Free Republic

Screens run new cars now. Whether we like it or not, every dashboard has a giant tablet in the middle and another screen where the gauges used to be. Some of them blend into the dash like they belong. Others stick out like someone glued an iPad to the top. Either way, they run almost everything in the cabin. It wasn’t always like this. But like most tech trends, the shift happened eventually, and for reasons no one really asked for. Suddenly your radio, your AC, and even simple stuff like the headlight switch lives somewhere inside a maze of...

California’s war on cars knows no bounds, which is far out of step for the state that launched America’s car culture. While policymakers haven’t yet outlawed the classics, their failure to act responsibly has added to the burden of owning them. Famous classic collector Jay Leno aims to change this. There are almost 36 million vehicles registered in California, according to the Department of Motor Vehicles. While the number of classic cars is difficult to determine, Sen. Shannon Grove says there are 320,000 automobiles made from 1976 to 1991 in the state. That’s an almost imperceptibly thin slice, less than...

Your next car purchase comes with an unwelcome passenger: a federal mandate requiring surveillance technology that monitors your every blink, glance, and head nod. Thanks to Section 24220 of the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, NHTSA must finalize rules forcing all new passenger vehicles to include “advanced impaired driving prevention technology”—essentially turning your dashboard into a judgment-free zone that’s anything but judgment-free. The Technology That’s Watching Infrared cameras and sensors create a constant biometric assessment of driver alertness and sobriety. The tech involves infrared cameras mounted on steering columns or A-pillars, tracking eye movement, pupil dilation, and drowsiness patterns....

Key Points On Tesla’s fourth-quarter earnings call, CEO Elon Musk said the company is ending production of its Model S and X vehicles. “It’s time to basically bring the Model S and X programs to an end with an honorable discharge,” Musk said. Tesla beat estimates for the quarter but still wrapped up its first annual sales decline on record. SNIP Tesla is developing Optimus with the aim of someday selling it as a bipedal, intelligent robot capable of everything from factory work to babysitting. The company said in the release that it plans to unveil the third generation of...

It’s one of the most iconic songs in all of R&B, particularly if you’re considering the version done by Wilson Pickett. The story of “Mustang Sally” contains several twists and turns, with several famous people and places involved. Because Pickett delivered such an amazing performance of the song in 1966, many people believe that he was the original artist. But “Mustang Sally” actually originated with another R&B performer, one whose failure to keep up with the car trends of the day led to this lasting hit. It Was Almost “Continental” SallyMack Rice, the artist who wrote and first recorded “Mustang...

General Motors has announced that production of the newly updated 2027 Chevrolet Bolt EV will end after approximately 18 months to make way for a gas-powered Buick crossover at its Kansas manufacturing facility. Inside EVs reports that General Motors has confirmed plans to discontinue production of the heavily updated 2027 Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicle after a limited production run of about one and a half years. The decision will allow the automaker to repurpose its Fairfax, Kansas, factory for manufacturing the Buick Envision, a gas-powered crossover currently built in China that will be reshored to the United States. A Chevrolet...

Metro Long Island Politics World News Search Type to Search Search US News San Francisco power outage left 130,000 in the dark as self-driving cars stalled in middle of streets By Nicholas McEntyre Published Dec. 20, 2025, 11:30 p.m. ET Today's Video Headlines 00:22 / 00:49 San Francisco plunged into darkness when nearly 30 percent of the city was struck by a power outage, which brought vital transportation, such as self-driving cars, to a grinding halt on Saturday night. Over 130,000 houses and businesses were left in the dark, largely in the northwest part of San Francisco, including the Richmond,...

The EU looks set to scrap a landmark 2035 ban on new petrol and diesel cars on Tuesday, as part of a package of reforms aimed at supporting Europe's embattled auto industry. Carmakers and their backers have lobbied hard for Brussels to relax the ban over the past year – in the face of fierce competition from China and a slower-than-expected shift to electric vehicles (EVs). Set in 2023, the ban was a cornerstone of the EU's environmental Green Deal, which has come under increased pressure from businesses and right-wing politicians as the EU seeks to bolster its industry.

The car world is taking a long look at its EV offerings as major brands decide to kill off some of the very models that, just a few years ago, were touted as the way forward for automakers. With a new administration, slashed tax incentives for EVs, and wonky pricing, tariffs, and inflation, some surprising cuts are being made. Checking in on the state of EVs with Art Wheaton, automotive expert and director of labor studies at Cornell University ILR School in Buffalo, New York, he confirmed in a recent call, “It’s a brutal market. And the current administration isn’t...

Carl Junction (MO)Police Department has two brand new electric vehicles from the Tesla Model Y line. One is for the detective division while the other is for the patrol division. Officer Amos Bindel has been driving it and told us the performance has been great.

In January, when the Trump Administration reduced electric vehicle subsidies, environmentalists confidently asserted that the rest of the world would reject such an approach. Now, nine months later, it seems everyone is following his lead. In Canada, Prime Minister Mark Carney paused an electric-vehicle sales mandate due to kick in next year.In Great Britain, Prime Minister Keir Starmer has weakened his government’s timetable for the adoption of EVs.The European Union is on the verge of rolling back its 2035 target for eliminating carbon-dioxide emissions.“Automakers have been saying that consumers aren’t adopting EVs as quickly as expected, and government efforts to...

The status quo is not going to cut it for Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at his Tuesday meeting with President Donald Trump in Washington. With an unemployment rate of 7.1%, the highest level in nine years and half a percentage point higher since the start of this year, Canada’s economy is faltering. Steep tariffs Trump slapped on cars, steel and aluminum — key Canadian exports to the United States — are making matters worse. And Carney’s meeting is happening just as Trump is prepared to deal another blow to the Canadian economy: tariffs on softwood and lumber, among the...

It seems that the world of technology—including the automotive industry—is undergoing a “re-buttoning” phase. While touchscreens remain a dominant feature in vehicle interiors, automakers are revisiting the value of physical controls as drivers rediscover their importance. Driving, after all, is one area where practicality and safety demand simplicity. But what’s driving this shift in design philosophy?” Rachel Plotnick, an Associate Professor at Indiana University Bloomington and something of a “button guru,” has been studying this tactile resurgence for years. As the author of Power Button: A History of Pleasure, Panic, and the Politics of Pushing (2018), Plotnick has explored the...

(08-29) 15:20 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- As many as 14 people were injured this afternoon by a motorist who drove around San Francisco running them down before he was arrested, authorities said. Seven of those injured were in critical condition, police and firefighters said. Authorities have identified the man who was arrested as Ohmeed Aziz Popal, who has an address in Ceres. Authorities said they believe Popal was the same driver who ran over a 55-year-old man walking in a bicycle lane in Fremont, at Fremont Boulevard near Ferry Lane, just after noon. That victim died. Popal was arrested at...

Do you spend too much time in your car? Your local state authorities think you do — and they’re quietly pushing through laws that will give them the power to do something about it. Meet Massachusetts Senate Bill S.2246. Introduced by state Senate Majority Leader Cynthia Creem, it sets the stage for a future where the government tracks and potentially limits how many miles you drive each year. This isn’t a fringe proposal — it’s working its way through the legislature right now, and similar ideas are being tested in other states across the country. Is this really about emissions...

The F1 champion Niki Lauda had a horrifying accident in Germany in August 1976, 49 years ago this week. He was not expected to live, let alone race again. After defying all expectations, he told the BBC in 1977 how he willed himself to stay alive. When Formula 1 racing driver Niki Lauda spoke to the BBC in 1977, his face bore testimony to the trauma he had endured during the German Grand Prix. Trapped inside the burning wreckage of his smashed Ferrari on the Nürburgring circuit, Lauda had been badly scarred and had lost part of his ear to...

Donald Trump and Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum have spoken on the phone this morning as Mexico seeks an agreement with its biggest trading partner ahead of Trump’s 1 August deadline. “Mexico will continue to pay a 25% Fentanyl Tariff, 25% Tariff on Cars, and 50% Tariff on Steel, Aluminum, and Copper. Additionally, Mexico has agreed to immediately terminate its Non Tariff Trade Barriers, of which there were many,” Trump said in a Truth Social post. Trump said his administration would continue talking to Mexico over the next 90 days (“or longer”) with the goal of signing a trade deal. He...

The Senate is weighing a major change to federal fuel-economy rules that would kneecap the policy that dramatically reduced gas consumption and helped create fuel-efficient cars like the Toyota Prius hybrid. Republican senators are proposing a change to the Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or CAFE, rules as part of President Trump’s wide-ranging tax and spending bill. If enacted, the proposal would eliminate fines for violating CAFE, all but nullifying rules that for generations have pushed automakers to churn out ever cleaner and more fuel-efficient vehicles. That technology has saved two trillion gallons of gasoline over the past 50 years, according...

AI-driven ­vehicles stand the chance of being hijacked by terrorists and used to deliver mass casualty attacks without the need for a suicide bomber, a U.N. report warns. The report, Algorithms and Terrorism: The Malicious Use of Artificial Intelligence for Terrorist Purposes, details ways emerging AI technologies could be weaponised by extremists and was first covered by The Times. Self-driving cars, drones and other automated systems to target crowded public spaces could all be seized and remotely controlled by terrorists to deliver deadly consequences in crowded public spaces. U.N. Report Warns Terrorists Could Weaponize Driverless Cars as ‘Slaughterbots’ LOS ANGELES,...

The GOP-led Senate voted Thursday to take away California’s ability to set its own tailpipe emissions standards, effectively killing the country’s biggest driver of EV investment. The vote was 51-44. The move nullifies a measure, enacted by the state in 2022 and later adopted by 11 other states, banning the sale of new gasoline-powered cars by 2035. The House already passed the same resolution. Now it heads to President Trump for his signature. U.S. carmakers and auto dealers argued that keeping in place the waiver—which permits California to set stricter emissions rules than the federal government—could cripple the industry by...