Autonomous

Oklahoma state officials have held the first meeting of a task force that will study autonomous vehicles and how agencies and local governments should respond to the emerging technology.

Apple Inc. said it rehired Doug Field after the executive spent about five years at Tesla Inc. in charge of vehicle engineering.

Kodiak Robotics, founded in April by Don Burnette and Paz Eshel, said it has raised $40 million from a group of venture capital investment firms, including Battery Ventures, CRV, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Tusk Ventures.

An update of federal guidelines on autonomous technology that would encompass trucks, transit systems, infrastructure, cars and other modes of transportation will emphasize safety, the country’s top transportation officer said Aug. 8.

The autonomous technology gap between Ford Motor Co. and its rivals from Detroit and Silicon Valley can be measured in years. Yet even a company playing catch-up in the race to turn self-driving technology into high-margin businesses is drawing interest from outside investors, an indicator of just how much money is pouring in.

Although Uber Technologies Inc. recently halted its self-driving truck program, the ride-hailing pioneer is doubling down on its Uber Freight load-matching business and announced that Otto co-founder and former Uber executive Lior Ron will rejoin the company to run that unit.

Elon Musk said he’s considering taking Tesla Inc. private in a radical step that would ease pressure on the money-losing automaker.

The Uber Technologies Inc. self-driving test vehicle that killed a pedestrian in Arizona earlier this year may have been able to avoid the crash had the ride-hailing company not disabled Volvo Cars’ safety system, according to a safety group.

Self-driving vehicles typically are described as a disruptive technology that will make traditional modes of public transportation obsolete, but a recent announcement by Chandler-based Waymo is challenging that narrative.