Luminar, the lidar manufacturer that rode a wave of self-driving car hype to land deals with major automakers like Volvo and Mercedes-Benz, filed for bankruptcy Monday. The company has been mired in a legal fight with its founder and former CEO, Austin Russell, who was ousted earlier this year following an ethics inquiry. As part […]
After years of false promises and missed deadlines, several Tesla vehicles have been spotted over the weekend driving autonomously without safety monitors on public roads in Austin. For months, Tesla’s robotaxis in Austin and San Francisco have included safety monitors with access to a kill switch in case of emergency – a fallback that Waymo […]
Rivian announced that it was designing its own AI chips for fully autonomous driving, in a bold – if belated – move to catch up with Tesla and other automakers that have working on the technology for far longer. At an “AI and Autonomy” event at the company’s office in Silicon Valley on Thursday, Rivian […]
It’s been a year of progress and delays for Aurora, the Pittsburgh-based autonomous trucking company founded by Chris Urmson. After promising to launch commercial driverless truck operations in 2024, the company was forced to push the start date until April 2025. A few weeks later, however, it was forced to put safety drivers back in […]
I can’t believe I have to say this, but Tesla drivers should not start texting while driving, despite what Elon Musk says. Do not listen to the billionaire CEO of the company that makes your car. He will not be liable if there’s a crash — you will. Musk took a break from posting racist […]
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened an investigation into Waymo following reports that the company’s robotaxis illegally drove past stopped school buses in Austin, Texas. In a letter sent to Waymo on Wednesday, the federal regulator’s Office of Defects Investigation asked for detailed information on Waymo’s fifth-generation self-driving system and expressed concern that […]
Earlier this year, a mysterious new company called Tensor announced itself to the world by claiming it would be the first to sell fully autonomous vehicles to customers at scale. The news didn’t make much of a splash. No one had ever heard of Tensor, so it was the kind of announcement easy to dismiss […]
Uber and WeRide are now deploying fully driverless vehicles as part of its robotaxi service in the United Arab Emarites. Customers in Abu Dhabi who request an UberX or Uber Comfort may be matched with a fully autonomous WeRide vehicle if the route is part of the company’s service area. Uber and Chinese autonomous vehicle […]
Last week, Tesla revealed a new section of its website dedicated to reporting safety statistics for its advanced driver assist systems, Autopilot and Full Self-Driving (FSD). The new hub appears to be an attempt to move beyond the company’s traditional quarterly safety reports, which have been criticized for failing to account for basic facts about […]
Zoox is getting closer to a full launch of its robotaxi service in San Francisco. Last month, the Amazon-owned company started allowing select riders to hail its toaster-shaped, four-passenger vehicles for the first time. And today, Zoox is finally inviting members off its public waitlist, which it calls “Zoox Explorers,” to do the same. The […]