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August 12
In this week’s top stories: Early Tesla Model 3 owners offer their thoughts on the vehicle, we get a first look at Tesla’s new maps and navigation engine, Mercedes-Benz received a reality check when gauging interest in an electric car, and more. Read on for all of this week’s top stories.
August 1
Earlier this year, Tim Cook called self-driving car technology “incredibly exciting” and said that Apple is focusing heavily on autonomous systems. During Apple’s earnings call today, however, Cook offered some more color on Apple’s investments in autonomy…
July 30
In this week’s top stories: All of the Model 3 details you’ve been waiting for, including pricing information, production specifications, and colors. Also this week, we take the Model 3 for a drive, Tesla starts delivering 85 kWh battery packs software-locked at 75 kWh, and more.
June 22
Alphabet’s self-driving car unit Waymo has snatched a former Tesla engineer to lead its hardware efforts. According to a new report from Bloomberg, Waymo has hired Satish Jeyachandran, Tesla’s former director of hardware engineering…
June 1
According to a new report from BuzzFeed News, Alphabet’s Waymo self-driving car company is exploring self-driving trucking. The report explains that the efforts are currently in their early stages, though the company has confirmed that it is testing self-driving trucks…
December 21, 2016
Uber’s short-lived self-driving ride program is officially coming to an end. The ride-hailing service began giving self-driving rides exactly one week ago in San Francisco, but that same day California regulators told the company it must stop the pilot program because it had not gone through the proper permit process.
After the request, the company insisted that it could run the program anyway, but in a statement to TechCrunch today, Uber confirmed that it is ending its self-driving pilot in San Francisco.
Just last week, Google announced that it was breaking its self-driving car project out into its own company, called Waymo. The news was announced during a small press event, with Waymo being described as a “self-driving tech company with mission to make it safe for people and things to get around.”
Now, Bloomberg notes that Honda is in talk to partner with Waymo for its self-driving technology…
December 3, 2016
Apple’s car plans have long been kept under wrap by the company itself, but a new regulatory filing shows it publicly address the industry for the time. In a letter to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) uncovered by VentureBeat, Apple urged the government not to restrict testing of self-driving vehicles.
May 25, 2016
Google today announced that it will open a self-driving car technology development center in Novi, Michigan, which is about 30 miles outside of Detroit. Google has had teams working from Detroit for the past few years, but this marks the company’s first physical presence in the area.
May 12, 2016
Reuters this evening reports that Apple is investing $1 billion in Chinese ride-hailing service Didi Chuxing. In a statement, CEO Tim Cook explained that the investment will give Apple a chance to learn more about certain segments of the Chinese market, while it will also deliver a strong return.
April 20, 2016
It’s been long rumored that Apple has been in negotiations with BMW and Daimler for its electric car project, with Apple perhaps considering using parts from either of the carmakers. Now, German news outlet Handelsblatt reports that talks between Apple, Daimler, and BMW have ended, citing “industry sources.”
March 7, 2016
Update: Elon Musk said in a tweet today that the American Enterprise Institute meeting was not secretive and that he was not there to talk about Trump.
According to a report from the Huffington Post, Elon Musk was among a handful of tech CEOs and Republican establishment members who recently met at the American Enterprise Institute’s World Forum to discuss how to best stop Donald Trump.
March 1, 2016
According to a report from Silicon Valley Business Journal, Apple has recently leased a 96,000-square-foot industrial property in Sunnyvale, California. The property was originally home to a Pepsi bottling plant, but Apple now occupies the entire space. It has widely been reported in the past that Apple is testing its Project Titan electric car initiative in Sunnyvale, with the company reportedly operating a shell company called Sixty Eight Research out of the city.
February 9, 2016
The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, or NHTSA, has announced today that it will recognize Google’s self-driving car system as a legal driver. The announcement comes after Chris Urmson, the head of Google’s self-driving car project, petitioned that the government treat the initiative the same as it does normal driver cars.
January 22, 2016
According to a new report from The Wall Street Journal, the Apple veteran employee who has been overseeing the company’s “Project Titan” electric car initiative is leaving the company. The report, citing “people familiar with the matter,” says Steve Zadesky, who has been with Apple for 16 years, is leaving the company for “personal reasons.”
December 21, 2015
Google’s self-driving car initiative has been gaining momentum over the past year, but now it looks like the company has at least one more big piece of news up its sleeve. According to a report from Yahoo Autos, Google and Ford are planning to announce a joint venture to build self-driving cars.
December 9, 2015
Chinese search giant Baidu’s self-driving car successfully hits the road
Google has said that its goal is to reach widespread distribution of its self-driving car by 2020, but Chinese search giant Baidu might beat the Mountain View company. Today, Baidu, often referred to as the “Chinese Google” announced that its self-driving car successfully completed its first route through Beijing.
October 8, 2015
Apple’s so-called “poaching war” with Tesla has been a hot topic for the company’s CEO Elon Musk and in a recent interview, Musk fired even more shots at Apple. Speaking to German newspaper Handelsblatt, Musk voiced his lack of concern regarding Apple’s tendency to hire Tesla engineers and executives. Musk recently finished a trip around Europe, speaking with politicians and Tesla employees.
