Search Results

Driverless Cruise robotaxi DRAGGED a woman pinned under it for 20 feet

November 03, 2023 -

On October 24, state authorities suspended Cruise's operating permit, banning it from deploying driverless cars on public roads until safety concerns are resolved. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has also investigated to see if it should also take action.

Now, Cruise's response to the gruesome incident could make or break California's new robotaxi industry.

These incidents are part of a new chapter in the evolution of driverless cars and trucks....

California DMV SUSPENDS Cruise’s driverless car permits for misrepresenting information on safety

November 01, 2023 - driverless vehicles. Aside from suspending Cruise's driverless-vehicle deployment, the California DMV also suspended the company's testing permit.

The DMV's decision is a major setback for Cruise, especially since the company has been facing increased scrutiny by regulators this year due to several incidents involving its vehicles. Cruise first started offering a commercial driverless car service in June 2022, after years of testing the technology in California ...

WAYMO PROBLEMS: Reported accidents involving Waymo driverless cars in San Francisco MULTIPLIED SIXFOLD this year

June 13, 2023 -

This is according to a recent report by the San Francisco Standard, which reveals that incidents involving autonomous vehicles owned by both Waymo and rival company Cruise have more than tripled from 24 to 87 incidents between January and April 2023.

Waymo and Cruise are on the verge of receiving approval from the California Public Utilities Commission to operate their driverless taxis or "robotaxis" around the clock in San Francisco. City officials are attempting to resist ...

Criminals increasingly targeting KEYLESS VEHICLES in “carhacking” surge

October 06, 2023 -

According to a report by the Arlington, Virginia-based nonprofit Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI), one particular model – the Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat – is 60 times more likely to be targeted than any other vehicle model built between 2020 and 2022. The HLDI is under the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and supports the latter.

Criminals have found various ways to steal keyless vehicles, and here are some of them.Relay hack

This modus operandi usually ...

Driverless car gets stuck in wet concrete in San Francisco a few days after CPUC approves robotaxi expansion services

August 21, 2023 -

The Chevrolet Bolt EV-based autonomous vehicle (AV), equipped with roof-mounted sensors, was spotted by Paul Harvey, a 74-year-old retired contractor residing in the Western Addition neighborhood. The car appeared tilted forward, its front wheels ensnared in the setting concrete.

"I thought it was funny," Harvey said during an interview with San Francisco Gate. "I was kind of pleased because it illustrated how creepy and weird the whole thing is to me."

Cruise, a ...

Austin officials complain of self-driving cars BLOCKING emergency vehicles

October 06, 2023 -

According to InfoWars, the complaints come from both the Austin Police Department (APD) and Austin Fire Department (AFD). Officials from the two agencies are calling attention to the fact that autonomous cars are hindering first responders' abilities to assist the people of Austin, Axios reported. The AFD obtained internal emails and complaints regarding this issue through a Texas Public Information Act request.

The city's Transportation and Public Works Department (TPW) ...

Volvo CUTS FUNDING to subsidiary Polestar, which produces electric vehicles

February 06, 2024 -

The company said in a statement that its Chinese partner Geely Holding "will continue to provide full operational and financial support to Polestar going forward." As a result, Volvo Cars will no longer provide further funding. The move, Volvo added, will allow the Swedish entity to focus on "developing and concentrating its resources on its own ambitious journey" – including its in-house EVs.

Volvo and Geely established Polestar as a stand-alone EV maker, separate ...

HAZARDOUS AIRBAG: General Motors faces recall of 20 million vehicles

October 09, 2023 -

This development places GM among the companies most affected by the U.S. auto-safety regulators' push to recall around 52 million airbag inflators produced by the Tennessee-based auto supplier ARC Automotive.

These inflators have been associated with incidents where they explode with excessive force during vehicle collisions, causing metal fragments to strike vehicle occupants and resulting in fatalities and injuries.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration ...

3 Suspicious narratives behind the big push toward electric vehicles

September 15, 2023 -

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), himself an electrical engineer, revealed this information while talking to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. The Kentucky congressman had been tackling President Joe Biden's plan to have 50 percent of cars sold in the country be electric by 2030.

The current and future grid in most areas won't be able to support each home running 25 refrigerators. For example, California's power grid is already buckling under the existing load.

Massie ...

Several truck companies plan to completely ELIMINATE the use of human drivers this year

a month ago -

After years of testing, Aurora Innovation Inc., Kodiak Robotics Inc. and Gatik AI Inc. claim that they are ready to get rid of safety drivers of trucks being guided by software and different sensors including cameras, radar and lidar, which send pulses of light that bounce off objects.

The three startups have already hauled cargo for big companies such as FedEx, Kroger, Tyson Foods and Walmart.

In an interview, Chris Urmson, co-founder and chief executive officer of ...

Ford loses billions on electric vehicles, reduces its EV production target

July 31, 2023 -

It's just the latest bad news for Ford Model e, which lost $2.1 billion in 2022. The disappointing figures were part of the carmaker's second quarter financial results that were released last week.

Ford also announced that it would be slashing the price of its F150 Lightning electric pickup truck on account of lower-priced raw materials for batteries. The price reduction will also help the truck qualify for a $75,000 consumer tax credit that is only given for vehicles with ...

Russian oil still powers European vehicles, thanks to India’s refining capability

April 30, 2023 -

Bloomberg reported on this development in an April 28 article, citing data from analytics firm Kpler. According to the piece, the South Asian country is on track to become Europe's largest supplier of refined fuels. It also pointed out that India is simultaneously buying record amounts of Russian crude.

"Russian oil is finding its way back into Europe despite all the sanctioning. India ramping up fuel exports to the West is a good example of it. With India taking in so ...

Only half of Ford dealers agreed to sell electric vehicles in 2024

January 03, 2024 -

The other half of Ford dealers will sell and service internal combustion engine (ICE) and hybrid models.

According to Ford spokesman Martin Gunsberg, electric vehicle rates "vary across the country, and we believe our dealers know their market best."

Gunsberg said "dealer enrollments for 2024 entry have stabilized at just over 50 percent of the network," or about 1,550 dealers. This enrollment level places 86 percent of the population within 20 miles of a Ford ...

Electric cars lose value TWICE as fast as gas vehicles, study finds

May 08, 2023 -

Put another way, EVs depreciate in value at twice the rate of gas-powered cars, this according to a new study based on data from ChooseMyCar.com. Researchers found that EVs depreciate at double the rate of gas-powered cars, making them an expensive and really bad investment over the longer term.

On average, EVs lost 51 percent of their purchase value in the three-year period of time between 2020 and 2023. Comparatively, gas-powered cars during that same time period lost ...

Bumpy road ahead: Rental giant Hertz dumps electric vehicles for gas-powered counterparts

January 22, 2024 -

A regulatory filing disclosed this business decision by the company to sell EVs from Tesla, Chevrolet and BMW. The company cited higher repair costs following collisions as the primary decision for the move, according to Newsweek.

Hertz's decision to sell off EVs came about two years after it made a deal with Elon Musk to offer Tesla vehicles for rent. The rental company had earlier aimed to convert a quarter of its fleet to EVs by the end of 2024. According to Reuters, ...

EVs have 79% more reliability problems than gas vehicles, according to Consumer Reports

December 08, 2023 -

Plug-in hybrids fared even worse, registering 146 percent more problems than vehicles with traditional internal combustion engines.

According to Consumer Reports, the least reliable type of vehicle overall was electric pickup trucks.

They reached this conclusion based on a survey they conducted among members about issues they have had with their vehicles during the past year. Data from more than 330,000 vehicles with model years from 2000 onward was included ...

French rioters have burned 5,600 vehicles and 1,000 buildings in just 1 week

July 05, 2023 -

The numbers come from the Ministry of the Interior, which has been tallying the damage caused to individuals and property in six nights of riots. The violence erupted after a police officer shot a French teenager of Algerian descent to death in a suburb of Paris during a traffic stop.

Among the nearly 6,000 burned vehicles are personal cars, buses, trucks and trams. In one incident, vandals stole a large truck and used it to ram down the doors to a mall so that looters ...

Study finds electric vehicles pollute the environment 1,850 times more than gas-powered cars

a month ago -

The 2022 study from the United Kingdom-based independent global emissions testing and research firm Emissions Analytics found that, during a 1,000-mile journey, EVs release 1,850 times more pollutants into the environment than their gas-powered counterparts due to the heavier weight that eats through the tires of EVs.

When discussing emissions, most would only consider the smoke and other pollutants belched by cars from their exhaust. But tire wear also plays a significant ...

Over 6M public records from motor vehicles office in Louisiana exposed to MOVEit hackers

June 23, 2023 -

The hacking operation was part of a global attack on the third-party file transfer application, MOVEit. The incident happened after the Pelican State introduced a new law increasing the uptake of digital ID, raising concerns among residents who fear that their internet activity might be monitored or exposed in case of a cyberattack.

In a statement, the Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GOHSEP) said there is no indication hackers have used, ...

Russian soldiers show off captured Western tanks, U.S.-made Bradley Fighting Vehicles, as ‘trophies’

June 14, 2023 -

And while lots of videos have been posted to social media regarding destroyed and captured Russian equipment, a new video has surfaced wherein Russian troops show off captured Ukrainian equipment referred to as "trophies." And worse, the gear is Western-made.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry (MoD), their troops have reportedly seized NATO-supplied armored vehicles in the Zaporizhia region. The vehicles were apparently abandoned by retreating Ukrainian soldiers, ...