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California approves unmanned self-driving car trials

Given the number of tech companies that call California home, it's no surprise the state has been quick with forward-thinking legislation to support the development of self-driving vehicles. And almost four years to the day since driverless trials on public streets were first approved, a new bill has been signed off by Governor Jerry Brown that permits autonomous car tests without a human passenger overseeing proceedings. Rather than applying throughout the Golden State, the bill is specific to a pilot project headed by the Contra Costa Transportation Authority. At San Ramon's Bishop Ranch business park, EasyMile's 12-seater shuttles will ferry workers around the site, which will include traveling on some public roads. The approval also covers GoMentum Station: A ghost town within the Concord Naval Weapons Station where Honda has been testing its driverless car technologies. Recently, Uber-owned Otto also signed up to test self-driving trucks on the site. Google and Apple have also expressed interest in the naval base testbed, according to the transport authority. Apple's autonomous plans are still the subject of much speculation, but in the immediate future, Google seems like a natural partner. Manual controls including a steering wheel and pedals are not required in test vehicles under the new bill (since there won't be anyone on hand to use them), but for safety's sake cars must not exceed 35MPH during trials. Google has been testing versions of its cute little driverless pods without any form of manual controls for some time now, as it's of the opinion that humans are simply not a "reliable backup" to its self-driving smarts.This article originally appeared on Engadget.Related Video: Government/Legal Honda Technology Emerging Technologies Autonomous Vehicles California politics engadget driverless

Honda pulling plug on slow-selling Insight hybrid

Insight hasn't amounted to even a tenth of Prius sales, and well over half of those sold were JDM.
It's been a rough ride for the Honda Insight, and now its journey appears to be at an end - word is that the five-door hybrid hatchback is going out of production.

Honda boss says Chinese drivers don't want green cars

According to The Wall Street Journal, Honda CEO Takanobu Ito believes that China's nascent car-buying demographic isn't all that interested in hybrid cars - at least not yet. The emissions story doesn't resonate with them, and certainly not for the higher purchase premium such models usually carry. What they really want, Ito believes, is reliable, affordable cars that fit their needs. When it comes to Honda sales, the numbers would appear to jibe with his thoughts: Honda sold 598,577 vehicles in China last year through its two joint ventures, yet just 542 of them were hybrids - not even a tenth of a percent. However, Toyota sold 840,500 cars in China last year, and two percent of that total, 17,300 units, were hybrids, which is closer to the still-piddling three-percent ratio of sales that Toyota posted in the US last year.
Honda offers the Insight, Fit Hybrid and CR-Z in China and plans to make components for its Integrated Motor Assist hybrid system there from next year, the hope being it will reduce the cost of hybrid cars for local buyers. That was one part of the plan Honda laid out last year to popularize its IMA system in China. Other initiatives include the introduction of a new hybrid system for mid-sized and large vehicles and a plug-in hybrid. Among the four new vehicles Honda showed during this weekend's press day for the Shanghai Motor Show (including the Concept M minivan pictured above) there was not a single hybrid among them.