General Motors bill is self-driving and self-interested

WASHINGTON — With states seizing the initiative on shaping the future of self-driving cars, General Motors is trying to persuade legislators across the country to approve rules that would benefit the automaker while potentially keeping its competitors off the road. The carmaker denies trying to freeze out other brands, but legislators in four states say [...]

By |2017-04-24T09:53:07-04:00Monday, February 27, 2017|

Uber self-driving cars hit the streets of San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO — Uber is bringing a small number of self-driving cars to its ride-hailing service in San Francisco — a move likely to excite the city’s tech-savvy population and certain to antagonize California regulators. This week’s launch in Uber’s hometown expands a public pilot program the company started in Pittsburgh in September. The testing [...]

By |2017-04-24T09:58:57-04:00Friday, December 16, 2016|

Automated cars could threaten jobs of professional drivers

Ronald De Feo has watched robots take factory jobs for years. Now he sees them threatening a new class of worker: People who drive for a living. “I am in Pittsburgh; it’s a test market for Uber’s autonomous vehicle,” says De Feo, CEO of the industrial materials firm Kennametal. “We see all these (automated) Ubers [...]

By |2017-04-24T10:02:15-04:00Monday, November 7, 2016|

Feds balance safety, speed in its review of rules for self-driving cars

WASHINGTON (AP) — Obama administration officials are previewing long-awaited guidance that attempts to bring self-driving cars to the nation’s roadways safely — without creating so many roadblocks that the technology can’t make it to market quickly. Traditional automakers and tech companies have been testing self-driving prototypes on public roads for several years, with a human [...]

By |2017-04-24T10:06:08-04:00Thursday, September 22, 2016|

World’s first self-driving taxis make debut in Singapore

SINGAPORE — The world’s first self-driving taxis began picking up passengers in Singapore last week. Select members of the public may hail a free ride through their smartphones in taxis operated by nuTonomy, an autonomous vehicle software startup. While multiple companies, including Google and Volvo, have been testing self-driving cars on public roads for several [...]

By |2017-04-24T10:08:04-04:00Monday, August 29, 2016|

Uber to use autonomous cars to haul people in next few weeks

SAN FRANCISCO — Ride-hailing service Uber says it will start hauling passengers with self-driving cars on the streets of Pittsburgh in next several weeks. The company says its autonomous Ford Fusions will have human backup drivers but will transport passengers just like normal Uber vehicles. Uber has a self-driving research lab in Pittsburgh and is [...]

By |2017-04-24T10:08:30-04:00Monday, August 22, 2016|

Plans for self-driving cars have pitfall: the human brain

WASHINGTON — Experts say the development of self-driving cars over the coming decade depends on an unreliable assumption by many automakers: that the humans in them will be ready to step in and take control if the car’s systems fail. Instead, experience with automation in other modes of transportation like aviation and rail suggests that [...]

By |2016-07-26T14:48:21-04:00Thursday, July 21, 2016|
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