Transportation

The?U.S. The National Transportation Safety Board announced on Friday that it will 'open an investigation' into the self-driving company Waymo after a robotaxi passed stopped school busses in Austin, Texas at least 19 different times since the beginning of the school term. Alphabet recalled over 3,000 vehicles in December to update software that caused the vehicles to 'drive past stopped school busses that were loading or removing students, increasing the risk of a collision. In October, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration began an investigation into Waymo's vehicles when they were near school buses. Waymo stated that there were no...

As a winter storm accompanied by?cold temperatures' began to sweep the United States on Friday, U.S. crude oil and natural gas production dropped and spot electricity prices soared. According to the National Weather Service, the storm system named Fern will bring heavy snow and?sleet to large parts of the U.S., from the southern Rockies up to New England, through Monday. Travel disruptions are expected, as well as downed powerlines and extended electricity outages. According to analysts and state regulators, the U.S. crude production is expected to fall as cold weather and stormy conditions force operators to stop production in certain...

California's Attorney General announced on Friday that the state is suing the Trump administration because it asserted federal authority over two state pipelines and allowed Sable Offshore to resume pumping oil. This lawsuit is part of a dispute that has been raging between Sable and California officials for a while over a 'drilling project' off the coast Santa Barbara, which was shut down after an oil spill in 2015. This is one of the many conflicts between U.S. president Donald Trump, a Democrat, who wants to boost domestic 'fossil-fuel production', and California Governor Gavin Newsom. Newsom is a Democrat, but...

Electric infrastructure in the U.S. is at risk of being weakened by the demands of data centers, which are constantly on the go. Starting Friday, a pattern of Arctic cold extreme weather is expected, bringing with it extremely low temperatures, heavy snow, and ice. This could pose significant challenges to the electric grid until next week. The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NAERC), the United States' top power regulator, made this assessment on Thursday. In several Midwest and Great Plains States, the cold weather has already reduced gas supplies through freezing of oil and gas pipes and wells. U.S. Natural...

The PJM 'Interconnection', the U.S. largest power grid, is expected to reach a new record next week. This is as the United States prepares for a blast of Arctic cold. PJM's forecast for the next seven days, published on Thursday morning, predicted 144 465 megawatts on demand on 27 January. This would be a new?winter record for PJM, surpassing the 143.700 megawatts set in January 2025. PJM, the largest grid operator in North America, serves 67 million customers?in thirteen states and Washington, D.C. PJM struggles to keep up 'with the booming demand resulting from the proliferation of 'Big Techs power-hungry?data?centers...

The U.S. Military said that it had seized an?oil tanker linked to Venezuela on Tuesday in Caribbean. This is the seventh apprehension of this kind since the start of U.S. president Donald Trump's campaign for a month to control Venezuelan oil flows. In a statement, the U.S. Southern Command, which oversees nearly a dozen ships and thousands of soldiers in the Caribbean, stated that it had apprehended Motor Vessel Sagitta without incident. The statement said: "The arrest of another tanker that was operating defying President Trump's quarantine established for?sanctioned ships in the Caribbean shows our determination to ensure that only...

Bipartisan funding agreement announced by U.S. legislators?Tuesday funds 2,500 air traffic control officers and $2.4 billion for U.S. passenger rail Amtrak while cutting funds for high-speed train and?electric vehicle charging? The funding agreement includes $514 millions to subsidize rural air services, also known as the Essential Air Service Program. This is in contrast to the White House's proposal to reduce the program by half. It also increases annual funding for modernizing air traffic control towers to $824 million. The budget bill includes $2 million for an independent study of the airspace around Washington, D.C. after a crash in January 2025...

Grid operator PJM Interconnection unveiled a plan on Friday to manage'surging power 'demand from data centres that are required for Big Tech’s artificial intelligence expansion. This comes after the White House urged immediate action to avoid potential blackouts. PJM Interconnection announced that it plans to require large power users?to either bring their own generation or?enter a connect-and-manage framework subject to an early curtailment. The White House had earlier in the day urged the largest U.S. power grid to conduct an emergency auction to prevent rolling blackouts, as the energy demand for data centers is growing faster than the nation can...

The White House urged on Friday the largest 'U.S. The electric grid should conduct an auction for emergency power to prevent rolling blackouts, as the energy demand from?data centres? is growing faster than new generation plants can be built. The Trump Administration initiative calls for PJM Interconnection, a company that serves 67,000,000 customers across 13 states, including Washington, D.C., and conducts an emergency auction to address escalating prices of electricity and increasing reliability risks in the mid-Atlantic area of the United States. PJM announced its own plan on Friday, urging big data centers that they bring in their own generation...

WestJet Airlines announced on Friday that it would eliminate non-reclinable seats in economy class on a number of Boeing 737 aircraft. This decision was made after a slew complaints and 'videos posted on social media of passengers with their knees pressed against the seat ahead. After reviewing data from operations and the feedback of travelers, the Canadian carrier announced in a press release that it would return to its previous standard economy seat configuration. WestJet's decision to reconfigure seats in its planes last year?to allow for larger premium seating at the front?was widely seen as a test on the limits...

Mattar Al Tayer, Chairman of Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority said that electric air taxis developed Joby Aviation will begin commercial operations in Dubai before the end of this year. Joby Aviation's first fully electric air taxi test flight in the emirate was conducted in June 2025. This is a significant milestone in Dubai's efforts?to introduce them to its existing transport networks. The Joby Aerial taxi, developed by a Californian company, is the "flagship" electric vertical take-off-and-landing aircraft. It can travel up to 160 km (100 miles), at speeds of 320km/h (200mph). Joby’s air taxi has zero emissions and is...

The Japanese trading house Mitsubishi Corp announced on Friday that it would "take over" the U.S. assets for shale oil production and pipelines of Aethon Energy management, including its debts. The deal, which is?the largest?acquisition by Mitsubishi to date - will give the company an extensive natural gas operation near the U.S. Gulf Coast and the energy export infrastructure being developed there. The company stated that the transaction included $5.2 billion for Aethon equity interests, and $2.33 billion of net interest-bearing loans. This is a 'latest example of Japan investing into the U.S. Energy Sector after Tokyo positioned Gas?as key...

The company reported that a senior executive of Ukraine's state-owned grid operator Ukrenergo was killed?while overseeing repairs to a damaged power facility,? caused by a Russian strike. The company didn't say how Oleksiy died. They only called it "tragic". Evropeiska Pravyda, an unnamed local media outlet, reported that Brekht died after receiving a shock from one of the substations. The company posted a statement on social media saying that "Death... caught up with him" where he felt it necessary to be in order to "restore light as quickly as possible to the people." Ukrenergo didn't immediately reply to a question...

Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the president of Ukraine, said on Wednesday that more than half of Kyiv was still without electricity a day after Russian strikes against energy facilities. Ukrainians are enduring a bitter cold snap. Kyiv residents are a diverse group. Cold apartments Since a recent Russian attack on a grid that has been battered for nearly four years by missile and drone attacks, the grid is only getting a few hours or no electricity at all. Zelenskiy reported on X that "as of this morning about 4,000 buildings in Kyiv still lack heat and almost 60% of the capital is...

The heaviest winter storm to hit Asia in 60 years buried Russia's Far East under metres of snow on Tuesday. A winter blast blanketed Asia with snow, causing flights in Japan's Northwest to be grounded and affecting Shanghai. The cold snap disrupted travel across the region. Roads were closed in China and air travelers were stranded in Japan. Parts of?Russian Far East are now paralysed. Scientists have said that the weather is related to the waves of cold air from the Arctic which are simultaneously affecting Eastern Russia, Asia and Eastern Europe. Theodore Keeping said that the jet stream, which...

The lawyer of the Chinese captain who is accused of damaging undersea cables on a?ship registered in Hong Kong in the Baltic Sea, said that 18 witnesses will be called in to testify. According to a Hong Kong charging document, Wan Wenguo is accused of causing "criminal damages" on the underwater natural gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia in October 2023. Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in early 2022, the Baltic Sea region is on high alert for sabotage. This follows a series outages of gas pipelines, power cables and telecoms. Wan, 43 years old, appeared before the...

Industry sources said that the freight rates for tankers shipping Urals crude to India from Russia's western port have risen in this month. This is because bad weather has made fewer vessels and disrupted loading and unloading, and increased costs of insurance. Two oil tankers were struck by drones in the Black Sea Tuesday, including a tanker chartered by the U.S. oil giant Chevron. After drone attacks this week on two Greek-operated oil tankers, Greece has instructed its shipping fleet to take the most stringent security measures when sailing into Russian Black Sea ports. The average freight?costs for transporting Urals...

A London court heard on Wednesday that the captain of a container vessel which smashed into a U.S. oil tanker last year off Britain's East Coast tried to alter course in order to avoid a fatal collision. Vladimir Motin's lawyer stated that the Russian captain of the Solong, who hit the Stena Immaculate tanker anchored in March 2025 and tried to turn off the autopilot but failed, shortly before the crash. Motin is facing trial at the Old Bailey, accused of gross negligence manslaughter. Mark Pernia is a 38-year-old crew member whose body was never found, but is presumed to...

Oleksandr vilkul, the head of the military administration, said that Russian drones had struck Kryvyi rih in central Ukraine on Wednesday, forcing power outages for over?45,000 people and disrupting heat supply. If you can, please charge your mobile devices and fill up with water. Vilkul told Telegram users that it was going to be a difficult day. The water pumping stations in the system could have pressure problems. It was not possible to determine the exact scale of 'the attack immediately. Russia has not commented on the?strike. Russia repeatedly attacked Ukraine's power plants, substations, and transmission lines with drones and...

Data from LSEG and market sources showed that Russia's seaborne gasoil and diesel exports increased by almost 40% in December compared to November, reaching about 3,41 million metric tonnes. This was due to higher fuel production, and a'seasonal decline in domestic demand. Sources said that exports of ultra-low sulphur diesel via Primorsk - Russia's largest outlet for diesel shipments - grew 35% on a month-on-month basis to 1.7 millions tons as major suppliers increased output and supplies. Last month, diesel?and gasoline loadings at southern ports Tuapse?and Novorossiysk increased by?almost 60 percent compared to November. This was due to local refineries...

On 'Thursday, Ukrainian officials raced to restore power after Russian strikes plunged the two regions in the south-east into a?near total blackout overnight. Critical infrastructure was forced to rely on reserves. Moscow has intensified attacks on Ukraine's power system, as Ukrainian forces fight off Russian advances in the battlefield and Kyiv is under U.S. pressure for a peace agreement. The Deputy Premier of Ukraine,?Oleksiy?Kuleba, said that repairs are still being carried out to restore heat and water supply to over 1 million customers in the industrialised area of Dnipropetrovsk. Energy ministry reported that nearly 800,000 customers in the affected region...

Alexei Miller said that Gazprom, the Russian gas corporation, supplied 38.8 billion cubic meters of gas to China through the Power 'of Siberia' pipeline this year. This is an increase of nearly a fifth compared to the previous year. Miller stated that by the end of 2025, the company will have exceeded its contractual obligations to China in terms of gas supply. Sources familiar with data said on Monday that Russia’s pipeline exports to China of?natural?gas were expected to hit around 38.6-38.7 bcm this year. This is up from 31 bcm by 2024 and exceed the pipeline's annual capacity of...

According to Serbia's RTS TV, the U.S. granted Serbian oil refiner NIS until March 24th to 'negotiate' the sale of their 'Russian owner's' stake. RTS stated that NIS did not have an operating license which would allow it to purchase and process crude oil. After a series waivers granted since January, the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions against NIS as part of broader measures taken against?Russian energy sector. The sanctions have stopped crude oil supplies through Croatia's JANAF pipe, which has shut down production at?Pancevo. Gazprom, the sanctioned oil unit of Russia's Gazprom,...

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic revealed on Tuesday that Russian energy giant Gazprom has been in discussions with Hungary's MOL about a possible sale of its majority stakes in 'NIS' - Serbia's only oil refiner. In January, the United States announced sanctions against Russia's oil industry in response to Moscow's conflict in Ukraine. But, NIS's application was repeatedly delayed before finally coming into force on October 8th. "We have no problem with it. We have information that Gazprom representatives have been talking to MOL in Hungary, and we don't have anything against them." Vucic said to reporters on Tuesday that the...