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Self-driving cars will soon be zipping across Boston after transportation officials granted one company permission to test their robotic cars outside the Seaport — with South Boston first up.

In China, autonomous trucking is coming faster than expected. Chinese driverless truck startup Fabu Technology said June 12 that its driverless trucks already have taken part in open road tests and it plans to offer intercity cargo transportation this year, which is expected to radically reshape the nation’s freight transportation market.

A Starship landed in Jacksonville, Fla. But there were no aliens on board, just 40,000 pounds of reef-building material hauled cross-country in an experimental lightweight truck with streamlining everywhere.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The digital license plate on display outside Sacramento City Hall on June 4 does a lot of things other technology can already do.

Mack Defense of Upper Macungie Township, Pa., has landed one of its largest contracts, a deal that has the potential to keep the Mack Trucks’ subsidiary busy for the next seven years.

General Motors Co. and the SoftBank Vision Fund are partnering to invest in GM Cruise to bring self-driving vehicles to market by next year, the company said May 31.

Connecticut is obtaining $7.5 million from the national Volkswagen settlement over emissions cheating and will use the funds to help replace aging diesel trucks and other equipment.

Tim Sylvester, CEO of Kansas City, Mo.-based Integrated Roadways, thinks his startup company’s “smart pavement” — bristling with sensors and the latest fiber-optic and wireless technology — could be a lifesaver in mishaps.

State officials figure the Volkswagen diesel emissions testing scandal added an extra 10,000 tons of noxious nitrogen oxide to California’s air. To make up for it, the state will use $423 million of Volkswagen penalty money to cut the same amount of nitrogen oxide by subsidizing the purchase of zero-emission trucks, buses and other vehicles.