Andrew J. Hawkins

Palace intrigue is back, baby! The feud started Saturday morning, when Elon Musk blasted trade advisor Peter Navarro on X (now deleted), saying “he ain’t built shit.” Navarro responded on Fox News that Musk “doesn’t understand” trade deficits, and dismissed him as a “car assembler.” That lead to Musk’s most recent retort, calling Navarro “truly a moron” and “dumber than a sack of bricks.” Musk also defended Tesla as “the most American-made cars,” but has also acknowledged that the company is still exposed to tariffs through some of its imports.

With 25 percent tariffs on all car imports now in effect, Jeep’s parent company is mulling ways help mitigate the negative effects of the new fees. So far, those plans have included employee discounts for customers and temporary layoffs of factory workers. Now Stellantis is considering a program in which its suppliers could apply for financial assistance in paying the new tariffs, Bloomberg reports. It’s unclear how much help Stellantis would provide, or even how long this help could last. But it’s an example of the lengths the auto industry is willing to go to avoid having to pass the full cost along to customers.

Security researcher Jane Manchun Wong has discovered another hidden Waymo gem, this time related to the robotaxi operator’s use of footage from its interior cameras to train generative AI. According to a screenshot of an unreleased privacy policy, Waymo is offering customers the opportunity to opt-out from having their “personal information,” including “interior camera data associated with your identity,” to train generative AI models. Waymo uses this data to “tailor products, services, ads, and offers to your interests.” Coming soon to a robotaxi near you?

The Newark, Calif.-based automaker reported a brisk uptick in deliveries for the first quarter of 2025. Lucid sold 3,109 vehicles, a 44 percent increase year over year. The company said it produced 2,212 vehicles, plus “over 600 additional vehicles in transit to Saudi Arabia for final assembly.” (Lucid is majority owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.) Tesla’s loss appears to be Lucid’s gain. Last month, the company’s CEO said “over 50 percent” of its orders were from former Tesla owners.

The ridehail company’s partnership with AV developer WeRide is launching in Dubai, after several months of successful trips in Abu Dhabi. The vehicles still include safety drivers and won’t be fully driverless until later this year, Uber says. Uber is also working with Waymo in Austin, Texas, and has several other AV partnerships in the works.