This week, two of the world’s biggest car regulators looked at the same question and reached opposite answers. The question is simple. What should sit between a human and a moving vehicle? In the United States, the top auto-safety official floated pulling the steering wheel out altogether. In Europe, new rules took effect that point […]
For more than a decade, the biggest fight in self-driving cars has played out in boardrooms and engineering labs. New Jersey now wants to settle it in law. A bill moving through the state legislature would force any company running fully driverless cars in New Jersey to fit them with a camera system plus two […]
Two 15-year-olds in San Mateo learned this week that a driverless taxi can still tell on you. The pair were drinking alcohol and shooting Orbeez, soft water-filled pellets, out of a moving Waymo on Monday afternoon. The car’s remote monitors spotted it, called 911, and pulled the vehicle over to wait for police, the Associated […]
Aidoptation can now test a fully self-driving car at highway speed on Belgian public roads. It is the first Level 4 permit of its kind in the European Union. The company announced the approval, which covers 100 km of the E313 and E314 motorways in Limburg. Level 4 means the car handles everything, with no […]
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued a directive on Wednesday demanding autonomous vehicle developers present solutions to a “clear pattern” of driverless vehicles interfering with first responders and law enforcement. Administrator Jonathan Morrison said vehicles have driven into active emergency scenes, blocked ambulances and firefighters, and failed to recognise flashing lights, flares, smoke, fire, […]
Britain’s tech secretary backs driverless cars and British AI startups. The likely next prime minister’s team has doubts, and her own job is on the line. Liz Kendall wants Britain to back its own AI companies before someone else does. In a Sifted podcast, Kendall, the UK’s science and technology secretary, made a pointed case […]
Waymo’s robotaxis had a rough Fourth of July. In San Francisco they ran out of charge, snarled traffic for hours, and one drove over a lit firework and caught fire. Over the holiday weekend, driverless Waymo cars became the story instead of the technology. In San Francisco, dozens stalled in the gridlock after the Golden […]
Forterra, a US builder of autonomous vehicles, revealed that more than 100 of its self-driving ATVs have been deployed in combat zones in Ukraine for the past nine months. The company says it is the largest deployment of autonomous ground vehicles in combat by any US defence tech company. Since arriving in October, the vehicles […]
A lidar maker the Pentagon brands a Chinese military company quietly wires up America’s robotaxis, trucks, and even an airport. Nvidia is one of its partners. Hesai makes many of the sensors self-driving machines use to see. The Shanghai firm also sits on a US Department of Defense blacklist of Chinese military companies, CNBC reports. […]
Momenta is heading to the public markets. The self-driving software firm has opened its Hong Kong IPO, seeking up to $752mn to pour into AI research and robotaxis. The Momenta IPO would value the GM-backed company at close to $9bn. The Suzhou-based company started taking investor orders this week under stock code 6880. It is […]
