IIHS rates Autopilot emergency crash response in Tesla Model 3

Tesla Autopilot 2 Perpendicular ParkAfter a spate of crashes involving drivers using Tesla's Autopilot system, the press is awash in speculation about its effectiveness. Now the IIHS, which rates accident avoidance systems across many automakers, has given Tesla's system an official rating: "Superior." DON'T MISS: Report: Tesla rejected additional driver sensors for Autopilot The...

Volvo ditches diesel, but will half its cars be electric by 2024?

2017 Volvo S60 and V60 PolestarVolvo says it is going all-in on electric cars in an effort to turn the company into something of a Tesla alternative. To that end, the company has announced that half its cars will be battery electric models by 2024, according to a report in Road & Track earlier this year. It has also dedicated its high-performance Polestar brand to selling...

BMW reveals its self-driving, electric iNext vision for the future

Teaser for BMW iNext debuting in 2021At BMW's annual shareholders' meeting in Germany on Thursday the company released a teaser image of its future iNext electric car. The image shows an SUV silhouette similar is size to an X5, BMW's mid-size SUV. The iNext is designed to be a technology showcase for BMW: electric propulsion, full self-driving, and advanced interfaces, said BMW CEO...

Report: Tesla moves to set up operations in China

2014 Tesla Model S in ChinaFollowing a report last year that Tesla has received approval to build a factory in Shanghai, the company is setting up independent operations in China. According to a Wall Street Journal report on Monday (subscription required), Tesla is the first automaker to take advantage of new Chinese laws that will allow foreign green automakers to open for...

Northeast states band together to direct charging infrastructure

Electrify America 350 kw chargers at Home Depot in Chicopee, Mass.It sometimes seems as if everyone who buys an electric car lives in California. That's especially true from the perspective of officials in the Northeast, who have signed on to California's emissions regulations and zero-emissions vehicle mandates, yet see few electric cars sold in their states. One problem has been that states in the Northeast...

Why aren’t automakers advertising electric cars? Maybe they are

Chrysler Pacifica hybrid bear c ommercial stillSometimes you have to build a market when there's not one to cater to. How else would Ford have begun selling 300,000 Explorers a year when they were based on a rough-riding, antiquated (even then) Ranger pickup? Ford disseminated images in front of millions of American eyeballs of Explorers tracking campers along dirt trails, heading to the Grand...

Report: Tesla rejected additional driver sensors for Autopilot

Tesla AutopilotIn Tesla’s earnings call last week, Tesla CEO Elon Musk addressed a spate of crashes with cars using the automaker’s Autopilot system, noting that the crashes usually seem to involve experienced Tesla drivers who become complacent in using the system. On Monday, an article in the Wall Street Journal revealed, citing “people...

Honda starts production of new Insight hybrid in Indiana

2019 Honda InsightHonda announced that it began building its third-generation Insight hybrid at its factory in Indiana this week. The company first introduced a concept version of the car at the Detroit auto show in January, and showed the production version in New York in March. This is the third generation of the Insight, which was the first hybrid to reach the...

Tesla Model 3 updates, Chevy Bolt EVs backordered, Porsche Cayenne E-Hybrid driven, and Twitter poll results: Today’s Car News

2019 Porsche Cayenne E-HybridWe got a rundown of updates that Tesla has rolled out to existing Model 3 owners, and found five new features that new buyers can also expect. We got a first drive in a 2019 Porsche Cayenne E-Hybrid, to see what all the fuss is about. And our followers weighed in in our Twitter poll to let us know how often they want to see us cover the monthly...

Tesla Model 3 software updates revealed

2018 Tesla Model 3As Tesla has been working to ramp up assembly of its more affordable Model 3 sedan, the company has also been adding features to existing examples with its over the air software updates. We spoke with Tesla to learn the extent of updates and found five updates that have been rolled out to existing Model 3 owners. These features will be built in to...