The US wants to delete the steering wheel. The EU wants a camera on your face
The US wants to delete the steering wheel. The EU wants a camera on your face

This week, two of the world’s biggest car regulators looked at the same question and reached opposite answers. The question is simple. What should sit between a human and a moving vehicle? In the United States, the top auto-safety official floated pull…

New Jersey could ban Tesla’s Robotaxi with one line about sensors
New Jersey could ban Tesla’s Robotaxi with one line about sensors

For more than a decade, the biggest fight in self-driving cars has played out in boardrooms and engineering labs. New Jersey now wants to settle it in law. A bill moving through the state legislature would force any company running fully driverless car…

A Waymo called the cops on two teens drinking and shooting toy guns
A Waymo called the cops on two teens drinking and shooting toy guns

Two 15-year-olds in San Mateo learned this week that a driverless taxi can still tell on you. The pair were drinking alcohol and shooting Orbeez, soft water-filled pellets, out of a moving Waymo on Monday afternoon. The car’s remote monitors spotted it…

This EU-first robocar tests at 120 km/h, and uses no AI to drive
This EU-first robocar tests at 120 km/h, and uses no AI to drive

Aidoptation can now test a fully self-driving car at highway speed on Belgian public roads. It is the first Level 4 permit of its kind in the European Union. The company announced the approval, which covers 100 km of the E313 and E314 motorways in Limb…

NHTSA demands autonomous vehicle companies fix first responder interference by end of July
NHTSA demands autonomous vehicle companies fix first responder interference by end of July

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued a directive on Wednesday demanding autonomous vehicle developers present solutions to a “clear pattern” of driverless vehicles interfering with first responders and law enforcement. Administrato…

UK tech secretary backs driverless cars as Burnham’s team gets cold feet
UK tech secretary backs driverless cars as Burnham’s team gets cold feet

Britain’s tech secretary backs driverless cars and British AI startups. The likely next prime minister’s team has doubts, and her own job is on the line. Liz Kendall wants Britain to back its own AI companies before someone else does. In a Sifted podca…

Waymo’s robotaxis stalled, snarled traffic, and drove into fireworks on July 4
Waymo’s robotaxis stalled, snarled traffic, and drove into fireworks on July 4

Waymo’s robotaxis had a rough Fourth of July. In San Francisco they ran out of charge, snarled traffic for hours, and one drove over a lit firework and caught fire. Over the holiday weekend, driverless Waymo cars became the story instead of the technol…

Over 100 US-built autonomous ATVs have been fighting in Ukraine for nine months
Over 100 US-built autonomous ATVs have been fighting in Ukraine for nine months

Forterra, a US builder of autonomous vehicles, revealed that more than 100 of its self-driving ATVs have been deployed in combat zones in Ukraine for the past nine months. The company says it is the largest deployment of autonomous ground vehicles in c…

The Pentagon calls this Chinese firm a military company. Its lidar runs US robotaxis anyway
The Pentagon calls this Chinese firm a military company. Its lidar runs US robotaxis anyway

A lidar maker the Pentagon brands a Chinese military company quietly wires up America’s robotaxis, trucks, and even an airport. Nvidia is one of its partners. Hesai makes many of the sensors self-driving machines use to see. The Shanghai firm also sits…

Tesla maps a tiny Robotaxi zone in Miami while it still can’t scale Texas
Tesla maps a tiny Robotaxi zone in Miami while it still can’t scale Texas

Tesla has mapped out a Robotaxi service area in Miami, publishing a geofence that covers only a small slice of the metro — mostly West Miami and a strip stretching toward Doral and Sweetwater.
It’s the latest city Tesla has drawn a box around, but the …