Cars

Volvo invented the three-point seat belt 67 years ago; now it has improved it

Cars, road safety, seat belts, volvo / Tim Belzer / January 27, 2026

A Volvo seat belt — No other automaker has the same commitment to road safety as Volvo. Credit: Volvo Cars

How it works

Basically, a seat belt is made up of a retractor mechanism, buckle assembly, webbing material, and a pretensioner device. Of these parts, the pretensioner is the one tasked with tightening the seatbelt webbing in a collision. As such, it reduces the forward movement of the passenger before the airbag deploys at speeds of up to 200 mph (321 km/h). All of these parts remain the same for Volvo’s newest seat belt iteration. It’s the tiny brain attached to the assemblage that’s different.

Volvo’s new central computing system, HuginCore (named after a bird in Norse mythology), runs the EX60 with more than 250 trillion operations per second. It has been developed in-house, together with its partners Google, Nvidia, and Qualcomm.

“With the HuginCore system we can collect a lot of data and make decisions in the car instantly and combine that with the belt’s ability to choose different load levels,” says Åsa Haglund, head of the Volvo Cars Safety Center. “A box of possibilities opens up where you can detect what type of crash it is and who is in the car and choose a more optimal belt force.”

Volvo crash test dummies — Every day, dummies like these get smashed to make Volvos safer. Credit: Volvo Cars

Load limiters control how much force the safety belt applies to the human body during a crash. Volvo’s new system pushes the load-limiting profiles from three to 11, marking a major increase in adjustability. It’s kind of like an audio system, Ljung Aust muses. A sound system with 10 discrete steps up the volume ladder offers varied profiles along the way, while one with only one or two steps addresses fewer preference levels.

Using data from exterior, interior, and crash sensors, the car reacts to a collision in milliseconds—less than the blink of an eye, Ljung Aust says. In the case of a crash, it’s critical to hold the hips into the car, he explains, but the upper body should fold forward in a frontal crash in a nice, smooth motion to meet the airbag. Otherwise, the body is exposed to the same force as the slowing car.

Volvo invented the three-point seat belt 67 years ago; now it has improved it Read More »

Tesla kills Autopilot, locks lane-keeping behind $99/month fee

Cars, tesla autopilot, Tesla FSD / Mike M. / January 23, 2026

No Tesla sales in California

Tesla was told that if it couldn’t resolve the deceptive marketing within those 60 days, the sales suspension would take effect. That would be bad for the automaker, as California is far and away its largest market in the US, albeit one that is shrinking each quarter. Having to suspend sales entirely in the state would be disastrous. Some had speculated that Tesla could change Autopilot’s name to something less misleading, but the company chose a more drastic approach.

Now, if you want your new Tesla to steer itself—while you pay attention to the road—you will have to pay for FSD. Until the middle of February, that can be done for a one-time fee of $8,000. But starting on February 14, that option goes away, too, and the sole choice will be a $99/month FSD subscription.

But probably not for very long. Last night, Musk revealed on his social media platform that “the $99/month for supervised FSD will rise as FSD’s capabilities improve. The massive value jump is when you can be on your phone or sleeping for the entire ride (unsupervised FSD).”

The quest for recurring revenue streams is becoming something of a holy grail in the automotive industry as OEMs that previously treated their customers as a single sale now hope to make themselves more attractive to investors by encouraging customers to give them regular payouts.

This may have contributed to General Motors’ decision to drop Apple CarPlay and Android Automotive. BMW has also experimented with subscription services. Tesla’s stock price remains so high that such games are probably unnecessary here, but with falling profit margins, declining sales, and the loss of emissions credits to bolster the bottom line, one can see why regular cash infusions from Tesla drivers would be desirable.

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2026 Lucid Air Touring review: This feels like a complete car now

car review, Cars, Features, Lucid Air Touring / Kris Guyer / January 23, 2026

It’s efficient, easy to live with, and smooth to drive.

The 2026 Lucid Air Touring sees the brand deliver on its early promise. Credit: Jonathan Gitlin

Life as a startup carmaker is hard—just ask Lucid Motors.

When we met the brand and its prototype Lucid Air sedan in 2017, the company planned to put the first cars in customers’ hands within a couple of years. But you know what they say about plans. A lack of funding paused everything until late 2018, when Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund bought itself a stake. A billion dollars meant Lucid could build a factory—at the cost of alienating some former fans because of the source.

Then the pandemic happened, further pushing back timelines as supply shortages took hold. But the Air did go on sale, and it has more recently been joined by the Gravity SUV. There’s even a much more affordable midsize SUV in the works called the Earth. Sales more than doubled in 2025, and after spending a week with a model year 2026 Lucid Air Touring, I can understand why.

There are now quite a few different versions of the Air to choose from. For just under a quarter of a million dollars, there’s the outrageously powerful Air Sapphire, which offers acceleration so rapid it’s unlikely your internal organs will ever truly get used to the experience. At the other end of the spectrum is the $70,900 Air Pure, a single-motor model that’s currently the brand’s entry point but which also stands as a darn good EV.

The last time I tested a Lucid, it was the Air Grand Touring almost three years ago. That car mostly impressed me but still felt a little unfinished, especially at $138,000. This time, I looked at the Air Touring, which starts at $79,900, and the experience was altogether more polished.

Which one?

The Touring features a less-powerful all-wheel-drive powertrain than the Grand Touring, although to put “less-powerful” into context, with 620 hp (462 kW) on tap, there are almost as many horses available as in the legendary McLaren F1. (That remains a mental benchmark for many of us of a certain age.)

The Touring’s 885 lb-ft (1,160 Nm) is far more than BMW’s 6-liter V12 can generate, but at 5,009 lbs (2,272 kg), the electric sedan weighs twice as much as the carbon-fiber supercar. The fact that the Air Touring can reach 60 mph (98 km/h) from a standing start in just 0.2 seconds more than the McLaren tells you plenty about how much more accessible acceleration has become in the past few decades.

At least, it will if you choose the fastest of the three drive modes, labeled Sprint. There’s also Swift, and the least frantic of the three, Smooth. Helpfully, each mode remembers your regenerative braking setting when you lift the accelerator pedal. Unlike many other EVs, Lucid does not use a brake-by-wire setup, and pressing the brake pedal will only ever slow the car via friction brakes. Even with lift-off regen set to off, the car does not coast well due to its permanent magnet electric motors, unlike the electric powertrains developed by German OEMs like Mercedes-Benz.

This is not to suggest that Lucid is doing something wrong—not with its efficiency numbers. On 19-inch aero-efficient wheels, the car has an EPA range of 396 miles (673 km) from a 92 kWh battery pack. As just about everyone knows, you won’t get ideal EV efficiency during winter, and our test with the Lucid in early January coincided with some decidedly colder temperatures, as well as larger ($1,750) 20-inch wheels. Despite this, I averaged almost 4 miles/kWh (15.5 kWh/100 km) on longer highway drives, although this fell to around 3.5 miles/kWh (17.8 kWh/100 km) in the city.

Recharging the Air Touring also helped illustrate how the public DC fast-charging experience has matured over the years. The Lucid uses the ISO 15118 “plug and charge” protocol, so you don’t need to mess around with an app or really do anything more complicated than plug the charging cable into the Lucid’s CCS1 socket.

After the car and charger complete their handshake, the car gives the charger account and billing info, then the electrons flow. Charging from 27 to 80 percent with a manually preconditioned battery took 36 minutes. During that time, the car added 53.3 kWh, which equated to 209 miles (336 km) of range, according to the dash. Although we didn’t test AC charging, 0–100 percent should take around 10 hours.

The Air Touring is an easy car to live with. Credit: Jonathan Gitlin

Monotone

I’ll admit, I’m a bit of a sucker for the way the Air looks when it’s not two-tone. That’s the Stealth option ($1,750), and the dark Fathom Blue Metallic paint ($800) and blacked-out aero wheels pushed many of my buttons. I found plenty to like from the driver’s seat, too. The 34-inch display that wraps around the driver once looked massive—now it feels relatively restrained compared to the “Best Buy on wheels” effect in some other recent EVs. The fact that the display isn’t very tall helps its feeling of restraint here.

In the middle is a minimalist display for the driver, with touch-sensitive displays on either side. To your left are controls for the lights, locks, wipers, and so on. These icons are always in the same place, though there’s no tactile feedback. The infotainment screen to the right is within the driver’s reach, and it’s here that (wireless) Apple CarPlay will show up. As you can see in a photo below, CarPlay fills the irregularly shaped screen with a wallpaper but keeps its usable area confined to the rectangle in the middle.

The curved display floats above the textile-covered dash, and the daylight visible between them helps the cabin’s sense of spaciousness, even without a panoramic glass roof. A stowable touchscreen display lower down on the center console is where you control vehicle, climate, seat, and lighting settings, although there are also physical controls for temperature and volume on the dash. The relatively good overall ergonomics take a bit of a hit from the steeply raked A pillar, which creates a blind spot for the driver.

The layout is mostly great, although the A pillar causes a blind spot. Jonathan Gitlin

For all the Air Touring’s power, it isn’t a car that goads you into using it all. In fact, I spent most of the week in the gentlest setting, Smooth. It’s an easy car to drive slowly, and the rather artificial feel of the steering at low speeds means you probably won’t take it hunting apices on back roads. I should note, though, that each drive mode has its own steering calibration.

On the other hand, as a daily driver and particularly on longer drives, the Touring did a fine job. Despite being relatively low to the ground, it’s easy to get into and out of. The rear seat is capacious, and the ride is smooth, so passengers will enjoy it. Even more so if they sit up front—Lucid has some of the best (optional, $3,750) massaging seats in the business, which vibrate as well as kneading you. There’s a very accessible 22 cubic foot (623 L) trunk as well as a 10 cubic foot (283 L) frunk, so it’s practical, too.

Future-proof?

Our test Air was fitted with Lucid’s DreamDrive Pro advanced driver assistance system ($6,750), which includes a hands-free “level 2+” assist that requires you to pay attention to the road ahead but which handles accelerating, braking, and steering. Using the turn signal tells the car to perform a lane change if it’s safe, and I found it to be an effective driver assist with an active driver monitoring system (which uses a gaze-tracking camera to ensure the driver is doing their part).

Lucid rolled out the more advanced features of DreamDrive Pro last summer, and it plans to develop the system into a more capable “level 3” partially automated system that lets the driver disengage completely from the act of driving, at least at lower speeds. Although that system is some ways off—and level 3 systems are only road-legal in Nevada and California right now anyway—even the current level 2+ system leverages lidar as well as cameras, radar, and ultrasonics, and the dash display does a good job of showing you what other vehicles the Air is perceiving around it when the system is active.

As mentioned above, the model year 2026 Air feels polished, far more so than the last Lucid I drove. Designed by a refugee from Tesla, the car promised to improve on the EVs from that brand in every way. And while early Airs might have fallen short in execution, the cars can now credibly be called finished products, with much better fit and finish than a few years ago.

I’ll go so far as to say that I might have a hard time deciding between an Air or an equivalently priced Porsche Taycan were I in the market for a luxury electric four-door, even though they both offer quite different driving experiences. Be warned, though, like with the Porsche, the options can add up quickly, and the resale prices can be shockingly low.

Jonathan is the Automotive Editor at Ars Technica. He has a BSc and PhD in Pharmacology. In 2014 he decided to indulge his lifelong passion for the car by leaving the National Human Genome Research Institute and launching Ars Technica’s automotive coverage. He lives in Washington, DC.

2026 Lucid Air Touring review: This feels like a complete car now Read More »

Here’s Volvo’s new EX60 $60,000 electric midsize SUV

Cars, Volvo EX60, Volvo EX60 Cross Country / Mike M. / January 21, 2026

The EX60 is 189.1 inches (4,803 mm) long, 74.8 inches (1,900 mm) wide, 64.5 inches (1,638 mm) tall, with a 116.9-inch (2,969 mm) wheelbase. Volvo

Next up is the P10 AWD. This uses an electric motor for each axle, with a combined 503 hp (375 kW) and 524 lb-ft (710 Nm). The 0–60 time drops to 4.4 seconds, and thanks to a larger battery (91 kWh net/95 kWh gross), there’s a bit more range: 320 miles on the 20-inch wheels, with the same 10-mile range hit for each inch you increase them. Peak DC charging rates are higher for this battery, though—up to 370 kW, but again with 18-minute 10–80 charge times under ideal conditions.

Then there’s the P12 AWD, which ups the ante to 670 hp (500 kW) and 583 lb-ft (790 Nm). The dash to 60 mph drops to 3.8 seconds, and the battery gets a little larger at 112 kWh usable (117 kWh gross). Peak charging rates are still 370 kW, but 10–80 percent takes slightly longer at 19 minutes as a result of the greater capacity. Range for this version is 400 miles (644 km) for 20-inch wheels, 390 miles (627 km) for 21-inch wheels, and 375 miles (603 km) for 22-inch wheels.

“The new, all-electric EX60 changes the game in terms of range, charging, and price and represents a new beginning for Volvo Cars and our customers,” said Volvo Cars CEO Håkan Samuelsson. “With this car, we remove all remaining obstacles for going electric. This fantastic new car is also a testament of what we are capable of at Volvo Cars, with an all-new product architecture introducing new key technologies—mega casting, cell-to-body, and core computing.”

Cross Country

The EX60 Cross Country in its natural habitat. Volvo

The surprise of the reveal today was the EX60 Cross Country. “Cross Country” is Volvo’s badge for its models that have a little bit of adventure to them, with a 0.8-inch (20 mm) lifted suspension that raises another 20 mm if you option air springs, a wider track, wheel arch cladding, and underbody skid plates that all say, “I ain’t afraid of no unpaved forest road.”

Here’s Volvo’s new EX60 $60,000 electric midsize SUV Read More »

Ferrari doing what it does best: The 12Cilindri review

car review, Cars, Ferrari 12Cilindri / Tim Belzer / January 17, 2026

Retro design and a naturally aspirated V12 deliver tremendous appeal, but it’ll cost ya.

In the old days, they used to say Ferrari would sell you an engine and give you the car for free. The rest of the 12Cilindri is too good for that cliche, but it really is all about the engine. Credit: Bradley Iger

It has been nearly 80 years since Ferrari unleashed its first V12-powered sports car upon the world with the 125 S. In 1947, its debut year, the 125 S secured Ferrari’s first race victory, along with five other wins in the 14 events it competed in that season.

Although it was soon replaced by the 159 S, the success of the 125 S kick-started Ferrari’s storied history of producing some of the most desirable 12-cylinder performance cars known to man. And while the Italian automaker has come to embrace forced induction and electrification in recent years, its legacy of building stunning front-engine, rear-wheel drive machines with spectacular V12s stuffed into their engine bays continues with the 12Cilindri Spider.

Ferrari hasn’t shied away from leveraging cutting-edge technology in the development of its latest models, but the company also understands the value of a good throwback. As the successor to the 812 Superfast, the 12Cilindri boasts clever performance technologies, like a sophisticated active aero system and a four-wheel steering system that can manage each corner independently to enhance response, but it’s ultimately an homage to the heady days of late ’60s luxury grand touring. The exterior styling takes obvious inspiration from the 365 GTB Daytona, while its lack of all-wheel drive, turbocharging, and electric assistance bucks trends that have become nearly inescapable in modern performance cars.

It’s actually an easy car to drive every day, despite the width. Bradley Iger

Buy the engine, get the car for free?

Instead, Ferrari has deliberately prioritized the core principles that have defined its most enduring GT icons: elegant design, a meticulously engineered chassis, and a sensational naturally aspirated V12, the latter represented here by a 6.5 L dry-sump mill that delivers 819 hp (611 kW) and a soaring 9,500-rpm redline.

That horsepower figure might not raise as many eyebrows as it would have just a few years ago, but it’s worth noting that at a time in history when an alarming number of new performance vehicles are now as heavy as full-size pickups, the 12Cilindri Spider tips the scales at a relatively svelte dry weight of 3,571 (1,620 kg) pounds thanks in part to its focus on the fundamentals. Equipped with massage seats and a retractable hardtop that opens and closes in just 14 seconds, the 12Cilindri Spider is primarily aimed at fulfilling drivers’ fantasies of cruising along the French Riviera with the smell of the ocean in the air and the banshee wail of 12 cylinders in their ears. But it also takes on a noticeably more sportscar-like persona than its primary rival, the Aston Martin Vanquish Volante, mainly due to the 12Cilindri’s eight-speed dual-clutch transmission and more earnest performance-tuned chassis.

Sport is the 12Cilindri Spider’s default drive mode, a naming decision that helps set expectations for suspension stiffness, but you can also depress the steering-wheel-mounted Manettino drive mode dial to enable Bumpy Road mode, which softens the adaptive dampers beyond their standard tuning for more compliance on rough pavement. While the gearbox occasionally needs a second to get its act together from a standstill, and the car’s low stance makes the nose lift system an often-used feature, the 12Cilindri Spider is a remarkably civil cruiser when pressed into service for everyday driving tasks.

Crackle red paint covers the intake boxes, and maybe the cylinder heads. Bradley Iger

Still an HMI disaster

The in-car tech does tarnish this driving experience to a tangible degree, though. The liberal use of capacitive surfaces on the steering wheel and the instrument panel to control features like rear-view mirror position and adaptive cruise control, as well as the functions that are accessed via the 15.6-inch digital gauge cluster, frequently led to frustration during my time with the car, and although the high-resolution 10.25-inch central touchscreen looks great and is quick to respond to user inputs, wireless Apple CarPlay crashed on several occasions for no discernible reason and remained inaccessible until after the next key cycle. These may seem like trivial issues, but in a car with a $507,394 MSRP ($661,364 as-tested with destination fee), it’s tough to excuse problems that are so distracting and seemingly easy to rectify.

We had the same problem with the 296 GTB, and it’s time Ferrari retired its capacitive wheel and replaced them all with the version that has physical buttons. Which it will do for existing owners—for a hefty fee.

But, perhaps unsurprisingly, those quibbles always seemed to fade away whenever I found an open stretch of canyon road and set the Manettino to Race mode. Doing so eases up the electronic assists, sets up the transmission and differential for sharper response, and opens up the valves in the active exhaust system. But, in contrast to convention, it leaves the steering weight, suspension stiffness, throttle response, and brake-by-wire system alone in order to maintain predictable dynamic behavior regardless of which drive mode you’re in.

Ferrari’s capacitive touch multifunctioning steering wheel continues to let down the experience of driving a modern Ferrari. Bradley Iger

Although the exhaust is a bit quieter than I’d prefer, even with the roof stowed away, the sound that this V12 makes as you wind it out is the stuff that dreams are made of. It took me a moment to recalibrate to the lofty redline, though—with the gearbox set to manual mode, my mind naturally wanted to pull the column-mounted paddle about 2,000 rpm early. I blame this on my seat time in the Vanquish coupe last year. Aston’s decision to equip the Vanquish’s 5.2 L V12 with a pair of turbochargers enables it to best the 12Cilinidri’s horsepower figure by a few ponies while also providing a significant advantage in peak torque output (738 lb-ft/1,000 Nm versus the Ferrari’s 500 lb-ft/678 Nm), but it also relegates the Vanquish’s redline to a more prosaic 7,000 rpm while naturally muting its tone a bit.

OK, that’s enough torque

And to be frank, I don’t think the 12Cilindri Spider needs another 238 lb-ft (322 Nm), a theory that was backed by the flashing traction control light that fired up any time I got a little too brave with the throttle coming out of a slow corner. Intervention from the Ferrari’s electronic safeguards is so seamless that I rarely noticed it happening at all, though, and I can’t say the same for the Vanquish, which is undoubtedly thrilling to drive but often felt like it was fighting against its own prodigious output in order to keep the nose on the intended path. The 12Cilindri, by contrast, feels easy to trust when the going gets fast, and that sensation is bolstered by tons of mechanical grip, a quick steering rack, and a firm, progressive brake pedal.

But regardless of my thoughts on the matter, the 12Cilindri’s successor will likely be a significantly different beast with a lot more power on tap. Nearly a decade ago, we predicted that the 812 would likely be the last Ferrari to feature a naturally aspirated V12, and while this is a prediction that we’re happy to have been wrong about, this era is undoubtedly drawing to a close. A hybridized V12 will likely offer even more grunt, and enthusiasts rarely scoff at the prospect of more power, but it also opens the door to all-wheel drive, significantly more heft, and ultimately a very different driving experience. Until then, the 12Cilindri Spider serves as an important reminder that sometimes the most compelling aspects of a performance car can’t be quantified on a spec sheet.

Ferrari doing what it does best: The 12Cilindri review Read More »

Feds give Tesla another five weeks to respond to FSD probe

Cars, nhtsa, Tesla FSD / Tim Belzer / January 16, 2026

The original request was sent to Tesla on December 3 with a deadline of January 19—next Monday—with penalties of up to $27,874 per day (to a maximum of $139.4 million) for not complying.

However, the winter holiday period ate up two weeks of the six-and-a-bit weeks, and the company has had to simultaneously prepare two other information requests for other ongoing NHTSA probes, one due today, another on January 23rd, and yet another on February 4, the company told NHTSA. Identifying all the complaints and reports will take more time, Tesla said, as it found 8,313 items when it searched for traffic violations, and it can only process 300 a day to see which ones are relevant.

Answering the remaining questions on NHTSA’s list would require the above to be completed first, so Tesla asked for and was granted an extension until February 23.

Meanwhile, Tesla has changed how its driver assist cash cow contributes to the bottom line. Until now, Tesla owners had the option of buying the system outright for (currently) $8,000. Now, CEO Elon Musk says that option will go away on February 14. From then on, if a Tesla owner wants FSD, they’ll have to pay a $99 monthly fee to use it.

Feds give Tesla another five weeks to respond to FSD probe Read More »

BMW’s first electric M car is coming in 2027—with one motor per wheel

BMW M, BMW Neue Klasse, Cars / Mike M. / January 13, 2026

Late last year, we drove BMW’s new iX3. It’s the first of a series of electric BMWs to use a newly developed platform, known as the “Neue Klasse.” Later this year, we’ll see the first fully electric version of the 3 Series when the i3 sedan debuts. And next year, BMW enthusiasts will finally find out what the brand’s M division—which infuses motorsport into the vehicles like few others—can do with an EV.

There have been M-tuned EVs before now, more powerful variants of the i4, iX, and i7. And each time we’ve driven them, BMW has been at pains to point out that these weren’t true M cars, not like the M3 or M5. Honestly, they weren’t better than the cheaper, less powerful versions, something that won’t be allowed for next year’s performance EV, which might be called something like the iM3, assuming the naming convention remains logic-based.

“The next generation of models are set to establish a new benchmark in the high-performance vehicle segment,” says Franciscus van Meel, managing director of BMW M GmbH. “With the latest generation of Neue Klasse technology, we are taking the BMW M driving experience to a new level and will inspire our customers with outstanding, racetrack-ready driving dynamics for everyday use.”

A BMW M Neue Klasse test car on ice — Will it be the iM3? For now, BMW is calling this the M Neue Klasse. Credit: BMW

Technology is the key to distinguishing the M EV from its more sedate siblings. The Neue Klasse platform hews to the software-defined vehicle trend, where a handful of powerful computers each control a wide array of functions, rather than dozens or hundreds of discrete electronic control units in black boxes each doing a single job. One computer handles infotainment, and another deals with automated driving and active safety systems. A third handles the relatively mundane but no less important job of climate control, plus the seats and doors and windows.

However, the important one here is called the Heart of Joy, which runs M-specific software, called BMW M Dynamic Performance Control. This offers an order of magnitude faster response in terms of the car’s electronic dynamic control compared to current M models, which is put to good use controlling the four electric motors that will propel the electric M.

BMW’s first electric M car is coming in 2027—with one motor per wheel Read More »

General Motors writes down $6 billion as domestic EV sales plans change

BrightDrop, Cars, EV adoption, GMC / Tim Belzer / January 9, 2026

Despite these costs, 2025 wasn’t a terrible year for the company. It managed to grow sales by 6 percent in the US, and in China, more than half of the 1.9 million vehicles it sold were New Energy Vehicles, which grew by 22.6 percent. NEVs are EVs and plug-in hybrids—in GM’s case, mostly locally developed vehicles sold under the Buick and Electra brands, as well as joint ventures like Wuling, with some Cadillac Lyriqs, too.

Build that camper van you always wanted

Even though BrightDrop is no more, Chevrolet dealers are sitting on more than 2,500 unsold electric vans, slightly more than half of which are the shorter BrightDrop 400, which starts at under $47,000, according to Chevy’s website. The larger BrightDrop 600, with the same offers, is still less than $50,000.

2025 Chevrolet BrightDrop 400 shown with aftermarket upfit installed. Production model may vary. — Ditch the packages and the shelves and you’re got some room back here. Credit: Chevrolet

And since these no longer seem to be in high demand by big-box retailers and the package delivery companies, now’s the time for people to start picking them up and turning them into camper vans.

I have to believe the demand is out there; any time we’ve covered the BrightDrop, or any other electric van for that matter, most of the comments concern just this kind of conversion. It needn’t be insanely expensive, although depending on your budget, you could easily spend twice as much (or more) as the BrightDrop cost on the uplift. But short of spending silly money to EV-restomod one of those six-wheel GMC Motorhomes from the 1970s, you’d definitely have the coolest electric camper out there.

General Motors writes down $6 billion as domestic EV sales plans change Read More »

In-car AI assistant coming to Fords and Lincolns in 2027

AI, Cars, CES 2026, Ford, software defined vehicle / Paul Patrick / January 7, 2026

The annual Consumer Electronics Show is currently raging in Las Vegas, and as has become traditional over the past decade, automakers and their suppliers now use the conference to announce their technology plans. Tonight it was Ford’s turn, and it is very on-trend for 2026. If you guessed that means AI is coming to the Ford in-car experience, congratulations, you guessed right.

Even though the company owes everything to mass-producing identical vehicles, it says that it wants AI to personalize your car to you. “Our vision for the customer is simple, but not elementary: a seamless layer of intelligence that travels with you between your phone and your vehicle,” said Doug Field, Ford’s chief EV, design, and digital officer.

“Not generic intelligence—many people can do that better than we can. What customers need is intelligence that understands where you are, what you’re doing, and what your vehicle is capable of, and then makes the next decision simpler,” Field wrote in a blog post Ford shared ahead of time with Ars.

As an example, Field suggests you could take a photo of something you want to load onto your truck, upload it to the AI, and find out whether it will fit in the bed.

At first, Ford’s AI assistant will just show up in the Ford and Lincoln smartphone apps. Expect that rollout to happen starting early this year. From 2027, the AI assistant will become a native experience as new or refreshed models are able to include it, possibly starting with the cheap electric truck that the automaker tells us is due next year, but also gas models like the Expedition and Navigator.

In-car AI assistant coming to Fords and Lincolns in 2027 Read More »

EVs remain a niche choice in the US, according to survey

2026 automotive consumer survey, Cars, EV adoption / Mike M. / January 7, 2026

A graph showing charger location preference for car buyers in the US, Germany, the UK, China, Japan, and South Korea — A graph showing preferred charging locations for car buyers. Credit: Deloitte

While reliable charging at one’s workplace—emphasis on reliable—can make up for not being able to charge at home, 77 percent of US car buyers said they would prefer to charge at home (with just 13 percent indicating they would prefer charging at work).

Why pick an EV?

For people who haven’t yet decided to switch, an underappreciated fact is just how much more efficient an electric powertrain is compared to one that burns liquid petroleum. Ford’s experiment putting an electric powertrain into its best-selling F-150 pickup truck might have turned sour, but consider the following: The V6 truck needs more than three times as much energy to travel 300 miles as the one you plug into a wall, when you consider a gallon of gasoline contains 33.7 kWh of energy.

Among the EV-convinced, this is presumably old news. More than half—52 percent of US survey respondents—said lower fuel costs were a reason for choosing an EV, beating out concern for the environment, which ranked second at 38 percent. And between $20,000 and $49,999 appears to be the pricing sweet spot, with 24 percent looking for something in the $20,000–$34,999 band (cars like the new Nissan Leaf or the soon-reborn Chevrolet Bolt) and another 24 percent looking in the $35,000–$49,999 band, which has plenty of EVs to choose from, including Mercedes-Benz’s efficient new CLA.

Just 7 percent of those EV buyers are looking to spend more than $75,000 on their electric car, but luxury EVs abound at this price point.

A graph of reasons given by US car buyers as to why their next car would be electric. Deloitte

Meanwhile, range and charging times remain the foremost concerns among car buyers when discussing EVs, along with the cost premium. Some other fears are ill-founded, however. Thirty-eight percent said they were concerned about the cost of eventually replacing an EV’s battery. But EV batteries are proving more durable on the road than many early adopters once believed. There’s little evidence that EVs will require costly battery replacements with any more frequency than older cars require new engines, a concern that is rarely mentioned when someone wants to buy a gas-powered machine.

The US doesn’t care about software-defined vehicles

One of the biggest shifts in car design and manufacturing over the past few years has been the advent of the software-defined vehicle. Until now, pretty much every electronic function in a car, from an electric window to the antilock brakes, needed its own electronic control unit. Some cars can have up to two hundred discrete ECUs, some with software dating back years.

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Spot the difference: Sony’s electric car gets a crossover version

Afeela, Cars, CES 2026, Sony Honda Mobility / Rejus Almole / January 6, 2026

It’s all about AI

The big news, at least in terms of detail, wasn’t the crossover, which Sony Honda Mobility says will go on sale in the US in 2028. Rather, like seemingly every other corporation out there, it’s all about AI. A “vision-language model” will “elevate” the Afeela’s partially automated driver assist—which requires the human to pay attention while the car steers, accelerates, and brakes—into something more fully autonomous, capable of point-to-point driving without any other human input, at least under some conditions.

“Specifically, we are constantly reviewing sensor devices and layouts, further improving computing power, and making our End-to-End Driving AI stronger,” said Izumi Kawanishi, president and COO of Sony Honda Mobility. “As a result, the cabin will evolve into a drive-less environment, reducing the task of manual driving, and providing more freedom to relax and enjoy entertainment content. In the future, the drive-less environment will transform the cabin into a true ‘Creative Entertainment Space,’” Kawanishi said.

Not having to drive will free you up to interact with the onboard personal AI, which uses Microsoft’s OpenAI tech. The AI agent “enhances mobility interactions through personalized natural dialogue. This elevates the relationship between people and mobility into something more personal and long-lasting,” Kawanishi said, adding that Sony Honda Mobility wants to use AI “sensitively while carefully considering personal information and privacy.”

A Sony Honda Mobility SUV — We did not see any interior details of the new Afeela. Credit: Sony Honda Mobility

Powering all of this on the car? Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Digital Chassis platform; the chipmaker has been a strategic partner of Sony Honda Mobility throughout the Afeela’s development.

Well, it’s also about content

Sony says its PlayStation Remote Play experience will be embedded in the Afeela 1. “With a DualSense controller and a good network connection, AFEELA becomes another way you can pick up and play the games you already enjoy. Just like every other Remote Play experience, this isn’t a separate console in the car—you’re playing the games you already own through streaming,” said Erik Lempel, senior vice president of business and product at Sony Interactive Entertainment.

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Tesla sales fell by 9 percent in 2025, its second yearly decline

Cars, Tesla / Kris Guyer / January 2, 2026

Tesla published its final production and delivery numbers this morning, and they make for brutal reading. Sales were down almost 16 percent during the final three months of last year, meaning the company sold 77,343 fewer electric vehicles than it did during the same period in 2024.

For the entire year, the decline looks slightly better with a drop of 8.6 percent year over year. That means Tesla sold 1,636,129 cars in 2025, 153,097 fewer than it managed in 2024. Which in turn is more than it managed to shift in 2023.

Sales issues

Contributing factors to the poor sales are legion. The brand still relies on the Models 3 and Y to an overwhelming extent, and other than a mild cosmetic refresh, neither feels fresh or modern compared with competitors from Europe and Asia.

And Elon Musk’s much-hyped Cybertruck—which was supposed to cost less than $40,000 and go into production in 2021, lest anyone forget—has been a disaster, eclipsing the Edsel. Its failure has taken down another company initiative, Tesla’s “in-house battery cell.” It was initially designed specifically for the Cybertruck, although the CEO later claimed it would be used for static storage as well as EVs. But apparently, it has become the victim of a lack of demand. Last week, Electrek reported that Tesla’s South Korean battery material supplier L&F wrote down its $2.9 billion contract with Tesla to just $7,386. A drop of more than 99 percent.

Musk has not dialed back his embrace of the far right, cratering sales in markets like California and Europe, where EV buyers often use their consciences to guide their wallets.

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