Autonomous Driving

In a study, models used to detect people walking on streets and sidewalks performed less well on adults with darker skin and children of all skin tones.

The state of California pulled the parking brake on Cruise driverless vehicles. The DMV suspended Cruise’s permit to operate vehicles in the state without safety drivers. The General Motors subsidiary responded by halting its robotaxi operations across the United States.

Event data recorders, also known as black boxes, got an update for the era of self-driving cars. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers published guidelines for internal devices that track the performance of autonomous road vehicles.

U.S. authorities are investigating Tesla’s self-driving technology. Federal regulators launched a probe of nearly two dozen accidents, some of them fatal, that involved Tesla vehicles equipped for self-driving.

Makers of self-driving cars predicted a quick race to the finish line, but their vehicles are far from the homestretch. A few years ago, some car companies promised road-ready autonomous vehicles as early as 2017.