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.
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.
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.
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.
[www.theringer.com]
Autonomous Cars
Uber’s first international robotaxi service is live in the UAE
Waymo’s next robotaxi city will be Miami
GM wants to protect its robotaxis from ‘adversarial’ pedestrians.
The small thing that can keep drivers attentive while using partial automation
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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Ride-sharing
Uber’s first international robotaxi service is live in the UAE
Uber will deliver your Christmas tree — and even a troupe of carolers — to your front door
Uber for AI labeling
UberXXL will let you catch an even bigger ride to the airport
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.”