If you are anything like me, many times you have been riding the subway and have had the thought, “What is wrong with this dang subway is that it is not exponentially more expensive and slower than this.” Many times you have seethed, through clenched teeth, “Goddammit, it just churns my guts that this subway does not require me to own and bring along—and also to have outfitted with a special set of retractable sideways wheels that serve no other purpose...

Tesla CEO Elon Musk is teasing important new developments for its Autopilot system to ‘soon’ support traffic lights, stops and roundabouts, which he says will lead to full self-driving capability. In recent months, Tesla rewrote the neural net for its Autopilot system in order to be able to deploy more advanced driver assist features that the company promised as part of its Autopilot 2.0 program released two years ago. It led to the release of ‘Navigate on Autopilot’, which suggests lane changes on the highway and takes off-ramps and interchanges.

We'll soon learn if Elon Musk's high-speed tunnel plan is a serious effort to relieve traffic congestion or little more than a fancy theme park ride. Musk has announced a big unveiling event for December 18 that will show off not only a tunnel but also a ground-to-tunnel car elevator and an autonomous passenger pod.

Anyone summoning a Ford self-driving taxi after the company’s service launches in 2021 could be offered detours to sponsoring stores or wind up riding alongside packages out for delivery. At an event on Wednesday to showcase Ford’s progress in developing autonomous vehicles, the carmaker said its driverless rides could be less than half the price of today’s ride-share journeys,if the cars were used day and night and carried interactive adverts.

Loved by some philosophers, loathed by others, the so-called trolley problem is the quintessential moral puzzle. A runaway train is heading towards five people tied to a track. You can change a signal, diverting the train down a spur, so saving five lives. Unfortunately, one person is on the spur, and would die. What should you do? Most people – young and old, rich and poor – believe you should divert the train.

Brothels could move into self-driving cars, British academics predict. A paper by researchers at the University of Surrey and Oxford suggests that "pay-per-hour" hotel rooms are likely to be replaced by autonomous cars when the technology is introduced. "While SCAVs [shared, connected autonomous vehicles] will likely be monitored to deter passengers having sex or using drugs in them, and to prevent violence, such surveillance may be rapidly overcome, disabled or removed.

Holding the opinion that I do still believe Self-Driving or Autonomous Vehicles are a luxury rather than a necessity; vehicle manufacturers continue to make the argument that AI vehicles are superior to non-autonomous vehicles. Though, consider that is the case — in certain situations, if the driver is handicapped, under the influence, or just plain tired, let AI take the wheel (Pathetic Carrie Underwood Pun intended).

If you were behind the wheel of a car about to crash, would you rather kill a bunch of cats or some kids? Would you choose to kill yourself and your passengers by crashing into a concrete median, or would you rather kill several elderly people crossing the street? What if, instead of elderly, it was a pregnant woman and a child? Or two criminals? Or three homeless people? Or a couple of business executives?

The self-driving car crashes that usually make the news are, unsurprisingly, either big and smashy or new and curious. The Apple that got bumped while merging into traffic. The Waymo van that got t-boned. And of course, the Uber that hit and killed a woman crossing the street in Tempe, Arizona in March.

Since March, when an autonomous vehicle killed a pedestrian in Arizona, forecasts for AVs have been decidedly less optimistic. But autonomous vehicle promoters are undeterred. AI entrepreneur Andrew Ng contends that self-driving cars will be safe for pedestrians when walkers and cyclists conform to their limitations. “What we tell people is, ‘Please be lawful and please be considerate,’” he told Bloomberg.

Toyota has invested $500m (£388m) in Uber and announced plans for the firms to collaborate on developing driverless cars for ride sharing. The carmaker said technology from each company will be used to produce purpose-built Toyota vehicles to be deployed on Uber’s ride sharing network. The first fleet of cars will be based on Toyota’s Sienna minivan, and a pilot scheme is set to begin on Uber’s network in 2021.

Waymo is taking a different approach to launching its self-driving robo-taxi in Europe.

A Tesla car operating in “autopilot” mode crashed into a stationary police car in Laguna Beach, California, leaving the driver injured and the patrol vehicle “totalled”, according to an official. Sgt Jim Cota, the public information officer for the Laguna Beach police department, tweeted photos of the accident, which was reported at 11.07am on Tuesday. The driver of the Tesla, who suffered minor lacerations to the face from his glasses, told police officers the Tesla was in the semi-autonomous mode, although further investigation is needed to confirm this.

The confusion between fully autonomous self-driving cars and those that simply offer driver assistance technologies is leading to deaths on the road. Who is to blame and what should be done about it? Self-driving cars already exist and there will be more of them in future, but the chances are that you won't be driven by one any time soon. You may, however, already be using a car that can steer, brake or park by itself.

Taking the road less traveled is extremely difficult for self-driving cars. Autonomous vehicles rely on highly visible lane markings, as well as detailed 3D maps in order to navigate their environment safely. Which is why most of the major companies have eschewed testing on unmapped rural roads in favor of suburbs and cities.

Helen Ochisor drove the yellow taxi in the morning. Her husband Nicanor took it in the afternoon. They rarely saw each other during the week. She was asleep when he got home after a long night of driving. They exchanged a quick hello while handing off the taxi. Immigrants from Romania, the couple had bought their New York City taxi medallion nearly three decades ago. Lately, it had been difficult to find fares.

Self-driving cars could kill hundreds of people every year in the early going but save many more lives, a Toyota executive said Thursday at an event near the New York Auto Show. After a self-driving Uber car killed a pedestrian in Arizona earlier this month, concerns about the movement toward autonomous transportation have escalated. But Toyota North America CEO Jim Lentz said Thursday that more deaths are coming as automakers and tech companies pursue self-driving vehicles.

Uber’s big push to dominate the trucking industry took a leap forward today with the announcement that the ride-hailing giant is now operating its fleet of self-driving trucks on its freight-hauling app. The shipments are taking place in Arizona, where the ride-hailing giant is also testing out its robot taxis. Uber said it is using a transfer hub model, in which the trucks drive autonomously on the highway and human drivers take over for the last miles.

Beleaguered ridesourcing giant Uber has been criticized for a wide variety of sins, both real and imagined. But their biggest sin yet may be what they apparently want to do to the public in the future: force everybody to use Uber’s service by outlawing private automobiles.

ON MONDAY, A Tesla Model S slammed into the back of a stopped firetruck on the 405 freeway in Los Angeles County. The driver apparently told the fire department the car was in Autopilot mode at the time. The crash highlighted the shortcomings of the increasingly common semi-autonomous systems that let cars drive themselves in limited conditions. This surprisingly non-deadly debacle also raises a technical question: How is it possible that one of the most advanced driving systems on the planet doesn't see a freaking fire truck, dead ahead?