Tag: Self-Driving

March 5, 2018

Toyota Motor Corp. plans to spend $2.8 billion to make sure its system for writing the software for self-driving cars will be just as efficient as the factories that build them. The company needs faster and more reliable methods for […]

February 6, 2018

Waymo and Uber lawyers squared off in a federal court on Feb. 5 on the first day of a bombshell trade-secret theft case. The suit by Waymo, the self-driving unit of Google parent Alphabet, alleges that Uber stole technology crucial […]

February 2, 2018

Every January, the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) releases data from companies that operated highly automated vehicles on the state’s public roads the previous year. By law, each company must report how many times a safety driver took control […]

January 30, 2018

At some point this year, Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo plans to roll out a ride-hailing service using driverless cars. It just bought more vehicles to make that happen. The car unit of Google’s parent has finalized a deal to purchase “thousands” […]

January 25, 2018

OVER THE PAST few years, Uber has schemed to boost its self-driving efforts by spying on rivals, poaching staff, and acquiring their software, according to newly released court documents. Though competitor intelligence work is standard among large companies, the details […]

January 24, 2018

U.S. drivers are still cautious — but they’re getting used to the idea of self-driving cars. Some 63% of American adults fear riding in a self-driving vehicle, according to a survey from auto club AAA. That’s a notable change from […]

January 23, 2018

Waymo, the driverless car division owned by Google’s parent company, announced Jan. 22 that it will bring its test program to metro Atlanta. The Alphabet-owned business began mapping roads in the city last week, but had not yet released details […]

January 10, 2018

This is the year when promises of self-driving prowess began to come due, and when companies began to scramble to meet them, or seem to. In November, Waymo’s pilot ride-hailing service in Arizona put the safety driver in the back […]

December 19, 2017

The launch of self-driving vehicle testing at the American Center for Mobility west of Detroit came with something that frequently confounds human drivers in Michigan — snow. But it’s an element that actually boosts the value of the site, which […]

December 18, 2017

A decade ago, the idea of hacking a car seemed about as feasible as downloading one. After all, cars were physical objects driven by people, with all their accompanying human flaws. Today, as artificial intelligence (AI) technology is making a […]

November 30, 2017

WHEN WAYMO, THE autonomous car company once known as Google’s self-driving car outfit, announced it was suing Uber for trade secret theft in February, the action seemed to center on a single person: Anthony Levandowski. According to Waymo, the former […]

November 1, 2017

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is considering eliminating regulations that currently block self-driving vehicles designed without steering wheels, brake pedals or other driver controls from hitting the road. The agency, in a document posted online, said it will soon […]

October 31, 2017

Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo unit demonstrated a self-driving minivan with no one behind the wheel, declaring the vehicle as ready for public use. “It’s safe to say we’re really close, but I don’t want to put a date on it,” John […]

October 18, 2017

Intel Corp. has developed a system it says ensures that self-driving vehicles can’t cause accidents where they are at fault, an effort to reassure a skeptical public and help speed adoption of driverless cars on the road. The world’s largest […]

October 17, 2017

It’s 2027 (or 2037) and the age of the self-driving car. City-dwellers have traded in their car keys for ride hails. Street parking has been replaced by wider sidewalks and bike lanes, while developers are busy converting garages into much-needed […]

October 16, 2017

As computer technology increasingly controls critical vehicle safety features and more cars are connected to the internet, the danger of a hacker taking control of vehicles is becoming less like a Hollywood movie plot and more like something that can […]

October 10, 2017

As auto accidents go, it wasn’t much: twelve minutes before noon on a cool June day, a Chevrolet Bolt was rear ended as it crawled from a stop light in downtown San Francisco. What made this fender bender noteworthy was […]

September 7, 2017

The empty runway stretching before Mark Hendrickson extends so far that its edges vanish in the heat shimmer of a broiling Central Valley afternoon. Presidents have landed here, back when it was the center of a bustling Air Force base. […]

July 11, 2017

The 2018 Audi A8, just unveiled in Barcelona, counts as the world’s first production car to offer Level 3 autonomy. Level 3 means the driver needn’t supervise things at all, so long as the car stays within guidelines. Here that involves driving no […]

March 13, 2017

In a bold attempt to regain its place as a self-driving pioneer, California today proposed regulations that would make it one of the first places in the world where autonomous vehicles could carry paying passengers without a licensed driver on […]