The reason an Uber self-driving car fatally struck a pedestrian in March is coming into sharper focus, thanks to the release of a preliminary report on Thursday from the National Transportation Safety Board. But the agency’s findings raise a notable question: If the car—a Volvo XC90 outfitted with Uber’s own…
Tesla is trying to ramp up production of the Tesla Model 3 to 5,000 units per week by the end of June, and it’s starting to see some progress toward that goal. This week, the automaker pushed out 500 Model 3s in a 24-hour period, according to an email from CEO Elon Musk.
Uber informed “about 300” workers of their termination earlier today as part of plans to shut down its self-driving car testing program in Arizona following a fatal crash in March, where one of the company’s test vehicles struck and killed a pedestrian, according to The Arizona Republic.
The consumer advocacy groups Center for Auto Safety and Consumer Watchdog called on the Federal Trade Commission today to investigate Tesla for “deceptive advertising and marketing practices and representations” made regarding Tesla’s Autopilot semi-autonomous driving system. The letter specifically points out…
Mercedes-Benz hasn’t been shy about its intention to flood the world with new electric cars, but one thing still up in the air was if it wanted to put an electric compact car into production. Now, we have an answer. On Friday, the German automaker said it’s dropping nearly $600 million on a factory expansion to start…
Hey, who feels like doing something mildly stupid, but audible enough so people around you can wonder what the hell is going on with you? You, that’s who? We’re going to conduct a little experiment here: I’m going to write out some things you can say with the people-mouth stuck above your chin that sound like engine…
Tesla has a new crossover, a semi, and a Roadster in the pipeline, but CEO Elon Musk is adamant the automaker doesn’t need to raise new capital to fund those projects. An analyst from Goldman Sachs disagrees, and suggested Tesla needs a big round number to make it happen: $10 billion.
Good morning! Welcome to The Morning Shift, your roundup of the auto news you crave, all in one place every weekday morning. Here are the important stories you need to know.
In some corners of the world where Elon Musk’s word is taken as gospel, there’s a prevailing view that it’s irresponsible for news outlets to cover car crashes involving semi-autonomous technology as diligently as we’ve seen lately. Whether it’s Tesla investors stanning hard for the company, claiming “not one”…
Hyundai didn’t plan too far ahead when it came to dealerships for its Genesis luxury brand, but it’s looking way into the future on something much more important: holograms in cars. Holograms? Holograms. Holograms, like a wispy version of your significant other, sitting in a passenger seat next to you.
You could consider Tesla’s semi-autonomous Autopilot system a bold and revolutionary, if admittedly incomplete, step toward autonomous cars. Or you could think the company has no business giving it that name. Or that human beings are too irresponsible not to use it in exceedingly dumb ways. I actually think all of…
The owner of a Tesla Model S that crashed into a parked firetruck in Utah last Friday said she had the car’s semi-autonomous Autopilot system engaged at the time of the incident, police said Monday. More than likely, this crash will lead to yet more scrutiny around Tesla’s driving assistance system, which is already…
I’m not really a fan of proximity keys, or keyless-entry non-keys, or smart keys, or whatever you want to call the things that aren’t exactly keys anymore but are used to open and start your car without having to be in actual contact with the car. Still, I don’t think I realized how bad they could be.
One of the hypothetical projects in Tesla’s pipeline is a new Roadster, a sports car with a supposedly whopping 620 miles of range and a 0-60 time of 1.9 seconds. When CEO Elon Musk debuted it in November, the accompanying pictures of the car suggested the interior would be minimal, akin to the uber-minimalist Model…
In October, General Motors made a big splash by announcing it was applying for a permit to test autonomous cars in New York State, with plans to deploy vehicles on the busy streets of Manhattan in “early 2018.” But more than six months later, the automaker has yet to receive final approval for the necessary permit to…
Firefighters in California had to put out the smoldering flames coming from a Tesla Model X battery involved in a March fatal crash, even days after the crash, according to a new report from KTVU in California.
There’s a lot that’s big about the 2018 BMW 740e xDrive iPerformance hybrid, including its mouthful of a name. But while the car delivers a huge presence in size and speed, BMW’s ostensibly helpful driving aids fell way, way short of what I expected.
Twitter-maniac Elon Musk posted what he called a Tesla “quarterly all-hands video” on Wednesday, and it includes a quick glimpse of a covered vehicle, which immediately sent fanatics of the automaker into a frenzy. What is this? A Model Y prototype?
The National Transportation Safety Board is dispatching a team to Florida to investigate a fatal crash Tuesday involving a Tesla Model S that left two high school seniors dead. The agency said it doesn’t expect, at this time, that Tesla’s semi-autonomous Autopilot system will be a part of the investigation.
UPS is planning to deploy a fleet of 35 modular, all-electric delivery vehicles for a trial program in London and Paris, the company said Wednesday, and being as boxy as they are, I love them.
