autonomous vehicles

Tesla is expected to unveil a robotaxi tonight: 5 things to know

5:00am October 10, 2024

On Thursday night, Tesla is holding a splashy event it’s calling “We, Robot.” CEO Elon Musk says fully autonomous vehicles are key to Tesla’s future, and for years he has promised they are coming.

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Transportation

NC A&T’s self-driving shuttles are making pilot runs to downtown Greensboro

4:11pm September 19, 2023

by Paul Garber

Self-driving shuttles from North Carolina A&T State University have begun making short trips from campus to downtown Greensboro.

Rafaela Vasquez pauses during a court hearing in Phoenix on Friday prior to accepting a plea agreement of three years of supervised probation for the Uber autonomous vehicle crash that killed 49-year-old Elaine Herzberg.

National

Backup driver of an autonomous Uber pleads guilty to endangerment in pedestrian death

5:50pm July 28, 2023

by The Associated Press

The backup driver for a self-driving vehicle that killed a pedestrian in suburban Phoenix in 2018 was sentenced to three years of supervised probation.

Rafaela Vasquez has been charged with negligent homicide in the death of a pedestrian struck by an autonomous Uber SUV in March 2018. Vasquez was at the wheel of the vehicle at the time.

National

Backup Driver Of Autonomous Uber SUV Charged With Negligent Homicide In Arizona

3:31pm September 16, 2020

by Laurel Wamsley

Rafaela Vasquez was watching the television show The Voice when the car struck a pedestrian walking her bike across a Tempe street at night.

New research explores how people think autonomous vehicles should handle moral dilemmas. Here, people walk in front of an autonomous taxi being demonstrated in Frankfurt, Germany, last year.

Science

Should Self-Driving Cars Have Ethics?

4:36pm October 26, 2018

by Laurel Wamsley

To design a "moral machine," researchers updated a classic thought experiment for the autonomous vehicle age. But do we really want artificial intelligence making decisions on who lives or dies?

Self-Driving Cars Need Lessons on Human Drivers

Science

WATCH: Self-Driving Cars Need To Learn How Humans Drive

5:44am August 21, 2018

Self-driving cars may be the future of transportation. But if they are going to share the road with humans, they have to learn how people behave behind the wheel.

Waymo self-driving cars will be used to chauffeur "early riders" to and from their Walmart online grocery pickup location.

National

Walmart To Test Self-Driving Cars For Grocery Pickup Service

5:23pm July 25, 2018

by Cameron Jenkins

Some customers in the Phoenix metro area will be able to use a driverless shuttle service to pick up groceries at Walmart — if they purchase them online.

Safety driver Jeff Runions with one of Starsky Robotics' autonomous testing trucks.

Economy

A Career Trucker Helps To Steer The Path For Self-Driving Trucks

5:53pm April 08, 2018

by Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi

Jeff Runions has spent almost four decades in the trucking industry. Now, he's helping drive the industry's shift toward automation, as a test driver for a self-driving trucking company.

Investigators for the National Transportation Safety Board in Tempe, Ariz., examine the Uber vehicle involved in the fatal crash.

California Won't Renew Uber's Permit To Test Self-Driving Vehicles After Fatal Crash

10:28pm March 27, 2018

by Ian Wren

The state says the permit expires Saturday. Uber itself says it won't seek a renewal. Hours earlier Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey announced he's suspending testing there, where the death occurred.

An Uber driverless Ford Fusion drives in Pittsburgh in 2016. On Friday, Uber and Google's Waymo self-driving unit announced a settlement in their trade secrets case.

Uber, Google's Waymo Settle Case Over Trade Secrets For Self-Driving Cars

3:53pm February 09, 2018

by Ian Wren

Representatives for both companies confirmed they reached a settlement valued at $245 million, ending a week of courtroom drama. Google had accused Uber of poaching its top self-driving engineer.