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This is Uber’s plan to deliver on flying ‘cars’
elf-driving and electric flying cars are coming. What this means for our cities in the future is unclear, so I chatted with Uber Head of Policy of Autonomous Vehicles and Urban Aviation Justin Erlich to learn more. Erlich previously worked under Attorney General Kamala Harris, where he focused on emerging technology and the key policies that the government will want to have in place to… Read More
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Uber’s new CEO could probably win at 10 dimensional chess
The courtroom has been cleared and the initial takes are in on the Uber vs. Waymo trial. Uber will give Alphabet some $244 million worth of stock and agree to ensure that no Waymo intellectual property makes its way into Uber autonomous vehicles. This is hardly a Waymo victory. Indeed, the only person who comes out of this looking like a winner is Uber’s new chief executive, Dara… Read More
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Uber settles lawsuit with Waymo
Uber has agreed to settle the lawsuit brought against it by Waymo for theft of some of the company’s trade secrets. As part of the settlement, Uber has agreed to work with Waymo to ensure that the company’s LIDAR and software represents just the work of Uber engineers. The agreement also comes with a financial settlement of roughly $244 million in stock. Read More
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Aurora will power Byton EV’s autonomous driving features
Aurora, the self-driving startup founded by Google self-driving car project alum Chris Urmson, along with Tesla Autopilot developer Sterling Anderson, CMU robotics expert and Uber vet Drew Bagnell, and a team of industry experts, will be making the autonomous smarts for Byton’s forthcoming electric vehicle. Byton, a startup that had a splashy debut at CES earlier this… Read More
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Lyft hires Tesla’s president of Sales & Service as COO
Lyft has hired a new C-level executive: Jon McNeill, who joins as Chief Operating Officer. McNeill previously held a top role at Tesla, where he was president of Global Sales & Service, overseeing all of the company’s showroom and customer-facing interactions. Read More
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Elon Musk’s self-driving strategy still doesn’t include LiDAR
Elon Musk’s vision of autonomous driving differs from a lot of Tesla’s competitors in that he’s been adamant that LiDAR isn’t a core component of his approach. It’s a stance that provokes a lot of debate among experts in the field. Read More
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Elon Musk expects to do coast-to-coast autonomous Tesla drive in 3 to 6 months
Tesla had aimed to do a cross-country U.S. drive in one of its vehicles using fully autonomous driving capabilities by the end of last year. Obviously it didn’t make that goal, or you’d have heard about it. Instead, Tesla CEO Elon Musk now says he anticipates being able to make the trip within three months, or six months at the long end. Read More
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Starman has gone dark
Starman and his space Tesla have sent their last selfie from Earth orbit, Elon Musk announced. The car and its mannequin driver (in working SpaceX spacesuit) launched yesterday atop the Falcon Heavy rocket will eventually escape Earth orbit and travel outwards through the solar system — but not in a hurry. Read More
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Elon Musk’s pretty good week keeps rolling as Tesla slides through Q4 with same production targets
Tesla CEO Elon Musk managed to send his Tesla Roadster into space — because why not? — earlier this week, and it looks like his week (and Tesla’s) is still looking up for now following the company’s fourth-quarter results. The company slightly beat Wall Street’s expectations on the financial front, and said it’s still targeting producing 2,500 Model 3… Read More
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Mobility services platform Stratim, formerly known as Zirx, sells to KAR
On the heels of its rebrand in November, mobility service STRATIM has sold itself to KAR Auction Services, a car remarketing company. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. STRATIM, formerly known as on-demand valet and car services startup ZIRX, powers fleet management for more than 50 companies, including BMW (DriveNow), General Motors (Maven), Ford (Chariot) and Toyota, to power their… Read More
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Embark’s self-driving truck completes 2,400 mile cross-U.S. trip
Embark’s autonomous trucking solution just demonstrated what it could be capable of in a big way: It make a coast-to-coast trip from L.A. to Jacksonville, Florida, driving 2,400 miles from one end of the U.S. to the other. This follows Embark‘s prior test route, which ran from L.A. to El Paso, and covers more than four times the distance of that initial path. Embark did the new… Read More
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These are the arguments that define the Uber-Waymo lawsuit
The trial that could determine the fate of Uber’s autonomous driving program is finally underway in a crowded courtroom in San Francisco. Read More
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Lyft expands tax-saving commuter benefits to all Lyft Line cities
Lyft is hoping to make its Lyft Line commuter route service even more appealing by expanding commuter benefits, which allows riders to use pre-tax dollars via a benefits card from a number of providers to pay for their ride. This can result in savings of up to 35 percent vs. paying for the service the usual way. Lyft Line currently operates in 18 cities across the U.S., and Lyft says that in… Read More
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Continental taps Nvidia for its full-scale autonomous vehicle platform
Continental is the latest top-tier automotive supplier to work with Nvidia, and the latest to announce its intent to build a full-scale, top-to-bottom autonomous driving system. Continental (which might be most familiar from its tire division, but which supplies a range of automotive parts and systems across the industry) will be using Nvidia’s DRIVE autonomous vehicle platform for… Read More
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Fair nabs funding of around $50M, acquires rental car delivery service Skurt
Just a week after we reported that Fair was acquiring the leasing portfolio of Xchange Leasing from Uber, the flexible car-ownership startup is making two more moves. Today, the company confirmed that it has raised another round of funding led by next47, the VC firm backed by Siemens; and it has made another acquisition, of Los Angeles-based Skurt, a service that lets you rent a car, and… Read More
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Tesla to help build on-site charging stations for its first Semi customers
Tesla is going to be working with its first pilot customers for its all-electric Semi truck to build charging stations at their shipping facilities, Reuters reports. We know relatively little about how Tesla will be piloting its truck thus far, but this new info sheds some light on the charging component of the puzzle. Tesla will be working with Anheuser-Busch, Pepsi and UPS at least to build… Read More
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My Tesla Model X test drive made me an Autopilot superfan
This past week, I’ve had the chance to try out a brand new Tesla Model X P100D, on loan from Tesla for my use during a trip in and around San Francisco. Needless to say, the car got a lot of attention, especially given its all-black exterior and high contrast all-white leather cabin styling. And of course, the P100D’s instant, extreme acceleration was a blast to use first-hand… Read More
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California DMV disengagement report reveals self-driving improvements
California’s Department of Motor Vehicles releases an annual report detailing the number of disengagements reported by companies it has licensed to test autonomous vehicles on public roads in the state. This year, the report reveals some interesting details about the progress of some of those companies, including Waymo, GM’s Cruise and Tesla (sort of – you’ll see what… Read More
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An all-Tesla racing circuit is now one step closer to reality
An all-Tesla stock car-style racing series just got one step closer to reality: The proposed series was approved by the same industry association that manages Formula One and other major international motorsport competitions, The Verge reports. This means more work ahead, however, including securing the requisite amount of teams and funding, as well as dealing with Tesla itself. While Verge… Read More
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