US joins countries investigating Airbus

Airbus shares tumbled 7 percent Thursday following a report that the U.S. Department of Justice has officially started an investigation into the European planemaker in parallel with British and French bribery probes.

Le Monde reported that Airbus was informed at the end of the summer about the move by U.S. authorities. The newspaper added, without saying where it got the information, that the company could face fines of several billion dollars from the probes.

The Department of Justice is looking into the company, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg, asking not to be identified discussing private matters. Airbus had disclosed in February that U.S. agencies asked it for information to assess whether any of the misconduct alleged in the European probes could fall within U.S. jurisdiction.

Uber returns self-driving cars to Pittsburgh roads

Uber said its autonomous vehicles returned to public roads Thursday, nine months after one of its self-driving cars killed a pedestrian in Tempe, Arizona.

But Uber’s self-driving vehicles are operating at drastically reduced speeds and in less challenging environments than before, the company said, as it eases back into testing and tries to ensure people’s safety.

Uber said it received permission Monday from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation to test its autonomous cars again on public roads in Pittsburgh. The company said it planned to put fewer than five cars on the road Thursday, and slowly add to that over time.

Complaints allege steering failed on Ram pickups

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating complaints that the steering can fail on some Ram pickup trucks.

The investigation covers about 200,000 Ram 2500s from the 2015 and 2016 model years.

The government agency said Thursday that it has two complaints that the linkage between the steering box to the front wheels can come apart.

One owner complained that the problem happened while rounding a curve at 65 to 70 mph. The driver lost steering and the truck went off the right side of the road, hitting ditches before stopping on the shoulder. One injury was reported.