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While praising efforts to protect the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports from terrorist and cyber-attacks, members of Congress aired concerns Oct. 31 about threats to public safety and the economy if federal funding for maritime security programs isn’t raised to meet new threats.

Drivers in 14 state highway corridors in Maryland will see their travel times cut over the next year as a result of a $50 million upgrade to traffic signals, Gov. Larry Hogan said Oct. 25.

Some consumers say they are wary of a driverless car future, but a new survey says the beginnings of the technology which will power that future are already available on most new vehicle models and many consumers are willing to pay thousands of dollars for them.

As computer technology increasingly controls critical vehicle safety features and more cars are connected to the internet, the danger of a hacker taking control of vehicles is becoming less like a Hollywood movie plot and more like something that can actually happen.

General Motors says it “aims to solve some of the toughest transportation challenges created by natural disasters, complex logistics environments and global conflicts” with its new Silent Utility Rover Universal Superstructure.

General Motors announced Oct. 9 that it is buying Strobe, a Pasadena startup that makes lidar, a laser-based sensor that most autonomous vehicles use to see the world around them.

While advancements in autonomous — or self-driving — cars get much of the attention, development of self-driving commercial vehicles is speeding forward.

The idea of highways being filled with self-driving cars may be alluring, but it has highway safety experts raising numerous questions about common contemporary issues like drunk driving, seat belt use and how other motorists might react to a car without a driver behind the wheel.