Cursed at, yelled at, spit at. Tesla owners say it’s like driving a roving political sign. Here’s the scoop.
GM’s hands-free future: Are you tired of driving? GM’s 2028 Cadillac Escalade IQ wants to let you fully check out, literally. The next-gen Super Cruise drives itself (on approved highways) with lidar, radar and cameras, and the dash glows turquoise when it’s safe to let auto drive take over. Oh, and Google’s Gemini AI will chat with you, because silence is awkward.
600,000 miles
That’s how long the world’s biggest battery maker, CATL, says its new EV battery will last. For context, that’s like driving to the moon and back … then back again. Your EV will give up long before the battery does. Oh, and it also only takes 10 minutes to charge it from 10% to 80%. Wild.
🗣️ Organize your thoughts: Driving to work with a busy brain? Use ChatGPT Voice Mode to transcribe your ideas, to-dos and plans while you speak. When you arrive, say something like: “Can you summarize this into bullet points, starting with the most important?” Brilliant, right?
AI is secretly boosting the economy
AI isn’t just changing tech. It’s fueling the economy. Data centers are being built faster than office buildings, creating jobs, driving spending, and boosting growth that few are reporting.
Driving gets easier when you know this
CarPlay and Android Auto can do more than stream music or show maps. With a few quick tricks, you can text hands-free, find coffee on the fly, and customize your screen so the apps you use most are always at your fingertips.
🤯 Ignorance isn’t feeless: How many times have you gotten a text about not paying for a toll and thought, damn spam? A California woman kept getting texts saying she owed money to The Toll Roads, but she assumed they were fake and ignored them. Turns out they were real. That could have meant big fines if she’d kept driving. Folks, if it sounds important, double-check on the official app or website.
$30,000
Ford’s entry ticket to the electric pickup game. That’s the starting price for its new midsize EV truck, about the same as a Toyota RAV4 but with more space, a frunk and zero trips to the gas pump. The plan? Make owning one cheaper over five years than driving a used Tesla Model Y.
Uber’s luxury clone army: It’s throwing hundreds of millions at Lucid and Nuro to deploy 20,000 self-driving Gravity SUVs by 2030. Lucid builds the luxe EVs, Nuro wires the robot brains, and Uber handles the rides. It’s their biggest AV deal ever. Roll out is in 2026, city TBD.
Zooming on the Autobahn: Mercedes-Benz is letting drivers hop on Microsoft Teams calls while driving. Yes, really. You can use the in-car camera to broadcast your face mid-merge, just no screen sharing (thankfully). It’s launching in the new CLA first, part of a push to make your car a third workspace. Because apparently, two weren’t exhausting enough.
🛻 I think he might be right: Waze’s cofounder thinks Gen Beta (those born from 2025 to around 2039) won’t ever touch a steering wheel. With Tesla and Waymo pushing robotaxis, Uri Levine says the future is all self-driving, and maybe mobile shoe stores. So yeah, traffic might just be a bunch of vans selling Crocs.
A text could be their last
Teens spend one in five minutes driving distracted by their phones. The risk isn’t just real, it’s deadly. Here’s what parents must know.
“Full self-driving” debunked: A Tesla owner just got his $10K back after proving “Full Self-Driving” isn’t even close. The car never qualified for FSD beta, and turns out the hardware can’t handle autonomy anyway. It’s “Full Self-Driving” the way LaCroix is “juice.”
$28,900
The average used car price, up more than $8,000 since 2020. That’s not a typo. Blame supply chain chaos and automakers favoring pricey trims when chips were scarce. Now everyone’s diving into the used market, driving up prices, even for clunkers with mileage.
About 80%
The amount of time teen drivers are actually watching the road. The rest? Spent on their phones. Most of that screen time isn’t for directions. It’s music, texting and social media. Terrifying when you realize that looking down for 5 seconds at 55 mph is like driving a football field with your eyes shut.
$4.20 flat fee
What it costs to ride Tesla’s new robotaxi in Austin, Texas. Right now, about 10 self-driving Model Ys are on the road, with a Tesla employee riding shotgun just in case. Elon says 1,000 more are coming in the next few months, with San Francisco and LA up next (paywall link). Good luck, traffic.
ICE sightings on Ring: I thought this was interesting. In Los Angeles, people are using Amazon’s Neighbors app to warn each other about possible ICE raids. They’re sharing photos and videos showing where agents were spotted and what vehicles they were driving, plus tagging posts with ice cube emojis.
Within 3 years
A brand-new gold car can lose around 34% of its value. Other colors that don’t age well? White drops about 32.1%, and black comes in at 31.9%. On the bright side (had to say it), yellow holds up best at 24%, with orange right behind at 24.4%. Yeah, I’m still not driving a pumpkin car though.
Reason #452 why I sold my Tesla: FSD was a pile of poopy hype. In repeated trials, Tesla’s Full Self-Driving feature rolled past stop signs and mowed down child-size mannequins like a GTA side quest. Elon says safety is top priority, which is reassuring to the mannequins’ plastic parents.
1,200 miles
How far Aurora’s self-driving 18-wheelers have already cruised through Texas. With no human behind the wheel, they’ve been hauling frozen pastries between Dallas and Houston. Just sensors, code and a CEO nervously vibing in the back seat.