NHTSA

What manual controls should be present in autonomous vehicles, how they should be tested as road-worthy, and just how advanced the current state-of-the-art is are all points of controversy, as US road safety regulators mull feedback on what might be holding back driverless technologies. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) threw down the gauntlet to skeptics, enthusiasts, and everyone in-between to comment on the challenges of control-free autonomous car regulations, and as you might expect the responses were spirited.

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Cameras that replace car side mirrors with a high-tech - and more aerodynamic - alternative will go into safety testing by US road regulators, potentially bringing legislation currently blocking the high-tech upgrade in line with what's permitted internationally. Several automakers already offer vehicles with cameras in the place of traditional glass mirrors, but current laws prevent their use in the US.

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US road safety regulators plan to put advanced driver assistance tech to the test, in particular examining how Level 2 systems like Tesla's Autopilot transfer back responsibilities behind the wheel. Although once the preserve of expensive luxury cars, the combination of adaptive cruise control and lane keeping assistance is increasingly accessible on mass-market models.

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Transdev North America has angered the US DOT's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration by transporting kids in a self-driving shuttle. Though the company did get temporary permission to import its autonomous shuttle, neither of the approved reasons included transporting kids, according to the agency. The activity has been called 'irresponsible.'

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Next-generation autonomous car testing could accelerate in the US, with safety regulators weighing new versions of rules that would allow automakers to do away with human safety drivers and traditional controls. The proposed changes came as the NHTSA announced a pilot program for driverless vehicles, which will aim to make testing rules consistent across the country.

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What do you look for in a new or used car? Do you consider the styling, comfort, features, and engine horsepower? Whether buying or leasing a vehicle, the car safety ratings should be your top priority. Nothing beats the feeling of driving a ‘safe’ vehicle. The car safety ratings will mean the difference between life and death in the event of an accident. The sad truth is that not all cars are made equal. There are some that were engineered with the driver and passenger’s safety in mind, and there are some that gets a low grade in terms of crash safety.

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The EPA plans to roll back the Obama Administration's standards on car emissions, setting the auto industry - and the Trump government - on a collision course with California. Describing the previous standards as having been made "with politically charged expediency," US Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt argued that the emissions limits were "too high."

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Ford may be forced to add more than a million vehicles to a previous safety recall, after reports that several more models - including the best-selling F-150 truck - could be impacted. The 2016 recall affected 153,000 vehicles at the time, spanning trucks and SUVs from the F-150, Expedition, and Navigator, to the Mustang, from the 2011 and 2012 model years.

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BMW is recalling every single BMW i3 it has sold in the US, and has been forced to freeze sales after crash test concerns. The car, which is sold in pure-electric and gas-electric hybrid forms, has been on sale in the US since 2014, with new model year 2018 i3 cars due to show up in dealerships imminently. Now, though, nobody will be able to buy them.

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The Tesla Model S and Model X are the safest cars in history... unless they're not. The variations in automotive crash testing are once again under the microscope, with Tesla protesting the latest batch of IIHS results after the Model S electric sedan failed again to ace the controversial small overlap frontal test. It's a frustrating blip for the EV company, which actually redesigned the car in the hope of performing better in the crash testing.

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The driver killed in a high-profile Tesla crash last year repeatedly ignored warnings by the semi-autonomous Autopilot system to take control, US investigators have concluded. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) had been digging into the May 2016 incident in which Ohio resident Joshua Brown's Tesla Model S collided with a tractor-semitrailer truck near Williston, Florida, and has now released its accident docket. More than 500 pages of information have been revealed about the fatal crash, including technological reports, interview transcripts, and photographs.

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The Tesla Model X has become the first SUV to ever score a full 5-stars in NHTSA crash testing, with the all-electric car credited as being the safest SUV around. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration examines crash performance in categories like frontal impacts, side impacts, and pole impacts. For SUVs, though, the most arduous challenge is often the risk of overturning in an incident, which the NHTSA calls the rollover probability.

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