autonomous car safety News

Tesla Braces For Its First Trial Involving Autopilot Fatality

Tesla Inc. is set to defend itself for the first time at trial against allegations that failure of its Autopilot driver assistant feature led to death, in what will likely be a major test of Chief Executive Elon Musk’s assertions …

Humans Emerge as Secret Weapon for Autonomous Vehicle Startups

Self-driving startups like Cruise and Pony.ai have begun testing their driverless cars in some parts of California in the past year, with an additional feature: Human operators. While there is no driver behind the wheel, the passenger seat is occupied …

Researcher Says Autonomous Vehicles Are Traveling the Wrong Road to Safety

The current method of programming autonomous vehicles may not be safe, according to Aviral Shrivastava, a computer science associate professor in Arizona State University’s Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering. “Google, Uber and others in the field are using humans …

Carmakers Struggle to Keep Driver Engaged Even When on Autopilot

After partially faulting Tesla Inc.’s automation system for a 2016 fatal crash, U.S. safety investigators last year called on carmakers to do more to ensure drivers stay engaged as next-generation cars start to steer themselves. Since then, the National Transportation …

Senator Wants More Safeguards for Self-Driving Cars

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who took a firsthand look at self-driving vehicle technology on Tuesday, said it was frightening to see “no hands on the wheel” as his car approached a parked car and called for more safeguards to be …