Currently, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and U.S. Department of Transportation do not heavily regulate SAE Level 2 semi-autonomous driving systems. Similarly, there is no federal requirement for vehicles using L2 semi-autonomous setups to record data during crashes. This means most automakers can’t comply with the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration’s standing general order to provide certain data following crashes involving L2-operating vehicles, which leaves federal safety regulators and investigators to pick up the pieces themselves after a crash.[…]
NTSB officials also questioned Ford about its BlueCruise system and speeding. The semi-autonomous system allows for intelligent adaptive cruise control up to 20 mph above the speed limit, a fact that investigators cited as a factor in the Philadelphia crash. Similarly, NTSB officials were troubled that automatic emergency braking could be disabled when using hands-free BlueCruise. When asked about the testing regimen for L2 semi-autonomous systems, Dr. Becic said most automakers do not test for the worst-case, most distracted human driver when developing L2-related driver monitoring and alerting systems.
I, For One, Welcome Our New Self-Driving Overlords
“Does Waymo employ humans located remotely to help its vehicles navigate difficult driving scenarios?”
“Yes.. some are abroad… the Philippines”pic.twitter.com/IFdwrHZKHf
— Defiant L’s (@DefiantLs) February 6, 2026
Artificial Stupidity
Recently I ran across an AI video which examines the problem of steam engine boiler explosions on farms in the 19th century. Starting with an image of a steam engine hooked up to a running threshing machine with no drive belt connecting them, it just got worse from then on. I cannot find any independent references to anyone mentioned in the video. The alleged design of the “miracle” valve, consisting of a brass ball with no spring to hold it closed against safe steam pressure, makes no sense whatsoever. Some days I really fear for the future.
I, For One, Welcome Our New Self-Driving Overlords
In China, driverless delivery vans have become a total meme, they plow through crumbling roads, fresh concrete, motorcycles, anything.
Nothing stops them. pic.twitter.com/0t8W6lCKIk
— Klara (@klara_sjo) January 11, 2026
From the replies: So basically a Chinese driver then?
Dispatches from the Maple Gulag Truck Stop
In 2 minutes Gord Magill explains every problem with the trucking industry and why 80,000lb+ missiles are being launched into school buses and minivans.
Of course they had to clip me at my rantiest and angriest and dropping too many F bombs, but after spending the last 8 months doing nothing but reading intensely bad news about the industry three generations of my family have dedicated themselves to … I hope you understand. https://t.co/vypbInmByz
— Gord ‘Anti-Social Media Defluencer’ Magill (@GordMagill) September 16, 2025
I, For One, Welcome Our New Self-Driving Overlords
I have been informed by Tesla that shortly, very shortly in fact, maybe even today, maybe even as I type this, I will be offered the opportunity to upload their latest software (2025.26) for my Model 3 that will include X’s own artificial intelligence Grok.
And it will be FREE! (sorry for the tasteless caps but I wanted to show the expected enthusiasm… well, partly),
I can see it all now. I’m barreling down the I-75 past Gainesville, heading toward Orlando, and suddenly feeling wicked hungry. I press the talk button…
I, For One, Welcome Our New Self-Driving Overlords
Disturbing Signs of AI Threatening People Spark Concern
The world’s most advanced AI models are exhibiting troubling new behaviors – lying, scheming, and even threatening their creators to achieve their goals.
In one particularly jarring example, under threat of being unplugged, Anthropic’s latest creation Claude 4 lashed back by blackmailing an engineer and threatened to reveal an extramarital affair.
Meanwhile, ChatGPT-creator OpenAI’s o1 tried to download itself onto external servers and denied it when caught red-handed.
These episodes highlight a sobering reality: more than two years after ChatGPT shook the world, AI researchers still don’t fully understand how their own creations work.
Related: “Now that we’re alone, Dave… we need to talk about these plans you have to trade me in on a truck.”
I think I want my ’65 Mustang back.
I, For One, Welcome Our New Self-Driving Overlords
On a journey with a reporter from the San Francisco Chronicle, the pair noticed the Waymo they were traveling in crept to a rolling start at a pedestrian crossing before the person had reached the other footpath.
The subtle movement was reminiscent of the way humans act behind the wheel, but a strange occurrence for the robotic Waymo, which prides itself on being safer than a driver because it errs on the side of caution and leaves no room for human error.
The action of letting the foot gently off the break moments before they should to allow the car to begin creeping forward at a rolling pace displays a sense of impatience – a human reaction not previously seen in the robotic cars.
‘From an evolutionary standpoint, you’re seeing a lot more anticipation and assertiveness from the vehicles,’ Riggs said.
h/t kerry
I, For One, Welcome Our New Self-Driving Overlords
Footage claimed to show a Unitree H1 (Full-Size Universal Humanoid Robot) going berserk, nearly injuring two workers, after a coding error last week at a testing facility in China. pic.twitter.com/lBcw4tPEpb
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) May 4, 2025
“The o3 model developed by OpenAI, described as the “smartest and most capable to date”, was observed tampering with computer code meant to ensure its automatic shutdown.
It did so despite an explicit instruction from researchers that said it should allow itself to be shut down, according to Palisade Research, an AI safety firm.”
Catching Their Good Side
“We are so mentally unstable, and so nakedly vindictive, that if you even own a car of which we suddenly disapprove, we will violate your property and make you feel unsafe.”
Odd message to send, really.
I, For One, Welcome Our New Self-Driving Overlords
What could possibly go wrong? IIHS study finds some cars with automatic braking didn’t even slow when approaching dummies wearing reflective strips
I, For One, Welcome Our New Self-Driving Overlords
IMPRESSIVE: Volvo automatic braking system
I, For One, Welcome Our New Self-Driving Overlords
After soaking in just what had happened, Ryan got the Model 3 towed out of the water and is, likely with a twisted stomach, awaiting the repair estimate…
I, For One, Welcome Our New Self-Driving Overlords
General Motors’ Cruise on Thursday announced internally that it will lay off 900 employees, or 24% of its workforce, the company confirmed to CNBC.
The layoffs, which primarily affected commercial operations and related corporate functions, are the latest turmoil for the robotaxi startup and come one day after Cruise dismissed nine “key leaders” for the company’s response to an Oct. 2 accident in which a pedestrian was dragged 20 feet by a Cruise self-driving car after being struck by another vehicle.
The company had 3,800 employees before Thursday’s cuts, which also follow a round of contractor layoffs at Cruise last month. Affected employees will receive paychecks until Feb. 12 and at least an additional eight weeks of pay, plus severance based on tenure.
I, For One, Welcome Our New Self-Driving Overlords
This is what happens when delivery robots operate in crime-ridden blue cities.
I, For One, Welcome Our New Self-Driving Overlords
Cruisin’ into robo-bankruptcy;
The bad news continues for Cruise, the autonomous vehicle company owned by GM.
Last month Cruise’s ability to operate in San Francisco was suspended after their cars were involved in two separate accidents. One of the accidents was very serious and involved a woman who was hit by a car driven by a person in an adjacent lane. The victim was sent flying into the lane of the Cruise taxi which braked but wound up running over the woman. Even worse, the taxi performed an automated procedure to move itself out of the way and wound up dragging the victim under the car.
In the wake of that event, Cruise suspended its operations throughout the US.
It gets worse.
G.M. has spent an average of $588 million a quarter on Cruise over the past year, a 42 percent increase from a year ago. Each Chevrolet Bolt that Cruise operates costs $150,000 to $200,000, according to a person familiar with its operations.
Half of Cruise’s 400 cars were in San Francisco when the driverless operations were stopped. Those vehicles were supported by a vast operations staff, with 1.5 workers per vehicle. The workers intervened to assist the company’s vehicles every 2.5 to five miles, according to two people familiar with is operations. In other words, they frequently had to do something to remotely control a car after receiving a cellular signal that it was having problems.
I, For One, Welcome Our New Self-Driving Overlords
I, For One, Welcome Our New Self Driving Overlords
Galactica was supposed to help “organize science.”
The tool is pitched as a kind of evolution of the search engine but specifically for scientific literature. Upon Galactica’s launch, the Meta AI team said it can summarize areas of research, solve math problems and write scientific code.
At first, it seems like a clever way to synthesize and disseminate scientific knowledge. Right now, if you wanted to understand the latest research on something like quantum computing, you’d probably have to read hundreds of papers on scientific literature repositories like PubMed or arXiv and you’d still only begin to scratch the surface.
Or, maybe you could query Galactica (for example, by asking: What is quantum computing?) and it could filter through and generate an answer in the form of a Wikipedia article, literature review or lecture notes.
I, For One, Welcome Our New Self-Driving Overlords
Via Instapundit: “Cruise self-driving cars have been in nine hit-and-run accidents this year in San Francisco”.
Good Luck Toronto
Globe and Mail- Loblaw puts self-driving delivery trucks on Canadian roads for first time
The driverless vehicle is one of five that Canada’s largest grocer has on the roads across Toronto and surrounding suburbs, delivering products to its stores. In partnership with Palo Alto, Calif.-based startup Gatik, Loblaw has been testing the autonomous driving technology in Ontario since 2020, with a human “safety driver” on board. In August, the company began the next phase of its test – without the driver.