California regulator wants Uber to put the brakes on its self-driving cars as it doesn’t have a permit December 15, 2016 Uber's self-driving car service might be driven off-track, after the California highways regulator ordered it to pull the service hours after it was launched. Uber had started giving passengers the option of a self-driving car with a safety driver when booking a journey. Regulators said the ride-hailing app firm had to stop immediately and get [...]
These two top tech bosses have been named advisers to Trump December 14, 2016 Donald Trump has added top tech firepower to a group of business leaders who will advise him on economic matters. Uber boss Travis Kalanick and the entrepreneur behind Tesla and Space X, Elon Musk, have joined the President-elect's Strategic and Policy Forum which will involve meeting with the President frequently. Read more: Move over Trump and [...]
Waymo: Full speed ahead as Google spins off self-driving car business December 13, 2016 Google is stepping up a gear with its self-driving car project, spinning it out into a separate business it will call Waymo. It will now come out of the shadows at what is known as Google X's "moonshiots" and under the umbrella of parent company Alphabet. "It's an indication of the maturity of our technology. We can [...]
BMW 530D XDrive SE review: When a car is this good to drive, why let it drive itself? December 12, 2016 B MW flew me out to Portugal to drive the new 5 Series and made such a song and dance about its Autonomous Drive technology, you’d think it had reinvented the self-steering wheel. Frankly, I hated it. Yes, the 5 Series will drive itself for 30 seconds at a time on straight roads, and will [...]
A new Tesla dealership is opening in West London today December 9, 2016 Tesla fans, take note: a new dealership will be launched in Chiswick today. The new dealership, on Hogarth roundabout, will have both the Model S and the Model X on show – although not yet the much-anticipated Model 3, which was unveiled by the company in April but has yet to roll off the production line. [...]
Tesla Model X SUV review: Elon Musk takes a break from Mars mission to make a killer self-driving car November 29, 2016 No car brand knows how to build hype like Tesla. This relatively recent start-up (in terms of car manufacturers) has a boss who can generate hundreds of column inches just by tweeting. Every time one of its vehicles is involved in a serious crash, online forums are awash with rumours about the cause. And a [...]
The growth of electric vehicles won’t make much impact on the global demand for oil November 22, 2016 Chevy is about to release its all-electric Bolt. Tesla will soon put its Model 3 on sale. More than a dozen additional EV models will be launched in the next few years. Battery costs are falling fast, making EVs close to becoming cost-competitive with the internal combustion engine. Yet, oil demand will continue to rise, [...]
Tesla’s takeover of SolarCity has just been approved by shareholders November 17, 2016 Tesla Motors' acquisition of SolarCity is on after it was revealed tonight it had received the green light from shareholders, according to various reports. By bringing the two firms together, Tesla chief executive Elon Musk has previously said he hopes to create a one stop shop for customers looking to pick up solar panels, home batteries and [...]
From the Aston Martin Vanquish S to the Mercedes-Maybach S650 Cabriolet: The five coolest supercars at the LA motor show so far November 16, 2016 Any petrolhead worth their salt is keeping a close on eye on the LA Motor Show. Kicking off on 14 November and running until 27 November, it's a bumper motoring occasion for the calendar with a load of exciting model debuts unveiled. It may be only a few days in but we've already had a [...]