Much had been expected of a newly upgraded Ferrari engine in Austria, but a combination of altitude and heat meant we did not see it at its best. With thicker, cooler air, the gap to the Mercedes was much less, and an inspired lap from Hamilton, egged on by more than 100,000 spectators, saw him grab the sprint pole from Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli by 11 milliseconds.

The following day, Hamilton managed to keep the young Mercedes driver at bay and held out for eight laps before the inevitable happened. But Hamilton still finished second, and less than 3 seconds back after 17 laps. That’s much less of a deficit than we’ve seen before. That afternoon saw qualifying for Sunday’s race, but this time Hamilton could only manage third on the grid. Antonelli snatched pole, but between them was Charles Leclerc, Hamilton’s teammate at Ferrari.

Leclerc has been ill at ease with his race car, and if you’re not comfortable in an F1 car, you won’t find its limit. He failed to finish in Monaco and Barcelona and finished a distant eighth in Austria, albeit after qualifying second. This past weekend looked like that trend might continue, until something finally clicked between Leclerc and his Ferrari SF-26. Both Ferraris made better starts than Antonelli with Leclerc in the lead.

Something’s broken

Then on lap 41, something broke in the steering or suspension of Antonelli’s Mercedes, possibly after riding heavily over one of the circuit’s serrated curbs. The Italian driver made another two pit stops to try to solve the problem but to no avail. He would end the race in ninth on the road but was scored 15th after being penalized for repeatedly driving off-track in an attempt to bring his damaged car home.

The exit clause in Max Verstappen’s Red Bull contract is about to open; will he exercise it?

Credit: PETER POWELL / POOL / AFP via Getty Images

Up front, Leclerc looked set to cruise to his first win in almost two years. Then, on lap 48, the active rear wing on Max Verstappen’s Red Bull malfunctioned at Stowe corner. For 2026, F1 cars use a low-downforce configuration on the straights, then a high-downforce setting for the corners. But if front and rear wings don’t transition between the two states quickly enough, it can make the car uncontrollably unstable.

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/07/f1-in-britain-automated-software-to-blame-for-crushing-expectations/

If the car-buying public had qualms about Tesla, it appears to have gotten over them. This morning, the automaker released its sales and production numbers for the second quarter of the year. And if you’re a fan of activist CEO Elon Musk, it’s good news, as April, May, and June were great months for the company. In total, Tesla sold 480,126 EVs during Q2, a 25 percent year-over-year increase.

As expected, the Model 3 and Y make up the vast majority of sales; despite its size, Tesla still only mass-produces these two models, which accounted for 467,762 deliveries, a 25.2 percent increase compared to Q2 last year. The remaining 12,364 vehicles—a 19 percent increase compared to the same quarter in 2025—were a mix of the now-discontinued Models S and X and the controversial Cybertruck, which is only sold in North America and the Middle East.

Better news for Tesla fans is that the company appears to be getting a handle on its overproduction problem. As we noted when it published its Q1 2026 results in March, Tesla had a growing inventory problem, repeatedly building more cars each month than it could sell. But total production for Q2 was 451,758 cars; this is a 10 percent increase year over year but also nearly 30,000 fewer cars than it sold this quarter.

Of those, 442,936 were Models 3 and Y, an 11.6 percent increase year over year. But we can see the effect of the Model S and X cancellations; “other” accounted for just 8,822 vehicles, a 35 percent decrease compared to Q2 2025.

Tesla’s energy storage sales aren’t looking too shabby, either. In Q2 2026, it deployed 13.5 GWh, a 40 percent increase compared to Q2 2025.

Although Tesla does not break out sales by geographic region, registration data shows that much of the sales surge came from Europe.

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/07/tesla-sales-increase-by-25-in-q2-2026/

The Amble One is configurable from the start. Rear seats fold flat. A canvas weatherproofing option is coming. A lockable front box will replace the standard basket for urban buyers. Hard doors are not planned, but a second platform—already in design and targeting a 2029 release—will move further toward conventional-car territory, with removable doors, a lower roofline, and a hardtop; it cleverly aims to replace not a family’s primary car, but its second car.

That incoming “Amble Two” is clearly the larger bet. “Most families do not need twice that $50,000 BYD or Tesla,” Roose says. “The second vehicle for families could be something that is designed for purpose, designed for shorter trips—and that can be much simpler, way more fun, way more open, and also more affordable.”

Car brands have models that are trying to crack this market, too. The 28-mph Citroen Ami with its 46-mile range is a prime example. Stellantis, which owns Citroen, recently announced plans to expand capacity for its supermini electric cars. “This is the beginning of a turning point,” Roose says.

Still, Amble might have a shot. The company apparently has 12 signed clients, over 500 vehicles committed, and more than 10 million euros in signed revenue, according to Roose. Properties including Amangiri in Utah, Mustique Island, Six Senses Les Bordes in the Loire Valley, and Uva’s own Na Praia in Comporta have placed orders. The first hospitality deliveries of the Amble One begin in mid-2027, while consumer preorders for Europe and the US are now open, with deliveries in 2028, starting from $25,000.

“A lot of companies in micromobility start in the urban market and want to compete with everyone, and we all know that this did not work out so far,” Hoenig says. “We’re taking a different approach: build our brand as a premium brand, and then step by step go more into this urban market.”

Could this “luxury” lunar-inspired supermini EV be the ride to get us all to ditch our ICE second car and finally embrace micromobility? The Amble One is a darn sight more appealing a prospect than the contenders that have come before it.

This story originally appeared at wired.com.

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/06/apple-and-audi-alumni-have-made-a-luxe-ev-based-on-the-moon-buggy/

Now we have some idea what that reduction in complexity might look like.

The report, confirmed by Reuters, says that another 45,000 jobs would go. That would reduce VW’s total workforce by around 15 percent; currently, the automaker employs more than 650,000 people across the group’s 10 car brands and other divisions.

VW Group is part-owned by the state of Lower Saxony, which, together with strong unions, has always made the thought of factory closures in Germany anathema. But VW Group CEO Oliver Blume will present a plan to the company’s board next month that outlines just such a thing, according to the report. Volkswagen plants in Hannover, Zwickau, and Emden, as well as Audi’s factory in Neckarsulm, are all in the crosshairs.

“Please understand that we do not comment on internal, confidential documents. The underlying matters will be discussed and approved in the respective committees. We will not pre-empt this process,” a VW spokesperson told Ars.

“The Executive Board has repeatedly stated that our current business model no longer works across all brands: developing cars in Germany, producing them in Europe and exporting them to the world… The entire Group has to become significantly more competitive,” it said.

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/06/vw-may-close-four-factories-to-adapt-to-the-future-report-says/

The electric car brand Polestar’s days in the US are seriously numbered. Today, the company revealed that the US Commerce Department has declined to authorize imports of new Polestars from model year 2027 onward as part of a rule banning connected cars from automakers with Chinese links.

Polestar says it will continue to sell its existing stock of Polestar 3 and Polestar 4 SUVs and “will continue to support customers, including providing access to its service network.” But we can forget about the Polestar 5 sedan, the Polestar 6 roadster, or any future models making it to these shores.

The automaker was spun out of Volvo Cars several years ago as a pure EV brand by its corporate parent, Zhejiang Geely Holding, a Chinese company that also owns OEMs like Lynk and Co and Zeekr. And just weeks ago, Commerce authorized Volvo to import MY27 vehicles. At the time, Polestar told Ars that it was continuing to work with US authorities to meet the regulations; that work was evidently in vain.

US domestic auto manufacturing interests have been wildly successful in raising support for protectionist measures from across the political spectrum, although ironically, the Polestar 3 SUV is built in South Carolina at the Volvo plant near Charleston. Polestar 4s destined for the US were built in South Korea, although much of Polestar’s manufacturing is in China.

“The automotive industry is entering a new phase, based on regional dynamics. Our strategy reflects that, with Europe being our largest growth engine and our plan to manufacture Polestar 7 in Europe,” said Michael Lohscheller, Polestar’s CEO. “Our record sales in 2025 and the first quarter of 2026 show that we are making strong progress, with several new market launches taking place in Europe this year. In addition, we will continue to invest in markets where we have opportunities to continue to grow, like Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and Canada.”

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/06/feds-deny-polestar-authorization-to-sell-cars-in-us-from-model-year-2027/

After a slower start than its major rivals, Toyota has been making up for it with a flurry of new electric vehicles for the North American market. Its first attempt, the bZ4x, was an also-ran, but a new battery pack, more efficient motors, and a NACS charging port transformed the face-lifted bZ into an EV I happily recommend. Then, earlier this year, it followed up with some bZ-related variants. For those who miss the vibe of a station wagon, there is the bZ Woodland, and an all-electric Highlander is nearing the showroom, too. But today’s focus is the C-HR, and I’m still not entirely sure what to make of it.

It’s the smallest of the bunch, some 6.7 inches (170 mm) shorter than the bZ. But it’s still as wide and only a little more than an inch shorter. So if you’re put off by the bZ’s size, and are looking for something diminutive—and based on reader feedback, there are many of you out there—this small SUV will probably still fail to pass muster.

It’s not any cheaper than the bZ until you consider that the C-HR is only available with one choice of powertrain: a twin-motor AWD setup with a combined 338 hp (252 kW) powered by a 74.7 kWh battery pack. That same arrangement, with a 223 hp (167 kW), 198 lb-ft (268 Nm) front motor and 118 hp (88 kW), 125 lb-ft (169 Nm) rear unit, costs almost $3,000 more in a bZ than the $37,000 starting price of the C-HR.

Is it cheeky to think of the C-HR as a bZ SWB?

Toyota

Is it cheeky to think of the C-HR as a bZ SWB? Toyota

Like the last C-HR, the rear door handles are in the C pillar.

Toyota

Like the last C-HR, the rear door handles are in the C pillar. Toyota

Is it cheeky to think of the C-HR as a bZ SWB? Toyota

Like the last C-HR, the rear door handles are in the C pillar. Toyota

No, the C-HR is one of those frivolous vehicles, one that puts bold styling and a sporty character ahead of simple utility. After all, the bZ already exists if you want stolid.

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/06/a-curious-crossover-the-toyota-c-hr-review/

Trump’s NHTSA more aligned with Musk

In 2023, Tesla recalled more than 2 million vehicles—every car with Autopilot—after regulators found the carmaker had not deployed the feature in a way that required drivers to remain attentive. That recall followed a 2021 NHTSA investigation into crashes and fatalities involving the technology.

Since then, Tesla CEO Elon Musk spearheaded the Department of Government Efficiency efforts that gutted NHTSA of staff with expertise in evaluating AV safety. Then, shortly after that team shrank, Tesla’s Full Self-Driving system (FSD) got worse. Alarming reports of Tesla FSD failing sparked a new NHTSA probe last October, which Tesla delayed responding to.

It’s unclear if the Texas crash will get Tesla into more hot water. NHTSA did not respond to Ars’ request for comment, but the agency appears more aligned with Musk on deregulating AVs.

In January, NHTSA Administrator Jonathan Morrison confirmed in a speech that the agency considers 2026 a “big” year for AV rulemaking. He said that NHTSA was moving fast to change the rules to pave the way for the future Tesla envisions, coming soon, where he expects human intervention won’t be needed “when they see things go weird.”

“I’m talking about vehicles that would never require human intervention—vehicles you can take a nap in,” Morrison said.

Morrison suggested the technology “is one of, if not the, most challenging engineering problems humanity has ever attempted” and acknowledged that it was “safety critical.” But he criticized the Biden administration for focusing too much on “enforcement against AV developers and safety research” and said that under the Trump administration, advancing American AVs would be a top priority.

“We’re not going to be shy when we see something that we believe presents a risk to the public,” Morrison said. “But the promise of this technology to society is far too great to ignore, or worse, discourage, or prohibit.”

According to Morrison, the “pathway” to this future requires prioritizing safety, while “moving with a sense of urgency” to remove “unnecessary regulatory barriers” and “enable the commercial deployment of AVs to enhance safety and mobility for the American public.”

“To be clear, this includes the commercial deployment of purpose-built AVs without traditional controls such as steering wheels or brake pedals,” Morrison said.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/06/woman-killed-when-tesla-driver-using-autopilot-crashed-into-her-home/

Just three months ago, Lucid Motors showed off a new midsize electric vehicle platform that it said would give rise to a number of new vehicles in the coming years. The Saudi-backed startup is now selling its Gravity SUV alongside the ever-improved Air sedan and plans to reach profitability with smaller and cheaper models sold in higher volumes. But things are far from rosy at Lucid; today, the automaker is laying off approximately 1,500 workers—18 percent of its workforce.

These aren’t the first layoffs of the year, either; In February, Lucid let go of 12 percent of its workforce.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Lucid wrote that the layoffs were “designed to advance the Company’s path toward profitability and positive cash flow generation by streamlining its organizational structure, optimizing operating expenses, and aligning production plans with anticipated demand.”

Lucid is also ending the second shift at its factory in Casa Grande, Arizona, and says that together, the measures will save it $158 million, albeit after paying out $32 million in “severance, employee benefits, and employee transition.”

Among those receiving severance will be Marc Winterhoff, Lucid’s COO and previously acting CEO, who took the helm in February after the original CEO, Peter Rawlinson, abruptly stepped down. Lucid named a new CEO—Silvio Napoli—in April, and with Winterhoff’s departure, the company is eliminating the COO role altogether.

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/06/lucid-lays-off-1500-workers-in-second-big-cut-of-the-year/

The age of robotaxis, long the preserve of science fiction, is now a reality, at least in a handful of American cities. It took just over a decade to get from the DARPA Grand Challenges to the start of Waymo’s commercial service in California, albeit initially with a safety driver on board.

Proponents of the technology, which has attracted at least $100 billion in investment, say robotaxis will be safer than human-driven vehicles. And last year, Waymo’s data showed its cars were involved in many fewer crashes than human drivers, with much lower insurance claims, although recent issues with school buses and flooded roads show the technology isn’t perfect.

But safety isn’t the only selling point: Autonomous vehicles are said to cut traffic. But data from Waymo’s reports to the California Public Utilities Commission shows that, at least in that regard, robotaxis are no better than ride-hailing services like Lyft and Uber.

Is there anyone in there?

The study, published in Transport Findings by MIT Transit Lab Assistant Director of Research Awad Abdelhalim, analyzes data from August 2023 through December 2025, a roughly 1,000-day period. During that time, Waymo’s robotaxis completed 13.8 million trips for 19.3 million passengers over a total traveled distance of 86.3 million miles (138.8 million km), growing at a rate of around 15 percent a month. Abdelhalim wanted to see what proportion of those rides were made by empty robotaxis—known as “deadheading”—and how the number changed over time.

Initially, only 36 percent of Waymo’s miles were driven with a passenger onboard. But by the end of the study period, that had increased to around 56 percent and then plateaued, Abdelhalim found. So about 44 percent of Waymo’s driven miles are conducted with empty EVs.

I’m not entirely surprised; on each of my recent visits to San Francisco, the sensor-festooned Jaguar I-Paces have been thick on the ground, but rarely did I spot any humans riding in them.

In fact, there are two different kinds of deadheading: empty vehicles driving around waiting to be assigned a ride and empty vehicles driving to collect their passenger(s). And Waymo has been steadily reducing the number of miles driven empty en route to a pickup as it expands its fleet. The number of deadhead miles per trip has also been declining, in part due to Waymo’s introduction of freeway service, the author suggests.

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/06/robotaxis-dont-cut-traffic-any-more-than-ride-hailing-study-finds/

When we met Sterling Anderson in 2024, he was the chief product officer of Aurora, the self-driving startup he cofounded in 2016 after several years at Tesla. Just over a year ago, though, Anderson decamped from the startup world for something a little more established, taking over as chief product officer at General Motors, the nation’s largest automaker. Since then, he’s had a good view of how GM is entering what he calls the third epoch of engineering and design.

“There was a time when humans looked at birds and were like, ‘OK, those wings seem to work pretty well. Let’s go and design something that looks like them.’” Anderson said, describing the first age of engineering. “And they just kind of iterated their way to something that was marginally feasible.”

The first few hundred years of inventing “was this era of highly empirical iterative design development and engineering,” he said. “And by that I mean humans largely started with what we know or had seen, built prototypes of something that kind of looked like it and maybe tweaked some things, hoping to make it perform better, tested it, iterated, and kind of went through this slow guess-and-check process until we got to something that marginally worked.”

The second age began as computers became powerful enough to do some of the early work. “We started to see virtual development tools, in functionally specific ways, improve the work that people did so they didn’t have to go to empirical prototypical development,” Anderson said.

“For instance, we started to see CFD [computational fluid dynamics] start to inform aero engineers,” he said. “We saw FEA [finite element analysis] inform structural engineers. We saw any number of other virtual tools… but the relay race that was development remained the same, which is to say design passed the baton to aero which passed the baton to structures, just always passed the baton back when they found something that the other guys had to fix.”

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/06/from-15-hours-to-one-minute-how-ai-ml-is-speeding-up-gms-development/