Automobiles

The Senate Commerce Committee on Wednesday will take a peek under the hood of new advanced vehicle technologies that have recently hit the auto market.

In particular, the Commerce panel plans to use the hearing to discuss the policy implications of self-driving vehicles, which have received a lot of buzz lately thanks to the introduction of Google's driverless cars. Lawmakers are concerned about the safety of those vehicles on the roadways.

California already passed a law last fall that allows Google and other companies to operate driverless cars in the state.

A group of senators introduced legislation Thursday that would bar rental car companies from renting recalled cars to consumers, warning the practice risks their customers' lives.

A natural-gas van company awarded a $50 million Energy Department (DOE) loan has suspended operations and laid off roughly 100 workers, according to press accounts.

The closure of Vehicle Production Group (VPG), which builds wheelchair-accessible vans powered by natural gas, will likely increase Republican criticism of Energy loan programs that are already facing heavy Capitol Hill scrutiny.

Former CEO John Walsh told The Detroit Free Press that the Michigan-based company’s owners are negotiating a sale. “The people who are interested are close to the company and current partners,” he told the paper.

VPG’s woes arrive as plug-in hybrid maker Fisker Automotive, which was also supported by the department’s Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing program, has collapsed and teeters on bankruptcy.

"There’s only dirty oil and dirtier oil,” Gore told Canada’s The Globe and Mail.

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The Treasury Department's investment in General Motors is continuing to shrink as the government winds down one of the last major pieces of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).

The Treasury announced Monday that it had entered the second stage of its exit from the domestic car manufacturer, as it continues to sell off the roughly 241.7 million shares it has in the company. The government anticipates it will have fully exited its rescue of GM sometime in the first quarter of 2014.

"Earlier this year, Treasury launched an effort to sell its remaining shares in GM common stock," said Tim Massad, Treasury's assistant secretary for financial stability. "We are pleased with the progress to date and will continue exiting this investment in accordance with our previously announced plan and timetable and in a manner that maximizes returns for taxpayers.”

General Motors Co. is signing onto a joint statement from a slew of big companies that calls for bolder federal action to confront climate change.

GM on Wednesday became the first automaker to sign the “climate declaration” that was initially unveiled in mid-April and is organized through Ceres, a sustainable business and investing group.

“Everywhere you look there are opportunities to seize the high ground on climate and energy,” said Michael J. Robinson, GM’s vice president of sustainability and global regulatory affairs, in a statement.

Your morning transportation speed-read:

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