Waymo and other robotaxi operators are facing increased scrutiny ' and possible new federal requirements ' over how their autonomous vehicles interact with emergency responders, a regulatory risk that's becoming harder for the industry to shrug off. Rep. Kevin Mullin (D-Calif.) is the latest lawmaker to put pressure on the industry with a proposed bill that would direct federal regulators to establish minimum national safety standards for autonomous vehicle operators. The proposed legislation, expected to be introduced in Congress this week, follows a number of incidents in which autonomous vehicles have blocked ambulances and fire trucks, driven into active crime scenes, and failed to recognize safety signals such as traffic cones and flares. The legislation, called the AV Emergency Response Coordination Act, was unveiled Tuesday during a press conference in San Francisco, a hub of autonomous vehicle testing and where hundreds of Waymo robotaxis already give rides to paying customers. San Francisco mayor Daniel Lurie, San Francisco fire chief Dean Crispen, and Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety president Cathy Chase also spoke at the press conference....

With a recent increase in bear sightings and incidents in rural Japan, local communities are taking steps to prepare for such encounters. In the small city of Yaita, officials and residents worked together recently to practice their bear-emergency response, acting out a simulation on the campus of a primary school....

Uplift Microhome is building reusable, modular housing units to provide housing on demand to people affected by natural disasters and other emergencies. Each of the company's homes has its own batteries and water reservoir, allowing them to quickly be transported and placed off-grid. 'Every year, millions of Americans are displaced by natural disasters,' said co-founder Charlie Nitschelm, who is in MIT's Leaders for Global Operations program, earning a master's in engineering and an MBA. 'If they're lucky, they can stay with friends or family. If they're not so lucky, they could end up in a homeless shelter. But disasters aren't just two-week problems. It takes months, sometimes years, to get back to what life was like before. Bottom line: We lack dignified and affordable housing after disasters.' Uplift Microhome was one of seven teams chosen to pitch at the final event, which took place inside a packed Kresge Auditorium. Each team got five minutes to pitch their startups before a few minutes of questioning from judges....

An outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has almost certainly been spreading undetected for weeks or even months, say infectious-disease researchers. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern on 17 May. At least 10 people have tested positive for Ebola virus, but more than 330 people have suspected infections, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. So far, more than 80 people are thought to have died from the disease. Infections have also been reported in neighbouring Uganda, after two people with confirmed infections entered the country from the DRC. Both countries declared outbreaks last week, according to a statement from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention in Addis Ababa. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the WHO, said infections have been reported among people with no connection to each other. At least four health-care workers in the same hospital have died, suggesting that the virus might be spreading in clinical settings. The true number of cases is potentially much larger than what has been reported, and it is unclear how people with confirmed or suspected infections have been exposed to the virus, Tedros said in a statement....