No ring of the doorbell, just a text. No tip for the driver? No problem in this test, where Domino’s and Ford are teaming up to see if customers will warm to the idea of pizza delivered by driverless cars. Starting Wednesday, some pizzas in Domino’s hometown of Ann Arbor will arrive in a Ford […]
GM Raises Output Of Self-Driving Bolts, Boosts Test Fleet
General Motors Co. says it has built 130 self-driving Chevrolet Bolt electric cars at a factory in suburban Detroit, making it among the first automakers to mass produce self-driving vehicles. The automaker has been building self-driving Bolts at its Orion Assembly Plant in Orion Township, Michigan, since January. Unlike GM’s earlier self-driving test vehicles, the […]
Old Car, New Tricks: Adding Safety Tech To An Older Car
Old cars can learn new tricks. For a few hundred dollars, drivers can add new safety technology — like forward collision warning systems or backup cameras — to older cars. Cars are lasting longer than ever thanks to improving quality. The average U.S. vehicle is now 11.6 years old, according to the consulting firm IHS […]
FCA, Google Begin Offering Rides in Self-Driving Cars
Fiat Chrysler and Google for the first time will offer rides to the public in the self-driving vehicles they are building under an expanding partnership. The companies announced in the spring of last year that they would build 100 self-driving Chrysler Pacifica hybrids minivans. Those vehicles have been tested in Arizona, California and Michigan. Waymo, […]
Hydrogen Fuel Cell Cars Creep Up — Slowly — on Electrics
Hydrogen fuel cell cars could one day challenge electric cars in the race for pollution-free roads – but only if more stations are built to fuel them. Honda, Toyota and Hyundai have leased a few hundred fuel cell vehicles over the past three years, and expect to lease well over 1,000 this year. But for […]
Study Shows Knowledge Gap With In-Car Technology
Hyundai and BMW customers are the most satisfied with their in-vehicle technology, but those brands and others still need to work on educating drivers about what their cars can do, according to a new survey by the market research company J.D. Power and Associates. The inaugural study, released Monday, asked owners about their experiences after […]
Disabled Man Gets License, Shows Driverless Tech’s Potential
Former Indy Racing League driver Sam Schmidt has done a lot in the 16 years since an accident left him paralyzed from the neck down. He runs a racing team and a foundation. He’s raced a sailboat using his chin. But the man who raced in the Indianapolis 500 hasn’t been able to drive around […]
Ford Expects Lower Profit in 2017
Ford Motor Co. said Wednesday that a plan to embrace “mobility” and spend billions on electric and autonomous vehicles will hurt its bottom line in the short term but lead to frothier profit margins in the future. Ford said profit from its core business of selling cars and trucks will improve over the next three […]
Ford Buys Shuttle Service as Part of New Mobility Push
Ford Motor Co. is buying an app-based shuttle service and partnering with a bike-share company as part of its ongoing effort to expand its traditional business. Ford is buying Chariot, which currently operates 100 14-passenger Ford Transit vans in the San Francisco area. The shuttles determine their routes by users’ needs. Ford says it plans […]
3-Wheeled Electric Vehicle Set to Go on Sale This Year
A three-wheeled electric vehicle could be on the road later this year in the U.S. and Canada. Electra Meccanica Vehicles Corp. of Vancouver, British Columbia, officially unveiled the one-seat Solo on Friday. The Solo could go on sale as early as November pending approval by U.S. and Canadian regulators. It costs around $15,500. Two hundred […]