Tesla “has been very clear the future is autonomous,” CEO Elon Musk said in October, shortly after unveiling the Cybercab, Tesla’s self-driving robotaxi.
It now seems that Musk, who was recently nominated to lead a newly-created “Department of Government Efficiency,” is sharing his crystal ball with the incoming Trump administration.
The Trump transition team plans to make a federal framework for self-driving vehicles a top priority for the Department of Transportation, according to a Bloomberg report that cites people familiar with the matter.
“This would be a huge step forward in easing U.S. rules for self-driving cars and be a significant tailwind for Tesla’s autonomous and AI vision heading into 2025,” says Wedbush analyst Dan Ives.
New federal rules under discussion would not only ease regulations around self-driving vehicles, but also raise the cap on the number of autonomous vehicles allowed on public roads, according to the report.
Under current rules, each manufacturer is allowed to deploy up to 2,500 self-driving vehicles per year in the U.S. Previous efforts to allow up to 100,000 vehicles have so far failed.
Regulators, such as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), have so far taken a cautious approach to the deployment of autonomous vehicles.
General Motors-backed Cruise was forced to suspend operations last year following a fatal collision. Earlier this year, the NHTSA also launched an investigation into Alphabet-owned Waymo following multiple incidents.
Waymo currently operates the only functioning robotaxi service in the U.S., with a fleet of about 700 self-driving vehicles on the road in Phoenix, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
While Tesla has already held discussions with ride-hailing company Uber for an upcoming robotaxi service, the company’s full self-driving software (FSD) — as currently used in regular Tesla models — has also come under heavy scrutiny by regulators.
Last month, NHTSA opened an investigation into 2.4 million Tesla vehicles equipped with FSD software following three reported collisions and a fatal crash. The regulator also told Tesla to stop making misleading claims about FSD’s autonomous capability and reaffirm that the software provides only a driver assist/support system.
BYD has launched the third-generation Qin Plus DM-i in China, and the first thing that caught my eye is its price. According to CarNewsChina, the plug-in hybrid sedan starts at 79,900 yuan, which is about $11,980. That’s an incredibly low price for a brand-new car, especially by US standards.
What’s even more impressive is the range. The Qin Plus DM-i can drive up to 137 miles on electricity alone, which should cover most people’s daily commutes without using a drop of gas. Once the battery runs out, the 1.5-liter engine takes over. Thanks to its 17-gallon tank and roughly 91 mpg with a drained battery, the combined range reaches up to 1,423 miles.
Apple won the PC market’s worst quarter, but that’s not the entire story. It won the race by stumbling less than everyone else.
PC makers shipped just 57 million computers worldwide in Q3, which might look good, but it’s a 21% year-over-year plunge (via Counterpoint Research). And despite Apple’s Mac shipments falling by 11%, to 5.6 million, its market share rose from 8.7% to 9.8%. How did that happen?
Update (October 22 23:54 PT): In response to our query, GM clarified that offline recording support is already available on eligible vehicles. Like Tesla's Sentry Mode, it requires owners to connect a USB drive to save incident recordings, which can be viewed on the vehicle's infotainment screen. The upcoming Connected Cameras feature will build on this by giving owners remote access to these recordings via the revamped OnStar app, allowing them to check footage without walking out to their car.
General Motors has announced plans to add a new Connected Cameras feature to its OnStar service starting next year, giving drivers a way to monitor parked vehicles remotely and capture footage of certain incidents.