Waymo’s driverless car: ghost-riding in the back seat of a robot taxi
I’m in the middle seat of a Chrysler Pacifica minivan, heading north on Dobson Road in Chandler, Arizona, when I notice we may have taken a wrong turn. Under normal circumstances,...
Bosch and Daimler launch self-driving car pilot in San Jose
Bustling San Jose — the third-largest metropolis in California, according to the 2010 census — is about to become a testbed for autonomous cars developed by Bosch and Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler. With a...
It’s Coders Versus Human Pilots in This Drone Race
On Friday night in an old newspaper printing plant in Austin, the future of drone automation lifted off, accelerated and flew, nearly fast enough to beat one of the best drone pilots in...
Elon Musk’s ‘Pedo Guy’ Trial, Uber’s Crime Report, and More Car News This Week
Zero-Gravity Tire Swap of the WeekThe awards go to the Red Bull Formula 1 team, which changed a tire within an Ilyushin II-76 MDK cosmonaut training plane—aka a “vomit comet”—in, yes, zero gravity....
Unicorn, e-scooter startup from co-creator of Tile, shuts down with no money for refunds
Unicorn, the electric scooter startup from the co-creator of gadget tracker Tile, is shutting down operations after blowing all its cash on Facebook and Google ads but only receiving 350 orders...
3D Printing Can Keep Aging Air Force Aircraft Flying
Glenn House and his colleagues spent more than four years making a new toilet for the B-1 Lancer. The challenge wasn’t fitting the john into the cockpit (it went behind the front left...
Elon Musk Wins in Defamation Suit by British Diver
After less than an hour of deliberation, a Los Angeles jury Friday found that Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk did not defame a British diver by calling him a “pedo guy” and...
Uber’s Alarming Crime Report, T-Mobile’s 5G Test, and More News
Uber is complying and T-Mobile is trying, but first: a cartoon about influencer beginnings.Here's the news you need to know, in two minutes or less.Want to receive this two-minute roundup as an email...
Uber’s Crime Report Is ‘Highly Alarming,’ Says a Criminologist
More than 3,000 people reported sexual assaults related to Uber rides in the US last year, the ride-hail company said Thursday in a long-awaited report on violence and safety—an average of eight per...
Physics Explains Why You Can’t Open a Plane Door in the Air
It’s the nightmare of travelers sitting near the emergency exit and the inevitable fate of bad guys tussling on a plane with James Bond—the door erupting open mid-flight, sucking them into the cold...