On Friday the Washington Post's live updates on the Russia-Ukraine situation included the story of a tech firm trying to get its employees out of Kyiv: John Sung Kim, chief executive of the software outsourcing company JetBridge, has been communicating with his 24 employees in Kyiv, all software developers, through Slack. Half of them are trying to leave Ukraine, but Kim says he is struggling to help them and has been unable to get them train tickets, a rental car or gasoline.

"The other half of my team wants to stay and fight," said Kim. "I got on an all-hands with them this morning and told them it's not their responsibility to be soldiers and there's other ways they can contribute since they're software engineers, but there's nothing I can say to dissuade them." Kim said JetBridge's clients are almost exclusively Silicon Valley tech companies that are publicly traded or have raised venture capital financing. "The universal issue other than transportation logistics seems to be grandparents. 'My babushka' is the common theme of why they're torn from actually leaving," he said. The fallout from Russia's invasion has also impacted JetBridge's employees in Belarus. "The males in Belarus are scared that there's going to be military conscription, and unlike the Ukrainians, my Belarusian engineers have zero desire to pick up a rifle. Zero," he said.

In anticipation of European Union sanctions on Belarus, Kim said JetBridge has started paying employees in bitcoin.

echo123 shares a report from the Washington Post: The U.S. Postal Service finalized plans Wednesday to purchase up to 148,000 gasoline-powered mail delivery trucks (Warning: paywalled; alternative source), defying Biden administration officials' objections that the multibillion dollar contract would undercut the nation's climate goals. The White House Council on Environmental Quality and the Environmental Protection Agency asked the Postal Service this month to reassess its plan to replace its delivery fleet with 90% gas-powered trucks and 10% electric vehicles, at a cost of as much as $11.3 billion. The contract, orchestrated by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, offers only a 0.4-mile-per-gallon fuel economy improvement over the agency's current fleet.

Federal climate science officials said the Postal Service vastly underestimated the emissions of its proposed fleet of "Next Generation Delivery Vehicles," or NGDVs, and accused the mail agency of fudging the math of its environmental studies to justify such a large purchase of internal combustion engine trucks. But DeJoy, a holdover from the Trump administration, has called his agency's investment in green transportation "ambitious," even as environmental groups and even other postal leaders have privately questioned it. [...] Environmental advocates assailed the agency's decision, saying it would lock in decades of climate-warming emissions and worsen air pollution. The Postal Service plans call for the new trucks, built by Oshkosh Defense, to hit the streets in 2023 and remain in service for at least 20 years.

DeJoy said in a statement that the agency was open to pursuing more electric vehicles if "additional funding - from either internal or congressional sources -- becomes available." But he added that the agency had "waited long enough" for new vehicles. The White House and EPA had asked the Postal Service to conduct a supplemental environmental impact statement on the new fleet and to hold a public hearing on its procurement plan. The Postal Service rejected those requests: Mark Guilfoil, the agency's vice president of supply management, said they "would not add value" to the mail service's analysis. Now that the Postal Service has finalized it agreement with Oshkosh, environmentalists are expected to file lawsuits challenging it on the grounds that the agency's environmental review failed to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act. They will probably base their case on the litany of problems Biden administration officials previously identified with the agency's technical analysis.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Waymo, the autonomous driving arm of Alphabet, was granted a win on Tuesday when a California court ruled it could keep certain details regarding its AV technology secret. The company filed a lawsuit against the California Department of Motor Vehicles in late January in order to keep some information about its autonomous vehicle deployment permit, as well as emails between the DMV and the company, redacted from a public record request, which was originally filed by an undisclosed third party. The ruling by the California Superior Court, Sacramento could set a precedent for broader trade secret protection, at least in the autonomous vehicle industry, involving public access to information that has to do with public safety, but which businesses claim contain trade secrets.

In its lawsuit, Waymo argued being forced to reveal trade secrets would undermine its investments into automated driving technology and have a "chilling effect across the industry" where the DMV is no longer a safe space for companies to transparently share information about their tech. "We're pleased that the court reached the right decision in granting Waymo's request for a preliminary injunction, precluding the disclosure of competitively-sensitive trade secrets that Waymo had included in the permit application it submitted to the CA DMV," a Waymo spokesperson told TechCrunch. "We will continue to openly share safety and other data on our autonomous driving technology and operations, while recognizing that detailed technical information we share with regulators is not always appropriate for sharing with the public." [...] "These R&D efforts take many years and an enormous financial investment," reads Waymo's declaration shared with the court. "Waymo's AV development began as part of Google in 2009 before Waymo became its own company in 2016; therefore, Waymo's AVs have been in development for more than 12 years. Waymo has invested truly significant amounts researching and developing its AV products." It is difficult, however, to determine whether or not the information actually contains trade secrets without being able to see any of it.

"The question is, can the company derive economic value purely from not sharing that information with others?" Matthew Wansley, former general counsel of nuTonomy (which Aptiv acquired) and a law professor at Yeshiva University's Cardozo School of Law in New York, told TechCrunch. [...] "I looked through the complaint that Waymo filed, and the categories of information they're talking about are pretty broad," said Wansley. "Are there trade secrets in that set of information that they sent? Probably, there are some. Does it include all of the information they sent? Almost certainly not. The only thing that would surprise me is if everything they're claiming is a trade secret is actually a trade secret. But without knowing the specific information that they share with regulators, it's just hard to know." And now the public will never know. In an effort to assuage any fears about its technology, the report notes that Waymo "has submitted a safety self-assessment to the U.S. Department of Transportation, and is publishing a law enforcement interaction guide and a detailed description of its safety methodologies."

The Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) issued a rule Tuesday to allow adaptive driving beam headlights, or smart headlights, in the U.S. Axios reports: The technology, which relies on sensors and LED light, will help prevent crashes by allowing better illumination of pedestrians, animals and objects without impairing the visibility of drivers in other vehicles, NHTSA said. Adaptive driving beam headlight systems, which are commonplace in Europe and Canada, automatically focus beams on darker, unoccupied areas while reducing the intensity of illumination in times of oncoming traffic. Research released in 2019 by the American Automobile Association found that European vehicles with adaptive headlight systems increase roadway lighting by as much as 86% when compared to U.S. low beam headlights. "NHTSA prioritizes the safety of everyone on our nation's roads, whether they are inside or outside a vehicle. New technologies can help advance that mission," said Steven Cliff, NHTSA's deputy administrator, in a statement. "NHTSA is issuing this final rule to help improve safety and protect vulnerable road users."

If you live in New York and drive a loud car, you could receive a notice from the city's Department of Environmental Protection telling you your car is too loud. Not because a police officer caught your noisy car, but because a computer did. Road & Track reports: A photo of an official order from the New York City DEP was published to Facebook by a page called Lowered Congress on Monday, directed at a BMW M3 that may have been a bit too loud. The notice reads as follows: "I am writing to you because your vehicle has been identified as having a muffler that is not in compliance with Section 386 of the Vehicle and Traffic Law, which prohibits excessive noise from motor vehicles. Your vehicle was recorded by a camera that takes a pictures of the vehicle and the license plate. In addition, a sound meter records the decibel level as the vehicle approaches and passes the camera."

The order goes on to tell the owner to bring their car to a location specified by the DEP -- a sewage treatment plant, to be precise -- for inspection. Show up, and you'll have the opportunity to get the car fixed to avoid a fine -- much like California's "fix-it" ticket system. The document also informs the owner that if they fail to show up, they could face a maximum fine of $875, plus additional fines for continuing to ignore the summons.

A New York City DEP spokesman confirmed to Road & Track via email the system is part of a small pilot program that's been running since September 2021. From the description above, it sounds like it works much like a speed camera that automatically records a violation and sends it to you in the mail by reading your license plate. Instead of a speed gun, this new system uses a strategically placed sound meter to record decibel levels on the road, matching it to a license plate using a camera. [...] The program will be reevaluated on June 30, according to the DEP. From there it'll likely either be expanded or taken out of commission.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is finally poised to legalize adaptive beam headlights in the US. From a report: The NHTSA announced that it has issued a final rule that will update the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, which currently only allow for "dumb" high- and low-beam lights. Adaptive beam lights use a matrix of projectors, some of which can be turned off to shape the beam so the lights illuminate the road but don't shine at an oncoming driver. (These are an advancement over the auto-high beam technology that you may have fitted to your current car.) The technology has been around for nearly two decades in Europe and Japan.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: The newest entrant in the fight for EV market share is going back to the future with an all-electric DeLorean. The infamous gull-winged car is being resurrected in Texas by a group of executives who most recently spent time at China-backed EV startup Karma Automotive. They're working with Stephen Wynne, who acquired the DeLorean branding rights in the 1990s and supplies parts for the 6,000 or so remaining vehicles. [...] The new company is called DeLorean Motors Reimagined LLC and its chief executive officer is Joost de Vries, Texas business records and LinkedIn postings show. The firm will set up a headquarters and an engineering outfit in San Antonio, with potential to bring 450 jobs, the city's development arm said in a statement.

It's not the first time the idea of a DeLorean redux has surfaced -- web searches turn up stories every few years about how Wynne has tried to revive the brand or produce low-volume models -- but using an electric powertrain is a new twist on the idea. The original car gained notoriety in the early 1980s both for its quality problems and for the legal woes of its creator, the late John DeLorean, before the "Back to the Future" film franchise turned it into a pop-culture icon.

Financial institutions channeled more than $1.5 trillion into the coal industry in loans and underwriting from January 2019 to November 2021, even though many have made net-zero pledges, a report by a group of 28 non-government organizations showed. From a report: Reducing coal use is a key part of global efforts to slash climate-warming greenhouse gases and bring emissions down to "net zero" by the middle of the century, and governments, firms and financial institutions across the world have pledged to take action. But banks continue to fund 1,032 firms involved in the mining, trading, transportation and utilization of coal, the research showed.

"Banks like to argue that they want to help their coal clients transition, but the reality is that almost none of these companies are transitioning," said Katrin Ganswind, head of financial research at German environmental group Urgewald, which led the research. "And they have little incentive to do so as long as bankers continue writing them blank checks." The study said banks from six countries - China, the United States, Japan, India, Britain and Canada - were responsible for 86% of global coal financing over the period. Direct loans amounted to $373 billion, with Japanese banks Mizuho Financial, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial -- both members of the Net Zero Banking Alliance -- identified as the two biggest lenders. Neither firm responded immediately to requests for comment.

omfglearntoplay shares a report from CNBC: Electric vehicle firm Polestar roasted Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Volkswagen in its Super Bowl ad, with references to "conquering Mars" and "Dieselgate." The electric vehicle startup's "No Compromises" advertisement, which lasted 30 seconds, featured close-up shots of the Polestar 2 with dramatic background music. The ad included phrases such as "no dirty secrets," "no empty promises," and "no greenwashing." Words following "No" during the ad range from general terms such as "epic voiceovers" and "dirty secrets" to "dieselgate" -- referring to a former diesel emissions scandal with Volkswagen -- and "conquering Mars" -- a critique on Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk, who has plans to land humans on Mars by 2026. The commercial ends at "No. 2" and then "Polestar 2," the company's all-electric performance car. Further reading: This Year's Super Bowl Broadcast May Seem 'Crypto-Happy'. But the NFL Isn't

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Starting this year, the federal government will begin doling out $5 billion to states over five years to build a nationwide network of fast chargers. The plan initially focuses on the Interstate Highway System, directing states to build one charging station every 50 miles. Those stations must be capable of charging at least four EVs simultaneously at 150 kW. Once states have completed the Interstate charging network, they'll be able to apply for grants to fill in gaps elsewhere. The Joint Office of Energy and Transportation, a new agency formed to help the Transportation and Energy Departments administer the program, will allow case-by-case exceptions to the 50-mile requirement if, for example, no grid connection is available nearby.

Funding for the initial Interstate portion of the program will be allocated using a formula that mimics how federal highway grants are distributed. Starting in fiscal year 2022, $615 million will be available to build charging stations, and $300 million will be allocated to set up the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation. Ten percent of each year's funding will go toward filling gaps in the network. After the initial $5 billion program is launched, another $2.5 billion in discretionary grants will be available to build chargers in rural and underserved areas.

As part of their plans submitted to the federal government, states will need to ensure that the charging stations will be reliable -- at least one charger per station needs to be working more than 97 percent of the time -- and that they will limit their impact on the electric grid. States are also directed to design stations so they can be easily expanded and upgraded as demand grows and charging rates increase. The new program also encourages states to site chargers near travel centers, convenience stores, visitor centers, or restaurants. To get credit for their Interstate build-out, states will have to install chargers that use the Combined Charging System, also known as CCS. [...] The new program also prioritizes domestic production of chargers, which has already spurred some manufacturers to begin setting up operations in the US. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg says the agency is looking at how people will pay for charging. "Part of this program is going to be a shared standard. If we're going to use taxpayers' dollars to help private actors put in charging stations, then of course we need to make sure the citizen is getting good value out of it. There may be any number of network benefits through loyalty programs. That's fine," he said, "but we've got to make sure... everybody can benefit."

Italian luxury car maker Alfa Romeo has revealed it will be using non-fungible tokens (NFT) to track and store maintenance records on the blockchain for its new Tonale SUV. From a report: Alfa Romeo, which is owned by Stellantis (formerly Fiat Chrysler), appears to be the first carmaker to utilize NFTs in this way, seemingly in a bid to bring transparency and efficiency to a car market that often relies on third parties to track car records. "Digitalization is a key enabler of our metamorphosis," Francesco Calcara, head of marketing at Alfa Romeo, said in a media briefing. "[The NFTs] will sustain the residual values of our models as we are the first in the market to adopt this next-generation technology." The company says the car's NFT will be able to generate a certificate from records of its maintenance data, but only for service done by certified dealers.

Nissan is pulling the plug on its internal combustion engine development, except for the United States. Ars Technica reports: According to Nikkei Asia, the Japanese automaker has looked at the likely next set of European emissions rules and has decided it would be too expensive to design a new generation of engines that comply. Nissan is also not planning on any new internal combustion engines for Japan or China, although it will apparently keep refining existing engines and continue to work on hybrid powertrains. However, this new policy isn't a global one -- it doesn't apply to the US. That's because here, the automaker expects continuing demand for internal combustion engines, particularly in pickup trucks. If Nikkei Asia's reporting is correct, Nissan is just making explicit the fact that electrification of light passenger vehicles is going to be much more rapid in regions where governments create strong policy incentives.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Independent: The electric vehicle (EV) market is soaring, with 130,000 cars sold globally each week, roughly equivalent to sales for the entire year in 2012. Sales of EVs more than doubled in 2021, even with supply chain snarls and pandemic-related shrinking of demand for gas-powered cars. New data, from the influential intergovernmental International Energy Agency (IEA), revealed that 6.6 million electric cars were sold last year -- twice the number of 2020 -- making up 9 per cent of the global car market. IEA says the growth is "particularly impressive" over the last three years. The number has about tripled from 201 when 2.2 million electric cars were sold. "We estimate there are now around 16 million electric cars on the road worldwide, consuming roughly 30 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity per year, the equivalent of all the electricity generated in Ireland," the IEA reported last week.

More than half of all electric cars are being sold in China (3.4 million), but the market is steadily growing in Europe and the United States. In the US, electric car sales more than doubled in 2021. More than 500,000 new EVs hit the highways, accounting for 4.5 per cent of the market. Tesla is still the strongest player, accounting for more than half of all electric car sales. A "generous" tax-credit system for EVs in the US may be influencing new car buyers (although it doesn't apply to Tesla and General Motor vehicles, IEA notes). In Europe, 2.3 million electric cars were sold in 2021, about half of which were plug-in hybrids, against a backdrop of tightened carbon emissions standards and more subsidies being rolled out by countries in the bloc. Germany made up the largest share of the European market last year where more than one in three cars sold was an electric model.

A new study out of Germany says having traffic lights use AI technology may keep traffic flowing faster and smoother. Jalopnik reports: One of the partners in the study with an aggressively German name -- the Fraunhofer Institute for Optronics, System Technologies and Image Exploitation -- recently installed high-resolution cameras and radar sensors at a busy intersection with a traffic light in the city of Lemgo, according to New Atlas. The setup recorded the number of vehicles waiting for the light to change, the amount of time each of them had to wait and the average speed a vehicle drove through the intersection. Science wizardry was then used to train a machine-learning based computer algorithm. It experimented with different light-changing patterns. They would continuously adapt to real time traffic conditions and see which ones worked best to keep wait times down.

According to the simulations, the best artificial intelligence patterns could improve traffic flow by 10 to 15 percent. That may not sound like a ton, but add up all the time you spend white-knuckled at a long traffic light, and chop 15 percent off. Not too bad. The algorithm will be used to run the traffic lights at actual intersections in Germany for the next few months, and can only get better. The study is also looking to find ways to reduce waiting times at crosswalks for pedestrians. They're using LiDAR sensors among other things to assess the walking speed of pedestrians to make sure they have enough time to cross before the light turns on them.

According to The Washington Post, the EPA and White House Council on Environmental Quality have objected to the US Postal Service's proposal to mostly buy gas-powered next-gen delivery trucks in a project worth up to $11.3 billion. "The current strategy is a 'lost opportunity' to more drastically reduce the carbon footprint of one of the world's largest government fleets," reports Engadget, citing EPA associate policy administrator Vicki Arroyo. From the report: Only 10 percent of the USPS' new trucks would be electric under the existing proposal, and the overall effort would only improve the fleet's fuel economy by 0.4MPG. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy previously claimed the Postal Service couldn't afford more electric mail vehicles, and has argued his agency needs to focus on basic infrastructure improvements over technology. The USPS is required by law to be self-sufficient, and can't simply request government funds.

There may be an uphill battle to make any changes. DeJoy has staunchly refused to alter the purchasing plan, and the USPS rejected California officials' January 28th request for a public hearing on the plans. The service also largely ignored EPA advice when it created the analysis guiding its plan. The environmental regulator accused the USPS of using "biased" estimates that preferred gas-based trucks. The mail institution reportedly assumed battery and gas prices would remain static even decades later, and that the existing charging infrastructure wouldn't grow. It further overestimated the emissions from plug-in vehicles, according to the EPA.

The Postal Service might be forced to change regardless. The EPA has the option of referring its disagreements to the White House Council on Environmental Quality, which can mediate disputes like this. The letters gave the USPS a last chance to voluntarily rethink its proposal before the Council stepped in, sources for The Post claimed. Environmental groups are also likely to sue if the gas-centric plan moves ahead, and the law firm Earthjustice told The Post the USPS might lose when its proposal often lacks supporting evidence. You may well see a transition toward mail-carrying EVs, even if the transition is particularly messy.

The Biden administration has formed a panel of senior administration officials and private-sector experts to investigate major national cybersecurity failures, and it will probe as its first case the recently discovered Log4j internet bug, officials said. From a report: The new Cyber Safety Review Board is tasked with examining significant cybersecurity events that affect government, business and critical infrastructure. It will publish reports on security findings and recommendations, officials said. Details of the board will be announced Thursday. The board, officials have said, is modeled loosely on the National Transportation Safety Board, which investigates and issues public reports on airplane crashes, train derailments and other transportation accidents. The new panel's authority derives from an executive order that President Biden signed in May to improve federal cybersecurity defenses.

The cyber board isn't an independent agency like the transportation board and will instead reside within the Department of Homeland Security. It will have 15 members -- three times as many as the full complement of the transportation board -- from government and the public sector who don't need to be confirmed by the Senate. It lacks subpoena power, unlike the transportation board. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in an interview that the cyber board was intended to draw solutions to future problems from past cybersecurity crises, rather than casting blame where shortcomings are identified.

The nation's first stretch of road to wirelessly charge electric vehicles while they're in motion will begin testing next year in Detroit. Axios reports: "Electrified" roadways, which have wireless charging infrastructure under the asphalt, could keep EVs operating around the clock, with unlimited range -- a big deal for transit buses, delivery vans, long-haul trucks and even future robotaxis. In-road charging could also help pave the way for more widespread EV adoption by relieving consumers of the need to stop and plug in their cars. Electreon Wireless, an Israeli company whose plug-free charging infrastructure is already being tested in Europe, will deploy its first U.S. pilot in Detroit's Michigan Central district, a new mobility innovation hub near downtown. The electrified road, up to a mile long, would allow EVs to charge whether they're stopped or moving, and should be ready for testing in 2023. The state will contribute $1.9 million toward the project, which will also be supported by Ford Motor, DTE Energy and the city of Detroit.

Wireless EV charging systems use magnetic frequency to transfer power from coils buried underground to a receiver pad attached to the car's underbelly. An EV can pull into a designated parking place with an underground charging pad and add electricity the same way a smartphone charges wirelessly. Along an electrified road, vehicles with wireless charging capability can suck up energy as they drive, but for all other cars, it's an ordinary road. Wireless charging can add $3,000 to $4,000 to an already pricey EV, notes Meticulous Research. Electreon, which is working with carmakers to add receivers to their vehicles, aims to get the cost down to $1,000 or $1,500, Stefan Tongur, Electreon's vice president of business development, tells Axios. Users would likely access the feature through a monthly subscription, he noted.

Cruise, the driverless spin-off from General Motors, said on Tuesday that it's about to offer public robot-taxi rides in its San Francisco hometown soon -- "within weeks, not months." In a first for San Francisco, Cruise's public rides will be fully driverless, with no back-up driver behind the wheel. The San Francisco Chronicle reports: It has been giving rides to its own employees sans backup driver since November, and has been test-driving truly driverless cars here since December 2020. Waymo, the self-driving unit of Google parent Alphabet, has been providing rides to some San Franciscans since August. [...] Cruise is now accepting applications from members of the public who want to hop into Poppy, Tostada or another of its self-driving Chevy Bolts. The company said it will pick names from the wait list in "weeks not months." Meanwhile it is already giving rides to some locals who were nominated by Cruise employees.

Cruise's rides for the public will run from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. and will be in the city's northwest quadrant -- including Nob Hill, the Fillmore, the Panhandle, the Sunset and the Richmond. For now, the rides from both services are free. Neither Cruise nor any other robot car company has permission from the California Public Utilities Commission to charge for rides, although Cruise applied for it in November.

Long-time Slashdot reader Hope Thelps brings news about the future of self-driving cars. "The law commisions of England and Wales and of Scotland (statutory bodies which keep the laws in those countries under review) are recommending a shift in accident liability away from 'drivers' when autonomous cars become a reality."

The BBC reports: Human drivers should not be legally accountable for road safety in the era of autonomous cars, a report says. In these cars, the driver should be redefined as a "user-in-charge", with very different legal responsibilities, according to the law commissions for England and Wales, and Scotland. If anything goes wrong, the company behind the driving system would be responsible, rather than the driver....

In the interim, carmakers must be extremely clear about the difference between self-drive and driver-assist features. There should be no sliding scale of driverless capabilities — a car is either autonomous or not....

Transport Minister Trudy Harrison said the government would "fully consider" the recommendations. The Scottish and Welsh governments will also decide whether to introduce legislation.
The BBC also summarized some of the reports other recommendations:

• Data to understand fault and liability following a collision must be accessible
• Sanctions for carmakers who fail to reveal how their systems work

An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Los Angeles Times: Waymo, the driverless car company operating an autonomous taxi fleet in San Francisco, is suing the California Department of Motor Vehicles. The immediate issue: whether the company, owned by Google parent Alphabet, can hide from the public safety-related information by designating it as a trade secret. The topics Waymo wants to keep hidden include how it plans to handle driverless car emergencies, what it would do if a robot taxi started driving itself where it wasn't supposed to go, and what constraints there are on the car's ability to traverse San Francisco's tunnels, tight curves and steep hills. Waymo also wants to keep secret descriptions of crashes involving its driverless cars.

That's among the information the DMV requires to determine whether to issue permits to deploy robot vehicles on public roads. The permit was issued last year. Waymo is focusing on San Francisco, where, for the time being, its robotaxis operate under the supervision of trained human drivers. The wider issue: how to handle the explosion in trade secret claims in an age of artificial intelligence, robot technology, the internet of things and pervasive data collection. The lawsuit, filed in Sacramento County Superior Court on Jan. 21, contends that Waymo would lose out against other driverless car companies if full permit information were shared with the public. "Every autonomous vehicle company has an obligation to demonstrate the safety of its technology, which is why we've transparently and consistently shared data on our safety readiness with the public," Waymo spokesperson Nicholas Smith said via email when asked about the suit. "We will continue to work with the CA DMV to determine what is appropriate for us to share publicly and hope to find a resolution soon."

Where the DMV stands on the issue remains unclear. The agency has yet to file a response to the suit and told The Times it won't discuss ongoing legal matters.