Latest news with #Teslas
Los Angeles Times
8 hours ago
- Automotive
- Los Angeles Times
Driverless disruption: Tech titans gird for robotaxi wars with new factory and territories
As three key players vie for dominance, the race to put driverless taxis on roads across the country is heating up. Waymo, owned by Google's parent company Alphabet, already offers paid autonomous rides in a handful of cities, including San Francisco and Los Angeles. Amazon's robotaxi effort, known as Zoox, opened a new production facility in the Bay Area this week. The company has been testing its unique pill-shaped vehicles in California and Nevada since 2023. Meanwhile, in Austin, Texas, Elon Musk just started testing driverless Teslas with the hopes of launching a commercial service soon. Musk unveiled a prototype for Tesla's Cybercab late last year, touting his vision for an autonomous future and 'an age of abundance.' The arrival of self-driving tech could eventually affect society as much as the internet and smartphones did years ago, some experts predict. With Waymo leading the way and Tesla and Zoox trying to catch up quickly, a new status quo could be on the horizon, said Karl Brauer, an analyst with 'Tesla has tried to catch up, and Zoox is a more recent competitor that's hoping to be a serious player,' he said. 'Waymo has been slow and steady and, as a result, is winning the race.' According to some industry insiders, the U.S. is about 15 years from seeing widespread use of robotaxis, Brauer said. While Waymo taxis have become a common sight in the cities where they operate, weather conditions and charging infrastructure still limit their expansion. On Wednesday, Waymo expanded its service area in Los Angeles County, where its vehicles now roam an area of more than 120 square miles. The company also increased its service area in San Francisco, expanding access to suburbs and Silicon Valley. Days after Waymo's announcement, Zoox opened a 220,000-square-foot facility in Hayward, Calif., that the company says will be able to produce 10,000 robotaxis per year. Zoox is preparing to launch its public ride-hailing service in Las Vegas and San Francisco this year. Unlike Waymo vehicles, which are retrofitted Jaguars, Zoox is developing a purpose-built taxi with no steering wheel or gas pedals. Zoox also has a manufacturing plant in Fremont, Calif., where the company develops its test fleets of retrofitted Toyota Highlanders. Tesla has a manufacturing facility in Fremont as well. Musk has promised for years to deliver autonomous vehicles and a robust ride-hailing service. Lawmakers in Austin requested this week that he delay the rollout of his service in the city. Tesla, Zoox and Waymo are the three remaining major U.S. companies in what was once a more crowded field, Brauer said. General Motors' autonomous taxi company Cruise suspended operations in 2023 after one of its vehicles struck and dragged a pedestrian in San Francisco. Last year, Uber and Cruise announced a partnership that could put Cruise vehicles back on the road. A company called Argo AI, backed by Ford and Volkswagen, was also developing driverless technology until it shut down in 2022. The continued expansion of robotaxis depends on safe and successful testing, Brauer said. There have been several incidents related to Tesla's Full Self-Drive mode, a technology currently available but still in development. Waymo has issued recalls of some of its vehicles on multiple occasions. 'If there's a tragic result for any of these three companies during the testing and development process, it would likely slow down the entire industry,' Brauer said.
Engadget
10 hours ago
- Automotive
- Engadget
Tesla's robotaxi debut will reportedly be limited to only 10 cars in very specific areas
The long-promised launch of Tesla's robotaxi service in Austin is scheduled for June 22, and it sounds like the company's initial offering will be modest at best. The Financial Times writes that Tesla will only have around 10 cars available for rides and that the company plans to make them "avoid the city's most challenging intersections." If issues arise, remote operators will also reportedly be able to take control of the cars to make sure they reach their final destination. Tesla CEO Elon Musk told CNBC in May that the robotaxi service might launch with less than a dozen cars, so that's not necessarily a surprise, but the actual scope may be even smaller. Analysts The New York Times spoke to believe rides in Tesla's robotaxi will only be available to "company employees or invited guests." It could take months before the service is made available to the wider public. Musk formally introduced the company's robotaxi service and its self-driving Cybercab at an event in October 2024, but the idea has been a promised feature for Tesla owners for even longer. The pitch goes that since all Teslas are equipped with the cameras necessary for the company's self-driving system, any of them can be converted into a cab while not in use. Musk believes autonomous transport could be so widespread that it becomes as cheap as mass transit, while being safer than relying on a human driver. Whether the company's Full Self Driving system can pull that off is an open question. Tesla is currently being investigated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for autonomous driving-related crashes. The company has also reportedly blocked the city of Austin from handing over its robotaxi records, which suggests it's at least somewhat self-conscious about how it will perform.
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Business Standard
11 hours ago
- Automotive
- Business Standard
Tesla joins Austin's self-driving race with launch of Robotaxi service
Austin is known for live music, Texas' premier public university and being home to tech companies. It is also becoming a laboratory for autonomous vehicles. Driverless Waymo taxis, owned by Google's parent company, regularly drop off diners at Austin's famous barbecue joints. Box-shaped, four-wheeled robots operated by Avride, a start-up working with Uber Eats, deliver Thai takeout to customers downtown. Zoox, owned by Amazon, and Volkswagen are separately testing autonomous taxis here. Tesla, the electric car company based in Austin, recently joined the party, rolling out self-driving Model Ys ahead of a taxi service that is expected to begin offering rides as soon as Sunday. The vehicles, which the company calls Robotaxis, are part of an audacious effort by Elon Musk, Tesla's chief executive, to leap ahead of Waymo, which dominates a nascent business that someday could be worth tens of billions of dollars and perhaps much more. But the busy streets of Austin show that Tesla will face significant competition and other challenges. It will have to engage in painstaking experimentation to perfect its technology, which some autonomous-driving experts have criticised for having fewer safeguards than those operated by Waymo and other companies. Also, Tesla is starting from behind. Waymo has been driving paying passengers for years in Phoenix, San Francisco and Los Angeles, and started its commercial service in Austin in March in partnership with Uber. Waymo said on Wednesday that it was applying for a permit from New York City to offer rides with a person behind the wheel. A change in state law would be required for fully autonomous rides. A small fleet of Tesla Robotaxis will begin carrying passengers in Austin on June 22, Musk said on X last week but added the company may delay the start of the service. But analysts expect the cars will be available only to company employees or invited guests. The service will probably not be available to the general public for several months, analysts said. Tesla is adapting its most advanced driver assistance software, already offered as an option on the cars it sells, to operate without human intervention. If this approach works, the company could quickly roll out driverless taxis around the world. Musk has said a software update could allow hundreds of thousands or even millions of existing Teslas to operate as autonomous taxis, making cheap driverless rides ubiquitous. But the approach Tesla is taking is unusual. Waymo and other companies working to offer self-driving taxi services have been developing their technologies for years, painstakingly mapping streets and training their software to avoid hitting pedestrians, cyclists, garbage trucks, fire engines and all manner of other things found on public roads. 'FSD is an immature system,' said Matthew Wansley, a professor at Cardozo School of Law in New York, referring to what Tesla calls its Full Self-Driving (Supervised) software. Tesla did not respond to a request for comment. Another challenge for Tesla is that its self-driving system is under investigation by federal officials. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is looking into whether Tesla's technology was responsible for crashes in conditions where the road was obscured by fog, dust, bright light or darkness. One crash led to the death of a pedestrian.
The Irish Sun
a day ago
- Automotive
- The Irish Sun
Chilling moment thieves steal car with wireless device in seconds as new doc reveals how Brit motors end up in Lithuania
CHILLING footage shows the moment thieves stole a car in just seconds using a wireless device. Investigative reporter Matt Shea went undercover for Channel 4 Dispatches to shed light on organised criminal gangs specialising in car thefts. Advertisement 5 Investigative reporter Matt Shea exposed criminal gangs specialising in car thefts Credit: Channel 4 Dispatches 5 One of the thieves is pictured holding an amplifier outside the property during the staged theft Credit: Channel 4 Dispatches 5 The thieves explained in detail how the device worked Credit: Channel 4 Dispatches In the show, which will air in full tonight, Shea met whistleblowers and A sneak peek at the much-anticipated programme shows Footage shows the pair revealing to Shea exactly how they can steal a car in just 20 seconds. Thief 'T' and an accomplice demonstrated how they use an amplifier, which looks similar to a radio or walkie-talkie. Advertisement Read More in Motors It picks up the signal from the "key" inside a home and uses it to unlock a car parked outside. The device works by scrambling the signal from a remote key fob, and was used in nearly 60 percent of car thefts in the UK last year. After just a few seconds of holding the amplifier outside the window, the car door unlocked, allowing T to simply open the door and start up the engine. Once the engine had started, the accomplice could take the amplifier, jump in the car and they drove off, with the entire theft taking less than 20 seconds. Advertisement Most read in Motors Asked if they feel anything for the people they steal from they respond: 'These cars are insured, that's like, that a first world problem, you know, there's bigger s*** going on out there,. "Like your f***ng Range Rover's gone, boo-hoo, go and buy another one, man.' "The Teslas aren't easy, I don't think anyone's figured that out yet, because they are proper high tech' the thieves claim. Moment cops snare 'Rolex Ripper' gang after brazen watch thieves try to rob pair…only to find they're undercover police However, they brazenly boasted that others makes and models are easy to steal. Advertisement The men claimed they have taken up to 20 vehicles a month for as much as £5,000 per car, depending on its value. They told Shea that up to 90 per cent of cars are broken down for their parts. Last year approximately 355 vehicles were stolen every day in England and Wales. The shocking finds equate to a stolen car every four minutes, and more than 70 per cent the amount stolen a decade ago. Advertisement Freedom of Information requests to police forces in England and Wales also reveal that – for the 18 forces who responded - only 3.4 per cent of reports of a car being stolen between 2020 and 2024 led to someone being charged or summonsed. In the documentary, criminals revealed how highly organised gangs stole cars, dismantling them at so called 'chop shops' before shipping them out of the country to Eastern Europe. The programme reveals how a blue Audi A4, fitted with a hidden tracker, was stolen from a woman's driveway in north London on March 15. The car's GPS signal showed the Audi moving east towards the borough of Enfield and then switching off. Advertisement Five weeks later, the tracker suddenly reappeared in Kaunas, Lithuania, and was tracked to a business in the outskirts of the city called Baltic Car Trade. Dispatches filmed the police raid on the property, but instead of finding a blue Audi A4, all they found that was left of the vehicle was a bunch of wires. The car, like many stolen off British streets, was long gone having been torn apart. 5 One Audi A4 tracker was found in Lithuania with the car long gone Credit: Channel 4 Dispatches Advertisement 5 Stolen vehicle parts Credit: Channel 4 Dispatches
Scottish Sun
a day ago
- Automotive
- Scottish Sun
Chilling moment thieves steal car with wireless device in seconds as new doc reveals how Brit motors end up in Lithuania
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) CHILLING footage shows the moment thieves stole a car in just seconds using a wireless device. Investigative reporter Matt Shea went undercover for Channel 4 Dispatches to shed light on organised criminal gangs specialising in car thefts. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 5 Investigative reporter Matt Shea exposed criminal gangs specialising in car thefts Credit: Channel 4 Dispatches 5 One of the thieves is pictured holding an amplifier outside the property during the staged theft Credit: Channel 4 Dispatches 5 The thieves explained in detail how the device worked Credit: Channel 4 Dispatches In the show, which will air in full tonight, Shea met whistleblowers and car thieves in a bid to expose the truth. A sneak peek at the much-anticipated programme shows two car thieves demonstrating using keyless technology bought from the dark web. Footage shows the pair revealing to Shea exactly how they can steal a car in just 20 seconds. Thief 'T' and an accomplice demonstrated how they use an amplifier, which looks similar to a radio or walkie-talkie. It picks up the signal from the "key" inside a home and uses it to unlock a car parked outside. The device works by scrambling the signal from a remote key fob, and was used in nearly 60 percent of car thefts in the UK last year. After just a few seconds of holding the amplifier outside the window, the car door unlocked, allowing T to simply open the door and start up the engine. Once the engine had started, the accomplice could take the amplifier, jump in the car and they drove off, with the entire theft taking less than 20 seconds. Asked if they feel anything for the people they steal from they respond: 'These cars are insured, that's like, that a first world problem, you know, there's bigger s*** going on out there,. "Like your f***ng Range Rover's gone, boo-hoo, go and buy another one, man.' "The Teslas aren't easy, I don't think anyone's figured that out yet, because they are proper high tech' the thieves claim. Moment cops snare 'Rolex Ripper' gang after brazen watch thieves try to rob pair…only to find they're undercover police However, they brazenly boasted that others makes and models are easy to steal. The men claimed they have taken up to 20 vehicles a month for as much as £5,000 per car, depending on its value. They told Shea that up to 90 per cent of cars are broken down for their parts. Last year approximately 355 vehicles were stolen every day in England and Wales. The shocking finds equate to a stolen car every four minutes, and more than 70 per cent the amount stolen a decade ago. Freedom of Information requests to police forces in England and Wales also reveal that – for the 18 forces who responded - only 3.4 per cent of reports of a car being stolen between 2020 and 2024 led to someone being charged or summonsed. In the documentary, criminals revealed how highly organised gangs stole cars, dismantling them at so called 'chop shops' before shipping them out of the country to Eastern Europe. The programme reveals how a blue Audi A4, fitted with a hidden tracker, was stolen from a woman's driveway in north London on March 15. The car's GPS signal showed the Audi moving east towards the borough of Enfield and then switching off. Five weeks later, the tracker suddenly reappeared in Kaunas, Lithuania, and was tracked to a business in the outskirts of the city called Baltic Car Trade. Dispatches filmed the police raid on the property, but instead of finding a blue Audi A4, all they found that was left of the vehicle was a bunch of wires. The car, like many stolen off British streets, was long gone having been torn apart. 5 One Audi A4 tracker was found in Lithuania with the car long gone Credit: Channel 4 Dispatches
