Transportation

That’s been China’s strategy to achieve “total domination of the global auto industry,” which Michael Dunne argues in his latest newsletter it is on the cusp of doing. The Chinese auto expert and former GM executive said the country “has enough annual capacity - 50 million – to supply 55 percent of global demand for vehicles.” This overcapacity is forcing Chinese automakers to face an ultimatum: export or die. It’s doing it now in Europe. Can the US be that far behind?

In a filing with the SEC, the automaker says it needs to take the writedown in order to “reassess our EV capacity and manufacturing footprint” after President Trump and Congressional Republicans voted to eliminate the $7,500 consumer tax credit. And there may be future costs — “it is reasonably possible that we will recognize additional future material cash and non-cash charges” — after it finishes reassessing, GM says.

Some Jeep 4xe hybrid owners are reporting that their vehicles are losing power after an over-the-air software update, according to Ars Technica. The update apparently went out Friday, after which several owners posted on Reddit and Jeep owner forums about the power loss. Some were at low speeds and close to home, while others were driving on the highway when their vehicles shutdown. Seems bad! Jeep pulled the update after the reports and is now advising owners to ignore the notification.

Apparently the lower-cost Standard trim still has the same glass roof as the Premium models, but Tesla installed a fabric headliner so you can’t see through it. Motor Trend and Car and Driver both clocked this in their hands-on with the new Model Y. It’s a strange move — Wouldn’t this end up costing more than just replacing the glass with metal or fiberglass? — but this is Tesla after all.

The new Tron movie isn’t getting the greatest reviews, but that hasn’t stopped Tesla from pushing a software update that enables customers to turn their vehicles into light cycles on their infotainment screens. Some Tesla owners are complaining that this basically amounts to free advertising for Disney. Maybe Tesla should have stopped after sending one of its Optimus robots to try to “fight” Jared Leto at the film’s premiere.

Last week, Ford CEO Jim Farley stepped up to the Decoder mic to explain why Ford isn’t offering CarPlay Ultra. Then this week, our friend Joanna Stern followed up with RJ Scaringe to discuss (again) why his company’s cars don’t have CarPlay support at all.

Is that a plastic hubcap, perhaps on a more affordable Model Y? A fan for the revamped Tesla Roadster? A new HVAC system? Or is it a Tesla frisbee, as some commenters have guessed? I guess we’ll have to tune in tomorrow (October 7th) to find out.

It’s the latest streaming music channel you can link to while riding in a Waymo robotaxi, after Spotify and iHeart. And the absence of a human driver means you can play all your guilty pleasure tracks without fear of judgement. What song do will you be blasting next?

Amazon’s robotaxis are headed to our nation’s capital for testing. Zoox cites DC’s complex streetscape, plus its weather mix, as among its reasons for wanting to test there. The vehicles will be from Zoox’s testing fleet of retrofitted SUVs — which means no toaster-shaped fully autonomous vehicles for now.

The Financial Times has a good rundown of the extensive executive churn across Elon Musk’s companies in recent months, from Tesla’s robotics team to xAI’s CFO. Musk’s “24/7 campaign-style work ethos” is apparently a little difficult to keep up with.

The next-gen charging station, which is located in Redwood, Calif., is capable of putting out 500kW of peak power. Currently, the only Tesla vehicle that can accept that rate is the Cybertruck. The station also is only available to Tesla vehicles for now.

He put down $5,000, and then another $45,000, to reserve a revamped Tesla Roadster when it was first unveiled in 2017. But Tesla never got around to making one, so he decided to cancel it. The cancellation process involved multiple emails and phone calls, but eventually he got a check from Tesla... for $45,000. That’s right, they kept the $5,000 initial deposit.

The California governor, who is already angling for a presidential run, has a stack of AI regulation bills he can veto before October 12th. Newsom has a slew of tech donors — and may want more tech money for a presidential run. OpenAI is also staffed up with Newsom-affiliated operators. So will Newsom sign the bills?

The airline now offers a selection of ad-free YouTube videos, podcasts, and music playlists in case you forget to download a movie on your phone. That includes content from some of the platform’s most popular creators, including MrBeast, Nick DiGiovanni, Kinigra Deon, Michelle Khare, and others.