self-driving cars News

California OKs China’s Baidu for Testing Self-Driving Cars Without Driver

Baidu Inc. has received a permit from the state of California to test self-driving cars without a driver behind the wheel, the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles said on Wednesday. Although self-driving vehicles are designed to eliminate the need for …

U.S. Exempts Self-Driving Vehicles From Some Crash Standards

The outgoing Trump administration said on Thursday it was issuing new rules that would allow manufacturers of automated vehicles to bypass some crash standards required of conventional vehicles, which would cut production costs. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said …

Regulator Votes to Shift Some Auto Safety Spectrum to Wi-Fi Use

WASHINGTON — The U.S. communications regulator on Wednesday approved a plan to allow a growing number of wireless devices to use part of a spectrum previously set aside for automakers to develop methods for vehicles to communicate with each other, …

Uber Expands Self-Driving Safety Report After NTSB Slams Culture

Uber Technologies Inc. vowed to make public more safety information regarding its self-driving cars after the National Transportation Safety Board placed partial blame for a fatal 2018 crash on the company’s policies. The company made the pledge in an update …

Viewpoint: Washington Impedes Progress on Self-Driving Cars

Imagine how different the discussion about returning to the office or school would be if we could deploy autonomous vehicles — and therefore had more alternatives to public transportation or school buses without worrying about parking — or how much …

Immersive Simulator Tests ‘Trust’ Between Humans and Self-driving Cars

Mass production of autonomous vehicles is expected to soar by the early 2020s. Consumers have high expectations and a high degree of skepticism when it comes to self-driving cars. According to a World Economic Forum study, consumers are very reluctant …

Semi-Automated Driving Systems: Not All Are ‘Hands Free’

DETROIT — Autopilot, ProPilot, CoPilot: Automakers have many names for new systems that allow for hands-free driving, but no safety or performance standards to follow as they roll out the most significant changes to vehicle technology in a generation. Spurred …

Autonomous Vehicle Firms Dispute Insurance Study’s Low Estimate of Crash Prevention

Companies working on self-driving vehicles have criticized an insurance industry study suggesting that only a third of all U.S. road crashes could be prevented by driverless cars, arguing that the study has underestimated the technology’s capabilities. The study by the …

Electrical Tape on Sign Tricked a Tesla Into Speeding in a Test

Researchers were able to trick a Tesla Inc. vehicle into speeding by putting a strip of electrical tape over a speed limit sign, spotlighting the kinds of potential vulnerabilities facing automated driving systems. Technicians at McAfee Inc. placed the piece …

Viewpoint: How to Build a Morally Ethical Self-Driving Car

Not too long ago, tech enthusiasts were telling us that by 2020, we’d see self-driving cars hit the mainstream, with some 10 million on the roads. That turned out to be a wild overestimation. The actual number of vehicles in …