Latest Personal Auto Headlines
All the headlines from our Personal Auto Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Challenge Up Ahead: Building a Morally Ethical Self-Driving Car: Viewpoint
Feb 6 2020 // Not too long ago, tech enthusiasts were telling us that by 2020, we’d see self-driving cars hit the mainstream, with some 10 million on the roads. That turned out to be a wild overestimation. The actual number of...
Uber Wins Ruling That Drivers Are Not Employees in Brazil, Its 2d Biggest Market
Feb 6 2020 // A Brazilian higher court for labor ruled on Wednesday that there was no employment relationship between Uber and its drivers, siding with the ride-hailing company against a Sao Paulo driver. The federal judge in Brasilia...
Driver Dies, Passengers Injured in Ohio Church Bus Crash
Feb 4 2020 // A church bus and an SUV crashed on Feb. 2 in Ohio, and the bus driver died, the State Highway Patrol said. The patrol’s Lebanon post reported the crash occurred around 9:30 a.m. on Dixie Highway in Warren...
Waymo: Self-Driving Vehicle That Crashed in Arizona in Manual Mode, Wamo says
Feb 3 2020 // A Waymo self-driving minivan operating in manual mode was involved in a rear-end collision in a Phoenix suburb caused by a sedan’s reckless driving, the company said Friday. The collision occurred late Thursday night...
South Carolina Senate Nixes Bill to Ban Handheld Phones While Driving
Feb 3 2020 // It appears that bill in South Carolina requiring anyone using a cellphone while driving to not hold the phone in their hands will not pass this year. The Senate Transportation Committee decided Wednesday to not vote on the...
TDI to Insurers: Compliance with Temporary Vehicle Coverage Provisions Required
Jan 28 2020 // The Texas Department of Insurance has reminded carriers that provide personal auto insurance in the state about the need to comply with new temporary vehicle coverage provisions contained in House Bill 3420. HB 3420,...
Recreational Cannabis Impairs Driving Even When Driver Not High: Harvard Research
Jan 27 2020 // Recreational cannabis use affects driving ability even when drivers are not intoxicated by marijuana, according to a study from a Harvard Medical School hospital. Published in the Drug and Alcohol Dependence journal, the...
Uber in London Failed to Flag Assault Complaints, Monitor Drivers’ Insurance Status
Jan 24 2020 // London’s main transportation regulator has released a scathing document detailing why it moved to ban Uber Technologies Inc. from operating in the city. The regulator lists several safety concerns, including the...
Lyft Hopes New Expert Council Improves Safety for Riders, Drivers
Jan 23 2020 // Lyft Inc is putting together a council of experts to advise the ride-hailing company on its safety initiatives for riders and drivers, it said in a blog post on Tuesday. The Safety Advisory Council will include...
Ransomware Exposure Driving Up Cyber Insurance Costs
Jan 22 2020 // U.S. insurers are ramping up cyber-insurance rates by as much as 25% and trying to curb exposure to vulnerable customers after a surge of costly claims, industry sources said. The changes follow a challenging year of...
Recreational Cannabis Impairs Driving Even When Driver Not High: Harvard Research
Jan 16 2020 // Recreational cannabis use affects driving ability even when drivers are not intoxicated by marijuana, according to a study from a Harvard Medical School hospital. Published in the Drug and Alcohol Dependence journal, the...
Southern California Uber Driver Accused of Raping Passenger
Jan 15 2020 // An Uber driver was arrested on suspicion of raping a woman who said she fell asleep in his car after a night of drinking and woke up to him assaulting her, authorities said. The suspect, Alonso Calle, had contacted police...
Using Game Theory to Determine Who’s Liable: Autonomous Vehicle or Human Driver?
Jan 15 2020 // A recent decision by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) on the March 2018 Uber crash that killed a pedestrian in Arizona split the blame among Uber, the company’s autonomous vehicle (AV), the safety...
N.Y. Limo Drivers Face New Safety Rules After Deadly 2018 Crash
Jan 15 2020 // New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and leaders of the state legislature have agreed on a package of limousine-safety laws that would create a new driver’s license for operators, require seat belts, ban defective vehicles...
Test for Self-Driving Shuttles to Run in Columbus, Ohio, Neighborhood
Jan 14 2020 // Self-driving shuttles will do a circuit through a residential neighborhood in Ohio’s capital city as part of a year-long pilot program starting in late January. Three, 12-passenger, disabled-accessible electric...
California Agent Sentenced for Stealing $174K in Premiums from Truck Drivers
Jan 10 2020 // Connie Free, 34, of Moreno Valley, Calif., was sentenced this week to 22 felony counts and one misdemeanor count including grand theft and forgery after reportedly stealing at least $174,000 in insurance premiums from 11...
Oregon Woman Sues Uber for $1M, Alleging Sex Assault by Driver
Jan 10 2020 // A Hillsboro, Ore. woman is seeking more than $1 million from the ride-hailing company Uber, alleging she was sexually assaulted by one of the company’s drivers in 2018. The Oregonian/OregonLive reports the woman...
Teens Still Not Driving Like Teens Used To: Viewpoint
Jan 8 2020 // The much-discussed collapse in teenage driving in the U.S. seems to have ended a few years ago. But the less-discussed recovery, which I wrote about last year, seems to be over, too. Newly released data from the Federal...
Farmers Expands Program, Now Insuring Uber Drivers in 14 States and D.C.
Jan 7 2020 // Farmers Insurance has expanded its relationship with Uber by providing commercial automobile insurance to its ridesharing drivers in 12 additional states and the District of Columbia. In addition to the District of...
Report: Impaired Driving Arrests Increased in Minnesota in 2019
Jan 7 2020 // The number of people in Minnesota arrested for driving while impaired grew by nearly 5% last year, partly due to people driving with cannabis, opioids and methamphetamine in their system, according to a state...
