Free Republic

ATLANTA — Waymo’s self-driving cars can be seen all over Atlanta streets, giving rideshare trips through Uber. But what happens when they’re empty? In one northwest Atlanta neighborhood, the residents say dozens of Waymo cars end up circling their cul-de-sac. “It’s almost every little cul-de-sac in our area, so I think it’s a problem,” one neighbor, on Battleview Drive, told Gehlbach. On a dead end street, Waymo after Waymo after Waymo drive on, usually early in the morning. “I think yesterday morning, we had 50 cars that came through between 6 and 7,” a neighbor told Channel 2 Action News....

Key Points Canada is allowing 49,000 Chinese-made electric vehicles to be imported for retail sales annually at a tariff rate of 6.1%. That’s opening the market for auto dealers in the country to sell Chinese EVs. “I think it is going to a be a huge eye-opener,” Michael MacGillivray, who oversees 10 dealerships in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, Canada, told CNBC. ============================================================ HALIFAX, Nova Scotia — Michael MacGillivray sees the arrival of Chinese electric vehicles in Canada as a potential game changer. “I think it is going to a be a huge eye-opener,” said MacGillivray, who oversees 10 dealerships...

Japan’s Honda (HMC) posted its first-ever loss in its nearly 80-year history, following a strategy shift from EVs, which cost it dearly. But a refocused plan to lean into hybrids and upbeat guidance for the year ahead have investors bullish. Honda said total EV-related losses for the fiscal year ended March 2026 came in 1.579 trillion yen ($10 billion), leading to an operating profit loss of 414.3 billion yen ($2.625 billion). “Although the automobile business faced a harsh business environment - including higher tariff burdens and lower unit sales due to factors such as semiconductor supply shortages — we implemented...

In 2024, President Biden said he wanted 56% of all new cars sold in the United States to be electric vehicles by 2032. California Governor Gavin Newsom similarly mandated that 35% of new 2026 model cars sold in the state be zero-emissions vehicles, rising to 68% in 2030 and 100% in 2035. The European Union announced in 2023 that, from 2035 onward, all new cars coming onto the market could not emit any CO2. The United Kingdom similarly announced a 2030 ban on the sale of new diesel and petrol cars. The reaction from the U.S. auto industry was blunt....

From your weight and facial expressions to your destination, cars collect a startling amount of data about you. Some of it may even raise your insurance costs. But you can take some simple steps to limit what they know about you. ... Modern cars are computers on wheels, and giant corporations are using them to suck up intimate details about your life and make more money. If you think driving today is a chance for solitude and independence, think again. And it looks like it's about to get a lot worse.

NYC’s traffic cameras are now writing fiction. The famous “Knight Rider” car KITT has been hit with a speeding ticket in Brooklyn — despite sitting on display inside an Illinois automotive museum for years. The Volo Museum, based north of Chicago, said it received a $50 ticket from the New York City Department of Finance tied to its replica of the famous TV car from the 1980s series starring David Hasselhoff. “Well, this is a new one … we got this in the mail today. This is 100% legit,” the museum wrote in a Facebook post on May 7. According...

Alphabet’s glitch-plagued robo-cab subsidiary has yet another speed bump. Waymo has recalled 3,800 autonomous taxis after identifying a bug that allowed the vehicles to drive into standing water, per a letter on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) website. According to the NHTSA, which is probing the mishap, the software recall applies to Waymo vehicles that use the company’s fifth and sixth generation automated driving systems (or ADS). The recall was prompted by an incident that occurred on April 20, when a self-driving car drove into a flooded creek in San Antonio amid inclement weather and was swept away,...

President Donald Trump’s upcoming meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping is drawing renewed attention to concerns that Chinese electric vehicles entering North America through Canada could pose national security risks inside the United States. Gatestone Institute senior fellow Gordon Chang joined FOX Business’ Maria Bartiromo on "Mornings with Maria" to discuss tensions surrounding China’s trade practices, energy policy and Beijing’s growing EV footprint ahead of the high-stakes Beijing meeting. The discussion comes as lawmakers push legislation aimed at blocking Chinese electric vehicles from entering the U.S. market, citing concerns over surveillance technology and connected-vehicle systems capable of collecting sensitive data.

ALLEN PARK, Mich.—A crew of engineers slipped past the empty security gate at a Ford Motor truck plant outside Detroit just after 3 a.m. The factory lines were still at that hour—but that was the point. The crew was there to test a section of a new pickup that few at the company knew even existed. Ford’s secret project had an ambitious goal: to figure out how to make electric vehicles in the U.S. that could compete with the Chinese models clobbering competitors globally. The secret is now out as Ford races toward building its first model, a new truck...

Popular Ford feature that has always been free now costs $455 Remember when buying a car meant paying once, grabbing the keys, and driving off into the sunset? That era may be fading fast. Automakers are quietly transforming the way drivers pay for their vehicles - and your next car could come with a growing list of monthly charges long after you've left General Motors is leading the charge, betting that subscriptions for features like navigation, safety systems, and hands-free driving will soon become a major profit engine - potentially generating billions of dollars a year and, in some cases,...

President Trump announced Friday he would soon raise tariffs to 25% on vehicles imported from the European Union, claiming the bloc was non-compliant with its US trade deal. “I am pleased to announce that, based on the fact the European Union is not complying with our fully agreed to Trade Deal, next week I will be increasing Tariffs charged to the European Union for Cars and Trucks coming into the United States,” he said in a post to Truth Social. Companies that build vehicles in the United States will be exempt from the tariff, he added. “Many Automobile and Truck...

Adria (Force) Hight, 56, of Terre Haute, Indiana, passed away peacefully on April 28, 2026, in Indianapolis, Indiana, surrounded by her loving family. She was born on June 4, 1969, in Huntington Park, California and grew up along the west coast in different beach cities. As a child she loved skating, swimming, playing restaurant and collecting matchbox cars. After graduating from Huntington Beach High School, she joined the family drag racing business working for her father John Force as one of the first employees of John Force Racing. Adria helped build the company from the ground up; everything from answering...

Are you ready for your car to decide if you’re fit to drive? If not, you’d better buckle up. A federal mandate declares new vehicles must have in-car surveillance for 2027 models onward that can decide if a person is fit to drive and can make the car inoperable via a so-called “kill switch.” And don’t count on brushing your teeth or gargling with Listerine to work around the driver monitor if you’ve had one too many. Most new cars won’t make the determination via breathalyzer, but infrared cameras continually monitoring potential impairment cues. They include pupil size, head movements,...

A panel of judges handed a setback this month to New Mexico auto dealers attempting to derail mandates requiring manufacturers to deliver more electric vehicles to the state. The ruling by a three-judge panel of the New Mexico Court of Appeals means that the state remains on track to steadily increase the share of zero- and low-emission vehicles in new car showrooms between now and 2032. For vehicle year 2027, which starts this year, the state mandate requires that electric vehicles comprise 43% of new passenger cars and light-duty trucks delivered to New Mexico. That requirement is set to increase...

Video

Uber has done its best to kill taxis, and now it's turning on drivers — starting with the drivers on its own app. The company is putting $10 billion into buying either robotaxi fleets or stakes in robotaxi companies, in hopes of cutting those pesky drivers out of its profit margins. From Reuters: Uber has committed more than $10 ​billion to buying thousands of autonomous vehicles ‌and taking stakes in their developers, breaking from its asset-light "gig economy" business model to avoid disruption from robotaxis, ​the Financial Times reported on Wednesday. Reuters could ​not immediately verify the report. Uber did...

A new Minnesota bill could ban most weekday and nighttime driving for classic cars A Minnesota bill would sharply limit when classic cars can legally be driven. Collector vehicles may only be allowed on weekends or at organized events. Critics warn the proposal could hurt car culture and local businesses. Seeing a classic car on the road is one of those rare moments that still brings a smile to anyone who appreciates such machines. That experience might be about to become even rarer in Minnesota. A new law there would limit classic cars to driving only on weekends or at...

California’s war on cars knows no bounds, which is far out of step for the state that launched America’s car culture. While policymakers haven’t yet outlawed the classics, their failure to act responsibly has added to the burden of owning them. Famous classic collector Jay Leno aims to change this. There are almost 36 million vehicles registered in California, according to the Department of Motor Vehicles. While the number of classic cars is difficult to determine, Sen. Shannon Grove says there are 320,000 automobiles made from 1976 to 1991 in the state. That’s an almost imperceptibly thin slice, less than...

A self-driving car struck and killed a beloved duck near a park in Texas, furious residents say. One witness wrote in a local Facebook group that they watched an Avride vehicle drive over the aquatic bird as it rested near Mueller Lake Park in Austin earlier this week, KXAN reported. 'I saw an Avride self-driving car, with a person in the driver's seat not touching the wheel, run over and kill a duck near the park,' the witness wrote. 'It didn't slow down or hesitate at all, just steamrolled right through, and the person inside did not stop to see...

This is one of those local stories that doesn’t get a ton of traction in the national headlines, but highlights quite possibly one of the most alarming trends in modern America: the failure to get the basics right. And by basics, in this case, I mean the ability for a town or city to put out fires. Fire departments around the Denver, Colorado, metro area have been struggling to afford new fire engines, which have ballooned in costs over the years, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic/economic catastrophe of 2020 and Wall Street’s private equity companies. They also have to navigate...