Minneapolis city council member Jason Chavez claims Waymo autonomous vehicles are killing cats, urging a human operator mandate. Mayor Jacob Frey plans to veto the ordinance.

Imagine you are driving toward an intersection. A truck parked on the corner blocks your view of a car speeding toward the intersection from the right. You can't see it, but the car next to you can. Your car now knows something its own sensors could never observe. But there's an important twist: not every neighboring vehicle is worth listening to, and not every message deserves the same level of trust.

What happens when driverless cars break the law? In 2026, driverless cars like and human drivers exist in two different legal realities. More information Adding us as a Preferred Source in Google by using this link indicates that you would like to see more of our content in Google News results. Regulators are in a race to catch up to AVs, which are increasingly being spotted breaking laws that would land human drivers in hot water. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week.

An invite-only event in Austin, Texas, kept online fans in the dark for hours. A Tesla launch event tends to cause a hoopla. Fans crowd into an event space; loud electronic beats are the warm up act. Finally, the star himself, the ringmaster of this electric circus, CEO Elon Musk, emerges to a roar. There are demos, powerful verbs, and sometimes, a "one more thing," a last-minute surprise product unveiling.

Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Look Up Creator Playbook Mashable Voices Trending Now Say More Mashable Selects Safety Net Versus Gift Ideas For Everyone On Your List Switch Off In My Bag All Series Can Martha Stewart convince you Waymo is a good thing? Martha Stewart takes Waymo's roomier new Ojai robotaxi for a spin, complete with sliding doors and Gemini-powered screens. Neal joined Mashable's Social Good team in 2024, editing and writing stories about digital culture and its effects on the environment and marginalized communities. He is the former editorial director of The Advocate and Out magazines, has contributed to the Los Angeles Times, Curbed, and Los Angeles magazine, and is a recipient of the Sarah Pettit Memorial Award for LGBTQ Journalist of the Year Award from the National Gay and Lesbian Journalists Association (NLGJA). He lives in Los Angeles with his family.

Amazon's Zoox recalls self-driving vehicles amid emergency response issues The Amazon subsidiary company Zoox has said that it will recall its fleet of 105 autonomous vehicles in the United States. The technology company announced the recall on Friday due to mounting concerns that the vehicles may not detect heavy smoke and could impede emergency personnel. Zoox said on Friday that on June 20 an unoccupied Zoox autonomous vehicle encountered heavy smoke that obscured an active emergency fire scene. The Zoox vehicle entered the scene, then braked hard while attempting to steer away, before coming to a stop. The Zoox vehicle, under teleguidance, reversed, after which first responders placed traffic cones at the scene, blocking two of the three lanes.

Can China repeat its EV success with robotaxis? In Beijing's Yizhuang district, driverless vehicles have become a common sight. Robotaxis weave through traffic alongside ordinary cars, while autonomous delivery vans glide along the inside lane as they carry packages to collection points. The district has become one of China's testing grounds for autonomous driving, with companies including Baidu, WeRide and Pony.ai operating commercial robotaxi services within designated areas. Booking a ride requires little more than opening an app.

Amazon Zoox's latest robotaxi looks (marginally) less like a toy car Amazon Zoox's latest robotaxi looks (marginally) less like a toy car The company said it will soon begin large-scale production of its autonomous vehicle. Zoox, the self-driving startup that Amazon purchased in 2020, has showed off the new version of its autonomous vehicle that it says was designed for large-scale production. While it still looks like the old version the company introduced in 2020, the new vehicle comes with changes that improve its comfort for riders and make it easier to interact with. The company relocated the vehicle's bidirectional reflectors for better visibility and made them rotate colors to better distinguish its front from its rear, seeing as the robotaxi has a boxy form factor. It also gave the speaker and microphone on the door two-way audio capabilities to enable communication between riders and road users, as well as between first responders and Zoox support.

First global rules adopted for self-driving cars, U.N. says Safety concerns and costs have long slowed progress on autonomous vehicles. The first global regulations for fully autonomous vehicles were adopted Wednesday, a U.N. agency said, establishing uniform international safety requirements that could pave the way for larger-scale rollouts of self-driving cars. Safety concerns and the cost of developing next-level systems have long slowed progress on autonomous vehicles. As self-driving cars have begun to hit the road in a growing number of cities, the fragmented national approaches to regulation have spurred manufacturer fears that vehicles developed for one market could be blocked from others. In a bid to address that issue, a meeting of the World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations at the United Nations in Geneva decided to introduce a global regulatory framework for vehicles equipped with fully autonomous driving systems (ADS).

Technology Vehicles Self Driving How can self-driving cars see better? Make their sensors more human. Human-eye inspired sensors could help autonomous cars handle changes to light. More information Adding us as a Preferred Source in Google by using this link indicates that you would like to see more of our content in Google News results. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week.