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Waymo’s autonomous vehicles are driving 25,000 miles every day

Waymo, the former Google self-driving project that spun out to become a business under Alphabet, has driven 8 million miles on public roads using its autonomous vehicles. Waymo CEO John Krafcik shared the company's milestone Friday while onstage with Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval at the National Governors Association conference in Santa Fe, N.M. The figure is notable when compared to where Waymo was less than a year ago. In November, the company announced it had reached 4 million miles, meaning the company has been able to double the number of autonomous miles driven on public roads in just eight months. Waymo's fleet of self-driving vehicles is now logging 25,000 miles every day on public roads, Krafcik said. He later tweeted out the stats along with a graphic. Waymo has 600 self-driving Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivans on the road in 25 cities. It's also adding 20,000 Jaguar I-Pace crossovers and has plans for another 62,000 Pacificas. The company also relies on simulation as it works to build an AI-based self-driving system that performs better than a human. In the past nine years, Waymo has "driven" more than 5 billion miles in its simulation, according to the company. That's the equivalent to 25,000 virtual cars driving all day, everyday, the company says. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js This newly shared goal signals Waymo is getting closer to launching a commercial driverless transportation service later this year. More than 400 residents in Phoenix have been trialing Waymo's technology by using an app to hail self-driving Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivans. The company says it plans to launch its service later this year. Waymo's driverless ride-hailing service has received the most attention. But the company is also working to apply its self-driving system to three other areas, including logistics (so trucking), making public transportation more accessible and, further off, plans to work with automakers to make personally owned vehicles. Waymo, and more specifically Krafcik, has never provided much detail about how its self-driving system would make public transportation more accessible. On Thursday, Krafcik teased a future announcement.

GM seeks appeals court ruling to continue legal fight with Fiat Chrysler

DETROIT — General Motors on Friday asked a U.S. appeals court to allow it to continue pursuing its civil racketeering suit against rival Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, rejecting a lower court judge's belittling of the complaint. The automaker's filing with the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals comes less than a week after U.S. District Court Judge Paul Borman called GM's suit against Fiat Chrysler a "waste of time and resources" at a time when both automakers should be focused on surviving the coronavirus pandemic. Borman ordered GM Chief Executive Mary Barra and Fiat Chrysler CEO Mike Manley to meet by July 1 to negotiate a resolution. "As we have said from the date this lawsuit was filed, it is meritless," FCA said on Friday. "FCA will continue to defend itself vigorously and pursue all available remedies in response to GM's groundless lawsuit. We stand ready to comply with Judge Borman's order," it added. In its motion, GM asked the appeals court to throw out Borman's order and reassign the case to a different district court judge. It called Borman's order "unprecedented" and "a profound abuse" of judicial power. GM sued Fiat Chrysler last year, accusing the Italian-American company's executives of bribing United Auto Workers union officials to secure labor agreements that put GM at a disadvantage. Fiat Chrysler is under investigation by the U.S. Justice Department as part of a wide-ranging probe of UAW corruption. GM's accusations came as Fiat Chrysler and French automaker Peugeot were in the early stages of preparing for a merger. Fiat Chrysler has said the suit was aimed at disrupting that deal. GM has said the suit has nothing to do with the merger. In a statement, GM rejected Borman's characterization of the suit as a "distraction" and defended its decision to press the case. "We filed a lawsuit against FCA for the same reason the U.S. Department of Justice continues to investigate the company: former FCA executives admitted they conspired to use bribes to gain labor benefits, concessions and advantages. Based on the direct harm to GM these actions caused, we believe FCA must be held accountable." Related Video: Government/Legal UAW/Unions Chrysler Fiat GM

Continental Automotive recalls 5 million airbag control units

Takata isn't the only supplier having airbag problems. Rival manufacturer Continental Automotive Systems announced a recall of 5 million airbag control units fitted to vehicles from Honda, Fiat Chrysler Automotive, Mercedes-Benz, and even a certain Chrysler-based Volkswagen. This sweeping recall has actually been in progress for some time, although the exact scope is only now becoming evident. In October of 2015, Mercedes-Benz recalled 2008 and 2009 model year C- and GLK-Class vehicles because their Continental-made airbag control units could corrode. Such a condition could cause the airbags to deploy without cause or warning, or in the event of a crash, not deploy at all. You can read all about it in our post from last year. Now, Continental's recall is going wide. Alongside the already recalled C and GLK, you've already heard about the 2008 and 2009 Honda Accord airbag recall, which we reported on yesterday. Now, Fiat Chrysler is announcing the recall of the 2009 Dodge Journey, as well as the 2008 and 2009 Dodge Grand Caravan, Chrysler Town and Country, and their rebadged counterpart, the Volkswagen Routan. Yes, one manufacturer is recalling another manufacturer's vehicle. The models listed above only amount to about 580,000 vehicles out of 5 million bad airbag control units. And since Continental will notify manufacturers who will then issue their own recalls, it's extremely likely that more brands and vehicles will be ensnared. Stay tuned. Related Video: News Source: NHTSA via Automotive News - sub. req.Image Credit: Fabian Bimmer / Reuters Recalls Chrysler Dodge Fiat Honda Mercedes-Benz Safety Crossover Minivan/Van Sedan FCA