Back in January it was reported that Waymo was partnering with Magna, the contract vehicle builder, to start assembling full autonomous vehicles in Michigan. Magna, based in Canada now owns Magna Steyr, an Austrian company that used to build their own cars however in the last few decades has been building cars for others including Jaguar. At the time, the Michigan Economic … [Read more...]
Industry Ups and Downs
The last few weeks have seen some great news and some bad news for the industry - on two and four wheels. Personal transportation is going through a difficult time yet there are some highlights. On two wheels, The Economist magazine reported that Harley-Davidson is going through a rough patch - not the first in their 116 year history. In the US they have seen sales figures … [Read more...]
Waymo Cars Under Attack
There has been a lot written about robotaxis - most about the safety aspect of the vehicles and especially during the current testing period. A lot of commentators agree that humans are at the heart of most accidents, so if you can get the vehicle’s systems to do all the work there is a theory that the road toll will reduce. That of course depends on humans developing bug-free … [Read more...]
Waymo Launches Commercial Robotaxi Service
Here at Motoring Weekly, we have been following the progress of several autonomous vehicle service providers of which Waymo is one. The reason is that for several years now, Waymo has been quietly getting on with the job and not concentrating on self promotion as Uber, Otto and others have done. Last month (December 2018), Waymo launched a service called "Waymo One" and is … [Read more...]
Waymo and Uber Resolve Trade Secret Complaint
You always know that during the early years of any market, there will always be shenanigans and dodgy behaviour which will result in the lawyers getting involved and making some good cash. This has been happening with the ride-share and autonomous vehicle market. Last year it was Waymo and Uber at loggerheads over their technologies. At the core of the dispute was Otto, the … [Read more...]
