Category: On this day

Thursday 15th October 2020 The cabless trailer of an articulated lorry, known as the Pod, ran the Dunsfold test track in Surrey, England at over 80 mph. The vehicle was made by Einride, a Swedish firm founded in 2016 by Robert Falck.

Monday 28th September 2020 A British judge restored Uber’s transportation license in London, one of the ride-hailing company’s most important global markets, where regulators had threatened to ban its cars for safety concerns.

Thursday 25th June 2020 California became the first state to force trucks to go electric. The California Air Resources Control Board approved a rule that forces automakers to sell a minimum numbers of zero-emissions big rigs, delivery vans and large pickups starting in 2024.

Friday 22nd May 2020 Car rental company Hertz filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy amid the global economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Thursday 19th March 2020 Anthony Levandowski, a former Google and Uber engineer, pleaded guilty to stealing trade secrets from Google. Levandowski had left Google to form Otto a self-driging truck startup and then sold Otto to Uber for $600 million.

Monday 17th February 2020 General Motors announced that the Holden brand would be retired by 2021.

Sunday 16th February 2020 Donald Trump became the first President of the United States to serve as Daytona 500 Grand Marshal, and the opening lap was paced by the official Presidential state car. Shortly after this, continuing rain showers caused the race to be postponed for one day, for the first time in eight years. […]

Friday 14th February 2020 Fiat Chrysler said it had temporarily halted production at its Serbian plant, the first such suspension by an automaker in Europe in response to the coronavirus outbreak in China.

Tuesday 21st January 2020 San Francisco-based Cruise unveiled a robot taxi called Origin. Cruise said it could be manufactured at half the cost of conventional electric SUVs.

Friday 10th January 2020 In Florida the 1968 Ford Mustang GT that Steve McQueen drove in the classic car chase from the movie “Bullitt,” one of the most famed cars from American cinema, was sold for $3.4 million at auction.