Category Archives: Self-driving cars

GM’s Cruise admits submitting false report to robotaxi safety investigation

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General Motors unit to pay $500,000 fine after failing to disclose key details of 2023 San Francisco crash to NHTSA

General Motors’ self-driving car unit, Cruise, admitted on Thursday to submitting a false report to influence a federal investigation and will pay a $500,000 criminal fine as part of a deferred prosecution agreement, the justice department said.

The department said Cruise failed to disclose key details of an October 2023 crash to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in which one of its robotaxis in San Francisco struck a pedestrian after she was hit by another vehicle and dragged her 20ft (6.1 meters).

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Tesla’s value drops $60bn after investors fail to hail self-driving ‘Cybercab’

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Analysts criticise lack of detail about the ‘robotaxi’ showcased by CEO Elon Musk

Tesla shares have fallen by 8%, wiping about $60bn (£45bn) from the company’s value, after the long-awaited unveiling of its so-called robotaxi failed to excite investors.

Shares in the electric carmaker fell to $219.40 in early trading on Friday after an event in Hollywood, where the chief executive, Elon Musk, revealed a much-hyped driverless vehicle.

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Rio Tinto to buy US lithium producer Arcadium in $6.7bn deal

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Acquisition by Anglo-Australian miner comes despite global headwinds in electric car market

Rio Tinto is to buy the US company Arcadium Lithium for $6.7bn (£5.1bn), in a huge bet on the energy transition despite global headwinds in the electric car market.

The Anglo-Australian metals and mining company said it would pay $5.85 a share for the US-based lithium miner. That represents an almost 90% premium to Arcadium’s closing price of $3.08 a share on 3 October, the day before news of a potential deal emerged.

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General Motors names new CEO of troubled self-driving subsidiary Cruise

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Robotaxi service recovering from gruesome collision with pedestrian that triggered suspension of California license

General Motors on Tuesday named a veteran technology executive with roots in the video game industry to steer its troubled robotaxi service Cruise as it tries to recover from a gruesome collision that triggered the suspension of its California license and the removal of all its robotaxis from the state’s roads.

Marc Whitten, one of the key engineers behind the Xbox video game console, will take over as Cruise’s chief executive nearly nine months after one of the service’s robotaxis dragged a jaywalking pedestrian – who had just been struck by a vehicle driven by a human – across a darkened street in San Francisco before coming to a stop.

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‘Watershed moment’ for Tesla as Elon Musk’s visit to China reaps quick reward

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Deal to use mapping data from web search giant Baidu is a big step towards launching driver assistance tech in world’s biggest car market

Elon Musk’s visit to China has reportedly reaped immediate rewards with a deal for Tesla to use mapping data provided by web search company Baidu, a big step in introducing driver assistance technology in the world’s largest car market.

Musk made an unannounced visit to China over the weekend. The billionaire posted a picture of his meeting with the Chinese premier, Li Qiang, on X, the social network he took over in 2022.

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Elon Musk makes unannounced visit to China

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Tesla boss reportedly meets Premier Li Qiang in visit aimed at sealing rollout of Autopilot software and transferring data overseas

The Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, arrived on an unannounced visit to Beijing on Sunday where he is expected to meet senior officials to discuss the rollout of full self-driving software and permission to transfer data overseas, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.

Chinese state media reported that he held talks with the country’s premier, Li Qiang, during which Li told Musk that Tesla’s development in China could be seen as a successful example of US-China economic and trade cooperation.

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Tesla Autopilot feature was involved in 13 fatal crashes, US regulator says

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Federal transportation agency finds Tesla’s claims about feature don’t match their findings and opens second investigation

US auto-safety regulators said on Friday that their investigation into Tesla’s Autopilot had identified at least 13 fatal crashes in which the feature had been involved. The investigation also found the electric carmaker’s claims did not match up with reality.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) disclosed on Friday that during its three-year Autopilot safety investigation, which it launched in August 2021, it identified at least 13 Tesla crashes involving one or more death, and many more involving serious injuries, in which “foreseeable driver misuse of the system played an apparent role”.

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‘It feels very fun and freeing’: US sees ebike boom after years of false starts

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Sales surge as cities and states look to cut pollution from cars and improve options for Americans to get around

After several years of false starts, electric bikes are finally entering the American mainstream, amid booming sales of a multiplying number of models on offer and as more states offer incentives for people to ditch their cars and shift to two, motor-assisted, wheels.

This year could be considered “the year of the ebike”, according to John MacArthur, a transport researcher at Portland State University. Ebike sales in the United States leaped by 269% between 2019 and 2022, with the market size expected to have grown further in 2023, to be worth $2.59bn.

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Cruise robotaxi service hid severity of accident, California officials claim

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General Motors service faces $1.5m penalty over allegations it misled regulators after a driverless car ran into a pedestrian

California regulators are alleging a San Francisco robotaxi service owned by General Motors covered up the severity of an accident involving one of its driverless cars, raising the specter they may add a fine to the recent suspension of its California license.

The potential penalty facing GM’s Cruise service could be around $1.5m, based on documents filed late last week by the California public utilities commission.

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Tesla trial begins over whether ‘experimental’ autopilot caused driver’s death

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Lawsuit claims company knowingly sold defective car that led to Micah Lee’s 2019 death while Tesla blames ‘classic human error’

The lawyer representing victims of a fatal Tesla crash blamed the company’s autopilot driver assistant system, saying that “a car company should never sell consumers experimental vehicles,” in the opening statement of a California trial on Thursday.

The case stems from a civil lawsuit alleging that the autopilot system caused the owner of a Tesla Model 3 car, Micah Lee, to suddenly veer off a highway east of Los Angeles at 65 mph (105 kph), where his car struck a palm tree and burst into flames.

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Tesla beats Wall Street expectations to produce record number of vehicles

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Report comes amid concerns Elon Musk, who owns SpaceX, Neuralink and Twitter, is spread too thin

Tesla narrowly beat Wall Street expectations in the second quarter of 2023, but shares began to fall in after hours trading following an earnings call that offered shareholders little reassurance surrounding Tesla’s promised Cybertruck release and other production concerns.

Revenue for the quarter topped $24.97bn compared to analyst predictions of $24.7 bn.

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Cruise robotaxi appears to hinder emergency crews after mass shooting

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Company said vehicle never obstructed access to scene in San Francisco even as police in video say it blocked first responders

A Cruise self-driving car appeared to hinder first responders as they tried to access the scene of a mass shooting in San Francisco’s Mission District on Friday night, raising concerns about robotaxis’ ability to safely offer rides throughout the city.

Emergency crews were responding to a shooting on 24th Street shortly after 9pm in which nine people were injured. In a video posted to Twitter, a Cruise self-driving car is seen in the road as an officer approaches it and says it’s “blocking emergency medical and fire. I’ve got to get it out of here now.” In a statement, Cruise maintained that the car did not block emergency access to the scene “at any point”.

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Self-driving vehicles from overseas face ban in England and Wales

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Delivery of rental cars using remote driving could be outlawed after Law Commission recommendations

The remote driving of vehicles from overseas, such as for the delivery of rental cars, could be banned following a government-commissioned review.

The review was carried out by the Law Commission of England and Wales, which recommended ministers regulate the technology.

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Two killed after Chinese electric car falls from third floor of company’s offices

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Nio criticised over statement that said accident at Shanghai HQ was ‘not caused by the vehicle’

A leading Chinese electric car company has said two people were killed when one of its vehicles fell from the third floor of its Shanghai headquarters.

Nio, a homegrown brand sometimes seen as a potential rival to Tesla, said the incident happened at about 5.20pm on Wednesday. One of the victims was its employee, and the other from a partner company. They were both inside the vehicle when it fell.

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San Francisco police stop self-driving car – and find nobody inside, video shows

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Clip prompts amusement online as car stops, then drives across an intersection, leaving police behind

A video recently posted online shows what happens when police try to apprehend an autonomous vehicle – only to find nobody inside.

Police in San Francisco stopped a vehicle operated by Cruise, an autonomous car company backed by General Motors, in a video posted on 1 April. Officers approached the car, which had been driving without headlights, only to find it was empty.

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Tesla recalls nearly 12,000 US vehicles over software glitch

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Communication error may cause a false forward-collision warning or unexpected activation of the emergency brakes

Tesla Inc is recalling nearly 12,000 US vehicles sold since 2017 because a communication error may cause a false forward-collision warning or unexpected activation of the emergency brakes, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said on Tuesday.

The California automaker said the recall of 11,704 Model S, X, 3 and Y vehicles was prompted after a software update on 23 October to vehicles in its limited early access version 10.3 Full-Self Driving (FSD) (Beta) population.

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Toyota pauses Paralympics self-driving buses after one hits visually impaired athlete

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Japan’s Aramitsu Kitazono was left with cuts and bruises after being hit by the e-Palette vehicle at the athletes’ village

Toyota has apologised for the “overconfidence” of a self-driving bus after it ran over a Paralympic judoka in the athletes’ village and said it would temporarily suspend the service.

The Japanese athlete, Aramitsu Kitazono, will be unable to compete in his 81kg category this weekend after being left with cuts and bruises following the impact with the “e-Palette” vehicle. His injuries prompted a personal intervention from the president of Toyota, Akio Toyoda.

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Humanoid ‘Tesla Bot’ likely to launch next year, says Elon Musk

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Billionaire Tesla chief gives no indication of any progress in actually building such a machine

Elon Musk said he would probably launch a humanoid robot prototype next year dubbed the “Tesla Bot”, which is designed to do “boring, repetitious and dangerous” work.

The billionaire chief executive of the electric carmaker Tesla said the robot, which would be about 5ft 8in (1.7m) tall and weigh 125 pounds (56kg), would be able to handle tasks such as attaching bolts to cars with a spanner or picking up groceries at stores.

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Tesla’s Autopilot faces US investigation after crashes with emergency vehicles

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• Investigators to review 765,000 vehicles made since 2014

• NHTSA identifies 11 crashes involving first responder vehicles

The US government has opened a formal investigation into Tesla’s driver-assistance system known as Autopilot after a series of collisions with parked emergency vehicles.

The investigation covers 765,000 vehicles, almost everything that Tesla has sold in the US since the start of the 2014 model year. Of the crashes identified by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) as part of the investigation, 17 people were injured and one was killed.

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Electric vehicles on world’s roads expected to increase to 145m by 2030

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Under existing climate policies, electric vehicles could wipe out use of 2m barrels a day of diesel and petrol

The number of electric cars, vans, trucks and buses on the world’s roads is on course to increase from 11m vehicles to 145m by the end of the decade, which could wipe out demand for millions of barrels of oil every day.

A report by the International Energy Agency has found that there could be 230m electric vehicles worldwide by 2030 if governments agreed to encourage the production of enough low-carbon vehicles to stay within global climate targets.

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