Even experienced drivers can be forgiven for missing a roundabout exit once or twice, but a disoriented robotaxi in Arizona did it 36 times… in a row. While Waymo taxis are among the most advanced autonomous vehicles on the road today, in a video posted earlier this month on X, a confused AV appears to be quite literally stuck in a loop. Sorry I'm late, my WAYMO did 37 laps in the roundabout pic.twitter.com/GSR4sqChV2 And yet, even with blunders like these, there were more vehicles driving themselves this year than ever before. Once cordoned off to a few test tracks and small patches of land in Mountain View, AVs are now rearing their sensors-flapping heads in more than a dozen US cities. Tens of millions of drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians are learning how to coexist amongst these machines while their shared roads serve as real-world test-beds for full-scale AV deployment.

Nissan is introducing a new fleet of autonomous robo-taxis, as part of its "Easy Ride" pilot program, starting in March. African-Americans waiting on taxis in Los Angeles are likely to face longer wait times and have a greater chance of being cancelled on than whites, Asians and Hispanics, according to a new study out Wednesday from the University of California at Los Angeles. African-Americans waiting on taxis in Los Angeles are likely to face longer wait times and have a greater chance of being cancelled on than whites, Asians and Hispanics, according to a new study out Wednesday from the University of California at Los Angeles. They also faced longer wait times and more cancellations with Lyft and Uber, which show drivers the passenger's first name -- and in Lyft's case, a name and photo -- though far less so than with taxis, according to "Ridehail Revolution: Ridehail Travel and Equity in Los Angeles," a doctoral dissertation by Anne Brown of UCLA's Institute for Transportation Studies. Taxi drivers in L.A. were 73% more likely to cancel on black riders than whites, and 25% of blacks were never sent a cab, according to the research, which had 18 UCLA students of different ethnicities hail 1,704 trips between October and December 2017.

The Justice Department is investigating whether Uber illegally used software to track drivers for Lyft, its main ride-hailing competitor, to gain an advantage in attracting and recruiting drivers, according to two people familiar with the probe. The FBI and the U.S. attorney's office in New York's Southern District want to know if use of the software, which created fake customer accounts, broke any federal laws, said the people, who didn't want to be identified because they were not authorized to discuss the case publicly. An Uber spokeswoman said Friday it is cooperating in the probe and that use of the software has been discontinued. The U.S. attorney's office would not comment on the case. The investigation adds to mounting legal problems for Uber, including allegations of corporate espionage involving autonomous vehicle technology and at least one other federal investigation into use of software to thwart local government efforts to monitor its operations.

Uber's been in the headlines for the worst of reasons this year, and the bad news keeps on coming. Now, it looks like Uber is involved in yet another federal investigation. Authorities from the FBI's New York office are looking into whether Uber's Hell software illegally interfered with the operations of its competitor, Lyft. We've previously covered the computer program, which Uber secretly ran for two years. It used a vulnerability in Lyft's systems to spy on the company's drivers from 2014 to early 2016.

Accenture thinks that the future of technology is centered around people. It believes that human needs will be the common thread for the rapid advance of technologies such as artificial intelligence. The technology global consulting firm is releasing its annual forecast report, dubbed Technology for People, as part of its annual predictions today. The report states that we are beginning to see the emergence of technology for people, by people -- technology that seamlessly anticipates our needs and delivers hyperpersonalized experiences. "The pace of technology change is breathtaking, bringing about the biggest advancements since the dawn of the Information Age," said Paul Daugherty, Accenture's chief technology and innovation officer, in a statement.

John Zimmer isn't shy about making bold pronouncements when it comes to Uber, the ride-hailing industry's Goliath to Lyft's David. "I think we'll ultimately win, yes," the Lyft co-founder tells USA TODAY. "Our focus on the U.S. has been helpful." Lyft has indeed taken a narrower path to success by focusing on the domestic market. Founded in 2012, three years after Uber created the category, Lyft made itself known with the fuzzy pink mustaches that adorned its cars.

Shortly before General Motors scooped up the pieces of failed Uber competitor Sidecar back in January, they invested 500 million in Lyft for a partnership to create a self-driving vehicle network. In August, news broke that the car giant made an offer to buy the ride-sharing company, but was rebuffed. Their intertwined saga continues today, as they announced that Lyft drivers would be among the first to get Chevy's Bolt electric vehicles. It's not the first GM cars loaned out to the ride-sharing app's personnel. In March, the car company launched Express Drive, a program incentivizing Lyft drivers in certain cities to rent their vehicles and use them while working.

Katie Baranyuk gets out of a car driven by Dara Jenkins, a driver for the ride-sharing service Lyft. General Motors and Lyft will test a fleet of autonomous cars that may include the Chevrolet Bolt EV within a year in a step toward eliminating the major cost of operating ride-sharing fleets, the human driver. The plan is still a work in progress, according to Taggart Matthiesen, Lyft director of product. The two companies have not chosen the city, nor have they settled on which GM vehicles would be used in the pilot program. "At first we're talking about a very small number of vehicles," said Matthiesen, who will speak Friday afternoon at the Detroit Techweek conference.