Waymo Will Bring Autonomous Taxis to Los Angeles—Its Biggest Challenge Yet

Paid autonomous vehicle service is coming to Los Angeles, thanks to a decision by California regulators today to allow Alphabet subsidiary Waymo to operate in the city. Under the new ruling, Waymo is also permitted to launch service in a large section of the San Francisco Peninsula. The decision by the California Public Utilities Commission … Read more

Lucid And Rivian Are Gearing Up For A Miserable 2024

Good morning! It’s Thursday, February 22, 2024, and this is The Morning Shift, your daily roundup of the top automotive headlines from around the world, in one place. Here are the important stories you need to know. Rivian Recalls Nearly Every Car It Has Built 1st Gear: Rivian, Lucid 2024 Production Falls On Weakening Demand … Read more

Weekend News Roundup February 17, 2024

Loads of people feel skittish on the job and can be spooked by the slightest noise, but if you’re that kind of person it’s maybe not a good idea to have a career that lets you loose on the streets with a loaded weapon. Something Florida cops are likely to consider after video emerged this … Read more

Waymo recalls software after self-driving taxis crash in December

Waymo has voluntarily recalled its driverless taxi technology after two of the company’s self-driving cars crashed into a pickup truck that was being towed in Phoenix, Ariz., in December.  This is the company’s first recall.  “This voluntary recall reflects how seriously we take our responsibility to safely deploy our technology and to transparently communicate with … Read more

Crowd sets Waymo self-driving car on fire in San Francisco

A crowd of people vandalized a Waymo self-driving car on the streets of San Francisco’s Chinatown on Saturday evening, with one man lighting it on fire, the city’s Fire Department said. Video of the incident shows a man stop the passenger-less car in the street and bash it with a skateboard. Soon, a crowd forms … Read more

Jalopnik’s Favorite Stories From 2023: Waymo, Formula 1, EVs

Photo: Cruise Yes, both of my favorite posts this year are about sex, and maybe that makes me immature, but hey, a guy’s gotta have fun somehow. And trust me, this was a fun post to write. I mean, I literally got paid to work every euphemism for sex that I could think of into … Read more

This Was The Dire State Of AVs or Self-Driving Cars In 2023

Photo: Josh Edelson (Getty Images) Either the world is not ready for self-driving cars, or self-driving cars are not ready for the world. After all the avoidable crashes and injuries in 2023 — some of which were fatal — I’m going to say that it’s the latter rather than the former. Autonomous vehicles are clearly … Read more

Driverless Cars Can Break The Law But Won’t Be Ticketed In California

Photo: Justin Sullivan (Getty Images) Autonomous cars have been hitting public roads in a handful of cities around the United States, but the driverless phenomenon has raised one particularly perplexing question: How do we keep those driverless cars in check when they break traffic laws? NBC really delved into the matter this week. What’s The … Read more

My Surprisingly Unbiased Week With Elon Musk’s ‘Politically Biased’ Chatbot

Some Elon Musk enthusiasts have been alarmed to discover in recent days that Grok, his supposedly “truth-seeking” artificial intelligence was in actual fact a bit of a snowflake. Grok, built by Musk’s xAI artificial intelligence company, was made available to Premium+ X users last Friday. Musk has complained that OpenAI’s ChatGPT is afflicted with “the … Read more