Waymo expands, Heat out, tire king dies. Catch up on today’s top Miami stories

Self-driving cars on the highway and a heartbreaking end to the Heat’s season are among the top stories from the Miami Herald on Thursday:

Catch up with these summaries and follow the links to the original coverage:

• Waymo hits the highway: Self-driving Waymo cars are now traveling on I-95, the Airport Expressway, State Road 836 and other highways in Miami-Dade County. The service is also now open to the general public after more than 100,000 riders gained access via a wait list over the past three months.

• Cruise passenger wins $300,000 verdict: A Miami federal jury found Carnival Corp. negligent for serving a passenger at least 14 shots of tequila in an 8½-hour period. The jury assigned 60% of the fault to Carnival and 40% to the passenger, who suffered a severe fall and injuries while onboard. Carnival says it plans to appeal.

• Heat’s season ends in overtime heartbreak: The Heat lost 127-126 in overtime to the Charlotte Hornets in a play-in tournament elimination game after Bam Adebayo exited with a lower back injury early in the second quarter. The loss ends Miami’s streak of six consecutive playoff seasons.

• Caracas Bakery expands to Miami Beach: The popular Venezuelan bakery opened a new location at the Harbour Club in the Sunset Harbour neighborhood, serving its full bakery menu for breakfast and a new lunch concept called Casa Caracas.

• Norton Pallot dies at 101: The namesake of Norton Tire, one of the country’s largest independent tire retailers, died April 7 at his Coral Gables home. The family business grew to about 40 outlets nationwide before being sold to Goodyear in 1986.

This report was produced with the assistance of a proprietary tool powered by artificial intelligence and using our own originally reported, written and published content. It was reviewed and edited by our journalists.