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I Like Ferrari's Luce EV. But This Is Why It's Heartbreaking

WIRED

Best Power Banks Best Smart Rings Routers vs. Modems Choose the Right Laptop Smart Sprinklers Deals Delivered But This Is Why It's Heartbreaking Designed by Jony Ive and a host of ex-Cupertino colleagues, the Luce shows us what might have been had Apple made good on its $10 billion bet. You know things are bad when the Pope gets involved . No doubt reeling from a launch that somehow went down even worse than Ferrari itself anticipated, the Italian carmaker sought to get the endorsement of none other than His Holiness Pope Leo XIV for its first EV, the Luce. Guided by Ferrari chairman John Elkann and senior Ferrari executives, in a hillside town about 15 miles southeast of Rome, the pontiff sat in the driver's seat and listened patiently as test driver Raffaele De Simone explained the vehicle's controls and driving modes as if he really was speaking to a man clearly in the market for a 1,000-horsepower electric car capable of hitting 62 mph in 2.5 seconds. Meanwhile, as Pope Leo was no doubt pondering how the Luce could boast one of the largest batteries in any production EV yet still only manage a maximum 329 miles, or how an accelerometer on the rear axle somehow worked like a guitar pickup to create in-cabin sound like an "instrument," the market was speaking.


All Vehicles Sold in the EU Must Be Able to Hook Up to a Breathalyzer

WIRED

The measure is part of a European Union-led strategy to eliminate all drunk-driving-related deaths and injuries by 2050. As of July 1, all vehicles sold within the European Union must include a standard, preinstalled interface that allows a breathalyzer lock to be added to the ignition system. This measure is part of a larger strategy promoted by the EU to reduce drunk-driving-related deaths and injuries by at least 50 percent by 2030. The requirement falls under the Vision Zero program, launched by European authorities more than five years ago, which aims to eliminate alcohol-related traffic fatalities entirely--or get as close to zero as possible--by 2050. The measure also aligns with the timetable established in the EU's General Safety Regulation, which sets specific deadlines for manufacturers to incorporate various safety features into vehicle designs, starting at the factory.


NYC and LA Are Teaming Up to Fight for EVs

WIRED

After the Trump administration turned away from electrification, two of the nation's biggest governments will advocate for more electric vans, police cars, and eventually, snowplows. New York City is not a car town. But pay attention as you walk, bike, or, sure, drive around the country's most populous city, and you might notice a car trend: an increasing number of its vehicles are electric . The city government operates some 5,800 EVs, plus 4,700 hybrid vehicles--Parks Department pickups, Police Department crossover SUVs, school buses, paramedic response vehicles, even some hulking garbage trucks. A local law requires the city to transition its entire light-and medium-duty fleet to batteries by 2035 and its trucks by 2038.


Tesla brings Full Self-Driving to China

Engadget

It's now one of the 10 countries where (supervised) FSD is now available. Tesla's Full Self-Driving (FSD) driver-assistance system is now available in China . In a post on X, Tesla listed China as one of the 10 countries wherein FSD is already available. The company is, of course, talking about the supervised version of the technology, seeing as unsupervised FSD is still not available to the public. On Tesla's Chinese website, the company lists intelligent assisted driving as an add-on option for Tesla Model 3. It will cost customers in the country a one-time fee of 64,000 yuan ($9,410) on top of the vehicle itself.


Who are the US CEOs in China with Trump, and what's in it for them?

Al Jazeera

Who are the US CEOs in China with Trump, and what's in it for them? More than a dozen United States business leaders have joined President Donald Trump on his state visit to China, where he is discussing issues including trade, technology and artificial intelligence (AI) with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Upon arrival in Beijing on Wednesday, Trump introduced the group by telling Xi that they were all "distinguished representatives from the American business community" who "all respect and value China", according to China's Xinhua news agency. The Chinese president responded by welcoming more "mutually beneficial cooperation" and assured them that American companies "will have broader prospects in China". The visit comes amid a long-simmering trade war between the two countries, after Trump's sweeping tariffs last year triggered tit-for-tat levies that exceeded 100 percent.


Musk v. Altman week 2: OpenAI fires back, and Shivon Zilis reveals that Musk tried to poach Sam Altman

MIT Technology Review

Musk v. Altman week 2: OpenAI fires back, and Shivon Zilis reveals that Musk tried to poach Sam Altman OpenAI president Greg Brockman said Elon Musk wanted the company to create a for-profit entity--and endured a public peek into his diary. OpenAI president Greg Brockman, foreground, exits the U.S. District Court in Oakland, California. In the second week of the landmark trial between Elon Musk and OpenAI, Musk's motivations for bringing the suit were under scrutiny. Last week, Musk took the stand, alleging that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and president Greg Brockman had deceived him into donating $38 million to the company. He claimed that they'd promised to maintain it as a nonprofit dedicated to developing AI for the benefit of humanity, only to later accept billions of dollars of investment from Microsoft and restructure the company to operate a for-profit subsidiary. This week, Brockman fired back with his side of the story, arguing that Musk had actually pushed for OpenAI to create a for-profit arm and fought a bitter battle to have "absolute control" over it.


Tesla's Latest Recall? Wheels May Fall Off Cybertrucks

WIRED

In what is the 11th Cybertruck recall, certain models of Elon Musk's embattled pickup could experience a sudden, unexpected wheel separation, thanks to the wrong grease and loose nuts. Last year, nearly all Cybertrucks had to be recalled because Tesla used the wrong glue on a steel trim panel that the carmaker said could become detached while driving. Now, yet another embarrassing recall exposes that the electric pickup could see wheels come off certain models due to the use of the wrong grease. In what is the 11th Cybertruck recall so far, alongside concerns that the stainless steel trucks could be rusting, Tesla is recalling its Rear Wheel Drive (RWD) Cybertruck Long Range over faulty brake rotors. In a notice posted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Tesla states that "brake rotor stud holes may crack and allow the stud to separate from the wheel hub."


Elon Musk's Last-Ditch Effort to Control OpenAI: Recruit Sam Altman to Tesla

WIRED

Messages between Shivon Zilis and Tesla executives reveal plans in 2017 to start a rival AI lab, potentially led by Altman or Demis Hassabis. A few months before Elon Musk left OpenAI's board of directors in February 2018, he tried to recruit Sam Altman to join a "world-class AI lab" within Tesla. Musk went as far as offering the OpenAI CEO a Tesla board seat, according to emails and testimony presented in federal court on Wednesday during the trial . The emails were shown to a jury during the cross examination of Shivon Zilis, a former OpenAI adviser and board member who is also the mother of four of Musk's children. Musk's core claim in this lawsuit is that Altman and OpenAI president Greg Brockman effectively stole a nonprofit, using the $38 million Musk invested to create a private company worth more than $800 billion today.


Boycotts Hurt Tesla's Sales. Now, Activists Are Taking On Elon Musk's SpaceX IPO

WIRED

Now, Activists Are Taking On Elon Musk's SpaceX IPO Activists, a leading labor union, and a big retirement fund are asking challenging questions about what's expected to be the largest-ever stock market debut. Elon Musk's SpaceX is facing protests against its expected initial public offering from some of the same advocacy groups that helped erase $600 billion from Tesla's market cap early last year. SpaceX's IPO is poised to be the largest ever, raising tens of billions of dollars for the Musk-founded company and valuing it above $2 trillion. If all goes as intended come June, the conglomerate that now owns a rocket manufacturer, a social media app, and an AI chatbot developer will instantly rank among the world's top 10 largest publicly-traded companies. On Wednesday, Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, wrote to the US Securities and Exchange Commission urging it to scrutinize SpaceX's IPO preparations.


California to begin ticketing driverless cars that violate traffic laws

BBC News

Driverless cars are becoming more common in some California cities, but when the autonomous vehicles violate traffic laws, police haven't been able to ticket them - until now. The state's Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) has announced new regulations on autonomous vehicles (AVs), including a process for police to issue a notice of AV noncompliance directly to the car's manufacturer. The new rules, which will go into effect 1 July, are part of a larger 2024 law that imposed deeper regulation on the technology. There have been a number of reports of the cars breaking traffic laws, including during a San Francisco blackout last year. The California DMV is calling the new rules the most comprehensive AV regulations in the nation.