![Watch Aurora’s autonomous Driver technology navigate highways in inclement weather [Video]](https://i0.wp.com/electrek.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/05/Aurora-autonomous-truck-weather.jpg?resize=1200,628&quality=82&strip=all&ssl=1)
Watch Aurora’s autonomous Driver technology navigate highways in inclement weather [Video]
Storms, sleet, snow, and even high winds can provide added danger to highways where large vehicles like semitrucks are traveling at high speeds. The abundance of caution and safety is multiplied when you remove the truck driver from the equation. As it prepares to launch its Horizon autonomous service, self-driving tech company Aurora has shared footage of its Driver software responding appropriately when it encounters areas of lower visibility. Check out the video below.
Aurora is an autonomous vehicle and associated tech company we have watched evolve over the past several years. Several legacy automakers have taken their turn investing and collaborating with the company, whose growing list of partners currently includes the likes of Toyota, Peterbilt, and Uber Freight.
In 2018, Aurora and Volvo Group teamed up to develop a self-driving Volvo truck they nicknamed Pistachio. However, neither side’s technology was where it needed to be at the time to prove successful. As a result, both sides parted ways and focused on achieving Level 4 autonomy separately.
In 2019, Aurora acquired a leading Lidar company in Blackmore, enabling it to begin developing a sensing suite truly capable of safely operating large trucks autonomously at high speeds. Since 2020, Aurora has been deploying Class 8 trucks integrated with its Aurora Driver technology containing its proprietary Lidar and hasn’t looked back… although it has paired back up with Volvo, who has integrated Aurora driver into its own trucks.
As Aurora looks to launch self-driving trucks as a service called “Horizon” in 2024, it has begun demonstrating just how intuitive and safe its autonomous technology is… even during less-than-ideal weather conditions.
Aurora spotlights its autonomous capabilities in latest post
The company shared the following blog post this morning, explaining that in the freight trucking segment especially, unexpected weather patterns can impede schedules. According to the US Department of Transportation, approximately 21% of accidents occur in inclement weather.
All the more reason to ensure the safety of Aurora’s autonomous vehicles as those around them. The company explained that its latest version of Aurora Driver will automatically slow the truck and proceed with caution whenever it encounters rain, snow, or fog. Better still, the vehicles will automatically exercise caution if sensors encounter outside factors affecting sensor visibility, such as smoke, dust, or even insects.
For times when visibility is lower but still navigable, Aurora has implemented an effective sensor cleaning solution (seen above) and uses concentrated and targeted pockets of air combined with washer fluid to quickly clear cameras and lidar sensors from any moisture or debris.
All that said, if road conditions become too dangerous to continue, Aurora Driver knows to reduce the speed of the autonomous truck and search for a safe place to stop and alert the company’s Command Center. Per Aurora:
We prioritize the safe operation of our technology and the safety of other road users. That’s why we’ve designed the Aurora Driver to emulate the best human truck drivers and act conservatively when environmental conditions pose safety risks. When necessitated by harsh environmental conditions, a brief pause in the mission to wait out a sudden storm is safer, and therefore more desirable, than risking the lives of other road users.
Aurora provided the following video, demonstrating its Aurora Driver technology safely navigating a truck along the highway during a foggy day in Texas, where the company operates. It says it is working to expand its operations outside of its current Dallas to Houston launch lane and will continue to train Aurora Driver to safely respond to additional forms of inclement weather going forward.
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Environment
Trump administration is convinced massive Alaska energy project will find investors despite steep cost
The Trump administration is confident that a massive liquified natural gas project in Alaska will find investors despite its enormous cost.
President Donald Trump has pushed Alaska LNG as a national priority since taking office. Alaska has already spent years trying to build an 800-mile pipeline from the North Slope above the Arctic Circle south to the Cook Inlet, where the gas would be cooled and shipped to U.S. allies in Asia.
But Alaska LNG has never gotten off the ground due to a stratospheric price tag of more than $40 billion. Trump has pushed Japan and South Korea in particular to invest in the project, threatening them with higher tariffs if they don’t offer trade deals that suit him.
“If you get the commercial offtakers for the gas, financing is pretty straightforward,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright told CNBC’s Brian Sullivan in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. “There [are] countries around the world looking to shrink their trade deficit with the United States, and of course, a very easy way to do that is to buy more American energy,” Wright said.
Energy analysts, however, are skeptical of the project. Alaska LNG “doesn’t have a clear cut commercial logic,” Alex Munton, director of global gas and LNG research at Rapidan Energy, told CNBC in April.
“If it did, it would have had a lot more support than it has thus far, and this project has been on the planning board for literally decades,” Munton said.
Defense Department support
Wright said the project would be built in stages and initially serve domestic demand in Alaska, which faces declining natural gas supplies in the Cook Inlet. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the Department of Defense is ready to support the project with its resources.
“They’re ready to sign on to take an offtake agreement from this pipeline to get gas to our super strategic, important bases across Alaska,” Burgum said of the Pentagon in a CNBC interview at Prudhoe Bay.
Alaska LNG, if completed, would deliver U.S. natural gas to Japan in about eight days, compared to about 24 days for U.S. Gulf Coast exports that pass through the congested Panama Canal, Burgum said. It would also avoid contested waters in the South China Sea that LNG exports from the Middle East pass through, the interior secretary said.
Wright said potential Asian investors have questions about the timeline and logistics of Alaska LNG. The pipeline could start delivering LNG to southern Alaska in 2028 or 2029, with exports to Asia beginning sometime in the early 2030s, Wright said.
Glenfarne Group, the project’s lead developer, told CNBC in April that a final investment decision is expected in the next six to 12 months on the leg of a proposed pipeline that runs from the North Slope to Anchorage. Glenfarne is a privately-held developer, owner and operator of energy infrastructure based in New York City and Houston.
![Meyer Burger just shut down its US solar factory and laid off 282 workers [Update]](https://i0.wp.com/electrek.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/05/Meyer-Burger-Goodyear.jpg?resize=1200,628&quality=82&strip=all&ssl=1)
Swiss solar manufacturer Meyer Burger has pulled the plug on its US solar module factory in Arizona and laid off nearly 300 workers; now, there’s more bad news.
June 2, 2025: On Saturday, May 31, Meyer Burger announced that its subsidiaries in Germany have each filed for insolvency proceedings. As we wrote below last week, the employees in Hohenstein-Ernstthal in Saxony and Bitterfeld-Wolfen in Lower Saxony were furloughed last year, but they’ve now been laid off.
Meyer Burger Germany in Hohenstein-Ernstthal employs 289 people in mechanical engineering and technology development. Meyer Burger Industries’ solar cell factory in Bitterfeld-Wolfen employs 331 people.
Subsidiary Meyer Burger (Switzerland) AG, which employs around 60 people in Thun, will remain in operation. Meyer Burger (Americas) Ltd. will also remain a company.
Due to ongoing financing discussions on restructuring, the company has requested an extension of the deadline for presenting its 2024 financial results, which expires today.
May 30, 2025: On May 29, all 282 remaining employees at the Goodyear, Arizona, factory received termination notices, and operations were shut down immediately. The site was still in its ramp-up phase and had a planned annual production capacity of 1.4 gigawatts. Meyer Burger had just started assembling solar cells imported from its factory in Germany.
The company says it’s been forced to shut down the US plant due to a lack of funding. The future of the Goodyear facility is now uncertain.
Meyer Burger is currently in talks with bondholders as it tries to restructure debt tied to two convertible bonds that mature in 2027 and 2029. Those bonds were issued by its subsidiary MBT Systems GmbH and guaranteed by the parent company.
It’s unclear what this means for Meyer Burger’s factories in eastern Germany, a company spokesperson told German press agency dpa. Around 300 employees at each site, in Hohenstein-Ernstthal in Saxony and Bitterfeld-Wolfen in Lower Saxony, were furloughed last year.
Meyer Burger has struggled for a few years, in no small part due to competition from cheaper Chinese solar imports. In 2024, it cut around 20% of its 1,000-person workforce, even as it moved ahead with US expansion plans. In December, the company secured nearly $40 million in bridge financing from creditors to keep things afloat, but that money appears to have run dry.
Meyer Burger says it will share more information as it becomes available.
Read more: Meyer Burger abandons German solar cell factory plans to build a US factory instead
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That’s not a typo. Lucid (LCID) is offering over $31,000 off select 2025 Air models this month as part of the EV maker’s strongest promotions so far.
Lucid Air EV gets over $31,000 in discounts this June
The Lucid Air is an impressive car inside and out. It’s not only pretty looking, but the 2025 Lucid Air is the “world’s most efficient car” with over 420 miles of EPA-estimated driving range and the highest MPGe rating of any EV at 146 MPGe.
This month, you can snag some serious savings on the luxury electric sedan with Lucid launching its largest discount program yet.
The 2025 Lucid Air is now available with up to $31,500 in discounts. The offer includes a $2,000 On-Site bonus, a $2,000 conquest bonus, a $20,000 Air Credit, and a $7,500 EV Credit. That’s for the Air Grand Touring trim with $6,819 due at signing.
Lucid is offering a generous $26,500 and $21,500 off the Touring and Pure trims, respectively. The discounts are up significantly from last month.
In May, the 2025 Lucid Air Grand Touring was listed with a $15,500 discount, while the Touring and Pure models had discounts of $20,500 and $18,000, respectively.
If you drive a Tesla, you save an additional $4,000. Lucid sweetened the deal for Tesla drivers last month, doubling its trade-in bonus.
Lucid’s offers end on June 30, 2025. You will need to take delivery by then to be eligible. The 2025 Lucid Air Grand Touring starts at $110,900, with 819 hp and 512 miles range. The base Air Pure trim starts at $69,900, with 430 hp and 420 miles range.
For those of you looking for something a bit larger, you might want to check out Lucid’s first electric SUV, the Gravity.
2025 Lucid Air trim |
Starting Price | Lease Discounts | Lease From (per month/ 36 months) |
EPA-estimated Range |
| Lucid Air Pure | $69,900 | -$18,000 | $579 | 420 miles |
| Lucid Air Touring | $78,900 | -$20,500 | $599 | 406 miles |
| Lucid Air Grand Touring | $110,900 | -$15,500 | $849 | 512 miles |
| Lucid Air Sapphire | $249,000 | N/A | N/A | 427 miles |
The Gravity fits seven comfortably and boasts a driving range of up to 450 miles. According to Lucid’s payment calculator, the 2026 Lucid Gravity Grand Touring can be leased for around $1,100 a month.
The offer is based on the GT’s MSRP of $94,900 with a down payment of $8,030. Later this year, the Touring model will be available, starting at $79,900.
With over $31,000 in discounts, Lucid is launching its largest promotions to date. If you’re ready to check out the luxury EVs for yourself, you can use our links below to find current offers on Lucid Air and Gravity models near you.
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