The ride-sharing company Uber has removed its self-driving cars from the streets of San Francisco, California. The action came after a dispute between Uber and state officials over whether the vehicles needed special permits to operate.

Uber recently launched testing of its self-driving service in San Francisco. But shortly after the launch, California’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) told the company to stop the self-driving vehicles. State officials said the Uber cars needed the same special permit given to about 20 other companies testing self-driving technology in California.

But Uber refused to obey and kept its cars on the road in San Francisco. The company, which operates a transportation network around the world, is based in San Francisco. Uber argued that its technology does not make vehicles fully autonomous, and so the special permit was not needed. It added that all of Uber’s self-driving cars have a driver sitting in the passenger seat to take over if needed.

The head of Uber’s self-driving technology, Anthony Levandowski, explained the company’s position in a blog post. He said the self-driving Uber vehicles do use high-technology tools to assist drivers. But, they are not fully autonomous and require a driver to be at the controls at all times.

He compared the technology to solar carmaker Tesla’s advanced driver assist tools. Telsa’s Autopilot system allows its cars to steer in a lane, change lanes, and speed up or slow down based on nearby traffic. The company tells drivers that, when using Autopilot, they should still always be ready to take control of the vehicle.

Vehicles equipped with these high-tech driver assist tools do not need a special permit to operate in California.

“It’s hard to understand why the DMV would seek to require self-driving Ubers to get permits when it accepts that Tesla’s autopilot technology does not need them,” Levandowski wrote. “We asked for clarification as to specifically what is different about our tech from the DMV, but have not received it.”

Uber and state officials were not able to come to an agreement on the issue. On Wednesday, the DMV said it had canceled the registration of Uber’s 16 self-driving cars in San Francisco. All U.S. vehicles driven on the road require state registration.

In September, Uber got its first U.S. approval to test self-driving vehicles in the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Uber continues to test the cars and give people the chance to experience the technology.

San Francisco’s mayor, Ed Lee, praised the DMV for stopping Uber’s self-driving vehicles. He said he supports self-driving development and testing. “But only under conditions that put human, bicyclists’ and pedestrian safety first.”

There were several reports of unsafe incidents involving Uber’s self-driving vehicles in San Francisco. Most involved witnesses claiming they saw Uber vehicles not stopping for red lights.

Video of one incident was posted online that appeared to show a self-driving Uber car passing through a red light. Another person posted a photo of what she said was an Uber self-driving car in the road that did not stop for a red traffic light.

In response, Uber said the video of the incident showed why its cars always require close attention from a human driver — and therefore do not need a state permit.

Uber announced it would send the self-driving vehicles to the neighboring state of Arizona to begin a new test project there. Arizona Governor Doug Ducey reportedly said the state welcomed the cars with open arms and wide open roads.

European Union member countries made the final plan that would require all new cars sold in the EU to be zero emission(排放) vehicles starting in the year 2035. It’s part of the EU’s plan to deal with climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, a plan bigger than similar efforts in the US. A quarter of the EU’S emissions come from transportation, and 70% of that is road traffic.

“The direction of travel is clear: in 2035, new cars and vans(货车) must have zero emissions,” European Commission Executive Vice President Timmermans said in a statement. “The new rules on CO₂-emissions from cars are a key part of the European Green Deal and will be a big contribution to our target of zero-emission by 2050,” Timmermans added.

The plan also requires that, by the year 2030, the average emissions of new cars drop by 55% and the average emissions of new vans drop by 50%, compared with vehicle emissions in 2021.

But there’s one major caveat to the plan. The EU said it would allow the continued sale of cars that run on e-fuels(合成燃料) past 2035 at Germany’s request. E-fuels are made using CO₂ emissions caught in the air.

The US President has said he supports the increase of electric vehicles, and in 2021 he signed an order setting a goal that half of all new passenger cars and light trucks sold in the US in 2030 be zero-emission vehicles.

The shift from combustion engines(内燃机) to electric vehicles won’t be as easy as turning a key, experts say. Some of the challenges of changing to zero-emission vehicles include the high cost of electric cars, and a lack of charging equipment.

Amsterdam’s Blossoming Bikes Pop Up

Brightly coloured bikes decorated in flowers, butterflies and clocks have been popping up all over Amsterdam for years. 【小题1】. They are from an American   man   named Warren       Gregory.

Known fondly as the Flower Bike Man, Warren’s bike-decorating campaign began when his wife couldn’t find her bike at Amsterdam Central. Warren’s wife, Michelle, often struggled to remember details like where she parked her bike. To help her out, Warren decorated her bike in bright flowers. 【小题2】. He then decorated a bunch of abandoned bikes, which he left along the route home so that she would never get lost again.

【小题3】. Warren started decorating more bikes, and then ventured out into the streets early in the morning to leave his gifts to the world before the city woke up. Each bike was carefully named and had its own personality, all representing love and happiness.

Warren creates the bikes using money out of his own pocket, and uses old, abandoned bikes that he collects. Bringing these forgotten wrecks back to life is beautiful in so many ways. In a country where people love bikes so much, it’s no wonder that Warren has become a treasure in Amsterdam. People love Warren’s bicycles so much that they insist on paying for his creations.

【小题4】. “For me, seeing the bikes I created is enough,” he said.

Other than being a creative artist, Warren is also a really nice guy. His Instagram posts are flooded with encouragements and words of love, and you can feel the time and love that he   pours into every bike that he creates. 【小题5】.