Andrew J. Hawkins

Two teenagers who were drinking alcohol and shooting a toy gun out the window of their Waymo were arrested last week after being tricked by a remote operator into thinking the vehicle had mechanical problems.

Polestar is down for the count, global EV sales hit 2 million in June, and China’s electric vehicle industry continues to make news this week. Here are some notable headlines:

The EV startup is teaming up with Crayola on a special lineup of wraps for its paint-less electric trucks. Colors include Cerulean, Fern, Jersey Tomato, Razzmatazz, and Dandelion. Why they didn’t think to include Burnt Sienna is beyond me.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued a rare warning to autonomous vehicle developers to address the “recent, disturbing trend” of driverless vehicles interfering with law enforcement and other first responders. According to NHTSA Administrator Jonathan Morrison:

The company is ramping up testing in San Diego, Las Vegas, Tampa, and Denver with the introduction of rider-only operations. Only Waymo employees will get to ride in the vehicles for now, but the company says it expects to kick off public trips soon. Waymo is also testing its newest vehicle, the Hyundai Ioniq 5, with a safety specialist present. No word on when the Hyundais will join the robotaxi fleet.

Because otherwise your Waymo might “snitch” to the cops, as in the case of two 15-year-olds in California. According to 404 Media, the two teens were detained after the robotaxi company reported them for drinking and shooting Orbeez from the vehicle. Seems like the kind of behavior you may invite when you open up your unsupervised ridehailing service to the underage. But also Waymos are covered in cameras, inside and out, and have been known to report wrongdoing to the cops. Basically they’re roving surveillance machines!