Electric Vehicles & Cars
Get the latest news on electric vehicles (EVs) and ICE cars, including new Tesla models, upcoming car releases, and emerging automotive technologies.
What Is an Acquisition Vehicle? VIN Checks and Fleet Due Diligence Explained
There's no room for error in business. Especially when it comes to acquiring cars or managing a commercial fleet. Mistakes in this area aren't just inconvenient-they can cost companies six figures in legal disputes, failed inspections, or broken warranties. What's the first step to avoiding all that? A VIN check.
This isn't a background check for vehicles-it's a financial defense system. Fleet operators, logistics managers, and procurement officers across industries now treat VIN lookups as non-negotiable. Why? Because they streamline vehicle acquisition, support compliance, and prevent costly errors before contracts are signed. VinInspect: Detailed Vehicle Reports & Data report gives business buyers easy access to ownership history, accident data, title status, mileage anomalies, and more. That level of transparency is crucial in a trade where margins are thin and risk exposure is high.
An acquisition vehicle isn't just the physical car, truck, or van-it's the legal and financial mechanism used to purchase it. Think of it as the instrument a company uses to structure the deal: it could be a direct purchase, operating lease, or subsidiary setup. Additionally, it can also refer to the entity acquiring the vehicle assets on behalf of a parent company.
Elon Musk: your new Tesla will drive from the factory floor, to your house 'this year'
Elon Musk and his push for Tesla's stack of Full Self-Driving technology doesn't sleep, where he has said that Teslas will drive themselves from the factory floor and to your driveway "this year".
In a new post on X by the official Tesla account, it posted "One day it'll drive itself right to your house" to which CEO Elon Musk replied with a simple "this year". We should expect the full release of FSD at a Tesla event held in Austin, Texas, in June.
Tesla will begin its roll out of its self-driving Robotaxi fleet in multiple US cities in the months to come, already taking appropriate regulatory steps in both California and Texas. Tesla unleashing its FSD would be a game-changer in the automotive market, as other carmakers are close but Tesla is miles ahead and a full release of FSD this year would cement that, especially if you want your self-driving Robotaxi roll out to happen.
Cybertruck versus Mark Rober's 'Wile E. Coyote-style' wall crash test
Former NASA engineer and popular YouTuber Mark Rober pitted a Tesla's object detection system against Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) system to determine which was better at recognizing objects impeding the path of a vehicle.
Rober tested the Tesla's detection system and the LiDAR system in various scenarios, such as a mannequin child running out onto the road at the last minute, fog, direct sunlight/truck lights, rain, and a wall that was painted to look like the road behind it. The idea with the last test was to see if he could trick the Tesla into thinking the wall was just more of the road, therefore bypassing the detection system. To spoil the video below, LiDAR was able to easily detect the wall due to the fundamentals of the technology, and Tesla's detection system failed, resulting in the famed electric vehicle smashing through.
However, the tests by Rober were called into question by some, and now others are attempting to replicate the results with their own Tesla. Kyle Paul has posted a video on YouTube and X where he attempted to replicate the result by Rober, and he found that even with Full Self-Driving (FSD) he had to slam on the breaks to stop his Model Y from going through the wall. It should be noted that Rober's tests didn't include FSD, which is the much better version of Autopilot. So, even at the most expensive tier of Tesla's automatic driving detection system, the car failed to detect the wall painted to look like a road.
Continue reading: Cybertruck versus Mark Rober's 'Wile E. Coyote-style' wall crash test (full post)
Tesla hit with targeted 'domestic terrorism' attack in Las Vegas
Multiple Tesla vehicles have been fired upon and set alight at a Tesla dealership in Las Vegas, following a string of attacks against Elon Musk's electric vehicle company over his involvement in the US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Reports indicate the events took place early Tuesday morning when a man hurled molotov cocktails at the vehicles and proceeded to fire upon them with an unknown gun. Police have confirmed the man responsible for the attack at the Las Vegas dealership is still on the run. At least five vehicles were damaged in the attack, which only last week President Trump vowed to label as acts of domestic terrorism. Two vehicles were completely engulfed in flames, with the other three still sustaining considerable damage.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has responded to the recent attack during an interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News where he said, "Tesla is a peaceful company, we've never done anything harmful. I've never done anything harmful, I've only done productive things. I think we have a deranged mental illness thing going on here because this doesn't make any sense." Musk added that he thinks there may be "larger forces at work as well," and asked who is funding and coordinating these attacks.
Continue reading: Tesla hit with targeted 'domestic terrorism' attack in Las Vegas (full post)
Tesla Autopilot crash test against wall painted to look like a road
Mark Rober, a former NASA engineer and long-time YouTuber, has tested a Tesla's Autopilot visual imaging detection system against Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR), which many other vehicle manufacturers use to detect their surroundings.
The goal of the tests was to demonstrate the strengths/weaknesses of both detection systems, with Tesla being criticized for using visual data-only Autopilot as specific physical obscurifications can result in the system failing to detect a potential danger, resulting in the correct time to break being missed. On the other hand, LiDAR has been criticized by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who has said it's "fricking stupid, expensive and unnecessary," despite its ability to see through physical tests such as fog or heavy rain.
Rober tested various environments on both detection systems and found both the Autopilot system and the LiDAR system stopped the vehicle for a motionless child mannequin in the middle of the road. Both systems also passed the "child running out onto the road test." However, the systems differentiated when the child mannequin was engulfed in fog, as the LiDAR system was able to detect the mannequin through the fog, while Autopilot wasn't. The Tesla failed this test and slammed directly through the mannequin.
Continue reading: Tesla Autopilot crash test against wall painted to look like a road (full post)
Steve Wozniak was an early Tesla fan - now he calls its design a 'miserable' experience.
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak was once one of Tesla's biggest advocates. A decade ago, he praised the company's innovation and called his Model S the best car he had ever owned. But nowadays, his opinion has shifted dramatically.
As reported by Fortune, Wozniak has been a very vocal critic of both Musk and Tesla. In particular, criticizing Tesla's evolving design, calling the user experience "miserable" and the company's approach to technology one of the worst he has encountered.
Chinese companies BYD and DJI team up for built-in vehicle drone system, launches from the car
BYD is spicing up the EV market in China with the addition of a new on-vehicle drone system as a new premium feature in its autonomous driving system and premium EVs. A drone... that launches from your car.
BYD is the world's largest electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer, with the Chinese company launching the "Lingyuan" drone system in partnership with China's largest drone maker, DJI. The new drone system sits on the roof of the EV with a docking station, enabling the drone to take off, land, charge, and track EV travels.
The first-of-its-kind drone system is now available in mainland China for 16,000 yuan (around $2195 USD) which includes a drone, a drone hanger, an on-board module handl,e and apps for artificial intelligence (AI) recognition, and film editing.
TSMC has secured orders for the latest Tesla FSD chips on its 4nm-5nm process
Tesla has reportedly tapped TSMC to make its new FSD chips for China, using the company's 4nm-5nm process nodes according to the latest reports, just as the company has expanded its Full Self-Driving capabilities to its vehicles in China.
In a new report from UDN, we're learning that as Tesla's huge Full Self-Driving (FSD) rollout in mainland in China is happening right now to great success, industry sources suggest TSMC has secured orders for Tesla's new FSD chips built on the company's 4nm-5nm process node.
Samsung is still providing production and memory support for older Tesla FSD chips, so not all of the chips are in TSMC's basket: pun not intended, but I couldn't not write that. Tesla's Dojo AI supercomputer trains its FSD system, running on chips made by TSMC on its 5nm process with advanced InFo-SoW packaging to provide customized high-speed computing needs.
Tesla issues recall of nearly 400,000 vehicles over failing power-assisted steering
Tesla has issued a public recall of nearly 400,000 Tesla vehicles over failing power-assisted steering systems, according to a new statement by the U.S National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
A new safety recall report posted to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration details Tesla is voluntarily recalling precisely 376,241 vehicles across the US, which includes Model 3 and Model Y vehicles that were manufactured between Feb. 28, 2023, and October 11, 2023. Additionally, the vehicles were equipped with an older software release.
According to the document, the printed circuit boards (PCBs) within the affected vehicles could become overstressed, resulting in the power-assist steering failing and the driver having to exert more force to turn the wheel, thus increasing the risk of a collision. Reports indicate Tesla has informed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that as a remedy, it has offered an over-the-air software update and that it isn't aware of any crashes as a result of the issue.
Elon Musk announces Dubai Loop will be made by The Boring Company, a landmark collaboration
The Boring Company has just announced its exciting new Dubai Loop, to build a 17-kilometer pilot Loop transportation system as the initial phase of the project.
The initial Dubai Loop pilot will feature 11 stations and 17 kilometers (10.5 miles) of tunnels, transporting over 20,000 passengers per hour, with The Boring Company's goal to ultimately expand into the Dubai Loop: a next-generation underground transportation system throughout the Emirate of Dubai.
Elon Musk's company explained on its website: "This collaboration will explore the use of sustainable, innovative technologies to safely and efficiently transport passengers via The Boring Company's proven Loop system, which has already transported over two million passengers across Las Vegas, USA since 2021. Vegas Loop is currently under active development and has been entitled for 104 stations and 110 kilometers of tunnel, eventually transporting over 90,000 passengers per hour throughout the system".