In May 2018, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission closed out its oversight of a 2016 Polaris safety campaign. Recall 16-146 was the single largest of 13 Polaris fire-related recalls, covering some 133,000 Model Year 2013-2016 RZR 900 and RZR 1000 recreational off-highway vehicles. These models also remain among the Medina, Minnesota, company’s most hazardous, responsible – at the time of the recall – for more than 160 reports of fires and 19 injuries, including second- and third-degree burns and the death of a 15-year-old girl.

In July, the California Utilities Commission granted Waymo (formerly the Google self-driving car project) the state’s first permit to test its driverless vehicles without safety drivers on public roadways. And, by the end of this year, the company planned to launch a driverless taxi service in Phoenix. Ford has promised the public a “fully autonomous vehicle in commercial operation” by 2021. Tesla, which has led the bumpy path on semi-autonomous vehicles, has forecasted the introduction of as many as a million Tesla “robo taxis” on the road by the end of this year.