Cars

Mark Walter is buying majority ownership of the Lakers at a $10 billion valuation, reports ESPN. Walter runs TWG Global, which owns chunks of other sports teams, and also owns a fun grab-bag of other companies, including Shield AI and Slate Auto. LeBron-themed pickup truck when?

We’re barely recovered from meeting the 2025 Corvette ZR1, and now Chevrolet has announced a regenerative hybrid variant (no plugging in here), dubbed the ZR1X. This 2026 Corvette model takes the E-Ray’s EV modes and all wheel drive setup, turns up the horsepower, and puts it in a package with the ZR1’s LT7 V8, along with some other tweaks for maximizing performance on the road or the track.

The anti-Elon Musk protest organizers sent a letter to T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert demanding he “cut ties to Starlink,” citing T-Mobile’s use of the SpaceX subsidiary to power its T-Satellite direct-to-cell satellite messaging service:

VW subsidiary Moia announced today the series production version of the fully autonomous ID Buzz minivans that will comprise the company’s robotaxi fleet in Los Angeles in 2026. If you’ve ever ridden in a Waymo, you’ll recognize a few familiar designs, like “start/stop” buttons, an external keypad for entry, and plenty of cameras inside and out the vehicle. I also noticed a bunch of smart choices, like luggage carriers in place of a front passenger seat and linoleum flooring for the passenger who inevitably spills their full Starbucks drink (or vomits, I guess).

Senate Republicans’ version of President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” — similar to the bill the House passed last month — would slash tax incentives for electric vehicles, wind, and solar power.

Unlike other EV-only automakers, Lucid seems to have come around on phone mirroring. It added Apple CarPlay support in 2023, and then last year, the luxury EV company said it would roll out support for Android Auto in the fall of 2024.

Just food for thought ahead of the company’s robotaxi launch later this month.

Ten more states joined the suit filed today against President Trump and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Congress recently voted to revoke EPA waivers that allow California to set tougher air pollution standards for vehicles than the nation as a whole, in what the plaintiffs allege was an unlawful use of the Congressional Review Act.

Rivian just posted an interesting video about the design and engineering work that goes into its upcoming R2 vehicle. The best part is when they take us into the garage where they work on their engineering test vehicles and we get to see the “Mule 3.2,” which is basically an x-ray version of the car with all the wiring and electrical components completely exposed. I promise, it’s SFW.

Last month, Bloomberg reported that the launch would be July 12th. But Tesla never confirmed it, and now Musk is saying the long-awaited robotaxi service will “tentatively” kick off in Austin, Texas, on June 22nd. (An X user spotted one of the first driverless Teslas in the city earlier this week.) Musk also claimed that a Tesla vehicle will drive itself from the factory to a customer’s home for the first time on June 28th.

You might recognize this TeslaVision campaign seeking fan-submitted ads as a callback to the Project Loveday contest from 2017 (that was the year the Model 3 started shipping, but the new Roadster and Semi did not).

A Tesla Model Y with no one behind the steering wheel was spotted driving through Austin recently, according to a video posted to X and noticed by InsideEVs. The video was also reposted by Tesla’s head of autonomy, Ashok Elluswamy, who wrote “Slowly slowly at first, then …” seemingly confirming its authenticity. The Model Y also has “Robotaxi” written in Tesla’s notoriously difficult-to-read Cybertruck font on the passenger door. Bloomberg previously reported that the company’s robotaxi service was set to launch this week on June 12th, though the automaker has yet to formally confirm the date.

According to 9 to 5 Mac, the company said during WWDC that it would soon support digital car keys from 13 additional vehicle brands, including Audi, Cadillac, Chevy, Hyundai, Kia, GMC, Volvo, Rivian, and others. That brings the total number of brands supported to 33. The keys are added to the Wallet app, and can be used to lock, unlock, and start the vehicle using technology like NFC, UWB, or BLE — depending on which are supported by the vehicle.

An update on how the extremely public political breakup is going today, as protestors face off with federal immigration agents in Los Angeles.

It’s the closest we’re likely to get to a global release for Xiaomi’s souped up EV, which last year set a record lap time for a four-door car at the Nürburgring, albeit using a stripped-out prototype to do so. There’s no release date just yet for the car’s addition to Gran Turismo 7 though.

Did something happen today?

The ship, operated by UK-based Zodiac Maritime, was abandoned off the coast of Alaska after sailors were unable to contain the blaze. According to The Register, the ship was loaded with around 3,000 vehicles, 800 of which were EVs. Nearly two dozen sailors were rescued by the US Coast Guard. I’m reminded the last time this exact thing happened in 2022.

Yesterday I wrote about Elon Musk’s fall from power. Today he is beefing with the president on X, instead of picking up his phone to make a call. Hm!

It will also be able to add 250 kilometers (155 miles) of charge in just 15 minutes of DC fast-charging, according to a new video from the Japanese automaker. Nissan already revealed that the new Leaf will come with a native NACS charging port, enabling it to charge at Tesla Superchargers. The addition of Plug and Charge appears to fit in with the narrative that Nissan aims to address charging headaches with the new Leaf.

The Blue Oval aims to tackle America’s mountain with a new Mustang Mach-E derived demonstrator with French racing impresario Romain Dumas behind the wheel. This is the third consecutive year that Ford is competing with an electric demonstrator at Pikes Peak, following the SuperVan 4.2 and F-150 Lightning SuperTruck.