When security researchers in the past found ways to hijack vehicles' internet-connected systems, their proof-of-concept demonstrations tended to show, thankfully, that hacking cars is hard. Exploits like the ones that hackers used to remotely take over a Chevrolet Impala in 2010 or a Jeep in 2015 took years of work …
Read More »Japan Launches a Development Project for Self-Driving EV Taxis
This story originally appeared on WIRED Japan and has been translated from Japanese. A project to develop autonomous vehicles for self-driving taxis has begun in earnest in Japan. The plan put forward by Tier IV, a startup specializing in autonomous-driving technology, has been selected for a demonstration project by the …
Read More »Ford Steps Back From EVs—and Says Hybrids Are the Future
Spooked by weakening demand for EV sales, and the number and ingenuity of Chinese automakers, Ford is scaling back its all-electric ambitions, despite manufacturers, including Ford, experiencing significant growth for electric car sales in the first quarter. Noting that the Dearborn, Michigan, company is responding to market demand, chief financial …
Read More »EVs Are Losing Up to 50 Percent of Their Value in One Year
Electric vehicle depreciation is something of a hot topic right now, and for good reason. On one hand, there are some fantastic deals to be had on the secondhand market, but on the other of course, there’s the thorny issue of some EVs losing half of their value in a …
Read More »You Won’t Believe What Car Headlights Have in Store
Sure, duh: Vehicle lights serve the important and vital safety function of allowing drivers to see where they’re going, and everyone else to see when they’re coming. But for decades, car designers have clocked headlamps and tail lights as an opportunity for creativity, to build a distinctive brand that says, …
Read More »Cars Are Rolling Computers Now. So What Happens When They Stop Getting Updates?
In 2022, Jake Brown, a telecommunications professional living in Chattanooga, Tennessee, bought a used 2017 Volkswagen Passat from a local dealership. Brown describes himself as a techy guy, and was excited about the car’s newer, internet-enabled features, including the ability to start it up remotely from his phone. Brown had …
Read More »Toyota Pulls Off a Fast and Furious Demo With Dual Drifting AI-Powered Race Cars
Losing traction while driving at high speed is generally very bad news. Scientists from the Toyota Research Institute and Stanford University have developed a pair of self-driving cars that use artificial intelligence to do it in a controlled fashion—a trick better known as “drifting”—to push the limits of autonomous driving. …
Read More »Fisker Went Bankrupt. What Do Its EV Owners Do Next?
It was the last week in June, and José De Bardi hadn’t gotten much sleep. The trouble had really kicked off on June 18, about a week earlier, when the electric vehicle company Fisker announced it had filed for bankruptcy protection. Now some 6,400 Fisker owners like De Bardi wondered: …
Read More »Bugatti’s $4 Million Hybrid Hypercar Has the Craziest Steering Wheel We’ve Ever Seen
The resurrection of Bugatti is one of the 21st century’s most notable automotive stories. Aristocratic, artistic, and more than a little arcane, Bugatti was a prewar marque that mastered luxury, design, and motorsport, the creator of Grand Prix winners, and arguably the most lavish motorcar ever made, in the shape …
Read More »Fisker Is Dead
Fisker filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection late on Monday, ending months of speculation over the future of the company. Now the EV maker is looking to sell its assets and restructure its debt after pausing production of its sole car model back in March. To anyone familiar with the …
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