In a world of self-driving cars, we need laws to regulate mishaps without inhibiting innovation.

To design and mass-produce an automobile selling for around $2,200 is no easy feat.  Beginning this winter break, the Herbert F. Johnson Museum will exhibit a true piece of art — Tata Motors' revolutionary car, the Tata Nano.

In a volatile oil market, automobile producers are scrambling to gain an edge on their competitors using technology considered purely futuristic until recently. Mike Schweizer and Rasheq Zarif of Mercedes Benz USA, LLC, gave a lecture during the energy seminar series for engineers last Friday on recent progress in the field of sustainable transportation. According to Zarif, the purpose of Mercedes’ intensive $1.7 billion research project has been to “accelerate the paradigm shift” between fuel-based and cleaner technologies.

DETROIT (AP) — General Motors and Chrysler asked the government for an additional $14 billion in aid, a dramatic acknowledgment that conditions in the U.S. auto industry have grown significantly worse in just two months.

GM presented a survival plan that also calls for cutting a total of 47,000 jobs globally and closing five more U.S. factories. That represents the largest work force reduction announced by a U.S. company in the economic downturn. Chrysler said it will cut 3,000 more jobs and stop producing three vehicle models.

Meanwhile, the United Auto Workers union said it has reached a tentative agreement with Chrysler, GM and Ford Motor Co. on modifications to labor contracts. Such concessions were also a condition of the government bailout.