Cars are the technology of the future. The Verge brings you new car reviews, auto show insights, deeply reported investigations, and news from the frontlines of autonomous and electric vehicle development. We bring you updates from major companies like Ford, GM, Mercedes, and VW as well as digital upstarts like Uber, Google, and Tesla. Cars are among the biggest computers that we’ll ever own, and we know computers. We also bring you news and analyses from the growing effort to reduce the number of cars crowding our cities and the fight to reduce oil consumption, cut CO2 emissions, and shift to more sustainable sources of energy.
Micro is now offering “over a thousand unique customization options” for the four-wheeled all-electric mini car I reviewed last year. Everything from exterior accents and trim, to interior upholstery, to the battery can be tweaked to match your whims and whimsy. Clearly — matte grey with Amsterdam orange accents is the only way to go.
The first personalized Microlinos created with the new configurator will be delivered in the spring.
I’m not saying I want to buy one. I’m just very curious to see where this is going.
The UAW has asked federal labor regulators for a union election at a new Kentucky factory co-owned by Ford and South Korean battery company SK On.
This could be the first big test for organized labor under Trump. The UAW filed federal labor charges against the former president and Elon Musk over perceived attempts to threaten workers during an interview in August — before Trump was re-elected and Musk became his right-hand man.
The automaker said it would file an appeal after a Delaware judge rejected Musk’s $56 billion pay package a second time, and now it officially has, as reported by Bloomberg Law. The state’s Supreme Court will now review the appeal.
The custom Alexa voice assistant for BMW vehicles was initially announced in 2022, but progress has been slow in an attempt to build it around Amazon’s more capable LLM-powered Alexa.
Amazon says its “LLM-powered capabilities” will start rolling out to select BMW models this year that allow users to “plan trips and navigate more conversationally.”
[www.aboutamazon.com]
The vehicles will be underpinned by a new in-house-developed operating system named after Honda’s iconic Asimo robot.
If you missed it last night, here’s the moment we found out the pricing for both trim levels of Sony / Honda’s Afeela 1 EV: $89,900 for the Afeela 1 Origin and $102,900 for the Afeela 1 Signature.
Preorders are open now, unless you prefer a PS5 Pro and Gran Turismo 7 as a cheaper option.
Here’s our first look at the “production-intent” Pebble Flow all-electric trailer. It can be moved into position by remote control thanks to a dual-motor system that can eliminate range-sapping drag when pulled by EVs. It features a massive 45kWh house battery and 1.1kW of rooftop solar to keep everything running for days. It starts at $109,500 with first deliveries available in the spring.
iDrive uses 3D graphics and augmented reality to keep your eyes on the road.
Here’s a sneak peak at the all electric Ferrari wearing full camouflage and making a simulated Ferrari rumble ahead of its launch later this year. As noted by Electrek, the prototype shows some exposed wiring and brackets up front and fake tailpipes glued to the back.
On deck: updates about how to pre-order Afeela, the electric vehicle Sony is making with Honda.
During his CES press conference today, Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda said the company was “exploring rockets.” Indeed, Toyota had just announced that it had invested an undisclosed sum in Interstellar Technologies, a private Japanese spaceflight company, with the aim to leverage Toyota’s manufacturing prowess to mass produce rockets.
At the end of the event, Toyoda cracked that “the future of mobility shouldn’t be limited to just Earth, or just one car company” — a possible dig at Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s ownership of SpaceX.
The company is expected to update its progress on Woven City, its “living laboratory” in Japan for future mobility projects. Tune in here.
During LG’s CES 2025 presentation, it showed off its AI assistant running in a simulated car cabin and helped the driver order coffee and detour to pick it up. However, it also warned the driver about their elevated heart rate, which the driver assured was because of work-related stress. LG AI then played soothing music to help with that.
The availability of new parts has allowed Volkswagen to lift the stop-sale order it put in place last September, after hundreds of ID.4 owners complained about their doors randomly opening while driving (including your’s truly). The door issue certainly took some of the shine off the ID.4 — VW said it only sold 646 in Q4 of 2024, a 94 percent drop year-over-year.
[media.vw.com]
On New Year’s Day, a man drove an F-150 Lightning into crowds along Bourbon Street in “an act of terrorism,” killing 15 people and injuring about 30 others. Hours later, a Cybertruck from Colorado exploded outside Donald Trump’s Las Vegas hotel, killing the driver and injuring seven.
A statement confirms that “both involved vehicles rented on Turo.”
No one visually gets hurt in this video — you see a big explosion, a bystander running away, and a lot of firework-like secondary bangs. But authorities found one person dead inside the Cybertruck, and seven others reported minor injuries.
Authorities, including the FBI, are currently investigating the incident at the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas. Here’s our story.
“Tesla Recharged” gives customers year-end insights in the Tesla app for stats such as how often users’ homes are powered off-grid.
As Not a Tesla App reports, Tesla Energy users get trophies like “Solar Punk” if they’re in the top 25 percent generating solar energy for the year or “Team Player” for being in the top 1 percent of sending electricity back to the grid.
ABC News reports the deal covers over 120,000 workers, but will cut over 35,000 jobs by 2030 via early retirement and buyouts. It also outlines production plans and locations for future vehicles, including an electric Golf, Q4 E-tron, ID.7, and another EV based on the SSP platform.
The deal would save VW 1.5 billion euros ($1.56 billion) a year in labor costs and 4 billion euros a year by slashing manufacturing capacity by more 700,000 vehicles across its German plants through different production arrangements.
[Volkswagen Newsroom]
A hybrid supercar that can run on electricity alone, while still delivering that twin-turbo 3.0-liter V6 experience
