Everyone needs to get around. How we do it will change more over the next decade than it has in the last century. Legacy automakers, like Ford and GM, are scrambling to become technology-savvy companies, and the tech industry is trying to cash in on the change. New players, like Rivian and Tesla, are disrupting the industry and sometimes stumbling. We look at how self-driving hardware and software make the automobile better or, in some cases, deeply flawed. We cut through the hype and empty promises to tell you what’s really happening and what we think is coming. Verge Transportation cares about all moving machines and the place they have in the future.
Brooklyn-based artist Justin Blinder created a device that illustrates how soaring housing costs are making life in the city that much harder.
SV stands for Supervolce, or ‘super fast.’ And that’s an apt description for this heat-seeking missile of a sports car.
Waymo has received regulatory approval in the state to “expand” its autonomous ride-hailing service “across the SF Bay Area and LA” and bring it to Sacramento and San Diego, the company said on Friday. The approved expansion covers “most of the state’s population,” Electrek reports.
The expansion will be “gradual and guided by our safety framework,” according to Waymo.
Bike shop owners say the law, which places heavy restrictions on e-bike ownership in the state, is fueling a steep drop in sales, with some saying as much as 90 percent of their business has evaporated.
“It has had a chilling effect on the legitimate e-bike industry,” said Mike Grotz, owner of Cyclesport in Park Ridge. “We sold over 50 Class 1 e-bikes last year, this year, a total of 4 e-bikes.”
Workers are being laid off, and some shop owners predict they will be forced to shut down. Who could have predicted this?
The very popular Dutch maker of cargo bikes is now selling its Breeze Stateside. You can’t pass a school in Amsterdam without seeing a dozen Urban Arrows with kids frolicking in their front buckets, but longtails seem to sell better in the US of A. Prices start at $6,999.
More than just an E-Ray replacement, the GSX adds more power to the Corvette experience.
The German automaker must have gotten an earful from owners, because after a brief, stick-less interlude, the 911 Carrera S is getting its manual transmission back. The Porsche 911 Carerra S with MT Package (starting price $169,450 for the coupe, $183,350 for the cabriolet) shares its six-gear transmission with the Carrera T, and comes exclusively in rear-wheel drive. Manual transmissions aren’t for everyone, but plenty of Porsche people still prefer them.
TechCrunch reports that the new factory would be located 45 minutes outside of Houston:
The new factory, called Project Crystal Sun, could cost as much as $10.1 billion. Tesla has applied for tax incentives to partially offset the cost, saying that it is exploring other sites “across multiple U.S. states.” The factory would create about 9,700 full-time jobs, Tesla said.
The drivers won the right to unionize last year after Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill enabling gig workers to unionize. The ridehail drivers would remain independent contractors but would be able to negotiate with the companies for better pay and benefits. The state is the second to allow ridehail drivers to unionize, after Massachusetts. Illinois is also considering its own legislation.
Trustees are trying to keep Accell Group’s operations running while takeover bids are considered, but manufacturing in Hungary, where operations were recently centralized, has halted leading to concerns about spare parts and warranty claims. The Hungarian factory has an annual capacity of almost 300,000 bicycles, of which almost 99 percent are e-bikes.
[Bike Europe]
The affordable EV club gets a new member! The newly announced starting price — which includes a $1,495 destination fee — will put the Kia EV3 in competition with the Nissan Leaf and Chevy Bolt when it goes on sale later this year. (The EV3 is long delayed, having been available in Europe since 2024.) When it does, it’ll be available in standard and long-range configurations, offering 221 and 321 miles per charge, respectively.
Wahoo is revamping its app to expand beyond its core cycling hardware to become a “connected training ecosystem.” And that means subscriptions. Under its new three-tier model, basic Wahoo device support is still free; $4.99/month adds performance analytics, insights, and training load tracking for self-guided athletes; and $17.99/month adds structured training guidance.
Rear-facing radar is already an add-on for roadies, and comes integrated into some high-end eSUV bikes. Now N+, the company responsible for the Mercedes-branded e-bikes, is taking things a step further by linking it to a video camera visible on the display of its €3,999 VW-branded e-bike.
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Tesla’s chief car designer Franz von Holzhausen said the second generation Roadster is coming “very soon,” while eagerly rubbing his hands together on the latest episode of Jay Leno’s Garage. What was hailed as “the quickest production car ever made” when announced in 2017, has so far missed its 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 dates. Will 2026 be any different?
The FIA has recognized the Hydromax’s Speed Week runs at Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats, measuring 400.623 mph and 412.135 mph for an average of 406.320 mph, as the new record for a hydrogen internal combustion-powered vehicle.
JCB makes heavy equipment and shoved two “production-based” hydrogen digger engines into a slim frame to set the record, with British driver and outright land speed record holder Andy Green behind the wheel.
This Reddit user claims a Tesla employee left the door open on this Cybercab while charging. Sure! There’s steering wheel inside, which we’ve seen before. But also there’s something called “Rodeo controls” on the touchscreen, with buttons labeled “Short oops,” “Long oops,” “Win,” and “Voice notes.” These are no doubt controls for safety driver to record incidents or mistakes made by the self-driving system. Business Insider previously reported the existence of Tesla’s Project Rodeo, in which safety drivers would deliberately delay taking manual control longer than a typical driver.
No specs or timeframe accompanied the photos, or even a justification for why you’d want satellite internet in a taxi that targets dense urban environments where cellphone signal is strong. The car certainly doesn’t need it to drive, but, as Electrek notes, it’s a nice recurring revenue stream for SpaceX, and further justification for the two companies to merge and make Richie Rich another $1 trillion richer.
An escape clause in Elon Musk’s $1 trillion Tesla pay package approved last year would eliminate daunting operational targets if SpaceX were to purchase Tesla, as many expect. Under the terms, an acquisition treats those performance goals as met. Depending on the acquisition price SpaceX sets for Tesla, which Musk can heavily influence, a merger could instantly award him hundreds of millions of Tesla shares and consolidate his voting control.
NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani has come out in support of The Delivery Protection Act, a union-backed proposal that would force companies like Amazon, FedEx, and others to hire the workers who deliver packages wearing their logos. As it is, those workers are often contractors, which the backers of Intro 518 say serves as a smokescreen allowing the big companies to avoid responsibility and minimum pay regulations.
According to local reports, the man was crossing the street outside a crosswalk in Dallas when he was hit by an SUV driver, causing him to be thrown into a driverless Waymo vehicles. On the surface, the crash sounds similar to one that eventually took down Cruise’s robotaxi business. In that instance, the Cruise vehicle failed to immediately pull, dragging the person for 20 feet. In this case, the victim struck the left rear of the Waymo vehicle.
[FOX 4 News Dallas-Fort Worth]
Two people have filed a class action suit against Mercedes-AMG, claiming that a raised metal logo on the seats of certain models literally brands them on hot days. According to the Associated Press:
Lahigani, a Los Angeles resident, had leased a new 2026 Mercedes-AMG E-Class vehicle from an authorized Mercedes-Benz dealership in Los Angeles, according to the suit. He reported receiving second-degree burns on his back on May 31, after entering his vehicle wearing a tank top. A board-certified dermatologist subsequently documented first- and second-degree burns, describing the injury as “AMG inscribed.”
Here’s a nine-second clip of a concept car the company says will kick off a “bold new era for Acura design” next week at Monterey Car Week. Acura’s future models will feature the new design language, starting with the fourth-gen RDX Hybrid Acura revealed a prototype of earlier this year.
Ford says its Fathom electric truck will start at $28,350, just a few thousand more than Slate’s. There’s good reason to be cautious about how long that lasts.
Codiusprime:
I think if you can actually buy a base model at 28,350 a year after release, this will be a win. We all know what happened to the cheap Maverick though. I’ll continue to believe all of this when I see it. Not to mention the dealerships sabotaging this effort at every turn.
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The massive $16.8 billion chip facility, which is being built by Tesla and SpaceX with help from Intel, will be located in Grimes County, population 29,268. After securing over a billion dollars in tax breaks from two rural school districts, SpaceX says it will break ground later this year. The fab will supply AI chips to power Musk’s plans to build a “robot army” that includes self-driving cars and humanoid robots, as well as for the data centers he plans on launching into space.
Accell Group is the latest victim of Bikeaggedon: the turmoil created by soaring e-bike demand at the onset of covid, followed by a collapse of the supply chain, and then a period of massive oversupply.
The automaker only announced the new 4-door electric sedan last spring and it’s already adding a new variant. The Mercedes-AMG GT 53 will be a new high-performance model arriving in US dealerships in 2027. Mercedes has used the 53 badge for its electrified 3.0-liter turbocharged inline-six engines. Now it will be applied to an all-electric sedan with a dual-motor 800V architecture, 536 horsepower and 590 lb-ft of torque, and a 0-60 acceleration in 3.4 seconds.
The Amazon-owned robotaxi company said it would launch its first-ever commercial service in Las Vegas on August 10th. Fares will be calculated from a base fare, plus distance and time traveled. Destination fees, such as trips to the airport, may also be factored in. The news comes a few days after Zoox obtained approvals from the Department of Transportation to start charging for rides in its steering wheel- and pedal-less vehicle.
The MTA is auctioning off its old MetroCard vending machines, and I’m struggling to picture where one would fit something like this in your average New York City apartment. It weighs 1,050 pounds! Maybe some enterprising transit nerd could convert it into a work station for their computer.
The New York City Council just released a surprisingly large raft of bills — 17, to be exact — aimed at overhauling the city’s enforcement and regulation of electric bikes. The council is considering a ban on higher speed e-bikes, new license and insurance requirements for delivery companies that rely on e-bikes, and stricter penalties on riders who flee the scene of a crash. But transportation advocates are worried that the bills will discourage people from using e-bikes while also ignoring the larger danger posed by reckless driving. Either way, the great e-bike crackdown continues.
A supervisor still needs to be aboard each vehicle ready to intervene if needed, but it’s a step closer to fully driverless operations and puts Uber ahead of competition from Waymo and Baidu. Uber said more than 100,000 Londoners have signed up for the chance to be first riders starting “later this summer,” after its interest list opened in June.
“Fake news,” is how he responded to a Wall Street Journal report on the possible sale of Tesla’s business in its second-largest market:
Now, some Tesla executives have been told to prepare for a separation of the China business ahead of a potential merger, a person familiar with those talks said. And Tesla advisers have discussed possible options for a separation, including a spinoff, sale or closure, another person said.
Musk responded similarly to reports of mass layoffs at Twitter, canceling the $25,000 Model 2 ... you get the idea.
