self-driving cars

Volvo and its Silicon Valley-based partner Luminar announced a breakthrough lidar system that should help both companies make Level 4 self-driving cars a reality sooner. Lidar is the essential component that many automakers and technology companies have employed to give a self-driving car sight...

In March, Audi showed off the Pop.Up Next concept, a flying taxi vehicle designed in partnership between Italdesign and Airbus. On Tuesday, Audi completed the first public test for the futuristic transportation model. The Pop.Up Next prototype took flight at Drone Week in Amsterdam, though the...

Ford has begun various trial delivery services with its self-driving car prototypes across the United States, but now it has announced its most ambitious program yet. The automaker said on Wednesday it has partnered with Walmart and Postmates for a self-driving delivery service. The program will...

In a matter of weeks, Waymo, Alphabet Inc.'s self-driving car business, will launch the world's first commercial service involving fully self-driving cars. Citing a person familiar with the plans, Bloomberg reported Tuesday that the service is scheduled to start in Phoenix, Arizona in early...

There has been a flurry of announcements concerning the Apollo self-driving car program of Chinese tech giant Baidu in the past week. The latest comes from Volkswagen Group which on Friday said it would join the Apollo program. The automaker also said it would gain a seat on the program's board of...

Apple produces some intriguing patents. Their latest is for a system they call "Peloton" that could platoon self-driving electric cars for better long-range efficiency and energy sharing. The technology company's filing Tuesday with United States Patent and Trademark Office explains a wild way to...

Volvo hit the accelerator Thursday on the further integration of the automotive and tech industries by announcing plans to jointly develop a self-driving car with Chinese internet services giant Baidu. The plan is to mass produce the cars in China for sale to fleets as well as individuals. Timing...

The Volkswagen Group is the latest firm to announce plans for a commercial ride-hailing service involving self-driving cars. The German auto giant will join Intel's recently acquired self-driving car business Mobileye to develop the service whose development will commence in early 2019 and roll out...

Cars are safer than ever. There are whole hosts of systems onboard with the goal of keeping drivers and passengers safe. This tech is great at keeping you out of harms way, but it might come back and bite you should any of it need repairing. According to AAA, all of the safety tech in our newest...

The Volkswagen Group and Waymo are reportedly in talks over partnership in the area of mobility services in Europe. Germany's Manager Magazin reported Thursday that the two firms are interested in working together and that VW Group CEO Herbert Diess had even suggested purchasing a 10-percent stake...

Ford will soon become the first company to begin testing self-driving cars in Washington, D.C. The automaker announced on Monday it plans to expand its self-driving teams to D.C. after setting up similar operations in Detroit, Pittsburgh and Miami. The automaker laid out a wide list of goals it...

After the NHTSA called its self-driving school bus operating in Florida "unlawful," French transport company Transdev will halt its autonomous vehicle. The NHTSA originally gave Transdev the approval to temporarily import the EZ Generation II bus for testing and demonstration purposes, but not to...

With the advent of self-driving cars, emergency services will need to rethink how to approach wrecks and other crashes. To help them out, Waymo has published a guide for first responders in case of an emergency involving one of its self-driving cars. Crashes involving self-driving cars have been...

Vehicle-to-everything communications technology, more commonly referred to as V2X, is poised to change the way cars operate in the very near future. Numerous automakers are working on V2X systems, some of which are already available. Among those automakers is Ford which thinks the tech could one...

Porsche drivers want it all. So says Porsche North America CEO Klaus Zellmer. When it comes to self-driving cars, that means Porsche drivers want to hand off the driving when it's tedious and take it back when it's fun. At Rennsport Reunion VI last month, Zellmer told Motor Authority that...

Toyota and technology investment firm Softbank on Thursday agreed to join forces in developing a new mobility company that will offer a variety of services including automated delivery and ride hailing. The new company, to be called Monet Technologies, will be established before the end of 2018...

Companies in the self-driving car space have been clamoring for a loosening of road rules originally designed for cars with human drivers, which the companies say are impeding the development of the technology—the main one being the requirement for a human onboard at all times. Regulators are...

In the race to develop the world's first safe, reliable and robust driverless ride-hailing service, General Motors and its Cruise self-driving car unit just received major backing from rival automaker Honda. The companies announced Wednesday that Honda will invest $2.75 billion in the Cruise unit...

Rounding out a trio or Renault "EZ" self-driving car concepts is the EZ-Ultimo. The French brand debuted the latest concept at the 2018 Paris auto show on Tuesday with an eye on turning ride hailing into something more premium. Like the earlier EZ self-driving concepts (EZ-Go and EZ-Pro), Renault...

Peugeot has taken a dive into its past in order to find inspiration for its future. The e-Legend concept is a self-driving coupe designed as a fresh take on the French marque's brilliant 504. There are no inline-4 diesels or gas-swilling V-6 engines to be found here, however, as the e-Legend is an...