carmaker’s Pacifica minivans. [More]
A Switch To Shared Self-Driving Cars Means We’d Buy Fewer Cars, Wear Them Out Faster
By 3.28.16
Most Americans aren’t comfortable yet with the idea of riding in an autonomous car, but at one time, horseless carriages and electricity in our homes were scary, too. Technology companies and automakers are both working to make autonomous cars happen, but wouldn’t self-piloting cars mean that we would share vehicles or pay fares? That would dramatically shrink demand for cars, hurting automakers. Right? [More]
Here’s What It Looked Like When Google’s Self-Driving Car Hit A City Bus
By 3.9.16
If you’re the kind of person who likes watching high-speed car crashes and riveting action sequences with lots of big explosions, then watching a video of Google’s self-driving car hitting the side of a municipal bus last month is not for you. [More]
AAA: 75% Of Drivers Say They Wouldn’t Feel Safe In An Autonomous Vehicle
By 3.1.16
A future where we’re all tooling around in self-driving cars with our feet up on the dash, hands behind the head, relaxing at the wheel is still far away. But while technology companies and car manufacturers alike are rushing to test their own autonomous vehicles, the average American driver doesn’t feel quite comfortable with the idea of riding in a driverless car just yet, according to the results of a recent AAA survey. [More]
DMV Report: Google Self-Driving Car Hit City Bus While Changing Lanes
By 2.29.16
Google has been quick to point out in the past that its self-driving cars haven’t been at fault for any of the accidents they’ve been involved in. In what could be the first incident that’s the driverless car’s fault, a California Department of Motor Vehicles report says a Google Lexus hit a city bus while in autonomous mode. [More]
Tesla Updates Self-Parking Software After Consumer Reports Raises Concerns
By 2.10.16
When Tesla announced last month that it would push out a software upgrade to allow Model S owners to park their electric car in a garage or perpendicular spaces without anyone behind the wheel, it was seen as yet another step toward a fully autonomous vehicle. That was until researchers found the new “Summon” mode contained a small safety issue. [More]
Regulators: Google’s Computers Can Be Considered Drivers In Autonomous Vehicles
By 2.10.16
Just a month after federal regulators took steps to ease restrictions for self-driving cars, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has let one tech company know that its artificial intelligence system could be considered an actual driver under federal law. [More]
Google Sending Its Self-Driving Cars To Washington State To Face The Rain
By 2.4.16
Tooling around in the California sunshine is one thing, but what will a self-driving car do when rolling on wet, slippery roads in the rain? Google is sending its test fleet of driverless cars up the coast to Washington to find out. [More]
