6 – Breaking News & Latest Updates 2026
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Cars

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.

Andrew J. Hawkins
Andrew J. Hawkins
The new Nissan Leaf will have ‘seamless Plug and Charge capability.’

It will also be able to add 250 kilometers (155 miles) of charge in just 15 minutes of DC fast-charging, according to a new video from the Japanese automaker. Nissan already revealed that the new Leaf will come with a native NACS charging port, enabling it to charge at Tesla Superchargers. The addition of Plug and Charge appears to fit in with the narrative that Nissan aims to address charging headaches with the new Leaf.

Andrew J. Hawkins
Andrew J. Hawkins
Ford’s spoiler-ific Super Mustang Mach-E will tackle Pikes Peak next month.

The Blue Oval aims to tackle America’s mountain with a new Mustang Mach-E derived demonstrator with French racing impresario Romain Dumas behind the wheel. This is the third consecutive year that Ford is competing with an electric demonstrator at Pikes Peak, following the SuperVan 4.2 and F-150 Lightning SuperTruck.

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Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 first drive: hype meets hyperspeed

We knew the new Corvette was fast, but we didn’t know it’d be this good.

Tim Stevens
Hyundai’s new EV factory is teeming with robots — and wariness about the future

The South Korean automaker’s new $7.6 billion factory is a bulwark against tariffs and EV-hostile policies.

Lawrence Ulrich
Dominic Preston
Dominic Preston
Driverless Teslas are actually driverless now.

Elon Musk says the company has been testing self-driving Model Y cars around Austin without anyone in the driver’s seat for the “past several days.” That’s good news for the company’s fledgling robotaxi business, which may launch as soon as June 12th. Though as Electrek points out, a few weeks of driverless testing is a far cry from the six months Waymo worked through before its Austin launch this year.

Andrew J. Hawkins
Andrew J. Hawkins
Amazon’s plan to develop in-car software for Jeep parent goes kaput.

The original deal between Amazon and Stellantis, first announced in 2022, was to create a “digital cockpit” for “millions” of Jeep, Dodge, and Ram vehicles — similar to how Google has developed operating systems for a handful of key automakers. But after three years, the two companies are now “winding down” that aspect of their partnership, Reuters says. (The e-commerce company also said it would purchase electric Ram ProMaster delivery vans; no word on whether that deal went through.) And it’s not looking good for a future Amazon in-car experience, as Reuters notes that most of the company’s Digital Cabin staffers have resigned or left the company.

reuters.com

[reuters.com]

Tesla continues to circle the drainTesla continues to circle the drain
Andrew J. Hawkins
Wes Davis
Wes Davis
What happens when you try to film a Lidar scanner?

Well, as Jalopnik points out while referring its readers to the below video of a Volvo EX90’s Lidar scanner wrecking a camera sensor on the iPhone 16 Pro Max filming it, doing so can be “the technological equivalent of staring directly into the sun.”

Lidar’s effects on camera sensors isn’t new information, but as more cars use Lidar, this video is a solid reminder to take care when showing off your new car.

Justine Calma
Justine Calma
California says it’ll sue after Congress revoked its plans to mandate more EV sales.

Republicans fast-tracked passage of the resolutions using a maneuver that nonpartisan watchdogs said should be barred, and that Governor Gavin Newsom calls illegal. The Clean Air Act gives California authority to set state pollution limits that are more stringent than federal regulation.

So long, EV tax creditsSo long, EV tax credits
Andrew J. Hawkins
Andrew J. Hawkins
Andrew J. Hawkins
‘R2 is coming.’

Rivian’s smaller, more affordable electric SUV may not arrive until the end of 2026, but the company is getting geared up to start testing development versions of the R2. But before they get released into the wild, they need to disguise themselves in camouflage so prying eyes (and phone cameras) can’t perceive their full awesomeness. To that effect, the company was eager to show off its custom wrap, which looks a bit different from the industry standard black-and-white design. Yes, there’s a Yeti in there.

Dominic Preston
Dominic Preston
BYD overtakes Tesla in Europe.

After outdoing Tesla’s global revenue last year, Chinese auto manufacturer BYD just outsold it in Europe for the first time too.

BYD sold 7,231 battery-electric cars in Europe in April — up 169 percent over the same month last year — which was enough to just overtake Tesla, which once led Europe’s market but now sits in tenth. Tesla sales of 7,165 are 49 percent down on 2024.

Andrew J. Hawkins
Andrew J. Hawkins
Tesla is being ‘extremely paranoid’ about robotaxi launch, Musk says

During an interview with CNBC, Elon Musk laid out some of the details for next month’s robotaxi launch in Austin, Texas, most of which was already known. It will be a small number of vehicles, only 10-20, in the first week, but will increase in size week by week. It will be geofenced to the parts of Austin “that we consider to be the safest,” Musk said. And the vehicles will be monitored by remote operators who can intervene in case of emergency. “We’re going to be extremely paranoid about the deployment as we should be,” he added. “It would be foolish not to be so we’ll be watching what the cars are doing very carefully.” The rest was the standard bluster about “over a million Teslas doing self-driving in the US” and why he thinks Waymo’s use of lidar is fundamentally flawed.

Dominic Preston
Dominic Preston
Honda takes the EV out.

The company is walking back some of its long-term electrification plans, cutting 3 trillion yen (about $20.8 billion) from its investment in electric cars over the next six years. Instead, it’s shifting focus to hybrids, though still plans to be selling only EVs by 2040.

It’s not just them: Toyota is in the midst of a similar reassessment, while last year Volvo gave up on its plan to be fully electric by 2030.

A new cold war is brewing over rare earth minerals

China has implemented new export controls for rare earth minerals and magnets. The changes could upend the shift to electric vehicles.

Abigail Bassett
Wes Davis
Wes Davis
Apple gave Monaco a custom F1-themed Maps treatment.

The update puts a focus on Formula 1 racing in promotion of both upcoming Apple movie F1 and the 2025 Monaco Grand Prix race happening later this month. The update is full of special Monaco Grand Prix-related things, including little renders of Formula 1 cars at the pits and road closure advisories.

Not that any of us will ever use it — this is basically an update for Apple exec and known sports fan Eddy Cue, right?

Apple Maps showing Monaco.
Three screenshots of Apple Maps on an iPhone.
More of the special Grand Prix race locations shown in the app.
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The update lets you see where the route is, so you can join in the fun (just kidding, don’t try to do that!).
Image: Apple
Thomas Ricker
Thomas Ricker
What is real?

Tesla’s Optimus robot has been plagued by fakery since it launched with a dancer in a suit followed by remote manipulation at the cybercab event. So what is this? Generative AI? A man behind the curtain in a mocap suit?

Does it even matter if Tesla can’t mass produce them without China’s rare earth magnets?

The 2026 BMW iX is a best-case-scenario EVThe 2026 BMW iX is a best-case-scenario EV
Andrew J. Hawkins