Waymo, Alphabet’s self-driving unit, reportedly had some of its San Francisco-based test vehicles stymied by dense fog earlier in the week. Compared to some of the other incidents we’ve seen attached to autonomous test cars of late, the fog delay seems to be the most minor of mishaps. However, it’s another reminder that a lot of the systems AVs use to "see" have yet to overcome inclement weather.

Toyota Motor Corp has announced it will be partnering with Exxon to develop a low-carbon fuel that can be used in gasoline engines. Considering that governments around the world are introducing stringent carbon emission standards, this seems like a worthwhile endeavor. However, Toyota also likes to throw spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks, and previous attempts to deliver on similar concepts have fallen flat.

As is the wont of most brands, Chevrolet has decided to wring every single ounce of goodwill from a popular trim. Having first shown up on the midsize Colorado about five years ago, the ZR2 name quickly migrated to the Silverado half-ton and is now being applied to the mighty Silverado HD.

And it’s heavy. Real heavy.

NHRA drag racing is a sport purpose-built to deliver maximum noise and drama, but as it turns out, the show can be just as exciting without gasoline. The Association created an EV class last year, and Ford jumped into the action in 2020 with the electric Mustang Cobra Jet 1400. There’s a new version of the car for 2023 called the Mustang Super Cobra Jet 1800, which promises to expand on its predecessor’s record-setting runs.

Most car rentals are uneventful, save for the stray gas or cleaning charge. Even so, we’ve heard a few disturbing stories of falsely reported rental car thefts in recent years, in which rental companies can wreak havoc on their customers’ lives without much stopping them. One California woman is suing Avis for such an incident, which ended with her handcuffed at gunpoint.

Tesla's growth has cooled.

Despite rumors of internal friction between its brands, Stellantis is sharing electrification technology among the companies it owns. The Dodge Hornet borrows heavily from the Alfa Romeo Tonale, and a new report from Autocar suggested that we’ll see ideas flowing the other way with a new electric Alfa crossover.

Volkswagen has been teasing the upcoming ID.7 electric sedan for a while now, but it’s finally out in the open. The automaker isn’t planning to reveal the car until next week at the Shanghai Auto Show, but un-camouflaged images surfaced on China’s National Intellectual Property Administration website ahead of the announcement. 

Like those occasions when yer Significant Other changes their hairstyle and ya don’t notice, Kia has applied the slightest of visual changes to its little Seltos. On tap is an expansion of the X-Line, first seen on other models, and a few more horses – plus a pricing update.

The Transport Workers Union of America has issued its formal opposition to requests, filed by Alphabet's self-driving unit Waymo and autonomous technology company Aurora, seeking an exemption from some of the rules pertaining to the warning devices equipped to semi-trucks.

If the Honda Civic Type R strikes your fancy mechanically but its looks are a bit too juvenile for your aesthetic, enter the Acura Integra Type S.

Russia’s Gorky Automobile Plant (Gorkovsky Avtomobilny Zavod or GAZ) is suing Volkswagen Group over vehicles it was contracted to assemble but never had the opportunity to after the German automaker pulled out of the market at the start of the Russo-Ukrainian War.

Deviating from our normal fare of ridiculing the decisions of automakers and skewering bad product choices, we would like to highlight a good news story – a car rally that is raising money for those suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease.

The Carrera GT is one of the most sought-after Porsche models of all time, and its seven-digit sales price numbers reflect its exceeding rarity. Even so, the car, which was last produced 17 years ago, has a new recall. 

The Rivian R1T takes a unique perspective on the pickup truck, offering staggering electric performance and clever outdoors-inspired features. That same philosophy is behind the automaker’s new patent filing, which depicts a beefy off-road truck with several fold-out panels and storage areas on its bed.

It seems every manufacturer with a pickup truck in their quiver is busying themselves creating numerous off-road variants; trims like Trail Boss, ZR2, Desert Boss, Tremor, Raptor, and Power Wagon are cropping up faster than auto journalists at the buffet. 

Determined not to be left behind, Toyota dropped (yet another) teaser of the 2024 Tacoma – this time with a new Trailhunter trim targeted directly at overlanders.

Don’t say we don’t read yer comments. Last week’s report on the state of American car sales during the first quarter of this year was absent the usual Excel chart o’ numbers thanks to a phalanx of manufacturers choosing to release figures at their leisure. 

Here’s the chart, nerds – complete with snazzy up and down arrows.

It seems car thieves develop a new and annoying method for making off with people’s vehicles every week. The TikTok-inspired thefts have gotten so bad that some insurance companies won’t touch particular Hyundai and Kia models. We also learned of a new key fob method that could activate keys from inside owners’ homes. Ars Technica recently reported on an even sneakier new hacker-like threat that comes packed into a small Bluetooth speaker.

The Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen is the ultimate symbol of wealth and extravagance in the automotive world, but it might soon stand for something much more practical. California-based Sila, a startup focused on battery materials and design, recently announced that its new silicon anodes would be used in the Mercedes-Benz EQG, an electrified version of the iconic off-roader.

Come this summer, there will be a new contender in town for the choice of Default Car. Gifted a comfortingly familiar name, standard all-wheel drive, and a price tag south of thirty grand, it is all but assured Toyota will be able to quickly sell every single Corolla Cross Hybrid they can produce.

General Motors' self-driving arm, Cruise LLC is recalling 300 robo-taxis after one of its vehicles crashed into a San Francisco bus on March 23rd.

People love to buy SUVs, and some automakers have responded by tilting their vehicle offerings in favor of larger vehicles, though many remain committed to cars. Genesis isn’t giving up on its gorgeous luxury sedans anytime soon, as the company’s chief creative officer recently told Australian media that “it’s a mistake to basically write off a typology of a vehicle.”

Buick’s EV ambitions haven’t been a secret. The automaker trademarked the iconic Electra name from its past and even teased its first EV last month, but we’re now learning that it will be a while before the vehicle lands on American soil.

Word on the street is that the Biden administration is about to propose some of the toughest emission rules the United States has ever seen in a bid to spur electric vehicle adoption. As things currently stand, the U.S. is assumed to be the very last developed nation to fully embrace EVs. But the White House seems to think the premise can be combated via a stringent regulatory framework.

Of course, the government and supportive media outlets are trying to drive home the point that these are not the same as the vehicle mandates being pushed in other countries (and some states like California) that would legally require people to buy electric in the coming years — even if the end result is functionally the same.

We've often worried about inappropriate surveillance via in-car cameras. Sometimes, I personally wonder if that's irrational paranoia. A new report concerning Tesla suggests it probably isn't.

If a plan from the nation’s largest retailer takes flight, the chargers one will find at Walmart won’t just be for small devices in the electronics department. The company hopes to install EV fast chargers at nearly all its stores across the country.

Of all the American adages, “there ain't no such thing as a free lunch” has to be the most applicable and it often comes to mind whenever the automotive sector spins itself up over alternative energy vehicles. While it is comforting to assume that novel powertrains are going to create a world where nothing is wasted and no environmental harm is done, the laws of nature don’t really support the theory.

Recalls on much older vehicles aren’t the most common, but they happen. Honda recently issued one for the 2007-2011 CR-V, but only for owners living in salt-belt states. The nasty cold-weather road elixir can accumulate, causing the frame to corrode and potentially the rear trailing arm to detach. Automakers often issue long warranties against rust-through and other types of corrosion, but few stretch to this length and potential mileage.

Ford stopped offering a diesel option in the F-150 a couple years ago, but its rivals have carried on. GMC offers a fantastic 3.0-liter Duramax Diesel in the Sierra 1500, and it’s becoming standard in 2024 for the AT4X off-road trim.

Volkswagen recently recalled the Atlas for a potentially dangerous airbag sensor issue, but the serious-sounding announcements from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration aren’t over. The automaker issued a stop-sale order and a recall for the ID.4 over an issue with the door handles that could cause the door to open unexpectedly.

On Wednesday, Ford Motor Co. celebrated the fact that its entire electric-vehicle lineup would still be eligible for consumer incentives under the so-called Inflation Reduction Act federal tax credit scheme. But it downplayed that some of those models won’t be eligible for the maximum amount due to stricter EV sourcing requirements pertaining to battery components and critical minerals.

While we already covered the powertrains the 2024 Kia EV9 will receive, its North American premiere at the New York International Auto Show has given us more to chew on.

When the Subaru crew showed off the original Crosstrek, it was a lifted and ruggedized version of the Impreza. Now, they’re introducing a Wilderness trim of that vehicle, a – you guessed it – lifted and ruggedized version of the Crosstrek.

This means they’ve Crosstrek’d the Crosstrek.

Automakers love to tout “all-new” or “heavily refreshed” vehicles, but it’s often the case that only a few elements have changed. Jeep unveiled the 2024 Wrangler at the New York International Auto Show today, and while there’s a lot to talk about, this is still the rugged, sometimes-unruly off-roader we’ve seen for decades. 

Hyundai took the covers off three variants of its new Kona today, unveiling the standard and N-Line trims plus a continuation of the all-electric model – the latter of which Hyundai will now offer with two battery sizes.

One of the challenges of EV adoption is range, or lack thereof. But as the technology improves, range gets closer and closer to what's offered by internal-combustion vehicles.

See the 2025 Ram 1500 Rev for evidence.

Every crossover/SUV needs to have a rugged "outdoorsy" edition, it seems. That includes Volkswagen's Atlas. Meet the 2024 Volkswagen Atlas Peak Edition.

Awesome alliteration aside, this is the best (official) look we’ve seen so far of the upcoming Toyota Tacoma. Thanks to the brand’s glacier-like design cycle, it’ll be the first new Tacoma is ages – and all signs point to a hybrid powertrain under the hood.

The luxury brand from Korea, which is surely causing a few sleepless nights at some certain other established marques, has used the stage of New York City to unveil a new variant of its tremendous GV80 crossover.

Volvo has reportedly filed a new patent with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) that would add digital protections designed to prevent modern car thieves from doing what they do. While the golden age of car thievery typically involved criminals skulking around in the dark to find an isolated model they could jimmy open and then hot-wire, today’s thieves tend to linger in crowded parking areas our outside homes with computers that scan and capture the codes being transmitted remotely from the key fob to the car.

Volkswagen hasn’t been secretive about its plans to go all-electric, but many held out hope that we’d get at least one more generation of Golf with internal combustion. Company CEO Thomas Schäfer told Automobilwoche that the cars wouldn’t get a new gas powertrain in future generations.

Carlos Ghosn led Nissan, Renault, and Mitsubishi through some challenging times, but his tenure with the alliance ended in ruins when he was arrested in Japan for allegedly underreporting his income and misusing millions in company funds. His subsequent escape and life in Lebanon have been heavily documented in books, interviews, and documentaries. Even so, Deadline recently reported that there’s a new series on the way with a familiar face playing Ghosn.

General Motors has done something that I think might be a bit dumb. It also had me checking the calendar to make sure it was for real.

The worldwide wait for Tesla’s all-electric semi-trucks seemed unimaginably long due to the hype that had been built up around them. But Tesla ultimately made good on its promise by finally commending deliveries in December of 2022. Sadly, no manufacturer seems to be able to produce new models without a few hiccups these days and the company has issued a voluntary recall on the rigs.

We’ve known it was coming for a while, and now Hyundai has started the teasers. Though its recent video starts with gas engine noises and footage of the i20 rally car, Hyundai’s new teaser film is meant to showcase a silent electric vehicle, the upcoming Ioniq 5 N. It looks like the standard EV, but the N will bring performance and styling upgrades, making it a completely different animal.

Beyond infecting the minds of young people and potentially opening dangerous back-door data access to Americans’ phones, TikTok has also gifted the world with the knowledge of how to steal older Hyundai and Kia models easily. The problem has gotten so bad that some insurers won’t cover the cars, and owners have been left scrambling for a fix. The Korean automakers have a few ideas, including issuing free steering wheel locks and upgrading the anti-theft software on millions of vehicles.

Jeep has issued a recall encompassing roughly 58,000 examples of the 2020-2023 Wrangler. Problem vehicles described in the relevant NHTSA documents were reportedly constructed with a frame stud that's allegedly superfluous and that can cause fires in the event of a crash. It’s kind of a weird recall campaign, as they typically don’t involve a vehicle having too many parts but rather totally absent or poorly implemented ones. 

General Motors has confirmed that the 2024 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 will be receiving a number of updates, with the most interesting being the addition of an optional 3.0-liter Duramax turbo-diesel for the ZR2. The base-level 2.7-liter turbocharged inline-four has also been given a new name – TurboMax.

EarthCruiser made its name building rugged overlanding vehicles with price tags that cost more than many family homes. The company relies on Ford trucks for some of its models, and it recently announced a new partnership with GMC to use the Hummer EV as the basis for an emissions-free off-roader.

Though it has earned near-universal praise for its debut sedan, the Air, Lucid is having trouble finding traction with the ultra-expensive EV. Earlier this week, the automaker announced a restructuring effort that involves almost a fifth of its workforce. After a disappointing 2023 production forecast, Lucid is looking to cut costs as uncertain economic times are ahead.

While the Kia EV9’s existence isn’t news, the manufacturer has released the all-important details regarding powertrains and they really span the gamut.

From the sound of things, you’ll be able to have the standard version of the all-electric SUV optioned to be unsatisfyingly slow or surprisingly quick. It all depends on how much you’re willing to spend and your sensibilities as a driver. However, news has also broken that Kia is developing a high-performance GT model that’s slated to arrive in 2025.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has set many wheels in motion, mainly to do with sanctions and efforts to cut the nation off from the global banking and logistics network. Though the Russian economy hasn’t completely collapsed, significant cracks are showing, leading the country to turn to China for support.

Though they’re all over the streets of gated communities and could essentially be the mascot of Boca Raton, FL, golf carts are not street-legal. Even the most pimped-out cart can’t reach legal speeds and has zero in the way of safety equipment. Club Car, the company responsible for much of Florida’s retiree transportation, aims to change that with its new Urban LSV and XR. The Urban is a funky, tiny pickup truck with an electric powertrain and a small dump truck bed.

We saw a teaser image of the Toyota Tacoma last week, and now there are two more images -- one of which teases the release date.

Lucid makes some of the most impressive and powerful EVs, but they aren’t immune to recalls. In fact, the automaker has racked up four such actions on its debut sedan, the Air. The latest has to do with the electric motor contactors, which can open unexpectedly and cause the vehicle to lose power without warning.

The Ford Mustang has long been considered a major performance bargain, but there have long been halo models with considerably higher price tags. That will continue to be the case in 2024, as Motor1 noticed that Ford’s new Mustang configurator shows prices ranging from mild to wild, as per tradition.

On Tuesday, Ford confirmed that the Transit Connect would be removed from the North American market after the 2023 model year. Rumors had circulated that the small van would soon be relegated to Europe – with reputable outlets citing its regional demise back in the summer of 2022. However, this is the first time the company has commented on the matter publicly.

Reports have emerged in Germany that former Audi CEO Rupert Stadler is about to become the upper-echelon automotive executive convicted in the diesel emissions fiasco perpetrated by Volkswagen Group. A Munich court issued a preliminary assessment on Tuesday, stating that an accusation of fraud had been substantiated.

Over the weekend, Shawn Fain was declared the winner over incumbent Ray Curry in the United Auto Workers’ presidential runoff election. While the race was tight, and the results had to be delayed so a federally appointed monitor to examine some 1,600 challenged ballots, members effectively voted out the Reuther Administrative Caucus which has controlled the union for decades.

All good things come to an end eventually. For many Rivian employees, their remote office locations could soon be rolled into the company’s main office in a significant reorganization effort. Automotive News reported that the automaker seeks to streamline its engineering and production operations, which could require many employees to relocate to one of its locations.