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Waymo opens its self-driving taxis to 'Trusted Testers' in San Francisco

Alphabet's fully autonomous driving unit Waymo is ready to offer rides to select passengers in San Francisco, the company announced on Tuesday. Starting later today, residents can sign up to become "Trusted Testers." With an invite to the program, you can use the Waymo One app to take rides in the fleet of Jaguar I-Pace vehicles Waymo will have stationed in the city.  Waymo describes the Trusted Tester program as a "research-focused" effort designed to help it collect feedback on its ride experience, with an emphasis on gathering information related to accessibility.    "We kicked off this program last week with a select few and are now expanding the program to all interested San Franciscans," the company said. "We’ll begin with an initial group and welcome more riders in the weeks to come." Much like it did in Arizona, Waymo won't let the cars drive without supervision right off the back. The company will have employees in the cars to ensure its fifth-generation Waymo Driver technology doesn't get lost on San Francisco's tricky one-way streets and hills. The company also told Bloomberg passengers will ride for free.   The expansion comes after Waymo recently announced CEO John Krafcik was leaving the company to pursue other projects. Some saw Krafcik as being too slow to push the company toward commercialization.  This article by I. Bonifacic originally appeared on Engadget. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Has the Jaguar XKR-S Sportbrake leaked out early?

Want to haul ass down the Autobahn with the whole family and all their gear in tow? Forget that Porsche Cayenne or Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 - what you'll want is a power wagon: something like an Audi RS6 Avant or Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG Estate. Unfortunately there are precious few of these performance station wagons on the market anywhere, especially with American offerings like the Cadillac CTS-V Sport Wagon on its way out and the Dodge Magnum SRT8 long gone. But there's a new challenger emerging.
That'd be the Jaguar XFR-S Sportbrake, a hi-po estate from Coventry that's been a long time in the making. And now it's apparently almost here. (Only by "here," we mean "there," as it's not likely ever to come to the United States.)
Apparently set to be unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show is a Frankenstein-style cross between a Jaguar XF Sportbrake and XFR-S performance sedan, taking the best elements from both. From the former, that means the extended roofline that gives it the cargo capacity of a small crossover. From the former, that means a 5.0-liter supercharged V8 producing 542 horsepower and 502 pound-feet of torque, driving the rear wheels through an eight-speed automatic transmission.

Junkyard Gem: 2002 Jaguar XJR

One thing that's a constant in the big self-service car graveyards is the presence of massively depreciated European luxury sedans. These cars come from the factory stuffed full of complex leading-edge technology, and they require the owner to check every box on the maintenance schedule, year after year. Once that 10-year-old A8 or S-Class reaches its fourth owner, broken stuff often goes unrepaired, convenience-store generic oil goes in the engine (that is, if the engine even gets any new oil), and the European Luxury Sedan Doomsday Clock starts ticking. Here's a factory-hot-rod Jag that sold new for quite a bit more than a BMW 745i and just 20 bucks less than a Mercedes-Benz S430, back when Enron's machinations were in the news and a lot of energy-industry execs were about to get their luxury sedans repossessed, now in a Colorado self-serve yard. We live in a golden age of forced-induction engines in U-Wrench junkyards, with all sorts of turbocharged and supercharged machinery just waiting to provide the raw materials for a really stupid engine swap. The 4.0-liter, 370-horsepower V8 in the 2002 XJR would be just about perfect for installation into, say, a Datsun Maxima. This yard charges just $44.99 plus $10.60 in core charges and environmental fees for any supercharger, be it the dime-a-dozen Eaton M62 found on GM 3800s or the mighty M112 that was once buried between the heads on this engine. Thing is, you need to get to a car like this immediately after it hits the yard, because the first junkyard shopper with sufficient tools is going to grab that ultra-cool blower right away. The price tag for this car started at $71,830, which comes to about $105,550 in 2020 dollars. We can assume that some four-figure repair became necessary, and that this car's final owner had to let it go to the highest bidder with cash on hand… which turned out to be U-Pull-&-Pay. Look, you could still get a cassette player in a high-end luxury car in 2002! When do you suppose CD players will finally disappear from new cars? Here in the junkyard, the lowly Kia becomes equal to the majestic Jaguar. Perhaps their metals will be reused in a Geely next year. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. The security of knowing you'll never, ever lose it in the parking lot. Featured Gallery Junked 2002 Jaguar XJR View 20 Photos Auto News Jaguar Automotive History Sedan jaguar xjr Junkyard Gems