Tag Archives: driverless cars

The autonomous cars/mass transit debate

Posted on August 18, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Seems to me this should be a “both-and” rather than an “either-or”, but you know how I get. Autonomous vehicles that will outperform buses, cost less than Uber and travel faster than cars stuck in traffic today are two years … Continue reading →

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San Antonio looking at driverless car pilot program

Posted on August 8, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Interesting. Driverless cars could be sharing the road with San Antonio motorists in the not-too-distant future. The City is requesting information about a potential autonomous vehicle pilot program that would inform how driverless cars are eventually used and regulated. “As … Continue reading →

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Waymo moves forward on a self-driving car service

Posted on June 6, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Get ready, because they’re coming. Waymo, the driverless-technology company spun out of Google, has agreed to purchase as many as 62,000 minivans from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles for use in a ride-hailing service set to begin commercial operations later this year. … Continue reading →

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Who’s gonna clean up that self-driving car?

Posted on June 5, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s a question I hadn’t pondered before. Who will clean self-driving vehicles? I found myself wondering this recently as my son and I tidied the family car after a road trip. We’d been driving for only five hours, but we … Continue reading →

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Self-driving car service coming to North Texas

Posted on May 13, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Coming to the city of Frisco in July, a public-private venture pairing up with a California-based outfit called Drive.ai, for something that’s a little like shuttle service and a little like mass transit on a small scale. The initial service … Continue reading →

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Metro will pilot automated vehicle shuttle at TSU

Posted on May 3, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

from the inbox: Texas Southern University students may have another transportation option on campus in the fall semester: an autonomous shuttle. Today, METRO’s Board of Directors gave the nod to the autonomous vehicle (AV) project, a first for the agency.  Although the … Continue reading →

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Downtown of the Future

Posted on November 27, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

It’s very futuristic. City planners’ ambitious 20-year vision for downtown Houston includes more of everything that has transformed the central business district into a more vibrant destination. More apartments, restaurants and shops. More walkable parks and attractions. More innovative startups … Continue reading →

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Help Metro figure out its Regional Transit Plan

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s your chance to get involved and shape the direction of transit in the greater Houston area going forward. What is your vision for transit service in the Greater Houston region? METRO needs your help in creating a bold vision … Continue reading →

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Signings and vetoes

Posted on June 16, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

Greg Abbott does his thing. Gov. Greg Abbott has vetoed 50 bills that were passed during the regular legislative session, his office announced Thursday. That’s several more than he vetoed following the last session and the most a governor has … Continue reading →

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Senate passes “driverless car” bill

Posted on May 3, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

This is a first. Texas took a step toward self-driving vehicles zipping up and down its highways and streets under a first-of-its-kind measure approved Thursday by the Texas Senate. Approved by a 31-0 vote, Senate Bill 1622 would implement minimum … Continue reading →

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Once again with driverless car legislation

Posted on March 14, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

Third time’s the charm, right? State Rep. Charlie Geren isn’t about to let Texas get left in the dust when driverless vehicles start easing their way into everyday life. Especially since car manufacturers need somewhere to test them and could … Continue reading →

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Ready for driverless cars, Houston?

Posted on January 25, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

Well, they’re coming, ready or not. Researchers, business leaders and elected officials are about to turn Texas into the biggest laboratory for connected cars in the nation, with the likeliest place to spot a self-driving car in Houston along the … Continue reading →

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Uber moves driverless car pilot to Arizona

Posted on December 28, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

This happened right before Christmas, so I’m just catching up to it now. The day after California regulators shut down Uber’s self-driving car program in San Francisco, Uber on Thursday packed up its autonomous vehicles and hauled them to Arizona, … Continue reading →

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Uber pulls driverless cars from San Francisco

Posted on December 24, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Score one for the California DMV. Uber pulled its self-driving cars off San Francisco’s streets Wednesday after the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles revoked their registrations, effectively ending the company’s controversial pilot program after just one week. The move marked … Continue reading →

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Driverless Ubers arrive in San Francisco

Posted on December 16, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Here they come, ready or not. Uber has always had a special relationship with this city. The ride-hailing company was founded and headquartered here. In its early days, one of the towns where Uber grew fastest was its hometown. On … Continue reading →

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How’s that Uber driverless car pilot going?

Posted on October 8, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

A few bumps in the road, as it were. Uber driver Nathan Stachelek was pulled off to the side of the road when he saw the self-driving car turn the wrong way. It was the night of Sept. 26 and … Continue reading →

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Who’s afraid of Uber’s driverless car test?

Posted on September 16, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Transportation safety officials, at least some of them. Uber’s decision to bring self-driving taxis to the streets of Pittsburgh this week is raising alarms among a swath of safety experts who say that the technology is not nearly ready for … Continue reading →

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Driverless taxis debut in Singapore

Posted on August 26, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Not fast enough, Uber. The world’s first self-driving taxis will be picking up passengers in Singapore starting Thursday. Select members of the public will be able to hail a free ride through their smartphones in taxis operated by nuTonomy, an … Continue reading →

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Driverless Ubers

Posted on August 25, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Ready or not, here they come. The option to hail a ride in a self-driving car, which was science fiction just a few years ago, will soon be available to Uber users in Pittsburgh, the first time the technology has … Continue reading →

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Driverless trucks

Posted on June 12, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Coming to a highway near you? Picture an 18-wheel truck barreling down the highway with 80,000 pounds of cargo and no one but a robot at the wheel. To many, that might seem a frightening idea, even at a time … Continue reading →

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Are driverless cars ready or not?

Posted on May 10, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

GM and Lyft think theirs are pretty close. General Motors Co. and Lyft Inc. within a year will begin testing a fleet of self-driving Chevrolet Bolt electric taxis on public roads, a move central to the companies’ joint efforts to … Continue reading →

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More on the Austin rideshare referendum

Posted on May 9, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

The fallout continues to fall. Austin voters on Saturday decisively rejected Uber and Lyft’s $8.6 million bid to overturn the city’s rules for ride-hailing apps, bringing a stunning conclusion to the most expensive campaign in city history. The failure of … Continue reading →

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Reimagining public transportation is hard work

Posted on April 3, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Noted for the record. Four years ago, Helsinki launched an innovative bus service as part of a long-term plan to make cars irrelevant. It was called Kutsuplus—Finnish for “call plus.” And it was one of the world’s first attempts to … Continue reading →

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Will driverless cars fix Houston’s traffic problems?

Posted on March 15, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Tory Gattis thinks they might. The second step is understanding the ramifications of coming new technologies — specifically self-driving cars. While the general vehicle fleet will take decades to turn over as people slowly replace their cars, we can expect … Continue reading →

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Driverless car technology update

Posted on February 14, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

I have a personal stake in this story. James Kuffner, the head of Google’s robotics division and one of the original team of ten who started its self-driving car work, has left the company for a job at Toyota’s $1 … Continue reading →

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Driverless car testing in Austin

Posted on July 12, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Be on the lookout. After years of experimenting with its groundbreaking autonomous vehicle technology almost exclusively in California, Google confirmed Monday that it has begun testing one of its self-driving vehicles in Austin. A white Lexus RX 450h SUV outfitted … Continue reading →

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Can you make a living as an Uber driver?

Posted on May 30, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Not a very good one, it would seem. Last year, Uber claimed its full-time New York City UberX drivers were making a median wage of about $90,000 a year. Drivers responded by telling Business Insider’s Maya Kosoff that they were … Continue reading →

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Driverless car bill is dead

Posted on April 28, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

So much for that. A bill to update Texas law for the age of driverless cars has stalled due to two serious roadblocks: Google and major car manufacturers. Both the technology giant and the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, an industry … Continue reading →

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Driverless car legislative update

Posted on March 23, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Like just about everything else under the sun, there were bills filed last week to deal with driverless cars. As self-driving cars move from futuristic concept to plausible technology, the Texas Legislature is looking to become a magnet for the … Continue reading →

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Is this the end of the two-car household?

Posted on December 28, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

From Streetsblog: While predicting continued global growth in car sales as countries like India and China become more affluent, KPMG’s recent white paper about trends affecting the car industry [PDF] sees different forces at work in the United States. In … Continue reading →

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TxDOT to spur research on driverless cars

Posted on August 12, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Among other things. The state could fund research into self-driving cars, jet packs and hover cars if a new proposal by the Texas Department of Transportation is funded. In a presentation Thursday to the Texas Transportation Commission, TxDOT Deputy Executive … Continue reading →

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More on the partisan lines of the Uber fight

Posted on July 20, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

From Wonkblog, another interesting look at how the fight over the so-called “sharing economy”, in particular transportation network companies like Uber and Lyft, is playing out nationally. In its short life, however, the sharing economy has seldom reflected a clear … Continue reading →

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Driverless car bill filed

Posted on March 12, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Glad to see it. Two weeks after Google showcased its self-driving car to local officials in Austin, a Texas lawmaker has filed a bill attempting to regulate the use of the futuristic technology. State Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, R-Southlake, filed HB … Continue reading →

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The driverless car visits Austin

Posted on February 23, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Anyone there get to see it? Google, which has been developing and touting the future of self-piloting cars, has parked a driverless car in front of the Hilton Hotel downtown, site of the three-day Texas Transportation Forum. The modified Lexus … Continue reading →

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