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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.

CMC to produce limited run of Callum's Jaguar Mark 2 [w/video]

We were a more than a little jealous when designer Ian Callum revealed his Jaguar Mark 2 restomod that he commissioned from Classic Motor Cars. It turns out that we weren't the only ones that dug it - the reaction was so great that CMC got Callum's permission to create a limited run of them for customers. Although, with prices quoted between £350,000 and £375,000 ($572,000 - $613,000), we doubt Ian needs to worry about seeing a copy of his creation pass him too soon.
"Within hours we had received calls from people all over the globe asking if they could buy one," said Peter Neumark, Chairman of CMC in the latest announcement. The reaction came as a surprise to Callum, who said he designed the car entirely to his own specifications and actually wasn't sure if people would like it.
Among Callum's many changes are new bumpers, wider front fenders with functional louvers and less chrome trim. Under the hood is a 4.3-liter six-cylinder fitted with two SU carbs putting out around 260 horsepower and 280 pound-feet of torque. It should be a much better driver too, with a completely re-engineered independent rear suspension, adjustable dampers at all four corners, improved brakes and a new rack and pinion steering system designed by CMC with electric assist.

Jaguar sculpture by RCA design students is a minimal beauty

With its well-deserved reputation for high design, it is not particularly surprising to see Jaguar reaching outside of the automotive realm for future inspiration. To that end, the British automaker recently enlisted the talents of students at the Royal College of Art to create a piece of forward-looking, automotive-inspired sculpture.
The result of this project can be seen above; a sculpture created by RCA students Claire Miller and Ewan Gallimore, and unveiled to a small audience to kick off London's Clerkenwell Design Week. The spare and rather elegant form created by the talented pair absolutely harkens back to coupes from Jaguar's past as well as its present (read: F-Type) without aping any one model particularly.
In a press release, the artists had this to say about the work: "Our form relates to the Jaguar brand through its sculptural volumes, bespoke materials and visual lightness. These elements helped us to create a sculpture that aimed to display a seamless transition between interior and exterior space." Get a better look at the Jaguar artwork in the gallery above, or read through the press release, which follows.