Transportation

The system works to save fuel by cutting off the engine when the vehicle comes to a stop at a red light, for example. Automakers were incentivized at add the feature by off-cycle credits from the federal government. But now those credits are gone, and the auto industry is likely to start phasing the feature out. Lee Zeldin claims it will save “$1.3 trillion,” but good luck spending it while the world burns.

Since Waymo doesn’t have a vehicle with automatic doors, it has to pay on gig workers for help. (The Washington Post covered this phenomenon recently.) Just another example of the invisible human labor that’s required to keep these autonomous systems afloat.

Co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana told Bloomberg the robotaxi company was on track to reach the 1 million weekly rides milestone by the end of 2026. The company is currently provides about 400,000 rides per week across six US cities. Waymo just announced that its sixth-generation vehicle is going to start accepting passengers in San Francisco and Los Angeles.

The sudden closure of El Paso airspace yesterday came after US customs officials fired an anti-drone laser on loan from the Department of Defense without coordination with the FAA. And, according to The New York Times, it wasn’t triggered by “Mexican cartel drones breaching US airspace” as the administration claimed:

The first Southwest Airlines plane with Starlink will enter this service this summer, and Starlink is set to be available on “more than 300 aircraft” by the end of the year, Southwest says.

Chinese automotive publication Gasgoo says the new companies are in talks to dramatically increase Waymo’s fleet of Hyundai EVs. The deal could be worth around $2.5 billion, assuming $50,000 per vehicle. But even if the report is true, don’t expect Waymo’s robotaxi fleet to suddenly grow by 50,000: the company has said it plans on adding only 2,000 more vehicles in 2026, for a total fleet size of 3,500. Waymo is currently testing and validating the Ioniq 5 and the Zeekr RT as its next two robotaxis.

After adding support for using the Apple Watch as a digital key for its Gen 2 EVs in December, Rivian is launching an Apple Watch app alongside an update to its mobile app, according to RivianTrackr. The watchOS app can be used to open windows, activate the alarm, or unlock doors, including Gen 1 EVs.

Last month, a federal judge ordered the US Department of Transportation to unfreeze $5 billion from the federal program dedicated to building more EV chargers. But today, Transportation Secretary announced a new requirement that all federally funded EV chargers be “100 percent” built in America. Since most EV chargers are sourced from China, this will essentially refreeze the funds and indefinitely delay the installation of more chargers.

A handful of journalists and YouTubers got to drive a pre-production version of Rivian’s upcoming $45,000 EV, and the reviews are now live. Doug DeMuro called it “awesome.” MKBHD thinks it will be Rivian’s answer to the Model Y.

Say that five times really fast! Uber has said it would use Baidu’s Apollo Go robotaxis in London, and now the company is adding Dubai as well, starting in March 2026.

Car and Driver doing the important tests of the new EV’s Jony Ive-designed interior.

As Waymo uses AI-generated 3D worlds to simulate driverless cars’ encounters with tornadoes, floods, and even elephants, one commenter wonders if they could try AI school buses next.

The new accounts for riders aged 13 to 17 launch today in over 200 major markets, including New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas, Boston, and Washington, DC. Parents get a link to track trips in real time, receive updates at pickup and drop-off, and can communicate directly with their teen’s Lyft driver if needed, the company says. The announcement comes almost three years after Uber first launched its teen accounts.

David Stern suggested Epstein invest in multiple EV startups, including Lucid Motors, Faraday Future, and Canoo, TechCrunch reports. Stern was also an advisor to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and worked with Epstein for nearly a decade, calling him his “mentor.” He also pitched Epstein on buying farmland in Russia and the news organization Al-Jazeera.

EV adoption was tied to a decrease in smog-forming nitrogen dioxide pollution in California, the biggest market for electric cars in the US, a recent study confirms.

I’ve been seeing a lot of posts and articles claiming that Waymo’s robotaxis are being secretly controlled by teleoperators in the Philippines. The claims stem from a Senate Commerce Committee hearing this week, during which a top Waymo executive told Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) that the company employs some remote operators overseas. But he was also clear that those operators aren’t actually controlling the vehicles. I watched all two hours of the hearing, and here’s what Mauricio Peña, Waymo’s chief safety officer, had to say:

A new study analyzed anonymized Google data to conclude that drivers who never even enter the toll zone in Manhattan are also saving a lot of time. Hey, anything that makes ex-New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy look even more stupid in his failed attempt to block the climate change-fighting policy from going through.

“The charges announced today largely reflect the cost of overestimating the pace of the energy transition that distanced us from many car buyers’ real-world needs, means and desires,” CEO Antonio Filosa said in a statement. The automaker is the latest to record a massive charge on its EV investment, as sales growth slows amid vanishing government incentives. Ford reported a $19.5 billion write-down, while GM said it would take a more modest $6 billion hit.

On X, Ford CEO Jim Farley posted several photos of the automaker’s Universal EV Project, calling it “one of the most audacious and important projects in @Ford’s history. American innovation is how we compete and win against China and the rest of the world.” The first EV, expected in 2027, will be a four-door, midsized $30,000 pickup truck.

While Top Gear has spent years trying to replace Jeremy Clarkson, James May, and Richard Hammond with mainstream celebrities, Amazon is instead appeasing British broadcasting execs’ obsession with online content creators. The Grand Tour season 7 presenters are viral trainspotter Francis Bourgeois, alongside James Engelsman and Thomas Holland, who run the Throttle House YouTube channel.

Of all the Chinese automakers, Geely seems best positioned to sell its cars in the US. That may explain why Ford is considering a technology partnership with the parent company of brands like Polestar and Volvo. Reuters reports that Geely could use Ford factory space in Europe to produce vehicles for the region.