Autopilot or not, Tesla adds two more levels of lane assistance

2019 Tesla Model 3 PerformanceOn its way to rolling out full self-driving, Tesla will use the technology to add two more basic safety features to all its cars, the company announced on Thursday. Tesla's Autopilot system can often track lanes better than most other self-driving systems—and occasionally not. But the cars have to be equipped with Autopilot and drivers have...

Electric car hopeful Nio closes California office amid layoffs

Nio ET Preview conceptChinese electric-car startup Nio announced Thursday that it will close an office in California and lay off 70 workers, according to a report in The Verge. The report cites a filing with the California Employment Development Department. After introducing two new SUVs alongside its high-performance electric sports car, Nio unveiled a new concept for...

2020 Toyota Prius Prime gains seating for 5, Apple CarPlay, revamped lineup

2017 Toyota Prius Prime PremiumThe 2020 Toyota Prius Prime plug-in hybrid gains some important functionality, even though some of the key specifications for range and efficiency haven't changed. The most important improvement, perhaps, is that the Prime now offers a third seat in the center-rear, making it a five-passenger car. Previous versions had only four seats. The second...

LA Green New Deal targets 80 percent EVs, less driving

2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV electric car in Maven car-sharing fleet, Los Angeles [photo: Dan MacMedan foAs Washington waffles on developing a Green New Deal—or works to torpedo it altogether—LA's environmentalist mayor, Eric Garcetti, signed off on a local Green New Deal for the city on Monday. “Politicians don’t need to look across the aisle to find the answers—they need to look across the country,” he said, in...

Tesla faces lawsuit in fatal Model X crash on Autopilot

Tesla Model X crash, Hwy 101 Mountainview, CaliforniaThe family of a driver killed in the crash of a Tesla Model X driving on Autopilot filed a lawsuit April 26 against Tesla over the crash, Bloomberg reported. Software engineer Walter Huang, 38, was killed March 23, 2018, when his 2017 Model X drifted out of the left lane of Highway 101 in Mountain View, California and struck a concrete median...