Everything's Computer

Everything's Computer

Love him or hate him, the current US president has created one of the most meme-able administrations in American history. buzzfeed.com

Earlier this week, the Donald partnered with his good friend Elon to turn the White House lawn into a Tesla showroom. The debacle was live-streamed on Twitter (X). nbcnews.com

Although we already established that he doesn’t drive and that he was given a Cybertruck while campaigning last year, Donnie committed to purchasing a new, fully electric Tesla Model S. theverge.com

The irony is that he previously stated that EV proponents should “rot in hell.” abcnews.go.com

"We will revoke the electric vehicle mandate, saving our auto industry and keeping my sacred pledge to our great American auto workers," he said in his inaugural address. npr.org

While sitting in his new Tesla, the Donald had his first major "sleepy Joe Biden" moment, commenting on the dash configuration by saying, “Everything’s computer.” youtube.com

To be fair, he’s not wrong—everything is computer now.

Things aren’t looking great for Tesla (or Elon’s other companies) at the moment. theglobeandmail.com

Xiaomi’s cheaper SU7 Ultra beat a Tesla Model S Plaid in a drag race. electrek.co

Tesla has lost market share in China, the world’s largest automotive market. fortune.com

Several analysts have cut the target price for Tesla stock because their business fundamentals are “spoiling razzle-dazzle momentum.” barrons.com

US liberals and moderates (the ones that historically were fans of Tesla vehicles) are unimpressed with the Tesla brand. theverge.com

In a “not giving any sort of fucks” kinda move, Minnesota senator Tina Smith called Elon a “dick.” theguardian.com

A survey of over 100,000 Germans revealed that 94% won’t buy a Tesla vehicle. electrek.co

In escalating tensions with the company, German police said four Tesla vehicles were set ablaze in the Plänterwald and Steglitz neighbourhoods of Berlin in the early morning hours of Friday. globalnews.ca

Protests at Tesla storefronts have escalated in the US as well. vanityfair.com, theverge.com

And the Donald wants to ensure those protesters are dealt with accordingly—claiming that he will have American Tesla protestors labelled as domestic terrorists. techcrunch.com

By the end of the week, Tesla’s stock price was looking up after registering its worst day in nearly five years. cnbc.com

But it doesn’t appear that the white house Tesla infomercial did much to help Elon’s vehicle sales. electrek.co

At the same time, overall US EV sales are up 28% this year, just not for Tesla. arstechnica.com

Autonomy

There was a whole whack of driver assistance and robotaxi news this week. 

Waymo will start offering robotaxi rides to people in its “Waymo One” early rider program in Mountain View, Los Altos, Palo Alto, and “parts of Sunnyvale” starting Wednesday. techcrunch.com

Waymo vehicles got nearly 600 parking tickets last year in San Francisco alone. techcrunch.com

John Krafcik, the former CEO of Waymo, doesn’t believe that Tesla’s Cybercab has what it takes to be an actual, functional self-driving robotaxi. theautopian.com

Nissan is testing driverless vehicles in Japan. apnews.com

Hyundai is diving into the robotaxi business with Texas-based startup Avride. teslarati.com

Mercedes-Benz will develop smart driving cars for global markets that are equipped with LIDAR sourced from a Chinese manufacturer. reuters.com

Rivian is pushing an over-the-air software update to its second-generation vehicles, including a new hands-free highway driving feature. theverge.com

Travis Kalanick, the former CEO of Uber, made it clear on Wednesday that he believes the company’s decision to abandon its autonomous driving program was a mistake. techcrunch.com

China’s Automotive Expansion

Xiaomi's new EV crossover SUV, the YU7, will have a driving range of up to 770 km. reuters.com

Huawei-backed Aito plans to launch their M5 Ultra SUV next week. cnevpost.com

Nio announces layoffs that amount to about 10% of their staff globally. cnevpost.com

Must Know Musk News

Chinese investors are privately expanding their investments in Elon’s companies. ft.com

SpaceX launches crew to ISS to replace NASA astronauts who have been stuck there for months. cbc.ca

SpaceX is lobbying the FCC to block iPhone satellite provider Globalstar from launching their planned constellation of 48 low-Earth orbiting satellites. pcmag.com

Elon still wants his $56 billion Tesla payday. reuters.com

Rise Of The Machines

EngineAI has a new humanoid robot that sells for under $14K USD and can do a stunning acrobatic frontflip. engineai.com.cn

Johns Hopkins University researchers have developed a new robotic prosthetic hand that uses a hybrid design to grip objects with just the right amount of pressure. newatlas.com

Protoclone’s humanoid robot uses a body made of artificial muscle fibres and sensors to mimic the musculoskeletal of a human being. It moves like us but looks like something from your fucking nightmares. notebookcheck.net

You can rent a humanoid robot for the weekend in certain Chinese cities. interestingengineering.com 

Energy

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith outlined two potential futures for Alberta’s oil industry. One includes shipping more oil to the US, and the other, not so much. cnbc.com

Researchers at the University of the Basque Country have developed a hybrid supercapacitor (battery) from pine tree sawdust. interestingengineering.com

A new study from the University of Sussex suggests that covering every suitable rooftop with solar panels would supply two-thirds of the world’s electricity needs. nature.com

Integrals Power announced a breakthrough in lithium manganese iron phosphate (LMFP) battery chemistry that could boost the range of EVs with smaller-sized batteries. interestingengineering.com

Ohio State University researchers developed a small battery powered by nuclear waste. gizmodo.com

Chevron plans to get into powering data centers. reuters.com

US government officials made it clear to oil, gas, and mining executives this week that they have an ally in Washington who intends to make it as easy as possible for them to drill in federal lands and waters. cnbc.com

But Wait, There’s More

Longbow is a new EV startup company that aims to build lightweight electric sports cars in the UK as early as 2026. caranddriver.com

US automakers are not rushing to move more production to US factories to avoid tariffs. cnn.com

GM CEO Mary Barra met with The Donald on Wednesday to discuss the automaker's investment plans amid tariff threads and his ongoing North America-wide tariff war. reuters.com

For the next few months, BMW plans to absorb tariff costs on Mexican-built 3-series sedans imported into the US. wsj.com

Nissan taps Ivan Espinosa as their new CEO. autonews.com

Toyota gives the bZ4X more range and introduces an EV version of the C-HR for Europe. theverge.com

Toyota might have an electric pick-up truck soon. caranddriver.com

Ford tells suppliers to keep on shipping those parts. autonews.com

Ford plans to spend billions to get more seriously into business in the EU. motor1.com

Mike Aragon, who previously led as CEO of Lululemon’s defunct Mirror home workout machine, joins Ford as president of “integrated services.” theverge.com

Ineos has a faulty door-handle latch problem. caranddriver.com

The Saskatchewan government plans to double the cost of registering an EV in the province. autonews.com

You read to the bottom. That’s fantastic.