Articles by Gabrielle Coppola

Car-Data Firms Flop as Automakers See Dollar Signs in Software

Auto companies promising billions in new software revenue by the end of the decade have been hiring engineers left and right, poaching executives from tech giants and trying to figure out how to process and monetize the oodles of data …

Porsche Expands Its ‘Flexible Ownership’ Subscription That Includes Insurance

Porsche is expanding its app-based subscription service to four new cities in the U.S. and Canada, deepening its experiment in flexible car ownership even as other automakers back away. The luxury sports-car brand of Volkswagen AG is adding Las Vegas, …

Stolen High-End Cars Recovered in Chicago Car-Sharing Fraud

Daimler AG and BMW AG’s joint car-sharing and mobility business has suspended service in Chicago after a fraud incident. Some vehicles may have been rented using deceptive means through Share Now’s mobile app, according to the Chicago Police Department. Multiple …

Turning Sharing Into a Sales Pitch for Pricier New Cars

The ability to rent his car to strangers for cash convinced Trevor Davis, a high-school teacher in Dallas, to buy a brand-new Honda Civic instead of a used car. “I was going to get something real cheap, an inexpensive second …

It’s Not Easy to Teach Robot Drivers to Think Like Humans

Robot cars make for annoying drivers. Relative to human motorists, the driverless vehicles now undergoing testing on public roads are overly cautious, maddeningly slow, and prone to abrupt halts or bizarre paralysis caused by bikers, joggers, crosswalks or anything else …

Supplier Claims Uber Disabled Its Safety Tech in Volvo That Caused Pedestrian Fatality

Uber Technologies Inc. disabled the standard collision-avoidance technology in the Volvo SUV that struck and killed a woman in Arizona last week, according to the auto-parts maker that supplied the vehicle’s radar and camera. “We don’t want people to be …

NuTonomy Temporarily Halts Self-Driving Tests After Boston Asks

Self-driving startup NuTonomy halted its pilot tests on Boston’s public roads after city officials requested a pause following the death of a pedestrian struck by a self-driving Uber Technologies Inc. vehicle in Tempe, Arizona. “We are working with City of …

Arizona Became Autonomous Hotbed Prior to Uber’s Deadly Crash

The technology behind autonomous vehicles has originated from coders in Silicon Valley, engineers in Detroit and academic researchers in Pittsburgh. Much of it eventually lands on the streets of Arizona, a state that’s done more than any other to welcome …

Personal Privacy and the War Over Connected Driver Data

Picture this: You’re driving home from work, contemplating what to make for dinner, and as you idle at a red light near your neighborhood pizzeria, an ad offering $5 off a pepperoni pie pops up on your dashboard screen. Are …

Drivers Aren’t Going Away Anytime Soon, Say Driverless Car Leaders

Carmakers and tech companies have fallen over one another in recent weeks to show the strides they’ve made with self-driving cars. At CES — usually a stage for bragging about futuristic bona fides — top executives are instead tamping down …