News
Uber will offer self-driving Volvos in Pittsburgh this month
Uber customers in Pittsburgh who request a ride from the ride sharing service may find themselves riding in a specially prepared Volvo XC90 that can drive itself. Passengers will ride in a self-driving vehicle chaperoned by a human driver behind the wheel ready to take control of the car if necessary and an engineer monitoring the operation of the autonomous system. This will mark the first time a self-driving car has been used in commercial service in the United States.
Uber’s self-driving car program has been under the stewardship of John Bares since January, 2015. Bares was head of Carnegie Mellon University’s National Robotics Engineering Center for 13 years before he left to start Carnegie Robotics, a Pittsburgh-based company that makes components for self-driving industrial robots used in mining, farming, and the military.
“I turned him [Kalanick] down three times. But the case was pretty compelling.” Bares says. Once he joined Uber, he quickly put together a team consisting of hundreds of engineers, robotics experts, and few old fashioned auto mechanics. The mission was nothing less that to replace Uber’s 1 million human drivers with robotic drivers as soon as possible. The message is, if you drive for Uber, you should keep your resumé up to date and your eyes open for other lines of work.
Pittsburgh is the center of the Uber self-driving experiment because that is where the talent is. Carnegie Mellon is a world leader in autonomous systems. Its graduates are working on the Google car and are in high demand at any company planning to offer self-driving cars, including Apple and Tesla. Earlier in the year, a Tesla Model S loaded with cameras and sensors, presumably a test mule for Autopilot 2.0, was spotted testing in Pittsburgh.
So far, Uber has just a few specially modified Volvo XC90s ready for commercial service, but it expects to have 100 of them by the end of the year. The hardware at the heart of its self-driving system includes cameras, radar, lidar, GPS receivers, and a liquid cooled computer mounted in the rear.
Uber self-driving Volvo XC90
Uber is moving fast. “We are going commercial,” says CEO Travis Kalanick. “This can’t just be about science.” Last month, it purchased Otto, a start-up company that is working to bring self-driving long haul trucks to market. In theory, its technology will allow truck drivers to crawl in back and nap while the trucks are on the highway. Uber will take over and re-brand that business and incorporate the Otto technology into its own self-driving systems.
Otto’s founders were all previously members of the Google car program, but grew impatient with the slow, plodding pace of development at Google. They wanted an opportunity to showcase their talents much sooner than they could if they remained at Google. “We were really excited about building something that could be launched early,” says Anthony Levandowski, co-founder of Otto.
Kalanick is clearly looking to be the first to begin offering a self-driving ride hailing service. He intends to beat Tesla, Apple, Google, Ford, and Genera Motors to the punch. “Nobody has set up software that can reliably drive a car safely without a human,” he says in an oblique reference to Tesla’s Autopilot system. “We are focusing on that.” Developing an autonomous vehicle, he adds, “is basically existential for us.”
At first, trips in the self-driving Volvos will be free. Uber’s standard local rate is $1.30 per mile but Kalanick says eventually prices will be so low that the cost per mile will be cheaper in a self-driving Uber than in a private car, even in rural areas. “That could be seen as a threat,” says Volvo CEO Hakan Samuelsson. “We see it as an opportunity.”
Source: Bloomberg Photo credit: Uber, AP
Lifestyle
NTSB findings on fatal Tesla crash tell a very different story
The NTSB confirmed the driver, not Tesla’s FSD, caused the fatal Texas house crash.
The National Transportation Safety Board released preliminary findings Wednesday confirming that a Tesla driver, not the vehicle’s software, caused a fatal crash in Katy, Texas in June. The driver, 44-year-old Michael Butler, had engaged Full Self-Driving Supervised mode on Rose Hollow Lane, a residential street with a 30 mph speed limit, before manually overriding the system by pressing the accelerator pedal all the way to 100%. Data recovered from the 2025 Tesla Model 3 showed the vehicle was traveling over 70 miles per hour when it struck a home and killed 76-year-old Martha Avila, who was inside. Weather was clear, the road was dry, and it was daylight.
Texas man charged in fatal Tesla crash where he blamed Autopilot
Butler told authorities he had passed out at the wheel. But security camera footage obtained by the NTSB told a different story, and showed the car accelerating through an intersection before leaving the road entirely. Police also found that Butler’s phone had Google searches including the terms “Tesla FSD not aggressive enough 2026” and “Tesla FSD too timid,” raising serious questions about how he was using the system before the crash. Butler has since been charged with manslaughter. The victim’s family has filed a lawsuit against both Butler and Tesla, alleging negligence.
The NTSB findings aligned directly with what Tesla VP of AI Software Ashok Elluswamy had already stated publicly on X in the weeks after the crash, writing that “the driver manually overrode self-driving by pressing the accelerator all the way to 100%.” The data confirmed his account.
Yup. In this case, the driver manually overrode self-driving by pressing the accelerator all the way to 100% of the accel pedal in this residential area. They reached a speed of 73 mph during the crash, and had the accelerator pressed even after the crash.
— Ashok Elluswamy (@aelluswamy) June 22, 2026
Lucid CEO Silvio Napoli responded to rumors of an imminent bankruptcy that was reportedly being mulled after a report stated the automaker was working with the firm AlixPartners to iron out its next steps.
The company felt a massive loss on Wall Street yesterday, as the report essentially pushed the stock down as much as 55 percent on Tuesday.
The report, published initially by Eletric-Vehicles.com, claimed Lucid was essentially in dire straits and was told by AlixPartners, a commonly used restructuring advisor, to either take shares private or file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Lucid’s head of Communications, Nick Twork, immediately challenged the report and stated the company “has sufficient liquidity to carry its operations well into next year.”
Now, the company’s CEO is chiming in as well, stating that the report is “so far from the facts that they require a direct response.”
Napoli said:
“Lucid is not considering bankruptcy or a transaction to take the company private. Those reports are false. The Board did not explore either scenario. Period.
As disclosed in our most recent quarterly filing, Lucid has sufficient liquidity to fund its operations well into next year.
We work with outside advisors to improve operational performance and execution. They are not advising Lucid on a take-private transaction or bankruptcy, and any suggestion that they have recommended either course of action to management or the Board is false.
My priority is clear: turn this company around. That is where the leadership team and I are focused.
I look forward to providing a full update during our quarterly earnings call on August 4th.”
🚨 Lucid CEO Silvio Napoli calls rumors of financial issues “so far from the facts that they require a direct response.”
Read his full remarks here: https://t.co/t3Pg1NHvzy pic.twitter.com/LvHUPhO4Qf
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) July 15, 2026
It seems pretty clear that Lucid is confident things will be okay, and, to be honest, they should not have much to worry about, especially considering the company has been backed by the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) for years. It has solid financial backing, and its sales, while weak, are pretty much right on par with a company of this age.
Lucid also sent a Cease & Desist letter to the publication for their report.
Lucid shares have rebounded nicely and are up nearly 21 percent at the time of publication. As soon as the company dispelled the rumors of bankruptcy yesterday, the stock began to climb back toward more reasonable levels.
Tesla has once again demonstrated strong customer focus by swiftly addressing and fully refunding a bizarre Supercharger pricing glitch that affected drivers in Atlantic Canada.
The issue surfaced earlier this month when the Tesla app began displaying dramatically inflated per-minute charging rates at stations in Prince Edward Island and parts of New Brunswick.
One widely shared screenshot from a Charlottetown, PEI Supercharger showed rates reaching ridiculous levels: $6.00 per minute for the 180-250 kW tier, along with $3.57/min for 100-180 kW and $2.29/min for 60-100 kW.
Correct pricing will be going live at midnight tonight. All fees since July 2nd 2026 will be waived.
— Tesla Charging (@TeslaCharging) July 13, 2026
These figures were several times higher than normal Supercharger pricing in the region.
To put the error in perspective, charging at the highest incorrect rate would have been shockingly expensive.
At 250 kW, a common charging speed at Superchargers, a vehicle pulls roughly 4.17 kWh per minute. Under the glitch, a driver spending just 10 minutes at peak power would face a $60 bill. A typical 20- to 30-minute session to add meaningful range could have cost $120 to $180 or more, before any congestion fees.
Tesla gets another layer of gamification with Free Supercharging on the line
By comparison, standard Canadian Supercharger rates usually fall between $0.25 and $0.60 per kWh, making a similar session cost roughly $15–$40. The erroneous per-minute structure, combined with the inflated numbers, turned what should be a convenient stop into a potential financial shock.
The glitch appears to have started sometime around early July, and quickly drew attention on social media as owners questioned whether Tesla had implemented steep hidden increases. Some drivers even reported seeing $0 charges in their history, indicating broader billing confusion.
Tesla’s official Charging account on X stated that correct pricing would roll out at midnight on July 13, so the fix is already in effect. More importantly, the company announced it would waive all fees for every Supercharger session since July 2. This blanket waiver covers the entire affected period without requiring users to file individual claims, with automated refunds expected soon. The decision affects stations in PEI and nearby areas in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
It’s a classy move, and rather than issuing partial credits or forcing owners to submit support tickets, Tesla simply absorbed the cost of the system error and made drivers whole. In an industry where hidden fees and bill disputes are common, Tesla’s proactive, no-questions-asked approach reinforces owner trust and highlights the company’s commitment to service excellence.
The incident, while disruptive for a short time, ultimately showcases Tesla’s ability to own mistakes and prioritize customer satisfaction. Atlantic Canada Tesla owners can now charge with confidence again, knowing the company has their back when technology glitches occur.
In an era of complex EV billing, such transparency and generosity are refreshing and set a positive example for the industry.
NTSB findings on fatal Tesla crash tell a very different story
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