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California DMV suspends Cruise’s driverless permits
The California DMV announced Tuesday that it has suspended GM-owned Cruise’s permits to operate driverless vehicles in the state, effective immediately.
California DMV accuses Tesla of falsely portraying its vehicles as fully autonomous
The company uses misleading language 'not based on facts,' the agency said in its complaints.
Court rules that Waymo can keep its robotaxi emergency protocols a secret
Waymo sued the DMV to prevent the release of information it deems to be trade secrets.
Washington DC votes to allow digital driver's licenses and ID cards
Washington DC's city council has approved the use of digital driver's licenses and IDs, joining Arizona, Georgia and other states.
Waymo and Cruise get DMV approval to offer autonomous rides in California
The California DMV has given both Waymo and Cruise permission to offer the general public autonomous vehicle rides.
California DMV has Tesla 'under review' over Musk's FSD claims
The California Department of Motor Vehicles appears to be actively investigating Tesla over CEO Elon Musk's audacious claims about his company's Full Self-Driving technology.
Waymo and Cruise may soon offer autonomous rides and deliveries in California
Waymo and Cruise have asked California's DMV for permission to start charging for rides and deliveries with their autonomous vehicles in California.
California DMV warns 20 months of records may have been exposed
Other organizations have been affected following a ransomware attack on a contractor.
Baidu secures license for full driverless road tests in California
The California Department of Motor Vehicles has granted Baidu permission to test its autonomous vehicles without a driver behind the wheel. It’s had authority to test its vehicles in California since 2016, but up until now, it could only do so with a backup driver. This development means it can now conduct full driverless road tests using Lincoln MKZ and Chrysler Pacifica vehicles loaded with its self-driving technology within Sunnyvale in Santa Clara County.
California allows 'light-duty' self-driving delivery vehicles
Self-driving delivery vehicles could soon become a relatively common sight on California streets. The state's Department of Motor Vehicles will allow "light-duty" autonomous delivery vehicles under 10,001lbs for testing and commercial uses. Companies will need permits that vary depending on whether or not a backup driver is involved, but this will allow everything from modified passenger cars to purpose-built vans to carry groceries, pizza orders and other forms of cargo.
FBI and ICE use DMV photos as 'gold mine' for facial recognition data
Cities and companies might be turning away from facial recognition, but federal agents are embracing it -- whether or not the public is fully aware of what's happening. Georgetown Law researchers and the Washington Post have discovered that FBI and ICE investigators have been using state DMVs as a "gold mine" for facial recognition data, scanning hundreds of millions of photos to create an unofficial surveillance infrastructure. Officers routinely use the info to help track down suspects in "low-level" crimes like petty theft, and they use it frequently -- the FBI by itself conducts 4,000 facial recognition searches per month.
Minnesota cop receives $585,000 after fellow officers spied on DMV data
The city of Minneapolis is learning a hard lesson about the importance of placing checks on government data access. A court has awarded police officer Amy Krekelberg a total of $585,000 after she sued Minneapolis and two fellow officers for allegedly violating state law protecting the disclosure of DMV data. Krekelberg had discovered that people had arbitrarily accessed her DMV records almost 1,000 times over the course of roughly a decade. Dozens of the perpetrators were other police officers, and the behavior was frequently creepy -- some officers looked for her info late at night, while the two targeted in the lawsuit allegedly looked her up after she turned down their romantic offers.
Apple now has more than 50 autonomous cars on the road
Apple has more than doubled the number of its self-driving cars, the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) has confirmed. Since obtaining a permit to test autonomous vehicles, Apple's fleet size has steadily risen -- from a scant three test cars, to 27 in January, and now, 55 intelligent machines. Should the program remain on course, consumers could be chilling out in the driver's seat by 2019.
Now California's DMV can allow fully driverless car testing
Automakers can now start testing fully driverless cars on California's roads. According to the state DMV's new regulations that became effective on April 2nd, it can now issue three types of autonomous vehicle testing permits. The first kind is the original one it approved years ago, which needs a driver behind the wheel, while the other two could pave the way for the release of Level 4 to 5 autonomous vehicles. See, the second type of permit it can dole out will allow automakers to test fully driverless vehicles, and the third will give the companies permission to deploy them.
California axes self-driving car rule limiting liability for crashes
California has been happy to tweak the rules to get more self-driving cars on the road, but it still has its limits. The state's DMV has eliminated a planned rule (suggested by GM) that would have let companies avoid liability for an autonomous vehicle crash if the machine hadn't been maintained to manufacturer specs. In other words, they could have been let off the hook if your car's sensors were muddy, even if an accident was really due to bad code.
California DMV tweaks rules to allow completely driverless cars
California is already more accommodating to self-driving cars than many parts of the country, but it's taking that friendliness one step further today. The state DMV has modified its regulations to streamline the testing and use of fully autonomous cars (that is, ones that don't need anyone behind the wheel). Many of these are subtle but important changes. Car makers no longer need to notify local officials of the "operational design domain" of their machines, summarize all the instances when a car's autonomous driving disengages or certify that a car can't drive itself in commonly restricted conditions.
Samsung gets DMV's OK to test autonomous cars in California
The California DMV has just updated the list of companies that can test self-driving technologies in the state, and there's one notable addition: Samsung Electronics. In a statement, a company spokesperson confirmed that it's participating in California's Autonomous Vehicle Tester Program. However, he clarified that the Korean conglomerate still has "no plans to enter the car-manufacturing business." Samsung will instead continue to develop sensors that use its AI and deep learning software, as well as other components for autonomous vehicles.
Apple gets the OK to test autonomous cars in California
California will soon have yet another company's self-driving vehicles navigating its roadways. The Department of Motor Vehicles granted Apple an autonomous vehicle testing permit on Friday, enabling the company to use public roadways in its autonomous systems experiments.
Alphabet bests Uber in self-driving car reliability
It's no secret that Uber's young self-driving car program still needs work, but how does it stack up next to efforts from others? Not so well, it seems. California's Department of Motor Vehicles has published stats showing that Alphabet's Waymo is well ahead of the pack. While Uber's data (not part of the DMV report) shows that its autonomous system disengages about once every mile, Waymo's only requires human intervention once every 5,128 miles. Nissan's system, meanwhile, disengages once every 146 miles.
Uber's self-driving cars could be coming back to California
When Uber first tried to roll out its fleet of autonomous taxis on the streets of San Francisco, California's DMV quickly put the kibosh on those plans. But, after a brief stint in the sunnier parts of Arizona, Uber has announced its intent to bring its cars back to the Golden State -- this time with permits in hand.
