Transportation

James Moylan passed away on December 11th at the age of 80. Moylan spent 34 years at Ford, where, according to Jalopnik, he came up with the “Moylan Arrow” in April 1986. The tiny arrow that helps you avoid pulling up on the wrong side of the fuel pump is so simple that it seems like it could have been there from the start, but it actually made its debut on the 1989 Ford Escort and Mercury Tracer.

According to Not A Tesla App, one owner shared a service message saying there’s an Engineering Investigation ongoing, and some service staff have said a third revision of the wiper is in testing.

In addition to an update for its power outage problem, Waymo is also working on an AI Ride Assistant. That’s according to security researcher Jane Manchun Wong, who found details on the bot’s system prompt from Waymo’s mobile app code.

When a substation fire cut off electricity across the city, Waymo SUVs stuck at malfunctioning stoplights quickly became another headache, and now the company is explaining it as an issue of too many remote operator assistance requests:

Bloomberg reports that Sterling Anderson is in line to succeed Mary Barra as CEO of General Motors. Anderson was a co-founder at Aurora when he left to join GM as chief product officer. He also led Tesla’s Autopilot program during the crucial years 2015-2016. If he succeeds in his mission to revamp GM’s vehicle software, he could eventually find himself in the top spot. Notably, Anderson recently sat in with Barra for her recent interview on Decoder.

The robotaxi operator had a pretty good year, one dead bodega cat notwithstanding. As such, its looking to extend its streak by raising $15 billion on a $100 billion valuation, according to Bloomberg. The money would help fuel its plans to expand to 20 new cities in 2026, including London and Tokyo.

Following mounting pressure, European officials have recommended the bloc drop its 2035 ban on new gas cars, instead aiming for a 90 percent reduction in emissions from new vehicles, leaving room for a few hybrids to still hit the market. The change will still have to pass the EU parliament.

The electric vehicle battery recycling and manufacturing venture is rolling out new battery recycling and retreival bins in San Francisco and Nevada to collect old, unused, and unwanted batteries. No special packaging or disassembly required. Inside the bins, a microcontroller uses infrared, ultrasonic, and other sensing tools to scan each item and maintain safe conditions. Any batteries up to 300Wh will be accepted.

The company’s decision to cut off CarPlay and Android Auto hasn’t exactly been popular. While GM isn’t backing down anytime soon, some industrious drivers are working to bring back support. A reasonably complicated open-source hack involving hardware and sideloaded software adds Wireless CarPlay to newer models like the Equinox EV.

That’s triple the number of fares it did in 2024, the company said today. Assuming that the average Waymo ride costs $20.43, that could mean in excess of $286 million in revenue for the company. Of course, some of that money is going toward taxes and other ride-hailing fees. Still, that’s an impressive number for a company that only operates in five cities in the US — and soon to grow to 20 cities internationally. Waymo also says it’s now on track to do 20 million lifetime trips by the end of the year.

The new feature was recently announced by Rio Akasaka, Google Maps’ senior product manager, as spotted by 9to5Google. You’ll need to first connect your iPhone to your car through USB, Bluetooth, or CarPlay, but when you’re done driving Google Maps will automatically save your vehicle’s location for 48 hours, or until you start driving again.

Trump was talking about Japanese kei cars, specifically, but Stellantis is hoping his good will extends to Italian quadricycles like the Fiat Topolino. The automaker says it will bring the micro-EV to the US sometime next year, but I’m not convinced American car buyers will be as charmed as the president. Last year, Fiat had to pause production of the slightly larger 500e after record-low sales. At one point Fiat dealers were practically trying to give them away.

As spotted by TechCrunch, the new expansion to Grand Theft Auto Online, dubbed “A Safehouse in the Hills,” includes a fictionalized version of Waymo called “KnoWay.” The cars are recognizable as autonomous thanks to their rooftop lidar sensors and their Waymo-esque logos. But the similarities end there, as the vehicles are shown in a trailer for the game dangerously swerving all over the road and even crashing through a billboard. The expansion is available starting December 10th.

The Wall Street Journal found that the rate is the same for serious recalls, such as faulty brakes, engine fires, or defective air bags. The failure to address recalls has lead to a number of preventable deaths: the Journal found at least 12 people who were killed in crashes in which the air bag failed to deploy.

Footage of Tesla’s humanoid Optimus robot falling over at the company’s Autonomy Visualized event is raising questions over its, well, autonomy. We can’t be sure, but it certainly looks like a teleoperator removing a VR headset.

Continuing the trend of car influencers falling in love with Chinese EVs, MKBHD got behind the wheel of a Xiaomi SU7 and walked away wondering if US automakers were “cooked.” Well, not yet. The SU7 might cost roughly $42,000 and handle like $75,000 car, but it’s also not available in the US... At least not outside of video games.

To help address the issue of its robotaxis passing stopped school buses, Waymo plans to file a voluntary software recall with the NHTSA, Mauricio Peña, Waymo’s chief safety officer, says in a statement to The Verge.

The EV maker showcased a limited-run “Miami Edition” of the Rivian R1S at Miami Art Week, a white body with splashes of vibrant blue and pink that I’d love to see more of for standard models. Wallpaper also reports that Rivian is releasing a fragrance during the event that’s “inspired by diverse landscapes from alpine to canyon to forest.”