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Tech News
A personal essay recounts a writer's experience riding in a Waymo self-driving car along the same Bay Area surface roads she once drove as a teenager, since Waymo vehicles remain barred from freeways. The piece juxtaposes the autonomous ride with memories of a serious car accident she had as a young driver, and muses on how driverless cars change the emotional relationship people have with automobiles.
With Congress still unable to pass national legislation covering autonomous vehicles, cities and states are increasingly writing their own rules for robotaxi operators. The resulting patchwork of local regulations has emerged after years of federal inaction, even as companies like Waymo expand robotaxi service into more cities.
California Highway Patrol says a Tesla operating in Full Self-Driving mode struck a patrol car on Interstate 80 on October 13 while officers investigated a fatal crash, despite flares, cones and flashing lights marking the closed lanes. The impact pushed the cruiser into another emergency vehicle, hospitalizing both officers with serious injuries; the 22-year-old driver, who told police he had fallen asleep, suffered minor injuries.
A Tesla driver told California Highway Patrol he was asleep while using the vehicle's Full Self-Driving mode when his car sped past emergency flares, cones, and lights before slamming into a parked patrol vehicle. Two officers at the scene were seriously injured and hospitalized, according to CHP, which released video of the crash.
A passenger riding in a Tesla robotaxi in the Bay Area recorded the vehicle repeatedly emitting flatulent sounds through its novelty 'emissions testing' feature, unable to be turned off. The human safety driver on board, required since Tesla's robotaxis aren't yet licensed in California, told the passenger he had been adjusting settings and lost control of the function, including the volume.
At TechCrunch Disrupt, Replit co-founder and CEO Amjad Masad said AI agents now handle much of his company's routine workflow, from triaging support tickets by scanning GitHub issues and Linear tickets to deploying code fixes. He said humans remain essential in the loop for judgment calls, even as agents take on the bulk of operational tasks.
The NHTSA has started inspecting a defect petition filed in late September that claims about 1,000 Tesla Model Y Robotaxis and Cybercabs exceeded posted speed limits in active school zones. The petition cites four incidents—one formal complaint and three social media reports—along with three video links, but reports no crashes, injuries, or deaths. NHTSA now has 120 days to review the claims and decide whether to open a formal investigation.
A clip posted by the X account Teslaconomics shows a driver eating a large spread of food—including sushi, sausages and stew—while a Tesla, apparently a Cybertruck, drives itself on a busy road using FSD. The post went viral, drawing heavy criticism, and is part of a wider trend of Tesla drivers posting videos of themselves multitasking, including working or gaming, while the car drives. The poster later clarified they were wearing Ray-Ban Meta glasses to record hands-free and that the car was using Tesla's 'FSD (Supervised)' feature.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Office of Defects Investigation received a petition on September 23, 2026, requesting a probe into Tesla's roughly 1,000 Robotaxis, including the Model Y and Cybercab, for allegedly exceeding posted speed limits in active school zones while their Automated Driving System is engaged. The Cybercab is already facing a separate investigation over its lack of side mirrors, pedals, and a steering wheel, and Tesla's Full Self-Driving system is under scrutiny for other traffic violations like running red lights and driving on the wrong side of the road.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has issued a five-year exemption letting self-driving truck operators Aurora Innovation and Kodiak AI use cab-mounted warning beacons instead of physically placed reflective triangles when a truck breaks down. The change addresses a rule that assumed a human driver would exit the vehicle to set out warning devices within 10 minutes of a breakdown, something autonomous trucks without drivers cannot do. Aurora had previously sued over the requirement and appealed to the D.C. Court of Appeals after an earlier denial.
Tesla has rebranded its Full Self-Driving feature as 'Tesla Assisted Driving' on its websites in Germany, Spain and France. The change follows talks between Tesla and Germany's Transport Minister Steffen Bilger, whose ministry said the original name was misleading since the system only assists with tasks like braking and accelerating rather than driving itself.
Tesla has rebranded its advanced driver-assistance system as Tesla Assisted Driving (TAD) on its European sales website, replacing the Full Self-Driving (Supervised) label. The change followed talks with Germany's Transport Ministry, whose minister Steffen Bilger had called the original name misleading and now says he'll push the EU to approve the feature for public roads by year's end.