Within the next decade, companies and fleet operators face a serious logistics dilemma: If the future is autonomous and electric, as some major automakers now argue, the only way this works smoothly is if the charging is as well-automated as the driving itself. That’s what Electrify America plans to study together with the San Francisco... Project examines how to automate charging for self-driving fleets
Within the next decade, companies and fleet operators face a serious logistics dilemma: If the future is autonomous and electric, as some major automakers now argue, the only way this works smoothly is if the charging is as well-automated as the driving itself. That’s what Electrify America plans to study together with the San Francisco...
Car shoppers know electric-cars are good for the environment, but relatively few would consider buying one, according to results released Tuesday by J.D. Power and Associates. In its first-ever Mobility Confidence Index, 61 percent of respondents told the automotive polling juggernaut that they agree that electric cars are better for the...
In April at its "Autonomy Day" presentation for investors, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced that the company was developing a new dedicated self-driving hardware chip that would be significantly faster and more powerful than the chip in existing cars. At the time, he also announced that the chip will be available for older cars as an upgrade, though...
Over the first quarter of the year, Tesla reported a much higher-than-anticipated loss and revenue below what analysts had been expecting—tangled up in logistical delivery issues in Europe, import issues in Shanghai and Beijing and finally, book-ended by a flurry of deliveries in Europe and China in the last 10 days of the quarter. As...
As always, the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show held this week in Las Vegas was massive. Hundreds of thousands of attendees, workers, and support staff converged at multiple venues to show off their latest wares, meet with clients, partners, and the media and try to break through the news clutter. For automotive news, however, this year’s CES...
If you're going to develop a self-driving test vehicle, why not make it one that passengers would enjoy riding in? Perhaps that's the logic behind Toyota's choice of its new Lexus LS large luxury sedan as the basis for the P4, its latest automated-driving test vehicle—unveiled yesterday by the Toyota Research Institute, or TRI. The...
Friday marked exactly two years since Tesla announced that every one of its cars was being produced with the hardware needed for Full Self-Driving. Friday was also the first full day that Tesla removed the option from its configurator—at the same time that it introduced a new $45k Model 3 Mid Range, effectively splitting the difference...
A lot of ink has been spilled over self-driving cars lately—whether they'll work, how they work, and the potential for accidents. What hasn't been discussed as much is how autonomous vehicles could help the environment. Self-driving vehicles go hand-in-hand with electrification, said Raphael Gindrat, the founder and CEO of Bestmile, a...
After years of trials aimed at remaking driving in the mold of the iPhone, Apple is finally building some self-driving electric cars to test on roads in the San Francisco Bay Area—and they're Volkswagen buses. The New York Times reported on Thursday that, after years of looking for a partner among automakers, Apple has teamed up with the...
British carmaker Jaguar Land Rover and Waymo said Tuesday the carmaker would sell Google's autonomous-car technology arm up to 20,000 of its new all-electric Jaguar I-Pace SUV to be used in self-driving service by 2020. While last week's news focused entirely on the fatal crash of a Volvo converted by Uber to autonomous operation—apparently...
In June 2013, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced he would drive a Tesla Model S electric car across the U.S. to show off the company's new Supercharger fast-charging network. Indeed, two Tesla Model S sedans successfully completed the run from Los Angeles to New York City in February 2014. Last year, Musk decided to repeat the stunt, but with a twist...
There are cars and trucks, and then there are trains and buses. While multi-seat vans and wagons can serve the purpose of buses carrying multiple unrelated people, a California company has come up with an entirely new concept. The Dubai Roads and Transport Authority announced yesterday it would test what maker Next Future Corporation calls the...
As it does in every other aspect of the auto industry, Korean carmaker Hyundai-Kia has set itself an aggressive goal and a fast pace for rollout of self-driving vehicles. The Korean carmaker has said it would offer a vehicle capable of Level 4 autonomy—meaning a car that can operate without human input, but only for certain road types...
How comfortable would you be in a taxi or car-service vehicle that had no steering wheel, accelerator or brake pedals? That's the question prompted by a photo that has already prompted some subconscious anxiety among at least auto writers. How the public will react remains to be seen, but they'll get their chance next year if GM's Chevrolet Cruise...
We tend to take batteries for granted. Day after day, we recharge batteries and expect them to work without giving a thought to how they work or to their state of health. But Akira Yoshino is different. He's one of the pioneers of lithium-ion battery technology. DON'T MISS: Lithium-ion battery packs now $209 per kwh, will fall to $100 by 2025...
While such autonomous players as Uber, Tesla, and Waymo have already opened their car doors to the public, GM's autonomous subsidiary Cruise Automation has held its cards close to its vest. This past week, the Detroit-based automaker and Silicon Valley-based subsidiary allowed select members of the press a sneak peek of what’s to come from...
One California company has a different idea to ensure self-driving cars earn their "training wheels," so to speak. Instead of deploying self-driving cars on public roads, California-based mobility company Ridecell wants to tackle private properties with electric self-driving shuttles. DON'T MISS: Self-driving Chevy Bolt EV electric test cars to be...
When the 2018 Nissan Leaf electric car arrives at dealerships early next year, it will offer fresh styling inside and out, more power, a 150-mile range, and an array of standard or optional active-safety features. It will come in Nissan's standard three trim levels—base S, mid-level SV, and top-of-the-line SL—with option packages at...