1999 Volkswagen Beetle Gls Hatchback 2-door 2.0l on 2040-cars

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Aurora's Chris Urmson on autonomy — that's one way to avoid speeding tickets

Although this year's CES was full of companies announcing and exhibiting their real and conceivable self-driving car technologies, while actual self-driving cars from Aptiv-Lyft were giving conventioneers 400 rides around town, the biggest news came when Volkswagen Group — and recognize this is the entire group, not just the brand — and Hyundai announced that they'd both partnered with Aurora Innovation. While the VW announcement was vague — "The collaboration brings the two companies together to realize self-driving electric vehicles in cities as Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) fleets" — Hyundai provided a concrete goal: "a strategic partnership to bring self-driving Hyundai vehicles to market by 2021." You may not have heard of Aurora, which has been described in some news accounts as "mysterious." But Aurora Innovation has been in business since December 2016, and it is to autonomous technology what the 1927 Yankees are to baseball. The three leaders of the company are Chris Urmson, co-founder and CEO, who had previously been chief technology officer for Alphabet Self-Driving Cars; Sterling Anderson, co-founder and chief product officer, who had directed the development of Tesla Autopilot; and Drew Bagnell, co-founder and chief technical officer, who had been autonomy architect and perception lead at the Uber Advanced Technology Center. We had the chance to sit down with Chris Urmson after he appeared onstage at a Hyundai press conference. He shared his insights on Aurora's approach to automated driving. Initial deployment of self-driving cars? "We think the first place this technology comes to market in in the transportation services or ride-hailing applications, but that's for our partners to decide." (Ride-sharing is a strategy a lot of players in the field are shooting for, as round-the-clock use is one way for paying for what will initially be a technology too costly for private ownership.) Transporting goods or people? "I personally — and as a company — am more excited initially about moving people around. Urban mobility. That's where you see the largest social impact. And it provides better access to mobility for people." Can you create a car that doesn't crash? "It is a fundamentally hard problem because other operators on the road can behave erratically at any moment. For example, if you are in a two-lane, opposing-traffic road, if you want to be safe, you don't drive there, ever.

Volkswagen says goodbye to Eos, Routan in 2015 updates

Usually automakers announce changes to their lineup individually on a vehicle-by-vehicle basis, but sometimes it all comes at once – especially when the changes are ones we either expected or might not otherwise notice. That's the path Volkswagen has gone with changes to its US lineup for 2015. The biggest change is what we already knew: that the new Golf arrives for the 2015 model year, bringing with it the new GTI, Golf R, e-Golf and Golf SportWagen (to replace the previous Jetta wagon). But there are some new details as well. For starters, Volkswagen has finally confirmed that both the Eos and the Routan – both long rumored to be on their way out – will be exiting this year. The Eos hardtop convertible, pictured above, will linger for one last year, its Sport trim replaced by a new Final Edition with 18-inch wheels, two-tone leather interior and enhanced equipment. Meanwhile the Routan, which hasn't actually been built in over a year, is finally dead, as VW confirms it has dropped the Chrysler-built minivan from its lineup for 2015 altogether. The German automaker has also confirmed that the Touareg is getting a facelift early in the new year, which we expect will closely follow the revisions revealed a few months ago ahead of the Beijing Motor Show. Finally VW has announced an upgrade to its 2.0-liter TDI. Fitted to the Golf, Jetta, Passat and Beetle, the updated diesel gets 10 more horsepower with output now up to 150 hp and 236 pound-feet of torque. Scope out the full list of announcements in the press release below. MODEL YEAR 2015: NEW GOLF FAMILY, REDESIGNED JETTA, AND NEW TDI® CLEAN DIESEL ENGINE HEAD THE CHANGES Jul 22, 2014 In a busy year, Volkswagen will also add a new Golf SportWagen, an all-new Golf R, a redesigned Touareg SUV, and the company's first U.S.-market EV, the e-Golf - All-new Golf is bigger, lighter, and more fuel-efficient than the previous model, seats five, and has a larger trunk than any midsize sedan - New Golf GTI has 210-horsepower engine, with improved fuel efficiency and performance - e-Golf is Volkswagen's first full Battery Electric Vehicle for sale in the U.S.

Russian auto boomtown grinds to halt over Ukraine sanctions

Thousands of auto workers have been furloughed and food prices are soaring as Western sanctions pummel the small Russian city of Kaluga and its flagship foreign carmakers, with more sanctions likely to come. The Kaluga region, 190 kilometers (120 miles) southwest of Moscow, says it has attracted more than 1.3 trillion roubles ($15 billion) in investment, mostly foreign, since 2006. But Western sanctions imposed in recent weeks after Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine have exacerbated lingering component shortages and halted production at two flagship car plants, Germany's Volkswagen and Sweden's Volvo. A third, the PSMA Rus plant that is a joint venture between Stellantis and Mitsubishi and employs 2,000, may halt production soon due to a lack of parts, Stellantis' chief executive said last Thursday. "It is not clear what will happen. They don't give us any concrete information," said Pavel Terpugov, a welder at the PSMA Rus plant. Terpugov said he needs twice as much money to buy groceries than before the sanctions. Analysts have forecast Russian inflation could soar to 24% this year, while the economy may shrink to 2009 levels. The United States and Europe are weighing more sanctions against Russia after Ukraine accused Russian forces of civilian killings in northern Ukraine, where a mass grave was found in Bucha, outside Kyiv. Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a "special operation" and the Kremlin categorically denied any accusations related to the murder of civilians, including in Bucha. One source of hope for some in Kaluga, with its 325,000 residents, is the West may be reluctant to hurt its own companies. "Does it make sense to impose sanctions on its own plant and lose money?" said Valery Uglov, an auto mechanic at the Volkswagen plant. "Does it make sense to lose the Russian market?" "We hope to return to work as soon as possible and everyone will have confidence in the future again," Uglov said. Volkswagen, whose factory employs 4,200 people, in early March suspended operations. A spokeswoman said production remained frozen. Volvo Group, which employs over 600 people to build trucks, also suspended production. Even before the sanctions, Russian car sales had contracted from 2.8 million units from when the Volkswagen factory opened in 2007 to 1.67 million units last year, damaged by both sanctions after the 2014 annexation of Crimea and the COVID-19 pandemic.