Transportation on Cowlpane

GM agrees to pay $12.75M in California driver privacy settlement

Sat, 09 May 2026 19:05:30 +0000

Originally published by TechCrunch

General Motors has reached a privacy-related settlement with a group of law enforcement agencies led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta.

Back in 2024, The New York Timesreportedthat automakers including GM were sharing information about their customers’ driving behavior with insurance companies, and that some customers were concerned that their insurance rates had gone up as a result.

The settlement announcementfrom Bonta’s office similarly alleges that GM sold “the names, contact information, geolocation data, and driving behavior data of hundreds of thousands of Californians” to Verisk Analytics and LexisNexis Risk Solutions, which are both data brokers. Bonta’s office further alleges that this data was collected through GM’s OnStar program, and that the company made roughly $20 million from data sales.

A Frontier Airlines flight struck and killed a pedestrian at Denver International Airport

Sat, 09 May 2026 15:17:38 +0000

Originally published by Business Insider

A Frontier Airlines flight hit and killed a pedestrian at Denver International on Friday, the airport said.
Denver International said the person jumped a perimeter fence and was hit while crossing the runway.
Frontier said it was investigating the incident and was “deeply saddened by this event.”
Summaries are generated by an AI model trained on Business Insider’s articles. AI may make mistakes or provide inaccurate/incomplete information.

Porsche shutters e-bike, battery, software subsidiaries as part of company overhaul

Fri, 08 May 2026 18:25:29 +0000

Originally published by TechCrunch

Porsche is closing three of its subsidiaries as it copes with falling sales and declining profits, the German automaker announced Friday.

The automaker’s battery subsidiary,Cellforce Group, is perhaps the highest-profile casualty. The division had already been through a “realignment”in Augustafter Porsche dropped plans to make its own batteries, turning Cellforce into a research and development arm. Now, Porsche says it’s pursuing a “technology-open powertrain strategy” — corporate-speak that indicates the automaker will rely more heavily on other companies for its batteries.

Uber partner Avride is under investigation for self-driving crashes

Fri, 08 May 2026 17:33:46 +0000

Originally published by TechCrunch

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has opened an investigation into Avride, a robotaxi company that has partnered with Uber, after identifying more than a dozen crashes and one minor injury.

The safety regulator’s Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) said all 16 crashes that it has identified have to do with “the competence of” Avride’s self-driving system, which has apparently struggled with changing lanes, responding to other vehicles in the same lane, and responding to stationary objects.