autonomous vehicles

Uber taps Yandex spinout Avride for autonomous delivery and ride-hail partnership

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Uber is not done snatching up autonomous vehicle partnerships.  The ride-hail and delivery giant on Thursday announced a multi-year deal with Yandex spinout Avride to bring the company’s sidewalk delivery robots and autonomous vehicles to both Uber Eats and Uber.  It’s the latest in a series of deals from Uber over the last two months […]

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Waymo begins offering robotaxi rides in Austin to certain members of the public

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Waymo has gotten one step closer to a commercial launch in Austin by early 2025. This week, the company will open its fully autonomous ride-hailing service to certain members of the public in the city as it gears up to partner with Uber next year. The initial riders will have 24/7 access to the service

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Cruise gets $1.5 million penalty for keeping pedestrian crash details from safety regulator

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General Motors’ self-driving subsidiary Cruise must pay a $1.5 million penalty to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, after its initial reports to the safety regulator about last year’s pedestrian crash omitted that the company’s robotaxi dragged the woman 20 feet. The penalty is part of a consent order announced by the regulator on Monday.

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A Waymo robotaxi stalled in front of VP Harris’ motorcade

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A Waymo robotaxi got stuck making a U-turn in front of Vice President Kamala Harris’ motorcade Friday evening in San Francisco.  ABC 7 reported that a San Francisco police officer had to manually drive the vehicle out of the way.  Waymo has not yet responded to TechCrunch’s questions, including what went wrong on the backend

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First TikTok, now smart cars: How Biden’s new proposed ban will affect U.S. automakers

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The White House issued a long-anticipated proposal Monday that would ban Chinese smart cars because internet-connected vehicles pose a national security risk. The proposal, made amid an escalating trade war, could affect U.S. automakers and suppliers that rely on certain hardware to enable connected vehicle systems.    “This is both strategic political theater designed to head

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CEO of self-driving startup Motional is stepping down

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Motional, the autonomous vehicle startup backed by Hyundai, is shaking up its leadership ranks. Karl Iagnemma, an early pioneer in the autonomous vehicle industry whose startup Nutonomy lies at the foundation of Motional, is stepping down as president and CEO. Iagnemma will move over to a senior strategy advisor role, while CTO Laura Major will

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A fight is brewing as TuSimple tries to move $450M to China and pivot from self-driving trucks to AI animation

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TuSimple, once a buzzy startup considered a leader in self-driving trucks, is trying to move its assets to China to fund a new AI-generated animation and video game business. The pivot has not only puzzled and enraged several shareholders, but also threatens to pull the company back into a legal morass mere weeks after reaching

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Waymo robotaxis to become available on Uber in Austin, Atlanta in early 2025

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Uber users in Austin and Atlanta will be able to hail Waymo robotaxis through the app in early 2025 as part of an expanded partnership between the two companies.  Waymo’s autonomous vehicles have been available on the Uber app in Phoenix since October 2023. Uber has been snatching up self-driving partnerships across its ride-hail and

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Nuro pivots to license self-driving tech to carmakers, mobility companies

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After multiple rounds of layoffs in 2022 and 2023, Nuro is pivoting its business strategy to focus more on the startup’s core autonomous driving technology instead of owning and operating a fleet of low-speed, on-road delivery bots. The company said on Wednesday it would start licensing its autonomous vehicle technology to automakers and mobility providers,

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