Cars

“Hey Google, did you upgrade your AI in my Android Auto?”

android auto, Cars, Google / Kelly Newman / November 20, 2025

Now it’s “Hey Google” not “OK Google” to trigger the assistant, which had started feeling a little left behind in terms of natural language processing and conversational AI to other OEM systems—sometimes even AAOS-based ones—that used solutions like those from Cerence running on their own private clouds.

Gemini

Going forward, “Hey Google” will fire up Gemini, as long as it’s running on the Android device being cast to the car’s infotainment system. In fact, we learned of its impending, unspecified arrival a couple of weeks ago, but today is the day, according to Google.

Now, instead of needing to know precise trigger phrases to get Google Assistant to do what you’d like it to do, Gemini should be able to answer the kinds of normal speech questions that so often frustrate me when I try them with Siri or most built-in in-car AI helpers.

For example, you could ask if there are any well-rated restaurants along a particular route, with the ability to have Gemini drill down into search results like menu options. (Whether these are as trustworthy as the AI suggestions that confront us when we use Google as a search engine will need to be determined.) Sending messages should supposedly be easier, with translation into 40 different languages should the need arise, and it sounds like making playlists and even finding info on one’s destination have both become more powerful.

There’s even the dreaded intrusion of productivity, as Gemini can access your Gmail, calendars, tasks, and so on.

A polestar interior — Google Gemini is coming to all Polestar models. Credit: Polestar

Gemini is also making its way into built-in Google automotive environments. Just yesterday, Polestar announced that Gemini will replace Google Assistant in all its models, from the entry-level Polestar 2 through to soon-to-arrive machines like the Polestar 5 four-door grand tourer.

“Our collaboration with Google is a great example of how we continue to evolve the digital experience in our cars. Gemini brings the next generation of AI voice interaction into the car, and we’re excited to give a first look at how it will enhance the driving experience,” said Polestar’s head of UI/UX, Sid Odedra.

“Hey Google, did you upgrade your AI in my Android Auto?” Read More »

Twin suction turbines and 3-Gs in slow corners? Meet the DRG-Lola.

Cars, Formula E, Lola Cars, Lucas di Grassi, racing / DJ Henderson / November 19, 2025

One advantage of the suction fans is how efficient they are, requiring five times less energy per unit of downforce generated than a conventional rear wing (which creates drag and therefore requires energy to counter). The covered wheels should also help minimize spray during wet races.

The drag coefficient is around 0.48. Lola Cars

“You gain so much time in the low-speed corners that you’re able to have this amazing difference in performance,” he said. How much difference? About 4.3 seconds a lap at Monaco, and with a tenth of the energy per lap as a current F1 car, di Grassi and Lola reckon. Qualifying performance could be even greater, as cars could run with a minimum battery pack for the occasion, making a dent in what should be a 1,100 kg curb weight.

Just don’t expect to see a DRG-Lola race series just yet. For one thing, Formula E has the exclusive rights to the FIA’s single-seat electric championship, and with the Gen4 car due to arrive at the end of 2026, that series won’t be looking for a new car for another few years. But the idea is to inspire race car designers and series organizers, di Grassi said. “This is not a technical challenge anymore; we can do this,” he said.

“This project should serve as an inspiration for the future generations of electric racing cars. The question of whether such cars can be faster than Formula 1 has been answered with data and simulation. My plan is to build this car in the next two years,” he said.

For Lola, the project serves as notice that the marque, which was once well-represented across the motorsports world selling customer cars to numerous series, wants to reclaim those days. “At Lola, we are always looking for new ways to drive innovation through motorsport, and supporting Lucas with this design through utilizing our in-house expertise and state-of-the-art R&D facilities was a perfect project for this. The result is a car which pushes the boundaries of what is possible in electric racing through maximizing technological solutions which are already available,” said Lola Cars technical director Peter McCool.

Twin suction turbines and 3-Gs in slow corners? Meet the DRG-Lola. Read More »

Tesla safety driver falls asleep during passenger’s robotaxi ride

Cars, Tesla, Tesla robotaxi / Beth Washington / November 18, 2025

Later in the thread, another poster claims to have had the same safety driver who also fell asleep, this time on a traffic-choked drive from Temescal to San Francisco.

Being a human safety driver in an autonomous car is a relatively hard task, and Waymo insists on a lot of training before letting its employees loose in its cars on the road. It’s possible that Tesla is being far less diligent in this regard.

Tesla’s robotaxi experiment is proving to be more fraught than, say, Waymo’s. There have been at least seven crashes since the launch of its Austin trial in July, although Tesla continues to redact the data it provides to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Its operation in California may be even more shaky. Although Tesla Robotaxi LLC has a permit from the California Department of Motor Vehicles to test autonomous cars on public roads with a safety driver, it has no permits from the California Public Utilities Commission for autonomous vehicles. CPUC permits are required to test or deploy an autonomous vehicle with or without a safety driver onboard. (In March, Tesla obtained a permit to operate a conventional ride-hailing service with human drivers.)

Ars has reached out to Tesla regarding the sleeping driver and the status of its California ride-hailing operation and will update this article if we hear back.

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When recreating a famous SUV stunt in China goes wrong

Cars, Chery Automobile / DJ Henderson / November 17, 2025

Be careful with your marketing stunts around national landmarks. That should be the take-home message from Chery Automobile’s recent attempt to measure itself up against Land Rover, an attempt that went sadly wrong.

In 2018, Land Rover and Chinese racing driver Ho-Pin Tung drove a Range Rover Sport up the 999 steps that make up the “Stairway to Heaven” that climb China’s Tianmen mountain. It was a dazzling stunt, for driving up a staircase that ranges between 45–60 degrees is no simple task, and one that’s certain to have left an impression with any acrophobics out there.

A YouTube screenshot of an SUV sliding backwards into some railings — A screenshot of the attempt gone wrong. Credit: Youtube

Chery certainly remembered it. The brand—which in fact is a long-time collaborator with Jaguar Land Rover and next year even takes over the Freelander brand from the British marque—has a new electric SUV called the Fulwin X3L and decided that it, too, was made of the right stuff. The SUV, which costs between $16,500–$22,000 in China, features a plug-in hybrid powertrain, boxy looks, and a whole bunch of off-roading features, including the ability to do tank turns.

Like Land Rover, Chery’s attempt was meant to highlight how capable the Fulwin X3L is when the going gets tough. But unfortunately, one of the safety lines to the SUV somehow became detached. This tangled up with a wheel, causing the Fulwin to slide backwards, taking out some of the railing in the process.

Chery said in a statement that there had been “insufficient estimation of potential risks and oversights in detailed control” for the exercise, and expressed deep regret for the damage caused, promising to shoulder the costs to put everything right, according to CarNews China.

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How two Nissan Leafs help make a regional airport more resilient

Cars, microgrid, V2G, vehicle to grid / DJ Henderson / November 15, 2025

Not everything about the future sucks. Like electric cars. Sure, there’s one thing that dinosaur-burners do better—short refueling stops—but even the least efficient EV is still multiple times better than its gas equivalent. So much better in fact that it offsets all the extra energy needed to make the battery within a year or two. They’re quieter, and easy to drive. And in a pinch, they can power your house from the garage. Or how about an airport?

OK, we’re not talking about a major international airport (although I really need to talk to someone at Dulles International Airport about my idea to electrify those Space 1999-esque mobile lounges at some point). But up in Humboldt County, California, there’s a microgrid at the Redwood Coast Airport that has now integrated bidirectional charging, and a pair of Nissan Leaf EVs, into its operation.

The microgrid has been operating since 2021 with a 2.2 MW solar array, 8.9 MWh of battery storage, and a 300 KW net-metered solar system. It can feed excess power back into PG&E’s local grid and draw power from the same, but in an outage, the microgrid can keep the airport up and operational.

Turning over an old leaf

One of the Leafs (from model year 2021) was bought by the Humboldt County Aviation Division, the other is a model year 2020 provided by Nissan. These are the previous generation of the Leaf we test drove recently, and they still rely on CHAdeMO for DC fast charging. But the second-gen Leaf was always capable of vehicle-to-grid; it’s just that no one ever set up a pilot in North America to do so, at least to my knowledge. We’ve seen school buses and F-150s get into the V2G game, and it’s good to see the second-gen Leaf now finally fulfilling that potential in North America, even if it has just been replaced with an improved model.

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What’s it like to compete in the longest US off-road rally with no GPS?

Cars, Rallying, rebelle rally, Subaru Crosstrek / Mike M. / November 15, 2025

I’ve been involved with the Rebelle Rally since its inception in 2016, either as a competitor or live show host, and over the past 10 years, I’ve seen it evolve from a scrappy rally with big dreams to the world-class event that it is today.

In a nutshell, the Rebelle Rally is the longest competitive off-road rally in the United States, covering over 2,000 kilometers, and it just happens to be for women. Over eight days, teams of two must plot coordinates on a map, figure out their route, and find multiple checkpoints—both marked and unmarked—with no GPS, cell phones, or chase crews. It is not a race for speed but rather a rally for navigational accuracy over some of the toughest terrain California and Nevada have to offer. There are two classes: 4×4 with vehicles like the Jeep Wrangler and Ford Bronco and X-Cross for cars like the Honda Passport and BMW X5. Heavy modifications aren’t needed, and many teams compete for the coveted Bone Stock award.

For this 10th anniversary, I got back behind the wheel of a 2025 Subaru Crosstrek Wilderness as a driver, with Kendra Miller as my navigator, to defend my multiple podium finishes and stage wins and get reacquainted with the technology, or lack thereof, that makes this multi-day competition so special.

Emme Hall (R), driver, and Kendra Miller (L), navigator, before the start of the 2025 Rebelle Rally. Ernesto Araiza

High-tech rally

In the morning, as Kendra uses a scale ruler to plot 20-plus coordinates on the map of the day, a laborious task that requires intense concentration, I have time to marvel at base camp a bit. We climb out of our snuggy sleeping bags and tents in the pitch black of 5 am, but the main tent is brighter than ever thanks to Renewable Innovations and its mobile microgrid.

This system combines a solar and a hydrogen fuel cell system for up to 750 kWh of power. In the early morning, the multiple batteries in both systems power the bright lights that the navigators need to see their maps, and the Starlink units send the commentary show to YouTube and Facebook Live. Competitors and staff can take a hot shower, the kitchen fries up the morning’s tater tots—seriously, they are the best—and the day’s drivers’ meeting gets started on the PA system. We’re 100 miles from nowhere, and it feels like home.

What’s it like to compete in the longest US off-road rally with no GPS? Read More »

After years of saying no, Tesla reportedly adding Apple CarPlay to its cars

Apple, Apple CarPlay, Cars, Tesla / Beth Washington / November 13, 2025

Apple CarPlay, the interface that lets you cast your phone to your car’s infotainment screen, may finally be coming to Tesla’s electric vehicles. CarPlay is nearly a decade old at this point, and it has become so popular that almost half of car buyers have said they won’t consider a car without the feature, and the overwhelming majority of automakers have included CarPlay in their vehicles.

Until now, that hasn’t included Tesla. CEO Elon Musk doesn’t appear to have opined on the omission, though he has frequently criticized Apple. In the past, Musk has said the goal of Tesla infotainment is to be “the most amount of fun you can have in a car.” Tesla has regularly added purile features like fart noises to the system, and it has also integrated video games that drivers can play while they charge.

For customers who want to stream music, Tesla has instead offered Spotify, Tidal, and even Apple Music apps.

But Tesla is no longer riding high—its sales are crashing, and its market share is shrinking around the world as car buyers tire of a stale and outdated lineup of essentially two models at a time when competition has never been higher from legacy and startup automakers.

According to Bloomberg, which cites “people with knowledge of the matter,” the feature could be added within months if it isn’t cancelled internally.

Tesla is not the only automaker to reject Apple CarPlay. The startup Lucid took some time to add the feature to its high-end EVs, and Rivian still refuses to consider including the system, claiming that a third-party system would degrade the user experience. And of course, General Motors famously removed CarPlay from its new EVs, and it may do the same to its other vehicles in the future.

After years of saying no, Tesla reportedly adding Apple CarPlay to its cars Read More »

Waymo to roll out driverless taxis on highways in three US cities

alphabet, Cars, Driverless cars, syndication, waymo / 9u50fv / November 13, 2025

Mawakana added her company did not think in terms of “how many [incidents] are allowable” and the challenge was ensuring the “bar on safety” was high enough.

Highway routes will initially be available to users who have opted in to early access for new features, before being rolled out more widely.

Passengers will be able to travel to and from the airport in San Jose, in the San Francisco Bay Area. The company already serves Phoenix airport but will now be able to access it on the highway.

Waymo, which launched its paid driverless taxi services in 2020, operates more than 250,000 rides a week. It has a fleet of more than 2,000 vehicles across its five US markets, primarily made up of Jaguar Land Rover electric I-Pace vehicles kitted out with its bespoke sensors and computing system.

Tesla, its main US rival, in September expanded services to the public as part of its robotaxi pilot in Austin, Texas, while Amazon-owned Zoox recently began services in Las Vegas.

Waymo said its vehicles would exit the highways in the event that they encountered technical issues. It also said it had partnered with highway patrol to prepare for circumstances where the vehicle would need to pull over.

The company has reported more than 1,250 collisions involving its vehicles since 2021, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. This has included accidents with passenger vehicles, trucks, and other objects, including a closing gate.

Waymo to roll out driverless taxis on highways in three US cities Read More »

Pirelli’s Cyber Tire might become highway agencies’ newest assistant

Cars, Pirelli Cyber Tire, Traffic / Beth Washington / November 11, 2025

“Two weeks ago, a European manufacturer tested… the traction control and stability with a dramatic improvement in stability and the traction,” he said. “The nice part of the story is that there is not only an objective improvement—2 or 3 meters in braking distance—but there is also from these customers always a better feeling… which is something that is very important to us because numbers are for technicians, but from our customer’s perspective, the pleasure to drive also very important.”

The headline said something about traffic?

While the application described above mostly serves the Cyber Tire-equipped car, the smart tires can also serve the greater good. Earlier this year, we learned of a trial in the Italian region of Apulia that fitted Cyber Tires to a fleet of vehicles and then inferred the health of the road surface from data collected by the tires.

Working with a Swedish startup called Univrses, Pirelli has been fusing sensor data from the Cyber Tire with cameras. Misani offered an example.

“You have a hole [in the road]. If you have a hole, maybe the visual [system] recognizes and the tire does not because you automatically try to avoid the hole. So if the tire does not pass over the hole, you don’t measure anything,” he said. “But your visual system will detect it. On the opposite side, there are some cracks on the road that are detected from the visual system as something that is not even on the road, but they cannot say how deep, how is the step, how is it affecting the stability of the car and things like this. Matching the two things, you have the possibility to monitor in the best possible way the condition of the road.”

“Plus thanks to the vision, you have also the possibility to exploit what we call the vertical status—traffic signs, the compatibility between the condition of the road and the traffic signs,” he said.

The next step is a national program in Italy. “We are investigating and making a project to actively control not the control unit of the car but the traffic information,” Misani said. “On some roads, you can vary the speed limit according to the status; if we can detect aquaplaning, we can warn [that] at kilometer whatever, there is aquaplaning and [the speed limit will be automatically reduced]. We are going in the direction of integrating into the smart roads.”

Pirelli’s Cyber Tire might become highway agencies’ newest assistant Read More »

F1 in Brazil: That’s what generational talent looks like

Cars, F1, Formula 1 / DJ Henderson / November 10, 2025

After a weekend off, perhaps spent trick or treating, Formula 1’s drivers, engineers, and mechanics made their yearly trip to the Interlagos track for the Brazilian Grand Prix. More formally called the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace, it’s definitely one of the more old-school circuits that F1 visits—and invariably one of the more dramatic.

For one thing, it’s anything but billiard-smooth. Better yet, there’s elevation—lots of it—and cambers, too. Unlike most F1 tracks, it runs counterclockwise, and it combines some very fast sections with several rather technical corners that can catch out even the best drivers in the world. Nestled between a couple of lakes in São Paulo, weather is also a regular factor in races here. And indeed, a severe weather warning was issued in the lead-up to this weekend’s race.

You have to hit the ground running

This was another sprint weekend, which means that instead of two practice sessions on Friday and another on Saturday morning, the teams get one on Friday, then go into qualifying for the Saturday sprint race. The shortened testing time tends to shake things up a bit, and we definitely saw that this weekend.

When we left Mexico, there was only a point’s difference between McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri in the championship. After a strong run in the middle of the season, when he led the championship and seemed to have the edge on Norris, Piastri has had a string of disappointing races. By recent standards, Brazil wasn’t quite so bad, but it wasn’t great, either.

Carlos Sainz Jr. of Spain drives the (55) Atlassian Williams Racing FW47 Mercedes during the Formula 1 MSC Cruises Grande Premio De Sao Paulo 2025 in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on November 9, 2025. (Photo by Alessio Morgese/NurPhoto via Getty Images) — Is it just me, or does Williams usually have a disappointing weekend when it does a Gulf Oil livery? Credit: Alessio Morgese/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Despite the weather warnings, none of the sessions required treaded tires. While the track surface was basically dry for the sprint race, the same couldn’t be said for the painted curbs—water had collected in the valleys between the stepped “teeth,” and as just about every racer knows, if the painted bits of the track are wet, you really don’t want to go near them if you have slick tires.

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Elon Musk wins $1 trillion Tesla pay vote despite “part-time CEO” criticism

Cars, elon musk, Policy, Tesla / Kelly Newman / November 8, 2025

Tesla shareholders today voted to approve a compensation plan that would pay Elon Musk more than $1 trillion over the next decade if he hits all of the plan’s goals. Musk won over 75 percent of the vote, according to the announcement at today’s shareholder meeting.

The pay plan would give Musk 423,743,904 shares, awarded in 12 tranches of 35,311,992 shares each if Tesla achieves various operational goals and market value milestones. Goals include delivering 20 million vehicles, obtaining 10 million Full Self-Driving subscriptions, delivering 1 million “AI robots,” putting 1 million robotaxis in operation, and achieving a $400 billion adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization).

Musk has threatened to leave if he doesn’t get a larger share of Tesla. He told investors last month, “It’s not like I’m going to go spend the money. It’s just, if we build this robot army, do I have at least a strong influence over that robot army? Not control, but a strong influence. That’s what it comes down to in a nutshell. I don’t feel comfortable building that robot army if I don’t have at least a strong influence.”

The plan has 12 market capitalization milestones topping out at $8.5 trillion. The value of Musk’s award is estimated to exceed $1 trillion if he hits all operational and market capitalization goals. Musk would increase his ownership stake to 24.8 percent of Tesla, or 28.8 percent if Tesla ends up winning an appeal in the court case that voided his 2018 pay plan.

Tesla Chair Robyn Denholm has argued that Musk needs big pay packages to stay motivated. Some investors have said $1 trillion is too much for a CEO who spends much of his time running other companies such as SpaceX, X (formerly Twitter), and xAI.

New York Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, who runs a state retirement fund that owns over 3.3 million shares, slammed the pay plan in a webinar last week. He said that Musk’s existing stake in Tesla should already “be incentive enough to drive performance. The idea that another massive equity award will somehow refocus a man who is hopelessly distracted is both illogical and contrary to the evidence. This is not pay for performance; this is pay for unchecked power.”

Musk and his side hustles

With Musk spending more time at xAI, “some major Tesla investors have privately pressed top executives and board members about how much attention Musk was actually paying to the company and about whether there is a CEO succession plan,” a Wall Street Journal article on Tuesday said. “An unusually large contingent of Tesla board members, including chair Robyn Denholm, former Chipotle CFO Jack Hartung, and Tesla co-founder JB Straubel, met with big investors in New York last week to advocate for Musk’s proposed new pay package.”

Elon Musk wins $1 trillion Tesla pay vote despite “part-time CEO” criticism Read More »

Ford says “no exact date” to restart F-150 Lightning production

Cars, Ford F-150 Lightning / Kelly Newman / November 7, 2025

When Ford electrified its bestselling pickup truck, it pulled out all the stops. The F-150 Lightning may look virtually identical to other versions of the pickup, but it’s smoother, faster, and obviously far, far more efficient than the ones that run on gas, diesel, or hybrid power. But the future of the country’s bestselling electric truck may be in doubt.

That’s according to a report in The Wall Street Journal, which claims that Ford’s management is “in active discussions about scrapping” the Lightning. Production had already been suspended a few weeks ago due to an aluminum shortage following a destructive fire at a supplier’s factory in New York, which Ford estimates may result in as much as $2 billion in losses to the company.

While Ford told Ars it doesn’t comment on speculation on its future product plans, the automaker said that “F-150 Lightning is the best-selling electric pickup truck in the US—despite new competition from CyberTruck, Chevy, GMC, Hummer and Rivian—and delivered record sales in Q3.”

“Right now, we’re focused on producing F-150 ICE and Hybrid as we recover from the fire at Novelis. We have good inventories of the F-150 Lightning and will bring Rouge Electric Vehicle Center (REVC) back up at the right time, but don’t have an exact date at this time,” a Ford spokesperson said.

Ford was the first of the domestic automakers to bring a full-size pickup EV to market. But like General Motors, it has found that pickup truck customers have not flocked to electric propulsion in anything like the numbers predicted pre-pandemic. As we learned last week, GM has also scaled back its EV production, and last month Stellantis announced that it has ceased development of an all-electric version of its Ram 1500.

As for Ford, a second-generation F-150 Lightning has been postponed in favor of a much cheaper, much simpler-to-build electric pickup, which is due in 2027.

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