Audi Recall, Shifting Alliances, and More Car News This Week

Audi issued a voluntary recall of its E-Tron SUV; self-driving tech startup Aurora broke up with VW and joined up with Fiat Chrysler.
Fiat Chrysler maker of Ram trucks will work on autonomous vehicle technology with startup Aurora.
FCA US LLC

If you’re not making adjustments, you’re not learning, right? Isn’t that the reason every tech conference echoes with the word “iteration”? This week, we saw plenty of course corrections. Audi recalled a few E-Trons over a faulty grommet, a blooper that risks (but has yet to produce) a battery fire. Aurora, the self-driving tech startup, and VW ended their agreement to work on autonomous vehicles—just as Aurora struck another deal with FCA. New York decided it wanted even more rules for Uber and Lyft. We drove a Lamborghini that adapts to how you drive. Because change is sometimes fun, right?

Also this week: We learn how the engineers at Cadillac expanded the capabilities of its SuperCruise driver assistance feature, and hit the California coast in a hybrid Porsche 911. It’s been a week. Let’s get you caught up.

Headlines

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Working Autonomous Vehicle of the Week

After all the headlines and lofty language about self-driving vehicles, it feels good to see one actually work a shift in awhile. Vera, Volvo Trucks’ first electric autonomous vehicle, has started to haul some goods in a logistics center in Gothenburg, Sweden. The slow and repetitive task seems perfect for robotic driving technology, which is still very much in development.

Vera, the first autonomous, electric vehicle from Volvo Trucks, hauls freight for the Danish shipping company DFDS.

Volvo Trucks
Stat of the Week

$500 million

The projected cost to Uber if its drivers are classified as employees and not independent contractors in California, according to a Barclays analysis. A law recently passed by the California Assembly—that’s now in the hands of the state senate—would do just that. The change might cost Lyft an additional $290 million, according to the analysis.

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In the Rearview

Essential stories from WIRED’s canon
More iteration: The relentless tinkering that makes F1 cars look so funky.


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