Hacker News with Generative AI: Autonomous Vehicles

Collectively, the Tesla fleet has driven more than 3.6B miles on FSD (twitter.com)
Something went wrong, but don’t fret — let’s give it another shot.
Tesla drops 'FSD' from name of its driver-assist tech in China (electrek.co)
After a rocky rollout of its “Full Self-Driving” (FSD) system in China, Tesla is dropping “FSD” from the name of the system while it faces increased scrutiny from regulators.
Next stop for Waymo One: Washington, D.C (waymo.com)
It’s official: Waymo One, the world’s leading fully autonomous ride-hailing service, will be ready for riders in the nation’s capital on the Waymo One app in 2026.
Tesla Autopilot Car Drove Through a Giant Photo of a Road (petapixel.com)
Famous YouTube creator and former NASA engineer Mark Rober, who provides his 65 million subscribers with scientific entertainment videos, put Tesla’s vision-based safety features up against a LiDAR system, and the results, although arguably flawed, highlight the limitations of vision-based autonomous vehicle systems.
Waymo's milestone SFO mapping permit comes with strings attached (techcrunch.com)
Waymo has been given permission to map roadways at the San Francisco International Airport (SFO) via a temporary permit — the first step in the Alphabet company’s bid to unlock a potentially lucrative use case for its robotaxis.
Tesla drives into Wile E. Coyote fake road wall in camera vs. Lidar test (electrek.co)
Tesla Autopilot drove into Wile E. Coyote-style fake road wall in the middle of the road in a camera versus lidar test.
Inside Waymo's Expansion: Cars, New Depots, and What's Next (autonomycentral.net)
A couple of months ago, Waymo content creator JJRicks uploaded a video showcasing a factory he discovered, capturing close-up ground-level footage of the site. This factory turned out to be an assembly plant from Magna, where Waymos are constructed.
VW is testing its robotaxis in snowy, icy Norway (arstechnica.com)
A taxi service that only operates in good weather isn't a good taxi service.
Waymo's Expansion: Cars, New Depots, and What's Next (autonomycentral.net)
A couple of months ago, Waymo content creator JJRicks uploaded a video showcasing a factory he discovered, capturing close-up ground-level footage of the site. This factory turned out to be an assembly plant from Magna, where Waymos are constructed.
Ride into the Future with Waymo on Uber in Austin (uber.com)
Starting today, Austin riders can be matched with a Waymo autonomous vehicle (AV) on the Uber app, making your next trip even more special.
Uber users in Austin are getting matched with Waymo robotaxis (techcrunch.com)
Uber users in Austin now have a choice between a Waymo robotaxi and a human driver.
Tesla 'Full Self-Driving' Isn't Called That in China (thedrive.com)
Tesla offers an advanced driver assistance feature in many parts of the world called Full Self-Driving. As people who follow Tesla know, the system doesn’t achieve full self-driving; it’s an SAE Level 2 technology that requires, in Tesla’s own words, “that the driver pay attention to the road, their surroundings, and other road users,” with “constant monitoring” necessary.
Saronic raises $600M in Series C to mass-produce autonomous warships (techcrunch.com)
Austin-based defense startup Saronic has raised a $600 million Series C to build an autonomous ship factory called “Port Alpha,” it announced yesterday, quadrupling its valuation to $4 billion from its last round.
Tesla Cybertruck Drives Itself into a Pole, Owner Says 'Thank You Tesla' (thedrive.com)
A Tesla Cybertruck owner is praising the automaker for the performance of his electric pickup after its Full Self-Driving system drove it into a utility pole in Reno, Nevada.
GM cuts 50% of Cruise staff after ending robotaxi business (cnbc.com)
Waymo – Driverless in Atlanta (theverge.com)
Waymo just flipped the switch from supervised to unsupervised in Atlanta, where it aims to eventually launch a commercial robotaxi service later this year through an exclusive partnership with Uber.
Could self-driving buses bring vehicle autonomy home? (ieee.org)
In the race to develop autonomous vehicle technology, some companies are steering away from robotaxis to explore a different avenue: driverless buses.
Two auto-braking systems can't see people in reflective garb: report (streetsblog.org)
Pedestrians are often advised to wear reflective strips on their clothing so that car drivers can see them, but a new report says that such safety precautions are useless in the eyes of some automatic braking systems.
Musk Distorts Data: Tesla Still Years from Full Self-Driving (electrek.co)
Elon Musk is praising data that he claims shows Tesla is on the verge of achieving unsupervised Full Self-Driving, when in fact, it shows it is still years away and he is misrepresenting it.
Man trapped inside driverless Waymo car as it spins in circles (bbc.co.uk)
Mike Johns boarded a driverless Waymo taxi to an airport in Scottsdale, Arizona, but it began spinning in circles in a parking lot.
Waymo Picked Up 4M Rides in 2024, Tesla Had Zero (mishtalk.com)
Ride-sharing companies are embracing Waymo’s autonomous vehicles. Where’s Tesla?
May Mobility reveals electric autonomous minibus at CES 2025 (techcrunch.com)
May Mobility, an autonomous vehicle technology startup, unveiled at CES 2025 the next vehicle in its portfolio: an electric, autonomous minibus made in partnership with European electric bus manufacturer Tecnobus.
Waymo robotaxis safer than any human-driven cars (cleantechnica.com)
Swiss Re, a top reinsurer globally, has analyzed a lot of data, and it has determined that Waymo’s robotaxis are safer than human drivers, and even safer than human drivers of new cars with the latest advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS).
Swiss Re study: Waymo is safer than even the most advanced human-driven vehicles (waymo.com)
Today, we’re sharing our new cutting-edge research with Swiss Re, one of the world’s leading reinsurers, analyzing liability claims related to collisions from 25.3 million fully autonomous miles driven by Waymo.
Mercedes allowed to drive autonomously up to 95 km/h (Level 3) (heise.de)
German Federal Motor Transport Authority permits Mercedes-Benz to drive correspondingly equipped S-Class and EQS models autonomously on highways up to 95 km/h.
Waymo to begin testing in Tokyo, its first international destination (cnbc.com)
Waymo will bring autonomous vehicles to Tokyo (waymo.com)
こんにちは(Konnichiwa) and hello, Japan! We're thrilled to announce that Waymo, in partnership with Nihon Kotsu and GO, will bring our autonomous vehicles to Tokyo for our first international road trip.
Trump wants to stop Tesla having to report Autopilot, Full Self-Driving crashes (electrek.co)
The Trump transition team wants the incoming administration to drop a car-crash reporting requirement opposed by Elon Musk’s Tesla, according to a document seen by Reuters, a move that could cripple the government’s ability to investigate and regulate the safety of vehicles with automated-driving systems.
Cruise's robotaxi service will likely shut down as GM pulls its funding (theverge.com)
General Motors said it would no longer fund its Cruise robotaxi service as it seeks to focus its spending on autonomous vehicle development specifically for personally owned vehicles.
Tesla appears to be building a teleoperations team for its robotaxi service (techcrunch.com)
As Tesla gears up to launch a robotaxi service in the coming years, the automaker looks like it’s building out a teleoperations team.