self-driving car

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Cops: Man Smashes Into Patrol Cars While Catching a Flick

North Carolina doctor had his Tesla in 'Autopilot' mode, police say

(Newser) - Bad luck: to crash into other vehicles while driving. Worse luck: to crash into other vehicles that happen to be police cars. Worst luck of all: to do all of the above while you're watching a movie. Officials in North Carolina say that was the fate of a Raleigh...

Ex-Google Exec Gets Prison for Stealing Robocar Secrets

Anthony Levandowski also ordered to pay more than $850K

(Newser) - A former Google engineer has been sentenced to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty to stealing trade secrets before joining Uber's effort to build robotic vehicles for its ride-hailing service. The sentence handed down Tuesday by US District Judge William Alsup came more than four months after former...

Engineer Admits Stealing Self-Driving Car Secrets

Anthony Levandowski worked for Google, then started his own company

(Newser) - An engineer is facing a prison sentence after pleading guilty to one count of stealing trade secrets from Google. Anthony Levandowski, who worked in the self-driving division, admitted to downloading thousands of files to his personal laptop, CNBC reports. One of the files was an update on the self-driving program....

NTSB: Tesla Driver Was Playing Video Game During Fatal Crash

'If you own a car with partial automation, you do not own a self-driving car'

(Newser) - The National Transportation Safety Board says the driver of a Tesla SUV who died in a Silicon Valley crash two years ago was playing a video game on his smartphone while his vehicle was being controlled by a partially automated driving system. Chairman Robert Sumwalt said at the start of...

Feds Investigating Fatal Tesla Crash
Tesla Crash Kills 2
Jan 1, 2020 6:00 AM CST

Tesla Crash Kills 2

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating

(Newser) - A Tesla crash killed two people in the wee hours of Sunday in a Los Angeles suburb, and now the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating. The Tesla Model S was speeding, ran a red light, and hit a Honda Civic at the Gardena intersection, killing a man and...

Johnson's Role in Brexit Predicted 22 Years Ago

Too bad flying cars are still a ways off

(Newser) - We're nearly a fifth of the way into the 21st century with no flying cars in sight. That's one prediction for the year 2020 that's gone by the wayside. But other predictions—from Brexit to fitness trackers to self-driving cars—turned out to be right on the...

Ex-Google Engineer Charged With Stealing Top-Secret Info

Anthony Levandowski charged with 33 counts of trade secrets theft in case involving Uber

(Newser) - A former Google engineer was charged Tuesday with stealing closely guarded secrets that he later sold to Uber as the ride-hailing service scrambled to catch up in the high-stakes race to build robotic vehicles. The indictment filed by the US Attorney's office in San Jose, California, is an offshoot...

Uber Not Liable in Self-Driving Crash That Killed Woman

But the driver could still face charges over fatal crash in Arizona last year

(Newser) - An Arizona prosecutor has determined that Uber isn't criminally liable in a crash last year in which one of its self-driving SUVs fatally struck a pedestrian in suburban Phoenix. But it's not known whether prosecutors are considering charges against the driver in the March 18 crash in Tempe...

A Self-Driving Uber Killed Her. Her Family Targets Where She Died

$10M claim says city of Tempe, Ariz., had brick path that encouraged people to jaywalk

(Newser) - Family members of the first American killed by an autonomous Uber vehicle have settled with Uber itself, but now they're going after an Arizona city for the homeless woman's death. Per the Arizona Republic , Elaine Herzberg, 49, was killed March 18, 2018, in Tempe by an Uber Volvo...

Driverless Cars Could Turn Into &#39;Red Light District on the Move&#39;
Study Finds
Illicit Side Effect
of Driverless Cars
study says
Nov 12, 2018 12:19 PM CST

Study Finds Illicit Side Effect of Driverless Cars

It's likely people will use them for sex, researchers say

(Newser) - One possible side effect of driverless cars that may not have occurred to you? An increasing number of people having sex in cars. In a new study from the Annals of Tourism Research titled " Autonomous vehicles and the future of urban tourism ," researchers note that self-driving cars could...

Silicon Valley Swap: Apple Gets Back Top Engineer From Tesla

Doug Field rumored to be working on Project Titan autonomous-car initiative

(Newser) - One Silicon Valley wheel just circled back to its starting point. A top Apple engineer who left in 2013 to join Tesla as its chief vehicle engineer is back with his former employer. The Verge reports that Doug Field, who'd been the VP of Mac hardware for the Cupertino...

Apple Employee Allegedly Stole Self-Driving Car Tech

Zhang Xiaolang was arrested as he was about to leave for China

(Newser) - A former Apple engineer was arrested as he was about to board a flight from San Jose to China Saturday, accused by US prosecutors of stealing tech secrets from the firm with the plan of passing them along to a Chinese startup, the Washington Post reports. Zhang Xiaolang, once a...

Uber Driver Was Streaming The Voice Before Fatal Crash

'Safety driver' in self-driving vehicle could face charges in Arizona

(Newser) - "Entirely avoidable." That's what police in Tempe, Arizona, have concluded about the fatal crash involving a self-driving Uber car and a pedestrian in March. One big reason? Police say the person in the car who was supposed to be providing a safety check was streaming The Voice...

Tesla in Autopilot Mode Crashes Into Police Car

It was 2nd autopilot crash in same spot

(Newser) - A Tesla in autopilot mode created yet more unfortunate headlines for the company when it slammed into a police cruiser in Laguna Beach, Calif., on Tuesday. Police say the patrol vehicle was totaled but it was thankfully unoccupied at the time of the crash, KTLA reports. A Tesla in semi-autonomous...

Crucial System Was Off in Fatal Self-Driving Uber Crash

Preliminary NTSB report is out on crash that killed pedestrian in Tempe, Arizona

(Newser) - The self-driving Uber vehicle that hit and killed an Arizona pedestrian in March had its emergency braking system disabled, according to a preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board released Thursday. Per the report, the self-driving system also failed in identifying the woman, Reuters reports, first classifying her as...

Elon Musk: Report on Tesla Safeguards 'Ridiculous'

Sources tell 'WSJ' Musk, other execs rejected safeguards due to cost, ineffectiveness

(Newser) - Despite recently suggesting driver complacency is to blame for serious crashes involving Tesla's Autopilot feature, Elon Musk has long rejected additional safeguards that could help keep drivers' eyes on the road, the Wall Street Journal reports. Discussed before and after Tesla's Autopilot vehicles hit the market—particularly after...

Report: Self-Driving Uber Detected, Ignored Pedestrian

It was set not to react to 'false positives'

(Newser) - Uber's self-driving technology detected a pedestrian before a deadly crash in Arizona earlier this year but didn't react quickly enough because it had been set to ignore "false positives," the Information reports, citing "two people briefed on the matter." The sources say the vehicle'...

NTSB Kicks Tesla Out of Investigation for Breaking Rules

Feds say electric car company prematurely made information public

(Newser) - Federal investigators say they have booted electric car maker Tesla from a group that's investigating a fatal March 23 crash of a Tesla Model X SUV in California. The National Transportation Safety Board said it removed Tesla as a party to the investigation after the company prematurely made information...

Tesla in Fatal Crash Was in Self-Driving Mode

Vehicle hit a highway barrier in California

(Newser) - The Tesla Model X that slammed into a highway barrier in California last week and killed the 38-year-old Apple engineer at the wheel had been on autopilot at the time of the crash, Tesla confirms in a blog post . But the company says driver Walter Huang "received several visual...

Arizona Has Chilly Response to Uber After Self-Driving Crash

Collision-avoidance tech disabled before deadly crash

(Newser) - Uber voluntarily pulled its self-driving cars from Arizona roads after a fatal accident earlier this month but when—or if—they return will be up to the state. Gov. Doug Ducey ordered the suspension of the company's self-driving car test program Monday, accusing Uber of not putting public safety...

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