Everyone needs to get around. How we do it will change more over the next decade than it has in the last century. Legacy automakers, like Ford and GM, are scrambling to become technology-savvy companies, and the tech industry is trying to cash in on the change. New players, like Rivian and Tesla, are disrupting the industry and sometimes stumbling. We look at how self-driving hardware and software make the automobile better or, in some cases, deeply flawed. We cut through the hype and empty promises to tell you what’s really happening and what we think is coming. Verge Transportation cares about all moving machines and the place they have in the future.
The iX is the latest EV to meet an untimely death in America, where policy decisions are propelling us backward rather than forwards. But discontinuing the iX — first reported by BMW Blog (we love it when an enthusiast blog breaks news ) — isn’t the end of BMW’s EV journey in the US. The German automaker is shifting to its next-gen Neue Klasse platform, with the new iX3 set to arrive in just a few months.
Clifford Wilson, an economist who specializes in transportation and microeconomic policy, writes in the New York Times about the death of the “econobox,” cheap, reliable vehicles that helped working people get around. Detroit stopped making these vehicles about 20 years ago, but Wilson thinks a possible solution is to open the floodgates to inexpensive EVs and hybrids from China. With lots of caveats, of course.
[New York Times]
Since launching in 2024 with 48 Hyundai dealerships, we’ve seen Amazon Autos add used cars from Hertz and Ford, but now the Wall Street Journal says it’s active in over 130 cities with Kia, Mazda, Subaru, Chevrolet, and Jeep vehicles listed. According to the article, one benefit to Amazon, beyond the listing fee, is attracting carmakers and dealers as advertisers.
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[Wall Street Journal]
In January, a power bank fire destroyed an Air Busan plane in South Korea. Since then, airlines have cracked down on lithium-ion batteries. Starting April 20th, Southwest will limit customers to one power bank with a capacity of less than 100 watt-hours. They won’t be permitted to store them in overhead bins or charge them mid flight.
Finnish startup Donut Lab claims it’s made a solid-state battery breakthrough. Whether you believe it or not, the technology does appear to be more than just hype.
VW is swapping the electric compact SUV with the gas guzzling Atlas at its Chattanooga factory, right in the midst of a global oil crisis. The automaker says it will continue to sell ID.4s in the US while it still has inventory, and promises future version of the EV for the US market — with no timeline attached. The ID.4 is the latest casualty of the Trump administration’s knee-capping of the EV market in the US.
The first-of-its-kind rest stop, which includes e-bike battery recharging equipment, was erected in record time thanks to NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s request to get it done in time for his first 100 days in office. Workers had to improvise a crane-lift because they didn’t have the right permit, and also deal with a misplaced electrical wire. But in the end, they finished it. (Hopefully future shelters will include bathrooms, though.)
[New York Times]
Uber and Volkswagen are now testing their first robotaxis on the streets of LA, in anticipation of launching a commercial service later this year. The all-electric VW ID Buzz minivans are using autonomous technology developed by VW subsidiary, MOIA America. The company plans on scaling the fleet to 100 vehicles during the testing phase. Each vehicle will have a safety driver ready to take over in case something goes wrong.
That’s the claim behind DuoBell, a nearly fist-sized bell created by Škoda (yes, the car company) and the University of Salford, with the aim of reducing collisions between pedestrians and bicyclists.
The app, which lets you do things like see your recent chats and send a message using dictation from the CarPlay dashboard, was recently in beta but has now rolled out widely, as reported by MacRumors.
[MacRumors]
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration closed its investigation into Tesla’s Actual Smart Summon, or ASS, which allows owners to remotely control their vehicles from a smartphone app. The agency’s Office of Defects Investigation was probing an estimated 2.6 million vehicles with the parking feature after dozens of reports of crashes. But the agency closed the investigation after concluding that the risk of crash severity was low because the speeds were very slow.
The robotaxi company said today that it will start accepting its first public riders in Music City. Customers, who will be invited to ride on a rolling basis, can initially hail a ride through the Waymo app, and then later matched with a vehicle through the Lyft app. Lyft will also handle fleet services, such as cleaning, maintenance, and EV charging. Waymo first started testing its vehicles in Nashville in early 2025. For those keeping score, the company now operates commercially in 11 cities.
A two-seater electric pickup with no paint, no radio, no power windows, not even a dang cell connection — who is this for?
Car reviewer Edmunds says its “the first automotive testing authority in the US” to put a Chinese electrified vehicle, in this case the Geely Galaxy M9, through its rigorous review process. The verdict is as you would expect: a hybrid with superior electric range (101 miles!), world-class metrics, a premium interior, and serious value. “The Geely Galaxy M9 is a wake-up call for the automotive industry,” said Alistair Weaver, Edmunds editor-in-chief.
Calls will be audio only, though — no video (which makes sense). An Android Auto version of Meet is set to launch “soon,” Google says.
It’ll take more than a $4 gallon of gas to kill America’s love affair with big SUVs.
The Hyundai Boulder was a surprise reveal at the New York Auto Show this week, and suffice to say it made a splash. The body-on-frame concept sits on massive 37-inch tires, and will be designed, built, and manufactured in the US. Hyundai says the platform will also spawn a mid-sized truck by 2030.
Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) published a new report today following an investigation on how the companies use Remote Assistance Operators (RAOs), and of the 14 companies he sent a letter to, “every AV company refused to disclose how frequently their RAOs intervene to help their self-driving cars,” according to a press release.
Starting today, you can book a private car for transport between your Airbnb and point of arrival or departure right in the app. The service works in 125 cities across Asia, Europe, and Latin America.
“We’re bringing Maps’ AI-powered EV charging features to over 350 car models with Android Auto,” the company writes. It should predict where, when, and how long you’ll need to charge — after you punch in charge level manually. Google doesn’t mention battery preconditioning, though both Apple and Google are pursuing that vehicle-by-vehicle.
Putting Nokian’s James Bond tech to the test.
The native app is currently in beta for iOS users, according to WABetaInfo. It lets users access their recent chat list, view contact details, manage calls, and send messages from their car’s infotainment display. Meta’s devs are on a roll having recently brought WhatsApp to both Apple and Garmin watches.
