This week in tech: General Motors says goodbye to robotaxis but not self-driving cars; one woman's fight to keep AI out of applications for housing; Salt Typhoon; and tech's donations to Donald Trump. Thank you for joining me. When God shuts down one robotaxi business, he resurrects another. Last week, General Motors announced it would stop funding its subsidiary Cruise, which made self-driving car software and operated a robotaxi service. The unit had been a leader in autonomous vehicles until a near-fatal crash in late 2023, when a Cruise car hit a pedestrian and dragged her along the road underneath its chassis.

The Mercedes-Benz S-Class now has a model that can drive around totally unaided – as long as you are in one specific car park in Germany. It is an impressive achievement, but how far have we really come since New Scientist proclaimed 15 years ago that a fully driverless car "may not be far off"?

Uber has ditched efforts to develop its own self-driving car with the multibillion-dollar sale of its driverless car division to a Silicon Valley startup. The ride-hailing company is selling the business, known as Advanced Technologies Group (ATG), for a reported $4bn (£3bn) to Aurora, a start-up that makes sensors and software for autonomous vehicles and is backed by Amazon and Sequoia Capital. As part of the deal, Uber is investing $400m in the venture, which employs 1,200 people, in return for a minority stake of 26%, and its chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi will join Aurora's board. The deal will also give Aurora access to a carmaker, Japan's Toyota, which has invested in ATG. Uber said it would collaborate with Aurora in bringing driverless cars to its network in the coming years.

Apple seems to speeding ahead with its self-driving car program. The iPhone maker has nearly doubled its fleet of autonomous test vehicles in California over the last few months, according to the Financial Times. In January, Apple was operating 27 self-driving cars on the roads, but that number has since grown to 45 vehicles, data from California's Department of Motor Vehicles shows. The new report comes as some firms have suspended their autonomous driving tests following a fatal accident involving an Uber self-driving car this weekend. If Apple's fleet has increased this much, it has surged ahead of its rivals in terms of the size of its test fleet.

Apple products are already in our homes, pockets and ears, but now you'll start seeing them on the roads a lot more. The tech giant has quietly expanded its fleet of self-driving cars in California to 27 vehicles total, according to Bloomberg. That's a significant jump from when it was known to have three test vehicles driving around Bay Area streets last April. Apple has registered 24 more Lexus SUVs under the California Department of Motor Vehicles program for testing autonomous cars. The company has been gradually ramping up its focus on autonomous vehicles, albeit at a noticeably slower pace compared to rivals like Waymo, Lyft, Tesla and Ford.

Apple is moving forward with it autonomous technology ambitions. The company has just enlarged its self-driving test fleet in California to 27 cars, according to Bloomberg. Apple had previously received a permit from the state of California to test three self-driving cars last April. The state's DMV documents indicated Apple was certifying six drivers to test three modified 2015 Lexus RX450h vehicles. Since the initial three cars, Apple has registered 24 more Lexus RX450h sport-utility vehicles, California's DMV told Bloomberg.

Apple's self driving car project has been shrouded in secrecy - but its latest vehicle has been spotted by an arch rival. Dubbed'The Thing', it looks like an ordinary SUV - apart from a giant white'Star Wars' rack of sensors strapped to its roof. The video was captured by MacCallister Higgins, co-founder of self-driving startup Voyage, which is testing its own vehicles in a San Jose retirement community. He refers to it as'The Thing,' due to the bulkiness of its sensor array. He told CNET he took the video at the intersection of De La Cruz and the Central Expressway in Sunnyvale, and he is convinced that it was one of Apple's cars.

Apple has been low key about it autonomous car tech, dubbed Project Titan, but there is now a short video of the iPhone company's self-driving efforts. Voyage co-founder MacCalister Higgins posted a short video of Project Titan's test Lexus SUV, which he called "The Thing." The video givies the public a glimpse of what Apple is up to. The top of the white vehicle is equipped with a suite sensors and self-driving hardware. Higgins said on Twitter the front and back both have 6 LiDARS and that the "majority of the compute stack is likely located inside the roof unit."

Disagreements among Apple's top brass and a'lack of clearly defined vision' have led to a dramatic scaling back of the firm's plans for a self-driving car. Apple was rumoured to be working on an ambitious fleet of autonomous vehicles, to be built by the company. That long-term dream, part of project Titan, now appears to have been abandoned in favour of developing technology to allow other vehicles to drive themselves. In the short term, the firm is working on a self-operating shuttle service to ferry employees from its current campus and newly built headquarters, according to industry insiders. Disagreements among Apple's top brass have led to a dramatic scaling back of the firm's plans for a self-driving car, industry insiders have claimed.

Apple's plans for a self driving car could eventually lead to a ridesharing platform to take on Uber, it has been claimed. Apple's project, known internally as Project Titan, has hit numerous delays, but is now hiring new experts in software, and according to recent claims, has a clear direction - to take on Uber. According to Business Insider, Apple is creating its autonomous systems with an eye to the ride-sharing and ride-hailing market. Disagreements among Apple's top brass have led to a dramatic scaling back of the firm's plans for a self-driving car, industry insiders have claimed. Apple officially secured a permit to test autonomous vehicles in California on April 14.