Self-driving Vehicles

The case of NXIVM, the Albany, N.Y.-based “self-help group” whose bizarre and seemingly cult-like aspects have been covered widely — merges a sort of enormity of evil with the prosaic in ways that can make it hard to connect with at first. What was done to aspirants within the group,…

Luis Elizondo wanted me to believe. I’d spent the past few hours pounding Diet Cokes at the Chart House bar north of San Diego while Elizondo, a retired Army counterintelligence special agent and former head of the Pentagon’s UFO program, drank beers and told me war stories. It had been…

In the 2004 film, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, a heartbroken man played by Jim Carrey undergoes an experimental treatment to erase memories of his ex-girlfriend, played by Kate Winslet, following their painful breakup. When the film came out, using drugs or other technologies to meddle with memory, especially…

Following what reproductive rights and justice advocates have long fought to secure, a federal judge in Maryland ruled this week that, for now, people seeking a medication abortion do not need to visit a health care provider in person to obtain the required medications. The ruling comes in response to…

These being pandemic times, a recent visit to the Silicon Valley offices of drone startup Skydio involved slipping past dumpsters into the deserted yard behind the company’s loading dock. Moments later, a black quadcopter eased out of the large open door, sounding like a large and determined wasp. Skydio is…

With each passing day, the federal government’s pathetic response to the coronavirus pandemic becomes more and more outlandish. We have never seriously tried to implement a federal testing and tracing effort that might slow the virus’s rampages. We have forced workers to choose between risking their lives at work and…

Waymo’s self-driving software footprint is expanding — this time in a partnership with Volvo Car Group. The two companies announced Thursday an “exclusive” partnership to integrate Waymo’s self-driving software into a new electric vehicle designed for ride-hailing. Volvo and Waymo provided few details on the partnership and what this might…

Dust storms make driving dicey, even for self-driving cars. Getty Meteorologists are closely following some mega-sized dust plumes that are slowly drifting from the Sahara Desert and for which those murky clouds have already descended upon the normally scenic Caribbean islands, causing tourists and locals alike to find themselves immersed…

Lyft is using data collected from drivers on its ride-hailing app to accelerate the development of self-driving cars. Lyft’s Level 5 self-driving car program is using the data to build 3D maps, understand human driving patterns and improve simulation tests — all tools needed to push their autonomous vehicle technology…

Lyft also explains that it conducts different kinds of tests to ensure the safety of its technology, including simulations, closed-course testing and on-road operations. At this point, the vehicles already being tested on the road have human operators and co-pilots onboard and are focused on collecting data and metrics. Finally,…