Autonomous Vehicles

SouthWest Transit, which serves three of the city’s suburbs, will debut the area’s first autonomous vehicles this fall in Eden Prairie. For now, the service will operate with human drivers on board.

The autonomous driving unit has hired Marc Whitten, a former Amazon executive and founding engineer at Xbox, as its next CEO as it tries to get back on track after halting services amid scrutiny over safety practices.

The California Public Utilities Commission has upheld its March decision to approve Waymo's expansion from San Francisco to San Mateo County and Los Angeles over protests from local officials.

A business group backed by robot-taxi companies is celebrating the demise of a proposed California law that would have let cities regulate the autonomous vehicles and fine them for breaking traffic laws.

The Autonomous Robotic Pickup Platform, a project launching next week in Detroit’s Transportation Innovation Zone, will start by testing small sidewalk delivery bots to collect food waste for compost.

After previously resuming operations in Dallas, the company’s autonomous cars will resume operations in Houston this week. Plans are to shift to autonomous driving with a driver present sometime in coming weeks.

MSU is polling the Internet to name its new autonomous electric bus that will start driving a set route this fall. It comes with six light detection and ranging sensors, six radars and eight RGB cameras.

Fast, low-latency communication is essential for supporting connected vehicles and other next-gen transportation technologies. But the intelligent roadways that will carry it are developing more slowly.

Waymo's automated driving system is under investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration after 22 reported incidents, including 17 crashes, involving the driverless technology.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating Amazon's driverless taxis after two test cars stopped suddenly and were rear-ended in separate injury crashes, including one in San Francisco.

Combined, the cities received nearly $1.5 million in grants through a U.S. Department of Transportation program. They will use it to maintain and plan the expansion of zero-emissions vehicles, and to enhance pedestrian safety.

Downtown cyclists filmed a Waymo robotaxi driving against oncoming traffic for nearly two blocks. The company, however, says the driverless vehicle did this to keep away from a potential collision.

Urban technologists at the recent 2024 Bipartisan Tech Policy Conference discussed the various ways emerging tech like autonomous vehicles have evolved.

Criticizing House Bill 7 for moving too quickly toward putting autonomous vehicles on the road without human supervision, Gov. Andy Beshear vetoed it Friday. Beshear said AVs should have a testing period before they can drive in the state.

The AllianceTexas Mobility Innovation Zone in Fort Worth is becoming a center for developing next-gen transportation technologies. It’s situated near an interstate, rail lines and an air cargo hub.

City officials said Thursday that they would begin to permit operators to test drive autonomous autos on New York City streets, in an announcement that divided street safety advocates.

Layoffs and other workforce reductions have marked auto industry headlines in recent months, despite increased vehicle sales last year and even more forecasted growth in 2024.

A frequent criticism by San Francisco officials as driverless robotaxis became common on city streets has been that California's laws and regulations have been slow to catch up to the new reality.