The vehicle was one of Baidu’s Apollo driverless vehicles, according to local media reports. A female passenger was inside the robotaxi when it fell into a deep construction pit. She was apparently uninjured, though rescue crews had to use a ladder to get her out.
The RSX Prototype, Honda’s first EV built on its in-house developed platform, is set to make its debut at Monterey Car Week. But it won’t be arriving at Acura dealerships until the second half of 2026. Until then, you’ll have to make do with this moody photo.
The two automakers first announced their collaboration last year, saying they would focus on building EVs and hydrogen vehicles together. Today’s announcement downplays the EVs and hydrogen — they’re “continuing to assess” — in favor of ICE and hybrid vehicles. Four of those vehicles will be for Central and South America, while a fifth, an all-electric commercial van, will be for North America. Hyundai is going to lead the van project, which makes sense given the Korean automaker’s recent success in the EV space.
‘There are two Teslas,’ attorney Brett Schreiber told us. ‘There’s Tesla in the showroom and then there’s Tesla in the courtroom.’
We here at The Verge remain committed to our mission to bring you all relevant windshield wiper news. So it is with great pleasure that I point you to this MotorTrend piece about Waymo’s new Zeekr-made robotaxi, and its plethora of tiny windshield wipers. Eight to be exact: four on the roof, and one at the corner above each wheel. (There are also two regular sized wipers, but who cares about that?) These diminutive wipers are meant to keep the various sensors clean and free of road grime. I remember first encountering Waymo’s tiny lidar wipers back in 2019. I’m glad to see that they’re still in the game, and still itty bitty.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it was certifying Amazon’s robotaxi service for demonstration purposes, while also ending the investigation into whether the company sidestepped safety regulations. The exemption was the first under NHTSA’s newly streamlined regulatory process for approving vehicles without traditional controls, like steering wheels and pedals. As part of the agreement, Zoox is required to “remove or obscure” all references to its purpose-built autonomous shuttles complying with federal motor vehicle safety regulations.
Another day, another lawsuit claiming Tesla is covering up safety problems with its self-driving tech. The latest one was filed in Texas by a Tesla shareholder and seeks class action status. And like previous legal challenges, it claims that Tesla and CEO Elon Musk overstated the effectiveness of its autonomous vehicles. It comes on the heels of a shocking defeat in a wrongful death case, in which Tesla was ordered to pay more than $240 million in damages.
That’s how frequent Uber received a report of sexual assault or sexual misconduct in the US between 2017 and 2022, on average, according to a new investigation by The New York Times. That amounts to a staggering total of 400,181 Uber trips that involve reports of assault or misconduct. Uber’s official number of “serious sexual assault and misconduct” over that period is only 12,522; the company estimates that 75 percent of those 400,000 cases involve “less serious” incidents of harassing comments or flirting. Still, Uber says its working on the problem, but anonymous employees say the company is ignoring promising solutions.
[nytimes.com]
The boutique e-bike maker that squeaked through bikeaggeddon proclaiming it wouldn’t be the next VanMoof is reportedly in trouble. Deliveries and repairs are taking months, payments have been missed, and debt is mounting, according to De Tijd. Last week, the Belgian company missed a deadline to publish its annual figures.
Here is the full report, which is more than 300 pages. I understand if you aren’t able to read all that, so here’s ABC News’ article on the report as well.
The three-pointed star may have backed off its plan to sell only EVs after 2030, but that doesn’t mean it’s given up on plug-in power altogether. In addition to teasing its new electric GLC — including an illuminated grille with “a total of 942 dots backlit from behind” — the German automaker also plans to launch no fewer than 15 new EVs over the next two years, calling it “the biggest product launch program in the history of Mercedes-Benz.” No argument here.
