Cars

Data gathered from Google’s self-driving Prius and Lexus cars shows that they are safer and smoother when steering themselves than when a human takes the wheel, according to the leader of Google’s autonomous-car project. Chris Urmson made those claims today at a robotics conference in Santa Clara, California. He presented results from two studies of Continue Reading →

Automatic Labs, a San Francisco startup trying to turn unconnected cars into connected ones, just got a distribution boost courtesy of Apple. Starting Wednesday, Automatic’s Link vehicle-data-sniffing device will be available for purchase at Apple’s 250 U.S. stores and in the Apple Online Store. For those of you unfamiliar with Automatic Link, it’s a $100 Continue Reading →

Imagine an electric Pepsi delivery truck in Manhattan. It makes dozens of stops at the same locations, day in and day out. Now what if at each stop — or every other stop — it could wirelessly top up its battery pack as the driver drops off another case of sugar water. That’s what Hevo Continue Reading →

Tesla founder Elon Musk has posted a detailed explanation about the Model S accident that set the vehicle on fire last week. Tesla’s stock experienced high volatility after a video of the incident was uploaded to YouTube. In August, Tesla had trumpeted its car as having the highest safety rating ever, noting at the time Continue Reading →

Ridesharing has finally been approved within the state of California. Today, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) officially recognized companies like Lyft, Sidecar, and Uber as “New Online Enabled Transportation Services” or “Transportation Networked Companies” (TNCs), approving a set of 28 rules and regulations for these entities. The move will allow ridesharing companies to continue Continue Reading →

“As an Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) Controls Engineer, you will be responsible for developing vehicle-level decision-making and lateral and longitudinal control strategies for Tesla’s effort to pioneer fully automated driving.” That’s Tesla Motors’ pitch for an engineer to lead its new self-driving-car effort — one that founder Elon Musk says may come to fruition Continue Reading →

We already knew GM was making big bets on electric propulsion. The Chevy Volt marked a huge step into the field as the first major release of a so-called plug-in hybrid into the portfolio of a major automotive manufacturer. Now it appears the company will be doubling-down on the efforts… and aiming its sights squarely Continue Reading →

What car company sells more cars in California than Cadillac, Porsche and even Chrysler? If you said, “Honda,” you’d be correct, but of course that’s no surprise. The real news is that you’d also be correct if you said “Tesla.” The car company has been expanding at a staggering pace ever since it released its Continue Reading →

The Spark-Renault SRT_01E looks like it’d be at home on any Formula One track in the world, but this is a car with a different destiny: the all-electric Formula E series. Unveiled at the 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show this week, the SRT_01E from Spark Racing Technology will be zero-emission racing around cities worldwide this September. Continue Reading →

Google Inc., which has been working on software to help major automakers build self-driving cars, also is quietly going around them by designing and developing a full-fledged self-driving car, according to people familiar with the matter. In recent months, Google has held talks with contract manufacturers to build new cars to Google’s specifications, said the Continue Reading →