driverless cars News

Michigan Says Potholes Make State a Great Place to Test Robot Cars

Michigan and California, vying for control of our driverless future, are each proposing crumbling World War II military sites as ideal locations to test robot cars. Michigan’s secret weapon? Better potholes. The Great Lakes state plans to make a test …

Self-Driving Vehicles Meet Their Match When Snow Creates Sensor Blindness

In Jokkmokk, a tiny hamlet just north of the Arctic Circle in Sweden, where temperatures can dip to 50 below, Volvo Cars’ self-driving XC90 sport-utility vehicle met its match: frozen flakes that caked on radar sensors essential to reading the …

Automakers Outpacing Tech Firms in Driverless Car Patents

Automakers, not technology companies, are in the driver’s seat in developing self-driving, “autonomous” cars, and Japan’s Toyota Motor Corp. is best positioned to lead the way, according to a new report on patents for the fast-evolving technology. As automakers enter …

Warm 2016 May Help Put Climate Change on The Map – Even Higher That Is

If you think you heard a lot about climate change in 2015, wait till next year – or next week depending on how you want to look at it. Next year may be on track to the be warmest year …

Driverless Cars Give Lawyers Bottomless List of Defendants

Imagine a robot car with no one behind the wheel hitting another driverless car. Who’s at fault? The answer: No one knows. But plaintiff’s lawyers are salivating at the prospects for big paydays from such accidents. If computers routinely crash, …

Opinion: California DMV Rules Would Slow Driverless Car Development

The home state of Google Inc., the pioneering company in driverless cars, has just taken steps to make life more difficult – not just for Google, but for all of us who would like to see driverless cars hit the …

Guy Carpenter Report Examines Major Emerging Risks Facing Re/Insurers

A report published by Guy Carpenter & Co., released Sept. 2015, identified four key areas of emerging risk for re/insurers: cyber risk, technology risk, casualty catastrophe and reserving, and life, health and longevity risk. In the report, titled “A Clearer …

Google Tests Driverless Cars in Texas City

Google Inc. has selected Texas as the latest testing site for its self-driving car project, the company announced Tuesday. A modified Lexus SUV has already been seen on Austin roads, with safety drivers on board, according to the Austin American-Statesman. …

Two Self-Driving Cars Avoid Collision, Says Passenger

Two self-driving prototype cars, one operated by Google Inc. and the other by Delphi Automotive Plc, had a close call on a Silicon Valley street earlier this week, a Delphi executive told Reuters on Thursday. It was believed to be …

Fully Self-Driving Cars Still 15 Years Down the Road: Supplier

The technology to make cars fully autonomous probably won’t be established until at least 2030, according to the top supplier for the world’s biggest automaker. The auto industry will take intermediate steps toward that future, first with safety systems that …