A new rule requiring all vehicles to have automatic emergency braking is “flawed” and should be repealed, a new lawsuit filed by the auto industry’s main lobbying group says.
The suit was filed in US Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit by the Alliance of Automotive Innovation, which represents most of the major automakers, including Ford, General Motors, Stellantis, Hyundai, Volkswagen, and Toyota. The group is asking the court to overturn the new rule, which was finalized last year, requiring all vehicles to have automatic emergency braking (AEB) by 2029.
Under the rule, all vehicles will be required to be able to “stop and avoid contact” with other vehicles at speeds of up to 62mph. In addition, AEB systems must apply the brakes automatically “up to 90 mph when a collision with a lead vehicle is imminent, and up to 45 mph when a pedestrian is detected.” Vehicles must also be able to detect pedestrians in both daylight and darkness. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) says the new rule will help prevent hundreds of deaths and tens of thousands of injuries every year.
But after the rule was finalized, the alliance petitioned NHTSA to “reconsider” it, arguing that current technology was insufficient to meet the high standards outlined by the regulation. The group also claimed that its suggestions were rejected during the rulemaking process, and urged NHTSA to reconsider several key provisions in order to make it more achievable by the target date.
But NHTSA denied the group’s petition, stating that the requirements were “practicable” and that the overall aim is to “force” the industry to adopt new technology in order to meet the goals of saving lives and preventing injuries.
“NHTSA acknowledged that the final rule is technology-forcing,” the agency said in its response, “but emphasized that the standard is practicable and no single current vehicle must meet every requirement for an FMVSS to be considered practicable under the Safety Act.”
The auto alliance says that it has spent “more than a billion dollars” developing AEB over the years, but doesn’t want this lawsuit to be seen as undermining its own technology. And it says it much prefers the “voluntary agreement” that preceded the mandate.
“This litigation by Alliance for Automotive Innovation should not be interpreted as opposition to AEB, a lack of confidence in the technology, or an objection to AEB’s widest possible deployment across the U.S. vehicle fleet,” the group says in a press release. “Rather, this litigation is about ensuring a rule that maximizes driver and pedestrian safety and is technologically feasible.”
But consumer and safety advocates aren’t buying it.
“The AEB Rule is the most impactful regulation for roadway safety issued in years,” said Cathy Chase, president of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, in a statement. “Considering that automaking is America’s largest manufacturing sector, employs 10 million Americans, generates five percent of the U.S. GDP and drives $1 trillion into the economy annually, it is remarkable that it would be unable to meet the requirements in the AEB Rule by September 2029.”
And William Wallace, Consumer Report’s director of safety advocacy, said, “It is profoundly disappointing that automakers are suing to block this lifesaving automatic emergency braking rule. Car companies have brought impressive safety technology to our roads, but AEB performance among new vehicle models is uneven. This rule is needed because everyone on our roads should be able to benefit from automatic emergency braking systems that meet reasonable minimum standards.”
The settlement comes after a New York Times investigation found that GM had been collecting micro-details about its customers’ driving habits, including acceleration, braking, and trip length — and then selling it to insurance companies and third-party data brokers like LexisNexis and Verisk. Clueless vehicle owners were then left wondering why their insurance premiums were going up.
For example, one consumer told a GM customer service representative that “[w]hen I signed up for this, it was so OnStar could track me. They said nothing about reporting it to a third party. Nothing. […] You guys are affecting our bottom line. I pay you, now you’re making me pay more to my insurance company.”
FTC accused GM of using a “misleading enrollment process” to get vehicle owners to sign up for its OnStar connected vehicle service and Smart Driver feature. The automaker failed to disclose to customers that it was collecting their data, nor did GM seek out their consent to sell it to third parties. After the Times exposed the practice, GM said it was discontinuing its OnStar Smart Driver program.
“GM monitored and sold people’s precise geolocation data and driver behavior information, sometimes as often as every three seconds,” FTC Chair Lina Khan said in a statement. “With this action, the FTC is safeguarding Americans’ privacy and protecting people from unchecked surveillance.”
The settlement also requires GM to obtain consent from customers before collecting their driving behavior data, and allow them to request and delete their data if they choose.
GM said in an unsigned statement that it was committed to customer privacy.
Tesla is declaring the Cybertruck to be “America’s bestselling electric pickup truck in 2024.” And yet, for the first time, the company is offering discounts of up to $2,600 on the low-poly truck, a sign that demand may not be as strong as Tesla would like you to think.
The discounts, which appear on the company’s inventory webpage, are as high as $1,600 for brand-new Cybertrucks and up to $2,600 for slightly used demo versions of the truck. The price reduction you see will depend on how you configure your Cybertruck.
The discounts come as the electric vehicle market is suddenly brimming with a multitude of offerings, from established players like Chevy and Hyundai to upstarts like Rivian and Lucid. People shopping for an electric truck, in particular, have a lot of options, including the Ford F-150 Lightning, Chevy Silverado EV, GMC Hummer and Sierra EVs, and Rivian R1T.
The truck that
“they won’t make” & that “nobody will buy”
… has become America’s bestselling electric pickup truck in 2024
But the Cybertruck is outselling all of those options, according to Tesla. How do we know? You’re just going to have to take Tesla’s word on it, because it doesn’t break out sales numbers for the Cybertruck — instead just lumping them in with its “other models,” like the Model S, Model X, and Tesla Semi. As noticed by Electrek, that stands in contrast to how Ford reports its sales numbers.
For example, Ford said it sold 33,510 F-150 Lightnings in 2024. And Tesla sold an estimated 40,000 Cybertrucks, which would back up its claim that it’s the bestselling electric truck in the US. But again, those are just estimates.
The discounts certainly add a wrinkle to Tesla’s claim. Prices tend to be reduced when a manufacturer has too many cars to sell. And since Tesla bypasses the traditional dealership model to sell vehicles directly to customers, the discounts come directly from the company.
After appearing on the company’s inventory page late last year, Foundation series Cybertrucks were recently removed. And earlier this month, Tesla asked factory employees working on the Cybertruck line to stay home for three days, according to Business Insider. It would seem as if demand is starting to weaken — a phenomenon being experienced by almost every automaker with EVs to sell. After selling cars to all the early adopters, companies are struggling to push their products on more price-conscious, mass-market shoppers.
All of this evidence points to weakening demand for the Cybertruck. The EV certainly has its fans, but the polarizing design as well as Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s hard-right politics have been factors in the truck’s diminishing appeal.
And with EV incentives likely to disappear under President-elect Donald Trump and tariffs expected to roil the auto industry, the Cybertruck looks like it’s in for an even harsher 2025.
Photo by Lokman Vural Elibol / Anadolu via Getty Images
Now that New York City has finally flipped the switch on congestion pricing, the big question is: Will it work? And if so, how well?
To find out, all eyes turned to an unassuming new web tool called the Congestion Pricing Tracker. The brainchild of two college-age brothers, the tracker uses real-time traffic data from Google Maps to calculate traffic times for chosen routes and days. The data is presented as a line graph of traffic times before and after congestion pricing went into effect on January 5th. Compare one line to the other to see whether traffic times have increased or decreased.
Unsurprisingly, depending on the route and time of day, the new tolling scheme seems to be working — perhaps even better than expected. Since January 5th, most drivers entering Manhattan below 60th Street during peak hours will pay $9 — or $2.25 for late nights and weekends. And that fee appears to be doing what it set out to do, which is to change the behavior of the people behind the wheel and funnel millions of dollars into needed transit improvements.
That was what initially drew brothers Benjamin and Joshua Moshes to the project. Benjamin, a senior studying math and...
Polestar may be facing a possible ban in the US, but the Sweden-by-way-of-China manufacturer isn’t going to let that stop it from releasing new products. The company provided a business update on Thursday, during which it announced a new model, the Polestar 7 compact SUV, that will be produced in Europe.
Little was revealed about the Polestar 7 — we didn’t even get a look at a prototype — but the company said it will be a “very progressive SUV” with “a strong USP,” or unique selling point. It’s unclear when the vehicle will go into production or even where in Europe it will be built. (Sweden seems like a likely bet.)
“We will enter the compact SUV segment, by the way the biggest and fastest growing segment in the world, and we will obviously make sure it comes with all the Polestar DNA,” the company’s new CEO, Michael Lohscheller, said.
The update, which took the form of a professionally produced sit-down interview with Lohscheller, didn’t touch on Polestar’s regulatory trouble in the US. The Biden administration recently finalized a ban on connected vehicle software from China, a move that Polestar has said would “effectively prohibit” it from selling EVs in the US.
This represents a significant shift in the company’s position from the past few years. Polestar was laser-focused on the US market with the Polestar 3, a three-row SUV manufactured at its factory in South Carolina in order to qualify for generous incentives under the Biden administration. EV sales were looking strong when the Polestar 3 was announced, but now sales have slowed thanks to high prices, charging challenges, and politics. Many of those incentives put in place by President Joe Biden are likely to be eliminated under President-elect Donald Trump.
In a statement, Polestar said it was in the process of adapting its operations to comply with the new regulations. “The U.S. is and will remain an important market for Polestar and we always ensure that our cars comply with regulations in the countries in which we operate,” Polestar spokesperson Michael Ofiara said. “The now finalized legislation is expected to be implemented with the model year 2027. We are in advanced stages to adapt our future models to make sure they comply with the regulation in terms of hardware, software and suppliers. Therefore, we will make sure to comply with all regulations.”
Polestar also reported its third quarter earnings today (the company is lagging behind other companies in reporting its earnings), including a $323 million net loss. It sold 12,548 cars, which was down 8 percent compared to its Q3 sales in 2023.
The company also said it no longer expects similar revenue in 2024 as it earned in 2023, nor a positive gross profit margin for the fourth quarter. Instead, Polestar is expecting “a mid-teens percentage decline in revenue and a negative gross margin around the same level as full year 2023, as the fourth quarter product mix was negatively impacted by fewer than expected Polestar 3 and Polestar 4 sales.”
But amid these challenges, Lohscheller said he was convinced that Polestar was still on the right track. He predicted “positive” adjusted earnings for 2025 and free cash flow, in which Polestar would be generating more money from its business operations than it is losing in 2027.
“Really, 2024 is a transitional year for Polestar,” said Lohscheller, who previously served as CEO of the Stellantis-owned Opel. “But I feel we are well positioned now going into 2025 with the right cars, with the right distribution, and obviously a much much better focus on significant cost reduction and increasing efficiency.”
Update January 16th: Updated to include a statement from a Polestar spokesperson.
Duffy, a former Republican congressman, lobbyist, and Fox News personality, made the comments during his confirmation hearing Wednesday in front of the Senate Commerce Committee. Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) asked whether he could maintain objectivity in investigating Tesla, which is headed by Trump donor and supporter Elon Musk.
“Yes, I commit to this committee and to you that I will let NHTSA do their investigation,” he said. “I think I also mentioned to you that a lot of the players in these spaces, I haven’t met any of them.”
Duffy’s comments follow months of reporting about Musk’s unprecedented influence over Trump’s transition, in which the Tesla CEO has sat in on meetings with potential nominees, vetted new hires, and volunteered to co-lead a committee to oversee massive spending cuts. Trump is also reportedly weighing policy decisions that would favor Musk’s business, such as eliminating a crash reporting rule for partial and fully autonomous vehicles.
During the Biden administration, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration launched several investigations into the safety of Tesla’s automated driving technology. One the largest probes resulted in a December 2023 recall of more than 2 million Tesla vehicles to install better safeguards for the company’s Autopilot driver assist feature. NHTSA launched another investigation into the adequacy of the recall.
Duffy didn’t say anything more about stepping into a role that could put him at odds with Musk. But he did comment on the needs for national legislation to better regulate the safe rollout of autonomous vehicles. He said:
This is not just a wonderful technology that has a potential of making our roads safer, but this is a national security issue. We can’t fall behind China or other countries as it comes to AV technology. Right now, we have a patchwork of laws from state to state. I believe there has to be a federal law by which all of these innovators can abide by it, no matter if they’re in Texas or in California or somewhere else. And again, I’ll always make sure that safety is key. But after safety, we want to give a wide runway for these companies and innovators to create products that are going to bring us this new technology that, again, can revolutionize the way we get items, how we travel, whether you’re taking an Uber or ... It can be remarkable and exciting.
As transportation secretary, Duffy has a bully pulpit to advocate for a national law for self-driving cars. And its been reported that Trump is in favor of passing such a bill once taking office.
But Congress has taken up several proposals over the past decade, with little to show for it. And its unclear whether major differences will be settled by the time the next opportunity arises.
The federal government has largely taken a back seat to in regulating autonomous vehicles, leaving states to develop their own rulebooks for safe deployment — which Duffy said was not ideal. Legislation that would dramatically increase the number of AVs on the road has been stalled in Congress for over seven years, with lawmakers at odds over a range of issues, including safety, liability, and the right number of exemptions from federal motor vehicle safety standards.
Honda announced that its first original electric vehicle — that is, an EV built on its own platform and not one based on another automaker’s tech, like the Honda Prologue — will be the Acura RSX, due out in 2026.
Honda’s two battery-electric vehicles in the US, the Honda Prologue and the Acura ZDX, are both based on General Motors’ Ultium vehicle platform. The Prologue, in particular, has been an early success for Honda, outselling its sister vehicles, the Chevy Blazer and Equinox EVs.
But now Honda is ready to start working on its own tech. The RSX will also be the first EV to be built at Honda’s new factory in Ohio, where production is expected to kick off in late 2025. The $4.4 billion plant is a joint venture between Honda and LG Chem, the Korean battery company.
Honda is resurrecting the RSX badge that it first used in the early 2000s as its performance brand’s version of the Honda Integra. This follows Honda’s decision to also bring back the Prelude as a sporty, two-door hybrid.
“In RSX, we turn to an Acura nameplate that communicates fun to drive performance, a great name for a sporty SUV with a coupe silhouette for our first original Acura EV,” said Lance Woelfer, VP of automobile sales at American Honda Motor Co.
The RSX will also be the first vehicle from Honda to feature its in-house-developed Asimo OS. At CES, Honda said that Asimo would be the company’s first effort at designing a software-defined vehicle, in which updatable software controls the vehicle’s core functions. The OS was named after Honda’s Asimo humanoid robot, which was retired in 2018. Asimo will also underpin the automaker’s new Honda Zero vehicles, with the first being the Honda 0 SUV.
“So it works out that Acura is once again, sort of the tip of the spear for electrification and our digital future,” said Jessica Fini, Honda’s assistant VP for communications.
The Biden administration finalized a new rule that would effectively ban all Chinese vehicles from the US under the auspices of blocking the “sale or import” of connected vehicle software from “countries of concern.” The rule could have wide-ranging effects on big automakers, like Ford and GM, as well as smaller manufacturers like Polestar — and even companies that don’t produce cars, like Waymo.
The rule covers everything that connects a vehicle to the outside world, such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, cellular, and satellite components. It also addresses concerns that technology like cameras, sensors, and onboard computers could be exploited by foreign adversaries to collect sensitive data about US citizens and infrastructure. And it would ban China from testing its self-driving cars on US soil.
“Cars today have cameras, microphones, GPS tracking, and other technologies connected to the internet,” US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said in a statement. “It doesn’t take much imagination to understand how a foreign adversary with access to this information could pose a serious risk to both our national security and the privacy of U.S. citizens. To address these national security concerns, the Commerce Department is taking targeted, proactive steps to keep [People’s Republic of China] and Russian-manufactured technologies off American roads.”
The rules for prohibited software go into effect for model year 2027 vehicles, while the ban on hardware from China waits until model year 2030 vehicles. According to Reuters, the rules were updated from the original proposal to exempt vehicles weighing over 10,000 pounds, which would allow companies like BYD to continue to assemble electric buses in California.
The new rule is the latest escalation in the ongoing trade restrictions put in place on Chinese-made vehicles, including components like computers and batteries. It comes at a time when China is churning out more cars then ever before, earning its status as the No. 1 auto exporter in the world. The rule also covers vehicles and components made by Russia.
China’s access to vehicle software presents “a significant threat” to the US in that it would grant an adversary “unfettered access” to critical tech systems and the user data that they collect, the White House said.
“As [the People’s Republic of China] automakers aggressively seek to increase their presence in American and global automotive markets, through this final rule, President Biden is delivering on his commitment to secure critical American supply chains and protect our national security,” the administration adds.
The auto industry sought to delay the rule by a year, effectively delivering it to the incoming Trump administration to enforce but was unsuccessful. The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which represents GM, Ford, Volkswagen, Toyota, and others, said in comments submitted last April that it supports the goal of the proposed rules but warned that the global automotive supply chain “is one of the world’s largest and most complex” and that parts could not be simply swapped out without disruptions.
Other automakers were more explicit in their criticisms. Polestar, an electric vehicle manufacturer owned by Geely, said in October that the rule “would effectively prohibit Polestar from selling its cars in the United States, including the cars it manufactures in South Carolina.”
Indeed, the White House states in its fact sheet that the rule prevents the import or sale of connected vehicles “by entities who are owned by, controlled by, or subject to the jurisdiction or direction of the PRC or Russia – even if those vehicles were made in the United States.”
Meanwhile, Waymo, which is planning on using vehicles manufactured by Geely’s Zeekr for its next-gen robotaxi, said that it takes precautions to ensure that the vehicles it purchases for its fleet arrive without any manufacturer-installed telematics systems. Still, the rule could significantly disrupt the Alphabet-owned company’s plans to expand if the government decides to ban the import of the Zeekr vehicle under the new rule.
“Waymo filed comments in support of the rule last fall,” Waymo spokesperson Ethan Teicher said in an email. “We’re reviewing the final rule, and appreciate the Department’s prompt rulemaking.”
A spokesperson for Polestar did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Update January 14th: Updated to include a comment from Waymo.
Amid all this, Pete Buttigieg, who oversaw much of Biden’s EV policies, is trying to put on a brave face. While the incoming Trump team sharpens its knives, the transportation secretary is finishing out his days by approving as much spending as he can from the administration’s two landmark laws, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the climate-focused Inflation Reduction Act, before Trump can claw the rest back.
He’s also holding on to hope that Republican lawmakers, especially those who have directly benefited from the administration’s spending on EVs and clean energy, will resist Trump’s efforts to undo his predecessor’s accomplishments.
“For every conservative legislator publicly threatening to reverse our work, there’s two or three who look like they’re trying to take credit for it,” he said in an exit interview with The Verge. “And as long as that ratio keeps up, I think the bulk of our work will endure.”
Still, you can tell the election results and the coming turnover was weighing on Buttigieg, who seemed a lot more downbeat than in his previousinterviewswith The Verge. We also asked him what he wasn’t able to accomplish while in office and to describe his hopes for himself — and us — for the future.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
Donald Trump has said he’s going to end the “EV mandate” on day one. Which of your policies do you see as the most endangered, and which are more likely to survive for the next four years?
I’m not that worried about having an EV mandate since there isn’t one, but I am concerned that he might take steps to make EVs more expensive for American consumers. And that would be unfortunate. The work we’ve done to make EVs more affordable is part of why there are more and more jobs being created in the industrial Midwest, in places like where I grew up that are seeing a level of auto industry growth that we haven’t had since the ’60s. And I think that needs to be kept up, especially because there is clearly a ferocious innovation competition with China. They’re using all the tools in their tool kit to try to edge us out, and we can’t let that happen.
I think the thing that has been the most effective in the short term has been the tax credits and making them more affordable. I think in the medium term, the thing that will matter the most is the charging network. Even though 80 percent of EV charging happens at home, we know that the other 20 percent really matters. And most of the projects that we set into motion will be physically online by 2027.
Given that it’s likely EVs are going to become more expensive over the next few years, how do you think the auto industry should respond to the elimination of these incentives? And how do you think customers are going to respond?
What we’ve seen lately is, despite some of the coverage and the stories that are out there every single year, more Americans choose EVs. I think that trend will continue even if there’s policy fluctuation because of the benefits in terms of the total cost of ownership. Having a vehicle with fewer moving parts and fewer fluids involved and that’s just cheaper to fuel will, in the long run, be why the market sends us in that direction.
Regardless, I think the important thing is to continue supporting a “Made in America” EV industry. And I’m concerned about that. The OEMs are going to do what makes the most sense to them in the given policy environment. They’ve made a lot of choices that there’s really no turning back for them. But of course, they’re going to need to modulate that up or down from year to year based on the market. That’s what businesses do, and that’s totally appropriate.
What sort of dangers do you feel exist for the climate from a transportation perspective, considering we’ve got an incoming administration that is rejecting the idea that climate change is an accepted science and seems ready to enact policies that will help worsen the effects of climate change?
The climate doesn’t care whether people care about it or not. It’s going to keep changing. And we need to keep adapting and doing what we can to prevent it from being worse than it already is. Obviously, it matters when you have an administration that cares about it versus one that doesn’t.
My experience as a mayor was that if cities, representing the bulk of global GDP, got together and said, “We’re not going to wait on our national capitals. We’re going to take action ourselves.” That’s how the C40, which became the climate mayors, was born. So I have a lot of confidence that state and local work will continue and that there are new stakeholders, including red states, working-class auto manufacturing families, who will be perhaps a surprisingly strong backstop on the continued importance of the growth of the industry in our country.
Have you heard specifically from any of these red state lawmakers in the so-called Battery Belt where these factories are going up, places like Tennessee and Kentucky? Have they told you anything that gives you confidence that maybe there’s going to be more pushback on the elimination of these policies?
Often, it’s more in what they don’t say than what they do say. The conspicuous decision of leaders in places like Georgia and Indiana not to try to pile on the anti-EV ideology because, of course, governors like cutting ribbons on good-paying building trades and manufacturing jobs. And that’s exactly what’s happening because of our work. If anything, I think there will be an attempt for others to try to take credit for it. But the most important thing is that happens at all.
Was the politicization of EVs over the course of the presidential campaign inevitable? Or do you think there was more the administration could have done to push back against that?
I think we did everything we could to stress that this shouldn’t be a Republican or Democratic thing. That when you’re in a high-stakes innovation competition with a country like China, you have nothing to gain by kind of over-indexing on old technology or telling people that what we did in the last century is going to work in this one without modernizing. I’ve just never seen a country win out by looking only to its past.
As we’ve seen in our time, everything from public health to transportation policy can get politicized. But again, I think the market will actually point in a pretty powerful direction here. And part of how I know that is you’ve got a country like China, which is conspicuously not enthusiastic about environmental protection, and they’re all in there doing that for a reason. The reason is economic strategy. And we better not be caught sleeping when it comes to our economic strategy. That’s a bipartisan concern.
The Trump team is also reportedly looking into canceling the standing general order on autonomous vehicle and advanced driver-assist crash reporting. That was another notable thing that happened under your watch. What do we stand to lose there if this sort of transparency is eliminated and we don’t have insight into some of these crashes?
To put it simply, I think kneecapping a safety initiative is not a good idea. I’ve seen lots of second-hand reporting on that. I don’t know what will actually happen. But what I know is that we need to make sure we have good information about the safety of this technology coming onto our roadways. And I say that not because I’m against that technology. On the contrary, I think it’s precisely because of the theoretically lifesaving potential that we need to get the rollout right as a country.
Trump also seems to be considering policies that favor his new best friend, Elon Musk. What concerns do you have seeing someone like Musk, with all of his conflicts and government entanglements, so close to power?
When you consider the power of any federal agency — certainly one like the USDOT, which has a lot of life-and-death responsibility — it’s incredibly important that that power be used in ways that are fair and objective. And we’ve sought to do that by calling balls and strikes without fear or favor. Sometimes that has meant that in the same month we are congratulating a company for some partnership with us in one realm, we’re also launching enforcement actions against them for some concern or violation in another realm. You have to be ready to call balls and strikes. And I hope there is enough public and congressional scrutiny to make sure that happens no matter who’s in charge here.
Do you think the Biden administration could have courted Musk a little more gently or strategically, given how he has emerged as this force in terms of his support for Trump and how much Tesla has been influential in the EV market?
Maybe, it’s hard to say in hindsight. One thing I’ve observed is that a lot of the players in this space — even though you would think it is hyper-rational given how technical and how economic it is — the truth is, there’s a pretty big emotion factor there, too. And I think it’s important to take that into account.
I also wanted to ask you about the ARPA project with infrastructure. That was a big announcement over the last four years. How do you see that sort of progressing into the next administration? Do you feel like there’s still going to be support for a Skunk Works-style project around infrastructure?
I think so. I hope so. I think there’s enormous potential here. I mean, some of the technologies that we use for transportation haven’t changed that much since the days of the Romans. And yet we know there’s evidence that everything from 500-year concrete to self-healing bridge components is potentially within our grasp. I mean, it could come to fruition in my lifetime. So given that some of those things are trillion-dollar ideas, we should continue investing the modest, comparatively modest millions that make it possible. And this is something, too, I hope is bipartisan. Innovation should be bipartisan. So far, I haven’t seen a strong Democrat / Republican valence about unlocking some of those technologies. We just need to be smart about which things the market can take care of and which things just don’t happen unless there’s government support.
A common criticism I heard about the Inflation Reduction Act was that a lot of money was being spent to incentivize cars, but not enough to get people out of their cars and walking and biking. There was an announcement today about $45 million for some active transportation. But compare that to the tens of billions of dollars spent on EVs, it seems kind of like a drop in the bucket. Do you feel like this was the right balance to strike, or do you think more could have been done?
That would be true if you looked at the IRA in a vacuum. But the truth is, even though we think we call the IRA the climate bill, in many ways the infrastructure bill was our climate bill as a department. What I mean by that is a lot of the things that went into supporting transit or supporting a new, better way to design our highways and bridges will mean just as much or more for carbon pollution reduction as what’s in the IRA. EVs help, but that’s only part of the story.
How are you personally feeling seeing all of these policies that you spent so much time on — so much effort, so much political capital to get enacted — now that they’re all on the chopping block or endangered?
I just can’t speculate or predict what will happen next. But what I do know is what we did was good policy and good work. One of the most flattering and convincing pieces of evidence I see for that is for every conservative legislator publicly threatening to reverse our work, there’s two or three who look like they’re trying to take credit for it. And as long as that ratio keeps up, I think the bulk of our work will endure.
And for those folks who are waiting with dread about what’s going to come down the pike in terms of transportation policy and climate policy — are we screwed, or do you think there’s some hope for the future?
As a federal official, I have sometimes been impatient with the limitations of the federal level compared to the power that our system places in state and local hands. I think going forward, maybe I’ll go back to my mayoral mentality and remember how much of our salvation comes from the local in this country. Again, some things are good policy in a way that endures no matter who’s in charge, even if they have a different vocabulary or a different emphasis. I actually think the realm of transportation work is one of the ones that will be the most durably bipartisan, even if, obviously, the next administration will show less interest in issues like climate change, labor union support, or racial and economic justice compared to this one.
As a last question, if you had another four years on this job, what are some things you would like to have done?
I just launched our Project Delivery Acceleration Council. And it sounds strange to launch something on your way out the door, but what I reminded that team of is that their work is going to be wildly important under the next administration, to make sure that we pay more attention to delivery. It’s critically important to fund these things, but you also have to bring out a lot more efficiency in the project delivery process. And it isn’t sexy, but it’s wildly important to get more value for our taxpayer dollar.
So as I think about the second half of this decade, when the bulk of these projects actually enter construction, that’s something I would have wanted to work on. I think I’ll continue to find some way to work on it on the outside, and I hope it gets continued bipartisan interest in [Washington, DC] because I think delivery is vitally, vitally important, not just on the legislative side.
The infrastructure law was a five-year bill and year five is coming up. Congress and the administration will have to negotiate what comes next. And it’ll be important to learn from everything good, bad, and indifferent that we’ve learned from the first infrastructure bill. And then from a safety perspective, I think the biggest piece of unfinished business remains the rail safety legislation — bipartisan, cosponsored by JD Vance, completely deserving of a vote and of being passed into law. And if the next administration is the one to do it, I’ll be the first to cheer for that because it’s just the right thing to do.
I’m not saying I want to buy one. I’m just very curious to see where this is going.
Honda released one of the more interesting concepts at last year’s CES with two Honda Zero prototypes: the Saloon and the Space-Hub. It promised to come back in a year with something a little closer to production. But rather than temper those space-age design elements, Honda leaned into them. Way in.
The Honda 0 Saloon and Honda 0 SUV retain a lot of what made the concepts so weird and different — and not necessarily in an off-putting way. But it’s definitely not the electric CR-V that customers have been begging the company to make for years. In fact, Honda seems to be saying to all those people who want normie-looking EVs, “We see you. We hear you. We don’t care.”
My theory is that Honda is reaching for these design inspirations as a way to offset the future shock of an ultra-minimalist interior and all the marketing speak about “software-defined vehicles.” After all, Honda’s real announcement this year was the operating system it developed in-house, named after its iconic Asimo robot.
The Zero EVs mostly feel like a lot of window dressing for the actual product, which is software. What better way to draw people into listening to a TED talk about “high-performance system-on-a-chip” than to stand in front of a car that looks like it should be floating in low orbit?
Honda 0 Saloon
One of the things I noticed about the Saloon was the lack of a rear window — that rounded rectangle in the back isn’t transparent. The depth effect is very impressive, but it’s not obscuring an incognito window. It’s just the taillight.
Something else that caught my attention was the lack of sideview mirrors. Honda is using cameras instead. Drivers who want to check their blind spots will need to use two screens embedded at either end of the long piece of glass that spans the length of the dashboard. Of course, US safety regulations require regular old sideview mirrors, so this seems mostly aspirational.
Honda 0 SUV
The SUV is less “out there” than the Saloon, and that probably means we’re likely to see some version of it on US roads before the sedan. There’s definitely a rear window, and the airiness of the greenhouse seems to allude to Honda Zero’s design principles of “thin, light, and wise.”
We don’t have any specs for either vehicle, though Honda has said that its Zero EVs will draw from the automaker’s Formula 1 racing experience. The automaker is also aiming for optimum battery efficiency through its e-Axle system consisting of a motor, inverter, and gearbox that convert electric power into energy for driving. Each EV is expected to have around 300 miles of range, which translates to an 80–90kWh battery.
Other important details include an effort to consolidate electronic control units, similar to Rivian’s recently relaunched R1 vehicles. By reducing the number of components and wiring, Honda is clearly trying to limit its costs in an environment where the price of production seems to be on the rise.
Interior
The absence of anything remotely resembling a physical knob or dial inside either vehicle is a pretty good sign that automakers continue to ignore the pleas of customers to stop porting every last bit of functionality through its digital interfaces. Yes, I’m an old man yelling at clouds, but for the love of god, give me something to twist or push. Trying to adjust the heat by tapping blindly at a smooth pane of glass while careening down a highway at 75mph isn’t exactly my idea of a good time.
The yoke is... a yoke. Automakers love their steering yokes! But when it comes time to actually put something into production, they mostly retreat back to wheel shapes. The moonroof is another one of those features that suggest “thin” principles. And obviously, Honda’s promise that its Zero vehicles will come with Level 3 autonomy, also known as “hands-off, eyes-off” driving, needs a lot more explanation. What’s the handoff between autonomous system and driver look like? And how will it account for our very human tendency to zone out when we’re not actively engaged in driving?
There are a lot of questions swirling around these vehicles! Will they ever go into production? There’s a nonzero chance.
Mercedes-Benz said that its electric vehicles will be able to access Tesla’s Supercharger network starting in February.
By now you should be familiar with how this goes: a manufacturer announces Supercharger access, first through the use of NACS-to-CCS adapters and then later with native NACS integration. The adapters are available to purchase through dealerships. And EV owners will get to giddily watch as the number of accessible public EV chargers suddenly grows by the thousands. (By last count, Tesla had 20,000 stalls in the US and Canada.)
Of course, this is all unique to North American residents, as Europeans who own any flavor of EV have long been able to access Tesla Superchargers thanks to a more enlightened stance on technology standards.
The adapter, which is produced by EV charging supplier Lectron, will sell for $185 through authorized dealerships. According to Mercedes spokesperson Andrew Brudnicki, the Lectron adapter is “the only adapter to date that has been tested for safety and compatibility with Mercedes-Benz EVs” and “includes other advantages for customers, such as a more robust interlock connection between the cable and adapter compared to similar adapters.”
(Lectron had a few issues with a faulty latch pin last year, resulting in a recall of around 1,600 units; the company says those issues were addressed in April 2024, and since then, there haven’t been any other problems.)
Tesla Supercharger locations will also be added to Mercedes’ charger map in its app. And the system will be integrated with the company’s use of Plug & Charge, in which charging initiates as soon as the customer plugs in, with no additional steps or authorizations required.
Later this year, Mercedes plans to roll out its first vehicles with factory-installed NACS ports. We don’t know which models will come first, but the company has a variety of EVs available, from the luxurious EQS, to the more affordable EQE and EQB, to the status-conferring electric G-Wagen.
Delta Air Lines announced plans to install new 4K HDR QLED screens in its commercial airplanes, so passengers can experience ultra high-definition entertainment at ultra-high altitudes.
The news came as part of Delta’s CES keynote at the Sphere in Las Vegas, where it also planned to celebrate its centennial with a musical performance by Lenny Kravitz. The airline announced a raft of new features for air travelers, including new partnerships with YouTube and Uber as well as a new AI-powered chatbot for customer service.
But the decision to add 4K screens to its airplanes is one that’s sure to tickle the fancy of any air traveler who’s ever balked at the middling quality of the current crop of seat-back displays.
Delta says it’s working with Thales Avionics, an in-flight technology company that is also helping to install high-definition screens in Emirates’ Airbus A350-900s. But don’t go looking for the new screens just yet: Delta says it won’t start delivering the upgrades in aircraft until 2026.
Who actually gets access to the screens, though, will answer the question of whether Delta sees this as technology for all passengers or just the ones in first class. A spokesperson for Delta did not immediately respond to questions about access.
Delta has also been testing out Bluetooth connectivity for its in-flight entertainment for several years and has even started quietly rolling it out to some planes, as discovered by a TikTok user. Now, the airline says it plans to offer Bluetooth “in all cabins so travelers can pair their personal wireless devices” — though it didn’t offer any specifics beyond that.
Delta’s in-flight entertainment will also feature “an advanced recommendation engine” tailored to each passenger’s unique taste. Again, we’re lacking details about what’s powering this engine and how it will know your particular taste. But in late 2025, we’re getting improved “connectivity” through a partnership with Wi-Fi provider Hughes, which replaced Intelsat in 2023. Delta says this will allow for “multi-network connectivity” for more “reliable” and “stable” in-flight internet.
That surely will help when streaming YouTube, which SkyMiles members will be able to do ad-free, thanks to the platform’s new partnership with Delta. And a new “Do Not Disturb” mode for their seat-back screen will ensure passengers can sleep without disturbance.
Delta is revamping its app to include an AI-powered “Concierge” chatbot as well as a “multi-modal” feature that will include Uber and, eventually, air taxis from Joby.
The Concierge feature will use the traveler’s location and arrival and departure information to suggest more efficient routes and will notify users about upcoming passport expirations or visa requirements. And “in the years to come,” Delta says the feature will be able to make more specific recommendations around packing and weather planning.
Delta is also offering SkyMiles customers the ability to link their Uber account to earn miles and other perks. These include:
SkyMiles Members can earn 1 mile per dollar spent on UberX rides to and from airports, 2 miles per dollar on premium rides and 3 miles per dollar on Uber Reserve rides. Plus, 1 mile per dollar spent on eligible restaurant and grocery orders.
And lastly, Delta says it’s working with Airbus to design more fuel-efficient airplanes. Delta has said its goal is for sustainable aviation fuel to make up at least 95 percent of its fuel consumption by 2050. But achieving net-zero emissions will be a tall task for an airline and will require rethinking every part of the business.
Now, Delta says it will work with Airbus to scale the use of sustainable aviation fuel, which is mostly biofuels made from plant or animal material. And the two companies will collaborate on hydrogen-powered flight projects as well as new designs, like more fuel-efficient wings or new formations to drive “wake energy retrieval,” Delta says.
Oshkosh’s all-electric firefighting vehicle for airports. | Image: Oshkosh
Oshkosh, the 108-year-old American company that makes military vehicles and other specialty equipment, has big plans for your neighborhood.
The company appeared at CES in Las Vegas for the first time to announce a raft of new commercial electric vehicles, including plug-in fire engines and garbage trucks as well as AI-powered technology that it says will make these vehicles safer and more convenient.
You may know Oshkosh, which has a lot of credibility as a defense contractor, from its contract with the United States Postal Service to build the first all-electric postal truck. Last year, TheWashington Post reported that the project was mired in delays, with only 93 trucks delivered to the USPS as of November.
But despite these delays, Oshkosh thinks it’s well positioned to help build these next-generation specialty vehicles and says it plans to eventually deliver 165,000 vehicles to USPS, up to 70 percent of which will be electric. The company also announced plans to build a variety of electric and autonomous vehicles for airports, including a robot cargo handler and EVs for construction sites.
But the “neighborhood” EVs, as Oshkosh calls them, stand the chance to be the most visible and impactful — if the company can get them built.
The first vehicle to be announced today is the McNeilus Volterra ZFL, an all-electric front-loader garbage truck with an AI-powered detection system for refuse bins. The sensors detect the location of the garbage cans and communicate with the truck to ensure it’s positioned accurately. Then a robotic arm is deployed to snag the bin and lift it for trash disposal. Oshkosh is also rolling out a new AI-powered, vision-based contamination system to identify and remove items that don’t belong in the waste or recycling streams.
Speaking of robots, Oshkosh has introduced HARR-E, an autonomous electric refuse collection robot that purports to offer on-demand trash and recycling pickup via a smartphone app or virtual home assistant like Amazon Alexa.
The robot “makes trash removal as easy as ordering an Uber or a Lyft right from your home,” said Jay Iyengar, Oshkosh’s chief technology officer. HARR-E deploys from a central refuse collection area within the neighborhood and navigates to the resident’s home autonomously for collection before returning to the base to unload and recharge.
For firefighters, Oshkosh is introducing a new Collision Avoidance Mitigation System, or CAMS, that aims to tell emergency workers when it’s safe to get out of their vehicles. According to Iyengar, “CAMS uses an advanced camera and radar sensor suite with AI to accurately detect the trajectory, the speed and proximity of ongoing vehicles relative to a parked emergency vehicle. CAMS can provide up to two to three seconds of advanced notice of an impending collision, giving an extra layer of safety during roadside operations.”
It’s an ambitious suite of technologies. Oshkosh says it’s up to the task. But political headwinds, including President-elect Donald Trump’s promises to eliminate billions of dollars in EV incentives, could make success more difficult.
Despite this, Oshkosh executives tried to project a sunny outlook. “The reviews on the first vehicle are fantastic,” Oshkosh CEO John Pfeifer said of the new USPS delivery truck. “It’s been written up in a lot of publications about the postal carrier’s responses to the first vehicles. But it’s going exceptionally well.”
The Ninebot-owned brand, once known for its pioneering self-balancing scooters, is reintroducing a pair of e-bikes (both first announced last year) with additional information on pricing and ordering. And it’s also rolling out its next-generation lineup of kick scooters, with more powerful drivetrains and rugged, all-terrain features. And because it’s CES, it’s also giving us new details about the robot mower it introduced last year.
The e-bikes Segway announced last year, the powerful Xyber and the more approachable Xafari, are scheduled to be released in the first quarter of 2025. Presales for both start on January 7th, with open sales kicking off on February 3rd.
The Xyber is the more imposing of the two, with a motorcycle-like design that skirts the limits of what can be defined as an e-bike. With a starting price of $2,999.99, the Xyber looks like it packs a wallop — because it does. A rear-mounted 750W torquey direct-drive motor helps propel riders from zero to 20mph in just 2.7 seconds.
It still has pedals and caps out at 20mph, which may leave some riders feeling short-changed. After all, the Xyber looks like it’s meant to go as fast as some of Segway’s unruly e-scooters (we’ll get to those in a second), but alas, the e-bike classification in the US is what it is. Segway says there is an off-road mode that “goes beyond Class 3” — which means speeds faster than 28mph — but only in areas where it’s legally allowed.
The Xyber can go up to 112 miles between charging in its 2,880Wh dual-battery configuration and 56 miles for the single-battery with 1,440Wh — though those ranges are likely only good for the lowest power setting. Still, that’s a staggering range for any modern e-bike and a good sign that Segway is trying to give its customers what they want.
But despite its futuristic, moto-inspired aesthetic and cast aluminum, double-cradle frame, there are actual pedals and 12 — yes, 12 — different levels of pedal assist, as well as three ride modes (Eco, Sport, and Race) of throttle-only operation. There’s 110mm of suspension in the front and 100mm in the rear. A 1,330-lumen headlight comes equipped with smart light features. And the 2.4-inch TFT display shows real-time information like speed and battery charge as well as navigation.
While the Xyber is designed to compete with popular high-powered mini-bikes from Juiced and Super73, the Xafari is for customers with more traditional tastes. With a low-step frame and wide tires for maximum comfort, the Xafari is for “long rides and endless exploration,” Segway says.
Starting at $2,399.99, the Segway Xafari rocks a 750W motor with 80nm of torque and a 936Wh removable battery for up to 88 miles of range (in the lowest power setting). Front and rear suspension, as well as big 26 x 3.0-inch all-terrain tires, will help maximize comfort for anyone looking for a less bumpy ride.
Both bikes sport Segway’s Intelligent Ride System, which includes automated features like headlights, bike locking, and adaptive pedal assist. The AirLock system, in particular, is pretty innovative. Using the app, owners only need to throw down their kickstand and walk away from the bike. After they get 10 meters, the AirLock system locks the handlebars and rear motor and sets an alarm automatically, without any need to fumble with a bike lock.
“This is the stack of technologies that we’ve integrated into these bikes to allow the bicycles to act more like the automobiles that we’re used to driving,” said Nick Howe, who heads Segway’s business division.
But as much as Segway wants to become a known brand for e-bikes, its true DNA is scooters. The company is releasing its third-generation kick scooters this year, ranging from entry-level to high-performance super-scooters.
Segway is replacing its popular GT1 and GT1 with the all-new GT3 Pro and GT3 scooters with a spec list not for the fainthearted. The GT3 Pro — which is the only vehicle announced today not to have a price attached — leads the pack with acceleration of zero to 30mph in just 3.9 seconds in Ultra Boost Mode, a stinging top speed of 49.7mph (!!), and a range of up to 86 miles on a single charge thanks to its dual 3,500-watt motors (with a total max output of 7,000W) and 2,160Wh battery.
The GT3 is also great for hill climbing, with the ability to tackle slopes up to 38 degrees. It also features a very advanced suspension system with coil-sprung, hydraulically damped shocks in the front and rear. And everything is customizable to your exact riding specifications, which ensures maximum comfort.
Segway is also highlighting something it calls “SegRide,” which is the company’s ride enhancement system. That includes the geometry of the scooter, things like stem angle, trailing distance, ergonomics, and the angle and curvature of the handlebars.
Segway is also releasing its F and E series e-scooters for commuters as well as its Max G3, which the company describes as the luxury sedan in its lineup of scooters.
And lastly, Segway is upgrading its lineup of robot lawn mowers with the Navimow X3, which will go on sale in spring 2025. The new robots are designed to cover a lot more ground than the previous generation: 2.5 acres versus just a quarter-acre for the company’s i Series of robot mowers.
The X3 also combines mowing and trimming for a more well-rounded piece of equipment. It can climb slopes of up to 27 degrees, has IP6-rated waterproofing, and improved AI capabilities that can recognize pets and other wildlife. It can also integrate with your smart home, so you can activate it using Google Home or Amazon Alexa.
Segway didn’t reveal any pricing details, so we’ll have to wait to find out how it compares to the i Series ($999) and H series ($1,899) mowers.
May Mobility, an autonomous vehicle operator that mainly focuses on long-term transportation contracts, is expanding its fleet of vehicles to include an electric mini-bus that can carry up to 30 passengers.
The Ann Arbor, Michigan-based company struck a deal with Tecnobus to acquire several of the Italian company’s mini-buses. With enough capacity for 30 people, as well as wheelchair accessibility, May Mobility hopes to expand it self-driving mobility service to new customers and new markets, including urban transit, corporate campuses, airports, planned communities, and more.
May Mobility currently operates a fleet of autonomous Toyota Sienna minivans retrofitted with the company’s autonomous hardware and software. The company operates ride-share services in geofenced, easily mapped business districts, college campuses, and closed residential communities, such as Sun City, a retirement community outside of Phoenix. May Mobility also has a partnership with Lyft to deploy autonomous vehicles on its ridehail platform.
The new minibuses can carry far more passengers than the company’s current crop of vehicles, while still being restricted to speeds of up to 45 mph. They will be targeted at markets in the US, as well as Canada and Europe, where May Mobility hopes to eventually expand. And the batteries powering the electric motor are fully swappable, meaning more uptime and less time spent charging.
May Mobility has set itself apart by focusing on transportation contracts with businesses and governments, rather than try to be the Uber for autonomous vehicles. And while some robotaxis have clashed with cities, May Mobility is incentivized to address municipal concerns or risk having its contract terminated.
Here’s Goodyear to the rescue. The tire company teamed up with TNO, an independent research organization based in the Netherlands, to produce a tire embedded with sensors that can detect slick, dangerous road conditions and can also work with a vehicle’s advanced driver-assist system. The new technology is being rolled out at CES in Las Vegas this week.
The idea is to trigger the vehicle’s automatic emergency braking (AEB) system earlier when an obstacle in the road is detected and when road conditions are dangerous. With a safer braking distance, a vehicle is less likely to collide with another stopped vehicle or other object in the road, Goodyear says.
Road conditions can determine how likely a vehicle is to successfully brake before the collision. Typical AEB systems are tuned for high-friction surfaces like dry asphalt. But with Goodyear’s smart tire technology, named SightLine, the company says it can successfully prevent collisions even in low-friction environments like rain, snow, or ice. The new system can even work at speeds of up to 50mph (80km/h), Goodyear says.
“The AEB can be assertive way earlier,” said Werner Happenhofer, vice president of tire intelligence and e-mobility solutions at Goodyear. “They say, oh well, wait a minute, my maximum deceleration potential is probably just half a G because of the lower friction potential. Hence the system would react way earlier if it spots a situation where a crash is imminent.”
Goodyear first announced SightLine in 2021 as a suite of “smart tire” technologies enabling tires to measure their own air pressure, sense the amount of friction between the rubber and the road surface, and detect when the rubber is becoming too worn. Now, the company says it plans on pitching its SightLine-equipped tires and software to automakers as an added safety system for AEB.
“We follow the automotive embedded software standards,” Happenhofer said, “so we can integrate very easily with any of the OEMs and Tier 1 systems.”
The new technology has arrived at an opportune moment. Last year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration finalized a new rule requiring all vehicles sold in the US to have AEB by 2029. Around 90 percent of light-duty vehicles on the road today come standard with AEB. But regulators are requiring automakers to adopt a more robust version of the technology that can stop vehicles traveling at higher speeds and detect vulnerable road users like cyclists and pedestrians even at night.
The auto industry, though, has asked for a delay in the implementation of the rule, arguing that complying with the new rule would be “practically impossible with available technology.” But Goodyear says the technology will exist, and it aims to let its automotive partners know about it.
“The technology is available and it’s just an extension of some of the other work we’ve been doing for a few years now,” said Chris Helsel, Goodyear’s vice president for global innovation and the company’s chief technology officer. “Success out of this is [the automakers] reach out [to us] and say, ‘Oh, hey, let’s see how you can help us meet that regulation. We didn’t really think that the tire could help us to do that.’”
When it will be available is still TBD. Goodyear spokesperson Caitlyn Duran said today’s announcement is about a technology demonstration “showcasing the potential benefits of such an integration, and not an in-market product.”
At its press conference at CES today, Sony Honda Mobility announced pricing and preorder details for the Afeela 1. The vehicle will come in two trims: the $89,900 Afeela 1 Origin and the $102,900 Afeela 1 Signature. Both prices include a complimentary three-year subscription to a variety of in-car features, including the company’s Level 2+ driver assist and an AI-powered personal assistant.
Preorders start today, and interested buyers who live in California — and apparently only California — can plunk down a refundable $200 deposit to get in line to buy one. It’s unclear if and when the Afeela will be available to the other 49 states.
We’re also getting some new specs, including up to 300 miles of EPA-estimated range, and built-in support for Tesla’s Supercharger network. The only paint option appears to be “Core Black.” The pricier Signature trim will start deliveries in 2026, while customers will have to wait until 2027 for the less expensive Origin.
Screenshot: Sony Honda Mobility
The Afeela 1 with the native NACS charging port.
The latest version of the prototype, which Sony Honda Mobility CEO Yasuhide Mizuno described as “near final,” still looks like a mashup of a Tesla with the Lucid Air, with short overhangs and a long wheelbase.
It boasts screens across the width of the dashboard, 40 sensors and cameras for semi-autonomous driving assistance, all-wheel drive, and hints at augmented reality integration and “virtual worlds” embedded into the driving experience. As a result, Sony’s first foray into the automotive sector is designed to compete with some of the top players in the luxury EV space.
Mizuno demonstrated one of the more advanced features when he summoned the vehicle onstage by speaking the voice command “Come on out, Afeela” into his phone. (He also said it was a “tech demo for this showcase,” so it’s a little unclear whether voice commands will become a production feature.)
A lot has changed since Sony first rolled out its Vision concept in 2020: demand for EVs in the US spiked, then flatlined, and now has basically stabilized; the Biden administration rolled out generous incentives for EV buyers, but they’ll likely get eliminated by the incoming Trump administration; and China has emerged as the world’s dominant EV producer. That last fact has recently spurred Honda to initiate a merger with Nissan in the hopes of better competing with Chinese companies on EVs.
And now the Afeela, with its sleek sedan looks and plethora of interior touchscreens, is moving steadily closer to becoming a real car that you can really buy.
The preorder details aren’t all we’re getting from Sony Honda Mobility this week. Tomorrow, the company will hold another press conference to outline the customer experience of shopping for and owning an Afeela.
Toyota’s futuristic Woven City, which is being built on the site of a former car factory in Japan, is almost ready for its first residents.
At CES this week, the Japanese auto giant updated the public on the progress of the $10 billion project, which is said to be a “living laboratory” where people can live while also testing out futuristic projects. Toyota said it completed “phase 1” of the construction, with the official launch planned for 2025.
“Woven City is more than just a place to live, work, and play,” Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda said during today’s press conference at CES. “Woven City is a place where people can invent and develop all kinds of new products and ideas. It’s a living laboratory where the residents are willing participants, giving inventors the opportunity to freely test their ideas in a secure, real-life setting.”
Toyota first announced Woven City at CES in 2021. At the time, the company said it would be a “prototype city of the future” where it can test autonomous vehicles, innovative street design, smart home technology, robotics, and new mobility products on a population of real people who would live there full time.
Now move-in day is quickly approaching. In fall 2025, Toyota said it will welcome the first 100 residents to Woven City, all of whom will be employees of Toyota or its subsidiary, Woven by Toyota. The community will gradually expand to include “external inventors and their families” who will be invited to relocate to the new city. In total, the first phase of the city will eventually house 360 residents, Toyota says.
Toyota dubs these first residents “Weavers,” adding that they are people who “share a passion for the ‘expansion of mobility’ and a commitment to building a more flourishing society. Through their participation in co-creation activities, Weavers will contribute to realizing the full potential of Woven City.”
That said, the first “inventors” confirmed for Woven City are mostly in the food services business, including a vending machine company and a startup that wants to explore “the potential value of coffee through futuristic cafe experiences.”
Toyoda mentioned several other ideas during his press conference, including high-powered motorized wheelchairs for people with disabilities who want to experience the thrill of racing. He also pitched the idea of a personal drone that follows joggers for added security, and “pet robots” for elderly people.
The Woven City site, which is located at the base of Mount Fuji, includes buildings that are designed by famed Danish architect Bjarke Ingels. The goal, through phase 2 and subsequent phases, is to build enough housing and facilities for up to 2,000 people to live year-around, with utilities powered by the company’s hydrogen fuel cell technology. The site is private for now, though Toyota says it plans on inviting the general public to see it in 2026.
The name “Woven City” is a reference to weaving together three different types of streets or pathways, each for a specific type of user. One street would be for faster vehicles only. The second would be a mix of lower-speed personal mobility vehicles, like bikes and scooters, as well as pedestrians. And the third would be a park-like promenade for pedestrians only.
It’s still unclear how Woven City fits into Toyota’s plans for the future of mobility. The company, which is one of the largest producers of automobiles in the world, has been a bit of a laggard in the field of electric vehicles. The company has plenty of hybrids but only one fully electric car in the US, the BZ4X — though it did say it has a three-row SUV coming soon.
There’s nothing new about automakers using big plots of land to build proving grounds with fake city backdrops to test out new vehicles. And company towns have existed for decades; Elon Musk, for example, is building his own town in Texas to house Tesla and SpaceX employees.
But what Toyota is proposing is a dramatic escalation of that concept: a real city with real people who would live within the automaker’s amped-up vision of the future. And that’s where it could run into some problems. Google confronted something similar with its Sidewalk Labs project in Toronto, after objections from residents about surveillance and data collection led to the project’s demise.
Toyota hopes to avoid these same headaches by touting an enhanced quality of life for Woven City’s residents. The project has already earned Japan’s first “LEED for Communities Platinum certification,” the system’s highest rank.
The next time you pass a farm tractor tilling a field, check to make sure there’s somebody in the cab. Chances are, there won’t be.
Today at CES, John Deere announced a host of new fully autonomous vehicles that it says will revolutionize farming, landscaping, and construction. Among the new vehicles the company will have to show off are an autonomous tractor, a robot lawn mower, a crewless dump truck, and another driverless tractor, but this one designed specifically for orchards.
“We’re taking our tech stack, which is nearly three decades in the making, and we’re extending it to more of our machines to safely run autonomously in these unique and complex environments that our customers work in every day,” said Jahmy Hindman, chief technology officer at John Deere.
“When we talk about autonomy, we mean full autonomy,” he added. “No one’s in the machine.”
It’s been three years since John Deere unveiled its first autonomous tractor. Commercial deliveries began in 2022, and now Hindman says that many farms have put the company’s robot equipment to work. “Those tractors are already being used by farmers to prepare the soil for planting in the next year,” he said.
Now the company is doubling down on autonomy, at a time when other vehicle manufacturers are cutting their losses. John Deere says its autonomous machines can help farmers address labor shortages, while also meeting the growing demand for food, infrastructure, and housing.
Tractor or computer?
The company’s second-generation tractor is designed for large-scale agricultural operations. And in order to ensure a full, 360-degree view of the world, John Deere added 16 cameras all around the cab of the tractor that provide for triple overlapping feeds.
The images are then sent for processing to an onboard Nvidia GPU because John Deere wanted to be sure the tractor’s edge AI system was doing all of its predictions and planning on the vehicle itself, and not up in the cloud.
“This ensures that the machine is running safe and reliable,” said Willy Pell, CEO of John Deere subsidiary Blue River Technology, which designs machine learning systems for agricultural operations.
John Deere’s first-generation tractors were designed specifically for the slowest and easiest works, which is fall tillage with a chisel file. The second-generation system will be for a broader set of operations, with John Deere setting the goal for a fully autonomous farming system for corn and soybeans in the US by 2030.
Dusty the dump truck
John Deere’s next robot vehicle is the company’s first for construction sites: an articulated dump truck (ADT). The heavy-duty truck is 34 feet long, 12 feet tall, and can carry over 92,000 pounds of construction materials — the equivalent of seven African elephants — in its front bucket. John Deere’s executives have given it the nickname “Dusty.”
The job of a dump truck operator in quarries and other sites is tough but also repetitive and boring. By removing the driver, John Deere hopes to improve safety while also helping improve productivity.
The ADT operates using the same tech stack as its farming siblings, with the added ability to dynamically change its routing information to get around people and other vehicles on narrow roads through construction sites. The truck can also receive directions from remote operators about location and timing — but that doesn’t make it remote-controlled.
“It’s unsupervised, it’s capable of making decisions and operating safely on its own,” said Maya Sripadam, senior product manager at Blue River Technology. “So it’s segmenting the world into different classes, it’s using StarFire GPS to localize itself on the road, and it’s navigating between a load zone and a haul zone.”
In the orchard
John Deere also revealed another autonomous tractor, this one designed to run on diesel for pulling air blast sprayers through nut orchards. Sprayers are used to apply pesticides, growth regulators, and nutrients to ensure a healthy crop.
Nuts are a huge business in the US, especially in California. And with 80 percent of the world’s almond crop grown in the Golden State, labor shortages have proven to be a perennial problem.
Workers typically drive up and down endless rows of orchards up to 10 hours a day at 2.5 mph. Every single tree needs to be sprayed six to eight times per year, with work starting in February and going through July or August — right into the hottest times of the year.
“The work is exhausting and it’s repetitive,” said Igino Cafiero, director of High Value Crop Autonomy, “but it’s also absolutely essential to protect the trees from pests and disease.”
But nut orchards, with their dense canopies of trees, are a much different environment than corn or soybean fields. John Deere had to add lidar laser sensors to help improve the tractor’s sensing and guidance capabilities because GPS is often obstructed. Aside from that, the tractor uses the same second-generation technology stack as its tractors for field tillage.
Robo-scaping
The last machine John Deere revealed was an autonomous lawn mower for large-scale commercial landscaping jobs.
The all-electric mower features four pairs of stereo cameras, one in the front, one in the back, and one on each side. They’re positioned as high as possible on the machine to give a complete 360-degree view around the mower. That’s fewer cameras than the tractor or dump truck, but enough for the size of the machine.
A large office park or campus yard is very similar to a field or construction, in that it’s a “constrained environment” with much less chance for unpredictable behavior, Blue River’s Pell said.
“The use cases we have, the tech just really fits these environments so well,” he added. “And it’s combined with this deep customer pain around labor availability and quality that just makes all this the perfect time for everything.”
John Deere didn’t announce pricing for any of its autonomous vehicles, but past reports have noted that the premium over non-robotic equipment would be “significant” — perhaps as much as 10 percent. A regular 8R tractor and the 2430 chisel plow can cost as much as $500,000, which suggests an added $50,000 for an autonomous version.
That could irk some farmers, especially those at odds with John Deere over the company’s recalcitrance over self-repairs. The Federal Trade Commission is currently investigating whether John Deere used unfair practices related to the repair of its agricultural equipment.
“Pricing will vary based on specific products and configurations and will be shared at a later date,” John Deere spokesperson Diego Rivera said.
Aptera is aiming to get a little more time in the sun.
The once-dead and now-resurrected startup unveiled a new “production-intent” solar-powered electric vehicle that it made with a little help from legendary Italian automotive designers Pininfarina. And much like the last go-around, the new prototype is an ultra-efficient three-wheeled electric vehicle powered, in part, by embedded solar panels.
Aptera insists the partnership with Pininfarina is providing necessary resources, like access the company’s wind tunnel located in Turin, Italy, to refine its design “to achieve one of the lowest drag coefficients of any production passenger vehicle, setting a new standard for energy efficiency in the automotive industry.” But the biggest hurdles will likely finding enough funding to go into production.
Aptera didn’t include the exact drag coefficient for the new vehicle, but has claimed that past prototypes were able to achieve one of 0.13, as compared to 0.23 for Tesla’s Model 3.
The vehicle is equipped with 700W of integrated solar cells, allowing most drivers to drive every day without ever needing to plug in to charge. The cells can provide up to 40 miles of solar-powered range each day, and the ability to travel up to 400 miles on a single charge.
Aptera’s previous attempts to be one of the first companies in the world to mass produce a solar-powered car were derailed when it failed to qualify for the US Department of Energy’s advanced technology loan program. The company shut down in 2011, but reopened in 2020 after successfully raising enough money through crowdfunding and other means.
It’s unclear if the work is enough to get its weird, three-wheeled solar powered vehicle off the ground. Aptera isn’t the only company squinting at the sun for inspiration. German startup Sono Motors was working on a solar-powered electric car, but now its betting on solar buses. Mercedes-Benz’s Vision EQXX concept includes a solar roof array of 117 cells. And Toyota has promised an optional solar roof for its recently released BZ4X electric SUV.
