Hot Headlines

New flights and Austin restaurant closures soar to the top of our most popular stories

Editor's note: Nonstop flights and restaurant closures lead this week's top stories. Read on for more of our hot headlines.

1. Southwest adds 3 new nonstop flights from Austin — including San Francisco. Southwest has announced new daily nonstop service to San Francisco and Sacramento, California, as well as Sunday-only nonstop service to Indianapolis. Service starts April 8, 2018.

2. New low-cost nonstop flight takes off from Austin to Midwest destination. Arriving in Austin: a new affordable, nonstop flight to the Midwest. Allegiant Air has announced new direct service between Austin-Bergstrom International Airport and Columbus, Ohio, beginning in February 2018.

3. Franklin Barbecue temporarily closes after damaging fire. A fire at Franklin Barbecue has forced the famous joint to temporarily close. In a tweet on Saturday, August 26, the restaurant reported that it will be closed for the foreseeable future but that the staff is safe.

4. Famous pizzeria's Austin outpost shuts down — chicken joint flies in. The former Gino’s East pizza place on East Sixth Street has transformed into Happy Chicks, a chicken-tender restaurant and bar.

5. Hurricane Harvey causes event cancellations and delays in Austin. Several local events set for last weekend were postponed or canceled in the wake of Hurricane Harvey.

Southwest is adding direct service to San Francisco and two other destinations in April 2018.

Southwest Airlines/Facebook

Southwest is adding direct service to San Francisco and two other destinations in April 2018.

hot-headlines

Self-driving Roller Coaster

More self-driving cars expected to roll out in Austin for 2025

Photo courtesy of Waymo via KVUE

Various brands offering self-driving cars are on-and-off in Austin.

Expect to see more self-driving rideshare vehicles, also known as robotaxis, on Austin roads next year.

Robotaxi company Waymo, which you may have already seen on Austin's roads, is partnering with Uber. At some point next year, customers will be able to use the Uber app to call a self-driving ride.

Austin-based company Avride is in the testing phase and plans to roll out its robotaxis next year.

Currently, Volkswagen ADMT and Amazon's Zoox are in the testing phase in Austin, while Hyundai's Motional is in the mapping phase.

Last year, robotaxi company Cruise paused operations in Austin after the California Department of Motor Vehicles revoked the company's permits to operate driverless vehicles in the state. And last week, General Motors said it would no longer fund the company because of the time and resources needed.

This way of getting around has come with its safety concerns and issues. The city is tracking those concerns. According to the Transportation Department, the problems span from blocking the roads and parking in front of people's homes for weeks with lights beaming through their windows, to actual wrecks.

Since July 2023, robotaxis have been involved in 75 incidents. Only 21 of those incidents happened in 2024. It's important to note that Cruise has not been operating in Austin this year.

Since July 2023, driverless rideshare vehicles have been involved in 22 near collisions, eight collisions and seven instances where driverless taxis ignored directions from the Austin Police Department (APD).

According to the data, at least four of those Austin police incidents happened in recent months. The issues varied from driving through police checkpoints, to malfunctioning and getting stuck at an APD road closure near pedestrians, causing safety concerns.

A Waymo spokesperson said their vehicles have gesture recognition capabilities, which they've been training APD officers on using.

As the report shows, sometimes it does not work and Waymo said it is working to improve that. The spokesperson said that as of just last week, Waymo's First Responder Program has been independently verified by TÜV SÜD, making Waymo the first autonomous vehicle (AV) company to receive third-party validation for our emergency response protocols. They also said the data to date indicates the Waymo Driver is already reducing traffic injuries and fatalities in the places where the company currently operates.

Read the full story and watch the video at KVUE.com.

traffic self-driving cars innovation