Technology

An autonomous vehicle designed for last-mile deliveries and e-commerce returns conducted a live test Jan. 30 on public roads in San Mateo, Calif., driving a 2.5 mile loop from a grocery store to two customers.

Independent engine maker Cummins Inc. continued its push into commercial vehicle electrification. The company announced it has acquired Johnson Matthey’s UK automotive battery systems business, a subsidiary that specializes in high-voltage automotive grade battery systems for electric and hybrid vehicles.

Federal trucking regulators are considering granting a one-year exemption from certain technical requirements of the electronic logging device mandate for carriers having difficulty integrating ELD software updates with their fleet managment systems.

Flexport, a technology-based freight forwarder, will open a fifth U.S. office in March with a location in Chicago, adding about 100 jobs over the next two years.

Nikola Motor Co. and Cummins Inc. each expanded their ability to address the growing focus on electrification of commercial vehicles through, respectively, choosing the location for a truck production facility and an acquisition related to battery systems.

Tolls can cause administrative headaches and bring additional costs to trucking companies, but toll-management providers are offering services that could help alleviate both burdens.

At some point this year, Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo plans to roll out a ride-hailing service using driverless cars. It just bought more vehicles to make that happen.

The future of driverless driving looks like a giant toaster with a funny hat.

The issue involving something as simple as choice of paint color underscores the sweeping effects of self-driving cars for automotive engineering, said Samit Ghosh, CEO of automotive consulting and engineering firm P3 North America.