Will Mercedes-Benz Get Sucked in the Dieselgate Scandal?

When the biggest scandal in automotive history broke in 2015, all German carmakers scrambled for cover. As time passed and the emissions began to settle, it seemed that only Volkswagen and its brands were the cheaters of the industry.

Today’s automotive industry being as it is, collaboration between Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Volkswagen is a given in more than one areas. The three have even been involved together in the European Research Group on Environment and Health in the Transport Sector, an organization linked with an emissions experiment on 10 macaque monkeys in the U.S.

Despite all this, Mercedes has time and again denied having anything to do with Volkswagen’s practices. This week, however, reports in German media point to what may become yet another shameful act from the German carmakers. read more »

Fatal Uber crash highlights a blind spot for self-driving cars: Night vision

A few weeks after a woman was struck and killed by an Uber self-driving crossover in Arizona, the crash was recreated using heat seeking, thermal-imaging sensors. With that night vision technology — used by the military and luxury cars for decades — the pedestrian is clearly identified more than five seconds before impact, which would have given the car time to stop or swerve.

Since the accident in March, autonomous car researchers' eyes have been opening to the need to teach robots how to drive in the dark and avoid people who wander into the road. After all, pedestrian deaths are up 46 percent since 2009, and three-quarters of them happen at night, according to federal data  read more »