Free Republic

Waymo is hitting the brakes on its robotaxi software and issuing a voluntary recall after school bus safety concerns came to light earlier this year. The recall won’t necessarily pull cars from the road but will instead see them updated. It comes after an investigation by Nexstar’s KXAN found the company’s driverless vehicles illegally passed school buses with their stop arms out in Austin, Texas. The Austin Independent School District said similar incidents occurred at least 19 times this school year, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) opened an investigation in October. In November, cameras captured a Waymo...

Hundreds of Porsches in Russia were rendered immobile last week, raising speculation of a hack, but the German carmaker tells The Register that its vehicles are secure. According to reports, local dealership chain Rolf traced the problem to a loss of satellite connectivity to their Vehicle Tracking Systems (VTS). This meant the systems thought a theft attempt was in progress, triggering the vehicle's engine immobilizer. Porsche HQ was unable to help or diagnose the nature of the problem. It's understood that systems like VTS are operated by local Porsche subsidiaries or dealer networks. But following Russia's invasion of Ukraine and...

While less prevalent these days, it’s hard to not appreciate the sound of a high-revving naturally aspirated engine. The team at Boreham Motorworks just pulled the cover off their new 2.1-liter, inline-four cylinder engine. This small-displacement powerplant puts out an impressive 325 horsepower and, as the name suggests, screams all the way to an astonishing 10,000 rpm. It may be small, but innovative engineering is significantly pushing the boundaries for what a street-driven engine can be.

What It Is The Chevrolet Camaro was originally created as a Ford Mustang foil. History now appears ready to repeat itself as Chevy prepares to reintroduce the Camaro nameplate to the market. This time, we're hearing from our sources that we should expect the Bow Tie to resurrect the Camaro not as a coupe but as a fastback SUV aimed squarely at the Mustang Mach-E. That is, unless General Motors president Mark Reuss has his way and the Camaro makes its comeback as an electric car. But if it's an SUV, here's what we believe you can expect: Why It...

Sealed beneath a pyramid for 50 years, a forgotten American car has just been unearthed—and it’s nothing like what experts expected. Once mocked, this buried relic has stunned a small town and reignited a national obsession. On Independence Day 2025, a sealed concrete vault beneath a small-town pyramid in Seward, Nebraska opened to reveal an unexpected relic: a 1975 Chevrolet Vega, untouched for 50 years and preserved in striking condition. The unveiling drew thousands, offering a rare collision of automotive history, American nostalgia, and small-town spectacle. The car emerged from what is now being recognized as the largest time capsule...

The European Commission could announce a package to support the local automotive sector, including a possible watered down version of its 2035 combustion engine phase-out, on December 16, an industry source briefed on the matter said. Brussels is so far planning to announce the package on December 10, but EU transport commissioner Apostolos Tzitzikostas said earlier this week that the package could be delayed until January. The source said that December 16 was a target but could still change. A spokesperson for the European Commission declined to comment on the new date, which was first reported by Germany's Tagesspiegel Background.

The future is now along a stretch of Texas highway as driverless semi-trucks begin their commutes within an Austin-area corridor. The "Smart Freight Corridor" is a 21-mile stretch of State Highway 130 in the Austin area - the fastest highway in Texas - covering the highway region from Georgetown to Mustang Ridge.

President Donald Trump on Friday celebrated his decision to permit U.S. automakers to manufacture so-called "tiny cars." "I have just approved TINY CARS to be built in America. Manufacturers have long wanted to do this, just like they are so successfully built in other countries," Trump posted on Truth Social. "They can be propelled by gasoline, electric, or hybrid. These cars of the very near future are inexpensive, safe, fuel efficient and, quite simply, AMAZING!!! START BUILDING THEM NOW! Thank you to the DOJ and the Departments of Transportation and Environment." So-called "tiny cars" are popular in Japan and other...

For years now, manufacturers have been beholden to "CAFE" fuel standards that force them to increase the average fuel efficiency of their fleets. This has forced automakers to make engines needlessly complex (ie, expensive to fix). Ironically, to avoid regulations imposed on smaller vehicles, it has also led automakers to make their trucks larger and larger, and/or abandoning entire production lines, like Ford did with its sedans.

VA pulls the plug on Biden’s $77M EV-charger earmarkVA will instead ensure money is used to improve care and services for VeteransWASHINGTON — The Department of Veterans Affairs today announced it has terminated a Biden-Administration mandate to spend $77 million on electric vehicle charging stations at VA facilities. The money will instead be redirected to critical health care construction projects. In fiscal year 2023, the Biden White House forced VA to divert $77 million from its construction and technology budget to build solar powered electric vehicle charging stations at VA facilities. The Democrat-controlled Congress approved this funding diversion, but the...

WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump will eliminate fuel standard regulations imposed by President Joe Biden when he signs an executive order on Dec. 3 in the Oval Office. His directive will reduce the number of miles a vehicle must travel on a mile of gasoline, a move that will mitigate car price increases of about $1,000 and save Americans approximately $109 billion, according to administration officials. Representatives from Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis are expected to join the president for the signing ceremony. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, a division of the Department of Transportation, oversees the Corporate Average Fuel Economy...

WASHINGTON — The US Postal Service’s promised all-electric fleet is still woefully behind schedule, with more than $3 billion in taxpayer funding out the door and just 612 of the expected 35,000 battery-powered delivery trucks built, according to a letter sent to Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and obtained by The Post. Former President Joe Biden’s 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) set aside $3 billion for what Ernst has since ripped as a green “boondoggle” that saw almost all of that amount paid to Wisconsin-based defense contractor Oshkosh to build the environmentally friendly mail trucks. Ernst, who chairs the Senate’s DOGE...

Drivers have complained that their vehicles have suddenly locked up, lost power and refused to start, as owners and dealerships warn of a growing wave of failures that has left hundreds of vehicles stuck in place. The nationwide meltdown hit Porsche models built since 2013, which are all fitted with the brand's factory VTS satellite-security unit. The vehicles have been 'bricked' with their engines immobilised, due to connections with the satellite system being lost. Rolf dealership service director Yulia Trushkova said 'all models and all engine types' are impacted. The company does not rule out that the malfunction may have...

Tesla’s recall of certain Powerwall 2 units is escalating as affected owners file a class action lawsuit over what they describe as “bricked” batteries. The complaint alleges that instead of promptly replacing potentially dangerous units, Tesla remotely limited or drained the batteries, leaving homeowners without functional backup power. Many customers argue this action has deprived them of the core functionality of their Powerwalls, including backup power and energy storage, essentially turning $8,000-plus systems into non-functional wall decorations.

Americans were already feeling uneasy about purchasing an electric vehicle. Then the generous tax subsidies ended. Sales of EVs plummeted by nearly one-third in October after President Trump and Republicans killed the $7,500 federal tax credit. The end of EV subsidies follows a trio of regulatory changes that eliminate mandates on automakers to produce electric vehicles and are poised to push the decline in EV sales even further. “The policy reversal on EVs that has occurred this year is a remarkable return to sanity after decades of government actions to force EV production,” said Brent Bennett, a policy director at...

(Video at Link) Bunch of bull sh-T, I was there, no one I knew ever crashed due to car performance. Most crashes caused by stupid people.

Jim Farley, the CEO of Ford, is claiming that he cannot fill 5,000 mechanic jobs – even though they pay $120,000 per year. This is a problem that TV personality Mike Rowe has been talking about for years. We don’t have enough young people in the country who are learning skills, such as working with tools, or how to do things like be an auto mechanic. Meanwhile, we have a surplus of people in college who are going into massive debt wasting their time on useless topics like gender studies, women’s studies, and various social justice topics. The New York...

The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office said it is investigating a large marijuana burglary at a cannabis greenhouse in Salinas that resulted in a pursuit into Gilroy. Deputies became aware of the in-progress burglary at about 1:40 a.m. when a security guard reported it at a cannabis greenhouse on Potter Road. Advertisement Three to four thieves reportedly took bags of marijuana from the facility and loaded them into two vehicles: a white Tesla and a silver or gray Honda. Salinas police located the Tesla traveling north on Highway 101 at Laurel Drive. A pursuit began after the Tesla allegedly failed to...

Tesla shattered Norway’s decade-old annual sales record this month, overtaking Volkswagen’s long-standing milestone with over one month still left in the year. Backed by surging demand ahead of Norway’s upcoming VAT changes, Tesla has already registered 26,666 vehicles year-to-date, surpassing Volkswagen’s 2016 record of 26,572 units. With November alone delivering 4,260 new registrations month-to-date, Tesla has cemented its most dominant year ever in one of Europe’s most mature EV markets. Model Y drives historic surge in Norway Tesla’s impressive momentum has been led overwhelmingly by the Model Y, which accounted for 21,517 of Norway’s registrations this year, as noted in...

Most people don’t know that Tesla has had an advanced AI chip and board engineering team for many years. That team has already designed and deployed several million AI chips in our cars and data centers. These chips are what enable Tesla to be the leader in real-world AI. The current version in cars is AI4, we are close to taping out AI5 and are starting work on AI6. Our goal is to bring a new AI chip design to volume production every 12 months. We expect to build chips at higher volumes ultimately than all other AI chips combined....