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Everyone needs to get around. How we do it will change more over the next decade than it has in the last century. Legacy automakers, like Ford and GM, are scrambling to become technology-savvy companies, and the tech industry is trying to cash in on the change. New players, like Rivian and Tesla, are disrupting the industry and sometimes stumbling. We look at how self-driving hardware and software make the automobile better or, in some cases, deeply flawed. We cut through the hype and empty promises to tell you what's really happening and what we think is coming. Verge Transportation cares about all moving machines and the place they have in the future.

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Spotify shuts down Car Thing, and now owners have one last chance at a refund

Spotify’s Car Thing is displaying a final goodbye message for any remaining owners, although some have found new uses for the gadget.

Rivian’s new Joshua Tree outpost is what EV charging should be

The new station is open to all EVs and offers snacks, bathrooms, and air conditioning while you wait.

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The electric USPS truck is in Trump’s crosshairs.

The US Postal Service is supposed to add 66,000 electric trucks to its fleet by 2028 using $3 billion from Biden’s climate legislation. But Reuters is now saying that Donald Trump is likely to kill the effort by cancelling the contracts with supplying automakers Oshkosh and Ford. It’s yet another example of Trump’s eagerness to unspool his predecessor’s efforts to promote EVs.


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Dodge slams ‘soulless, weak-looking, self-driving sleep pods’ in new Charger EV ad.

Dodge is getting ready to launch its first electric muscle car, the Charger Daytona. And clearly the company is feeling a little insecure about alienating its so-called “Brotherhood of Muscle.” The first ad strikes a weirdly combative tone, rejecting the environmental case for going electric and bashing other EVs on the road as “weak” and “soulless.” Meanwhile, influencers got their first taste of the Charger’s fake “Fratzonic Chambered” exhaust noises this week. And most people say they think it sounds like Roblox.


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The headlights are too bright. Whose fault is it?

The auto manufacturers? The insurers? The NHTSA just fell down on the job? Could be that more people just drive with their brights on all the time. Personally, I think we should send all of them to the Hague to get this sorted out.

Shout out to r/fuckyourheadlights, a bastion of sanity.


The new all-electric, very-pink Jaguar concept leaks online.

On the heels of its controversial rebranding, the British automaker is expected to reveal a new vision for its all-electric future during Miami’s art week. And ahead of that, the images of Jaguar’s Design Vision Concept, a low slung, ultra-luxury GT, have leaked online, courtesy of Coche Spias. It’s very large, and very wide, and incredibly pink. But whether it joins the pantheon of iconic pink cars — Elvis, Barbie, Angelyne — only time will tell.


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Image: Coche Spias
SiriusXM finally lands in Tesla Models 3, Y, and Cybertruck.

The satellite radio service has been available in the Model S and X since 2020 but was conspicuously absent from Tesla’s two best-selling models and electric truck.

Like the Apple Watch app, it’s part of Tesla’s 2024 holiday update, and SiriusXM’s offering a one-month free trial. Of course, Tesla Premium Connectivity ($9.99/month) or an active Wi-Fi connection is also required.


Image: SiriusXM
GM wants to protect its robotaxis from ‘adversarial’ pedestrians.

If that sounds absurd, scroll down to see the illustration included in the automaker’s patent application (as noticed by Autoguide). The filing describes a system to protect autonomous vehicles from “adversarial behavior” from “vulnerable road users” like pedestrians. Sure, there have been a handful of incidents of people attacking and vandalizing driverless cars. But a 5,000-pound car has certain inherent advantages when facing off against a 150-lb person, regardless of the technology onboard.


How can we protect our vulnerable robotaxis from threatening ‘OK’ hand gestures?
How can we protect our vulnerable robotaxis from threatening ‘OK’ hand gestures?
Screenshot: GM patent application

Hyundai Ioniq 5 N review: fake shifting, real fun

Even diehard car enthusiasts have to smile at what Hyundai’s N Performance Division has done with the Ioniq 5.

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Three killed, one seriously injured in Tesla Cybertruck crash.

ABC 7 Bay Area reports that last night in Piedmont, CA, a Cybertruck “jumped the curb, struck a cement wall, and then wedged in between the wall and a tree,” according to officials who said speed was a factor. Like a fatal Cybertruck wreck in August, it then caught fire.

One person was pulled from the vehicle by another driver, and they are recovering from burn wounds.


London is cleaning up its messy e-bikes.

The TFL has announced plans to create additional parking spaces for dockless rental e-bikes and e-scooters, and will “consider taking action against operators” who allow them to be dumped in busier areas of the city.


Rental E-Bikes Scattered Across A Pavement London
Even when dumped into their designated bays, London’s rental bikes are becoming an eyesore and a hazard to pedestrians.
photo by Mark Kerrison/In Pictures via Getty Images
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Tesla may get left out of California’s EV rebate proposal.

According to Bloomberg, Governor Gavin Newsom’s office is considering adding “market-share limitations” to its proposal to revive the state’s Clean Vehicle Rebate program. The program would be in lieu of a federal EV tax credit, which is on Donald Trump’s chopping block. Tesla CEO (and Trump donor) Elon Musk, unused to his chickens coming home to roost, is calling the proposal “insane.”