As electric vehicles have gone mainstream, buyers are facing a smorgasbord of options, and Tesla--once untouchable--is no longer the dominant force. Last year was a tough one for Elon Musk's auto brand: Sales efforts faltered, and the company lost its title of world's largest EV maker to China's BYD . Today, it feels like all automakers-- including luxury brands --are racing to release their own EVs. But at the same time, some companies are scaling back production plans . So where is the market headed?

Research from the ride-hail aggregator Obi finds Waymo is starting to edge up on Uber and Lyft in San Francisco. Tesla, which operates a ride-hail service with human drivers, is winning the price wars. In San Francisco, people wanting to get from point A to point B have a few fairly unique options. Then, starting last fall, Bay Area denizens also got access to electric automaker Tesla's ride-hail service, which operates as a "robotaxi" in Texas but as a more traditional service, with drivers behind the wheel, in California. For months, the new and futuristic "robotaxi" services felt like a novelty .

An airline's boarding policy shake-up shows the limits of efficiency. Boarding a Southwest flight is no longer first come, first served. What is the best way to cram people into a tin can in the sky? For five decades, Dallas-based budget airline Southwest made its reputation on its unique open seating policy. Savvy passengers who checked in early got to board early, too, lining up at distinctive silver stanchions to claim first dibs on whichever seat they preferred.

Shipping experts say the big winter storm across a wide swath of the country should be business as usual--if their safeguards hold. Up to two-thirds of the US is facing down the threat of serious snow, cold, and ice this weekend, with the potential to snarl roads (and the businesses that depend on them) from Texas up to New York City . At this point, grocery stores, logistics experts, warehouse operators, and trucking companies have been prepping for days. Still, the effects on the supply chain--and the retail store shelves that depend on them--are yet to be determined. On one hand, this is winter business as usual.

Hamstrung by lawsuits, the state can't officially keep its goal to ban new gas-powered car sales by 2035. But it's going to keep trying. It's been a weird and confusing few weeks for the auto industry--especially for those who hoped to see more batteries on the road in the coming decade. Just this month: Ford announced a retrenchment in its EV business, canceling some battery-powered vehicle plans and delaying others; the European Commission proposed to backtrack its goal to transition fully to zero-emission cars by 2035; the US government said it would loosen rules that would have required automakers to ratchet up the fuel economy of their fleets. BloombergNEF projects 14 million fewer EVs will be sold in the US by 2030 than it did last year--a 20 percent drop.

If a major disaster like Fukushima or Chernobyl ever happens again, the world would know almost straight away, thanks to an array of government and DIY radiation-monitoring programs running globally.

General Motors' 'Eyes-Off' System Begs the Question: What Happens When Cars Go AI? General Motors' new self-driving system will let the driver speed down the highway without looking at the road. It's one of several features enabled by the adoption of machine intelligence in cars. A new self-driving system coming to Cadillac Escalades will handle the driving on approved highways, enabling the driver to do basically anything they want behind the wheel. General Motors is launching another salvo in the self-driving wars. In 2028, the automaker announced today, it will roll out what it's calling an "eyes-off" driving system on the electric Cadillac Escalade IQ.

Google's autonomous taxi subsidiary will hit the UK's capital next year, regulations permitting--but its first international service could be Waymo's biggest challenge yet. Waymo is expanding to London, the self-driving vehicle developer announced on Wednesday. The Google sister company aims to start service next year, when the UK government plans to allow autonomous vehicles to begin operating on its roads in limited pilot programs. Waymo says it's working with the government to receive the necessary permissions for its launch. This is only Waymo's second venture outside the United States--though could be its first international robotaxi service.

The electric vehicle tax credit is gone, and Tesla's new, more affordable models don't quite close the gap. For nearly two decades, CEO Elon Musk has promised Tesla would make a more affordable electric vehicle, to, as he put it in 2006, "help expedite the move from a mine-and-burn hydrocarbon economy towards a solar electric economy." On Tuesday, Tesla announced a new Model Y and Model 3 Standard, versions of its popular compact SUV and sedan stripped of a few higher-end touches and features to bring the price down to $39,990 and $36,990, respectively. They're both about $5,000 cheaper than the Premium variants, which goes a ways--but not all the way--toward recouping the $7,500 tax credit canceled by the GOP-led Congress this past summer . The price point also puts Tesla's newest models firmly in the "more affordable" EV camp.

What's my Alzheimer's risk, and can I really do anything to change it? Can you escape your genetic inheritance, and do lifestyle changes actually make a difference? Daniel Cossins set out to understand what the evidence on Alzheimer's really means for him A few years ago, my dad was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, just like his older brother and his mum before him. Slowly, his personality began to ebb away. Now, at the age of 75, his cognitive decline is accelerating: he no longer recognises his granddaughters, for instance, and he lives in a near-constant state of confusion, which means he is losing his independence, too. As I process this loss and try to support my parents, I have become increasingly curious about what my family history means for me.