The DOJ announced on Tuesday that Apple software engineer Weibao Wang has been indicted on charges of stealing crucial autonomous technology from the tech giant for a Chinese self-driving car company.
A Waymo autonomous taxi caused chaos navigating a fire scene in San Francisco, exposing the challenges driverless vehicles face in reacting to unusual situations and commands from first responders. Police officers desperately worked to stop the driverless vehicle from running over a hose being used by firefighters to put out a fire. Body camera footage captured one officer explaining, “Got a bit of a pickle. I got an autonomous vehicle, the Waymo, it’s inching slowly and closely to one of the main water lines that the SF Fire just charged. Can’t run it over,” he says. “I don’t trust this AI.”
Self-driving cars have reportedly caused increased delays, confusion, and anxiety among public transit drivers as self-driving car companies plan to further expand their fleet. One city official explained, “We are very concerned that if autonomous vehicles are allowed limitless, driverless operations in San Francisco that the traffic impacts grow exponentially.”
Ford Global Technologies, a subsidiary of Ford Motor Company, has filed a patent for new “systems and methods to repossess a vehicle,” including potentially locking certain features after missed payments.
A former Apple engineer who was accused of stealing computer files with trade secrets about Apple’s car division and was caught attempting to flee the country to Communist China pleaded guilty to the charges in federal court this week.
Police in Germany said one person has died and nine were seriously injured after a self-driving test car veered into oncoming traffic.
More than a half dozen robotaxis operated by Cruise stopped running and blocked a street in San Francisco this week, causing a traffic jam that lasted for hours. Cruise employees had to manually drive the robotaxis away from the mysterious robo-jam.
A San Francisco police officer recently pulled over a car for failing to have its headlights on, but when the officer approached the vehicle he realized the car was not only a self-driving with no one in the driver’s seat — the vehicle was completely empty. The puzzled policeman can heard to say “Ain’t nobody in it; this is crazy,” in a viral video of the incident.
A California court has ruled in favor of Google’s self-driving car company Waymo allowing the company to keep its autonomous vehicle emergency protocols secret.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has reportedly launched an investigation into Elon Musk’s Tesla over its driver-assistance system known as “Autopilot” following a series of crashes. The agency states that since 2018, there have been 11 crashes in which a Tesla with Autopilot engaged crashed into emergency vehicles such as fire trucks.
Google’s self-driving car company Waymo announced this week that it is working with trucking company JB Hunt to autonomously haul cargo loads in Texas. The trucks will haul loads between Houston and Fort Worth with a truck driver and Waymo technicians on board monitoring their performance.
The New York Times has outlined how Silicon Valley tech giants are beginning to “reset expectations” for the future of self-driving cars. According to the Times, only the richest companies are still working on the technology and they are expected to “still toil for years on their driverless car projects.”
Consumer Reports has laid down the law on Elon Musk, declaring that Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving Capability” feature fails to live up to its promises.
Chinese telecom company Huawei rolled out a major program to build self-driving cars on Sunday, seeking a leadership position as a supplier for new the AI-driven market even as international distrust for its telecom and Internet services weakens the massive corporation’s existing business model.
The CEO of vehicle manufacturer Volkswagen stated in a recent interview that he is not “not scared” by the prospect of Apple developing its own electric vehicle.
Hyundai and Kia are downplaying rumors that they are working with Apple on an autonomous electric “Apple Car.”
Apple is partnering with Korean vehicle manufacturer Kia to develop the tech giant planned self-driving electric cars according to a recent report.
Tech giant Apple is reportedly moving forward with self-driving car technology and plans to produce a passenger vehicle including its own proprietary battery technology by 2024.
Ridesharing giant Uber has reportedly shut down its self-driving car business, selling its Advanced Technologies Group division to self-driving startup Aurora.
A recent report from the Information details internal turmoil at Uber surrounding the company’s $2.5 billion investment in self-driving cars, which has yet to produce any usable products.
General Motors (GM) will invest $2.2 billion to produce electric and self-driving cars at its Detroit-Hamtramck plant in Michigan, the company announced Monday.
A bug in the driver-assist software in Mazda vehicles has resulted in cars randomly activating their emergency braking system, leading to a recall of 35,000 2019 and 2020 Mazda3 cars.
A self-driving Uber car that struck and killed a pedestrian in March 2018 reportedly had serious software flaws including the inability to recognize jaywalkers, according to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
Financial Times innovation and technology editor John Thornhill on Monday touched upon the relationship between human values and computer algorithms by asking whether artificial intelligence will be shaped more profoundly by the values of the Western world or Communist China, which is pushing hard for a leading position in AI technology.
Auto manufacturers Ford and the Volkswagen Group have announced plans to strengthen their global alliance and release an electric vehicle by 2023. Much to Elon Musk and Tesla’s dismay, VW CEO Herbert Diess explained their goal is to “turn the electric car from a niche product into a mass phenomenon.”
Elon Musk’s Tesla has banked heavily on its autopilot feature — now the company’s self-driving ambitions reportedly face a major setback as 10 percent of the Tesla software team resigns.
Uber claims that its self-driving cars are being “bullied” by pedestrians and drivers who are “testing the boundaries” of the vehicles. The ride-sharing company says that people have been captured on camera giving the cars rude gestures and uttering rude remarks.
Ride-sharing companies such as Uber and Lyft have been betting that self-driving cars will make the companies profitable, but recent research from MIT claims that self-driving car operating costs may be even higher than personal car ownership.
Bloomberg published an article recently which claims that Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s claims about the company’s new computer chips do not match reality.
Consumer Reports and the Partners for Automated Vehicles Education coalition (PAVE) have both taken issue with Elon Musk’s claims about the self-driving ability of Tesla vehicles. Both organizations strongly disagree with Elon Musk, who claimed it would be “crazy” to buy any car but a Tesla.
Uber is reportedly “not criminally liable” for a self-driving car crash in 2018, which killed a pedestrian after the car’s transgender felon “back-up driver” was watching a television show on a phone instead of paying attention to the road.
Self-driving cars will cause more car sex to take place, according to a report.
A recent article published by the New Yorker asks the question many have asked about Silicon Valley’s race to develop self-driving cars: “Did Uber Steal Google’s Intellectual Property?”
Uber’s self-driving car unit is eating into the bottom line of the technology giant, accounting for up to one-third of its quarterly losses.
Uber Technologies Inc. is firing employees of its self-driver car unit after the peer-to-peer ridesharing giant suspended autonomous vehicle operations in the city.
The safety monitor in a self-driving Uber car was streaming The Voice on Hulu just before it crashed, according to a report.
Californians now oppose self-driving cars on local roads by almost a three-to-one margin, according to a new poll.
73 percent of American drivers, up 10 percent from last year, are “scared” to use driverless vehicles, according to a survey from the American Automobile Association.
Who Is Liable When Uber Self-Driving Cars Cause Fatal Accidents?
Uber has suspended tests of its self-driving cars following a fatal accident involving one of the vehicles.
