There Auto Be A Law

Autonomous Vehicle Hotlines Fail

A driverless car wanders through a Denver farmers market, and authorities admit there’s no clear way to ticket an empty vehicle. Maybe a Geofence Notice Specification wou

America needs fat dummies

Federal crash tests still rely on a 5’9”, 170‑lb male dummy, leaving heavier, taller, older, and many female body types underrepresented while better (but pricier) sensor

Cybercab Chaos

This week we're joined by former NASA engineer Chris Chamberlin to discuss oil changes. But first it's Tesla’s steering-wheel-free Cybercab rolls out while claiming self-

Exploding Sunroofs

We look at why sunroofs can shatter—debris, temperature swings, or defects—and why switching to laminated glass could worsen escape in a crash. Telematics data suggests c

China: Leading in safety

China orders a 4.3 million-vehicle recall over hard-to-find manual door releases and plans to ban certain electronic door-handle designs by 2027, highlighting faster safe

Waymo is 5.5 times worse than a human driver

Privacy-troubled license-plate readers promise shorter data retention while still ripe for abuse, and “park outside” warnings highlight how always-on electronics can spar

Flock Cameras, Duct Tape and People are Safer than Waymo

A loose plastic body panel sparks a debate: glue is a hidden, warranty-voiding headache, while tape is visible and replaceable. Flock license-plate cameras—useful for sto

Zoox and NHTSA sitting in a tree...

A sharp, skeptical rundown of how federal regulators are easing the path for autonomous vehicles—highlighting a Zoox exemption from key occupant-protection standards, a t

Navigating Autonomous Risks

Regulators are starting work on new car-door escape rules after reports of people trapped and killed in Teslas when electric latches fail, but the issue wasn’t treated as

Emergency! Robotaxis in the Way.

Robotaxis rack up clashes with first responders in Austin, and the “training” offered is click-through PR. A critique argues autonomous-vehicle safety isn’t comparable to

Edge Cases with Phil Koopman

Phil Koopman is back. Federal regulators warned autonomous vehicle operators to fix dangerous interactions with first responders and promised meetings and recall pressure

Waymo's Firework Fiasco

Waymo has a rough July 4th in San Francisco: robotaxis roll over live fireworks, one catches fire, and a traffic jam forms with a long line of stalled vehicles; in anothe

We don't need no stinkin' brake pedals

Regulators consider letting self-driving vehicles skip manual brake pedals—raising alarms about emergencies and unproven safety metrics. Tesla settles a deadly crash case

Ford's Record Recall Marathon

A New York Times deep dive ties the rise of huge pickups and SUVs to pedestrian deaths, spotlighting poor visibility and high hoods that “punt” people into a run-over pat

Cathie Wood: Fraud or Fool?

A roast of autonomous-vehicle hype calls out bold Tesla/robotaxi cost and safety claims as unsupported, then shifts to California’s proposed replacement-tire efficiency r

Texas mandates seat belts but forgets the funding

The “magic” Donut Labs battery gets debunked as ordinary lithium‑ion, tied to a crowdfunding-fueled scam with big promises and no manufactured cells, while real solid-sta

Tesla's Unusual Detours, the Misplaced Panic of Kill Switches, and AV Trucking Truths

A whirlwind tour of automotive chaos: skepticism toward bold self-driving claims and cherry-picked safety stats, a Tesla crash into a California home, and BYD promising t

Autonomous Adjacent Vehicles

Waymo’s “final remedy” for flooded roads amounts to geofencing around flash-flood warnings, raising doubts about sensor limits, end-to-end AI hype, and slow remote assist

Super Speeders, Waymo and Water Hazards plus Dangerous Ads

Car ads keep glorifying speed while broadcast rules obsess over seat belts and ignore speeding, and horsepower hype is called mostly useless for real driving. In Europe,

Churning the Nonsense: The Waymo files

A flood sweeps away Waymo's in San Antonio and we dig into safety claims, and why they really don't get tickets. Zook's terms are flagged for burying major warnings, forc