A New York Times deep dive ties the rise of huge pickups and SUVs to pedestrian deaths, spotlighting poor visibility and high hoods that “punt” people into a run-over path, while lawmakers push the Pedestrian Protection Act to force tougher federal scrutiny and consumer ratings. Automakers deflect toward road design and hype pedestrian-braking tech even as industry fights related rules. A fatal high-speed Tesla crash raises questions about driver-assist overrides, data transparency, and whether automation breeds complacency. A peer-reviewed argument says “edge cases” are inevitable in AI cars because testing every failure combination is impossible. Meanwhile: Waymo recalls, GM revives autonomy ambitions, and Ford unleashes a blizzard of recalls—many fixing earlier failed fixes.

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