Ford Motor Co. is making Miami-Dade County its new test bed for self-driving vehicles. The automaker and its partners—Domino’s Pizza, ride-hailing company Lyft and delivery company Postmates—are starting pilot programs to see how consumers react to autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicles. Self-driving startup and Ford partner Argo AI already has a fleet of cars in the […]
Insider Q&A: Aptiv Spins Off To Speed Automated Driving
Delphi has long been active in the fast-growing autonomous vehicle market. Its spinoff of Aptiv may speed things up even more. Delphi Technologies PLC, which itself was spun off by General Motors Co. in 1999, will continue to make car parts, including gasoline and electric engines. Aptiv PLC, which Delphi spun off this month, will […]
Tesla Wants To Electrify Big Trucks, Adding To Its Ambitions (Update)
After more than a decade of making cars and SUVs—and, more recently, solar panels—Tesla Inc. wants to electrify a new type of vehicle: big trucks. The company unveiled its new electric semitractor-trailer Thursday night near its design center in Hawthorne, California. CEO Elon Musk said the semi is capable of traveling 500 miles (804 kilometers) […]
Delphi Acquires Self-Driving Startup NuTonomy For $450m
Auto supplier Delphi Automotive said Tuesday it has acquired self-driving software startup nuTonomy Inc. for $450 million in an effort to speed the development of autonomous vehicles. Boston-based nuTonomy was spun out of a lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2013. It has been testing autonomous taxis in Singapore and Boston since last […]
Delivery Without Drivers: Domino’s, Ford team Up For Test
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 […]
For Electric Cars To Take Off, They’ll Need A Place To Charge
Around the world, support is growing for electric cars. Automakers are delivering more electric models with longer range and lower prices, such as the Chevrolet Bolt and the Tesla Model 3. China has set aggressive targets for electric vehicle sales to curb pollution; some European countries aim to be all-electric by 2040 or sooner. Those […]
Mainstream Model 3 Holds Promise – And Peril – For Tesla
For Tesla, everything is riding on the Model 3. The electric car company’s newest vehicle is set to go to its first 30 customers Friday evening. Its $35,000 starting price—half the cost of Tesla’s previous models—and 215-mile range could bring hundreds of thousands of customers into the automaker’s fold, taking it from a niche luxury […]
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 now, those leases are […]
Auto Show Concepts: Would You Build Them or Forget Them?
Car companies don’t just show current models at auto shows. They also unveil prototypes that could be built in the future. These so-called concept cars help them gauge the public’s reaction to new designs or technology. They can also amp up excitement about a company’s future. These are some of the concept vehicles on display […]
Six Things We Learned at The Detroit Auto Show
This year’s North American International Auto Show reflects an industry that’s flush with cash but uncertain about the future. Multi-million-dollar displays show new versions of big sellers like the Toyota Camry, GMC Terrain and Honda Odyssey. New technology, from gesture controls in BMWs to further advances in self-driving cars, is everywhere. Auto companies are making big […]