Senators Push Funding for Driverless Proving Grounds

Michigan Sens. Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters on Tuesday led a bipartisan effort urging congressional appropriators to include “robust funding” for the testing and development of self-driving vehicles in any government spending agreement for 2018. They are referring...

Former NHTSA Head Grills Legislators on Self-driving Bill

For safety advocates, the promise of expedited accident-prevention technology doesn’t justify relaxed standards. Two days after Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao discussed the federal strategy to regulate autonomous vehicles at the Detroit auto show, Joan...

Autonomous Cars Need Tougher Batteries, Lithium-ion Pioneer Says

Battery makers must rethink their technology if predictions for a wave of self-driving vehicles pan out, according to one of the inventors of the lithium-ion battery. In addition to focusing on making batteries more powerful to extend the driving range of single-owner...

Many EVs On the Way, But Few Buyers Await

Automakers with ambitious plans to roll out more than a hundred new battery-powered models in the next five years appear to be forgetting one little thing: Drivers aren’t yet buzzed about the new technology. Electric cars — which today comprise only 1 percent of...

Bad Weather, Traffic Are True Tests for Robotic Cars

It’s one thing for a self-driving car to navigate the sunny freeways around Phoenix. It’s another thing entirely to survive the streets of Manhattan or Detroit, much less in a snowstorm. That’s why industry experts are watching where carmakers, automotive suppliers...

Self-driving CEO Sees 2018 as Dawn of Robotaxis, Delivery Cars

Self-driving vehicles will be ready to roll next year, though the work to make them affordable to individual consumers is still “in the first inning,” according to the CEO of a company working on the technology. Initial autonomous auto customers will be...