Posts by: Scott Webb

Artists Google Doodle on Self-Driving Cars

If you’re like me, one of the first things you look forward to seeing when you log onto your computer is the Google Doodle for that day. Google Doodles are used to commemorate holidays, notable events and famous people—and now, local artists are using them to celebrate their communities as part of Google’s Paint the Town contest for its Self-Driving Car Project. As it is headquartered in Mountain

Volkswagen Snags Self-Driving Vehicles Guru from Apple

Time for a quick recap on everyone’s favorite scandal-scarred automaker… Jungwirth Jumps to VW From a career perspective, going from Apple to Volkswagen these days is a bit like going from Club Med to the Titanic. But that’s what Johann Jungwirth (pictured, right) has elected to do in taking a position with VW in its newly created department devoted to self-driving vehicles. Jungwirth is moving

Scandal at Volkswagen: Mo Money, No Problems?

The scandal at Volkswagen has taken many strange twists and turns since the story first broke in September—is it possible that Volkswagen can buy itself some positive PR with some customer incentives? That’s the first question we’ll tackle in this roundup of news about everyone’s favorite emissions-test cheating automaker. All You Need Is Cash Bribery is such an unseemly practice and one general

Batmobile Designer Dies

Legendary custom car designer George Barris died Thursday at the age of 89. Known as the “King of the Kustomizers,” Barris (pictured) designed many of Hollywood’s most iconic vehicles, including the Batmobile from the 1960s Batman TV series. The world learned of Barris’s passing through his son Brett’s Facebook post. Barris wrote that his father passed away in his sleep and that “[h]e lived his l

Scandal at Volkswagen: It Gets Worse

Until now, the scope of the Scandal at Volkswagen was limited to VW’s diesel-powered models. Sure, the scandal resulted in millions of nitrogen-oxide spewing vehicles and potentially billions spent to resolve the problem. But as bad as things have been, at least they couldn’t get any worse, right? As it turns out, things have indeed gotten worse. As reported by The Wall Street Journal, Volkswagen

Scandal At Volkswagen: Now Porsche is Ridin’ Dirty

Just when the long-running Scandal at Volkswagen series seemed to be running out of fresh storylines, a new plot twist has been unearthed that is guaranteed to keep automotive news fans on the edges of their seats. On Monday, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) slapped Volkswagen with its second notice of violation (NOV) for emissions cheating—only this time, the EPA’s indictment not only t

Google’s Self-Driving Vehicles Go the Extra Mile for Safety

Millions of Americans celebrated Halloween this past weekend, and thankfully the grand majority of them made it home safely. Unfortunately, however, some did not. And contrary to popular perception, the real danger didn’t come from tainted candy but rather from auto safety accidents. In fact, there were 115 pedestrian fatalities of children ages 18 and under on Halloween between 1990 and 2010, mak

Volkswagen’s Classic Camper Van Goes Electric

It’s been a rough couple of months for Volkswagen, but that doesn’t mean every story about the scandal-scarred automaker is negative. In fact, this bit of news might inspire a wistful smile and feelings of nostalgia from baby boomers reliving their hippie days. Volkswagen is rebooting its classic camper van model that it discontinued back in 2013. A VW board member confirmed during the recent New

GM Recalls: The Song Remains the Same

Another year, another round of GM recalls. On Tuesday, the beleaguered automaker announced a worldwide recall of over 1.4 million vehicles. The reason for the recall should be familiar to GM and auto industry followers: a potential for engine fires from oil leaks onto a hot exhaust manifold. This is the fourth time in the last seven years that GM has issued a recall because of this issue, with th

The Borg-Like Fiat Chrysler Wants to Merge with YOU

Say, did you hear the one about Fiat Chrysler CEO and black sweater aficionado Sergio Marchionne looking to merge with his company with another automaker? There’s no punchline to this joke, although we’ve had a few laughs over Marchionne’s merger attempts. For those of you who believe that repetition is a key element in comedy, Marchionne didn’t disappoint with his latest remarks. The outspoken F