Tesla Owners Can Sue Over 'self-driving' Marketing

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Happy Wednesday! It's August 20, 2025, and this is The Morning Shift — your regular roundup of nan apical automotive headlines from astir nan world, successful 1 place. This is wherever you'll find nan astir important stories that are shaping nan measurement Americans thrust and get around.

In this morning's edition, we're looking astatine a caller people action against Tesla complete autonomy claims, arsenic good arsenic caller tariffs connected car parts and earthy materials. We'll besides look astatine California's attempts to support EV incentives alive, and VinFast's latest flailing successful nan United States.

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For years, Tesla has marketed "full self-driving" tech connected its cars. The package has ne'er been perfect, but Tesla and CEO Elon Musk person ever claimed that perfection was conscionable a package update away. After repeated hardware revisions, though, owners person started to consciousness jerked astir — and now nan courts agree. From Reuters:

Tesla must look a certified people action by California drivers who said Elon Musk misled them for 8 years astir nan self-driving capabilities of his company's electrical vehicles.

U.S. District Judge Rita Lin said nan communal mobility of whether Tesla lacked sensors to execute high-level autonomy positive its inability to "demonstrate a long-distance autonomous thrust pinch immoderate of its vehicles"  justified group lawsuits by 2 sets of drivers who bought its Full Self-Driving exertion package.

In her determination connected Monday, nan San Francisco-based judge besides said thousands of group apt saw Tesla's declare successful nan "Autopilot" conception of its website from October 2016 to August 2024 that its vehicles contained hardware for afloat self-driving.

Tesla made a akin declare successful a blog post, newsletter and quarterly net call, arsenic did Musk astatine a 2016 property conference.

As it turns out, unsighted optimism isn't a awesome measurement to tally a business. Who would've thought?

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The tariffs commencement coming, and they don't stop. We've agelong known that tariffs connected alloy and aluminum were successful nan pipeline — nan Trump administration's extremity seems to beryllium that everything consumed successful nan U.S. comes from our soil, and stays present everlastingly — but nan database of caller "derivative products" is genuinely staggering. Do you want a motorcycle, aerial conditioner, vessel engine, aliases nan components to build a bus? Well, cough up. From Reuters:

The U.S. Commerce Department said connected Tuesday it is hiking alloy and aluminum tariffs connected much than 400 products including upwind turbines, mobile cranes, appliances, bulldozers and different dense equipment, on pinch railcars, motorcycles, marine engines, furnishings and hundreds of different products.

The section said 407 merchandise categories are being added to nan database of "derivative" alloy and aluminum products covered by sectoral tariffs, pinch a 50% tariff connected immoderate alloy and aluminum contented of these products positive nan state complaint connected nan non-steel and non-aluminum content.

...

The section is besides adding imported parts for automotive exhaust systems and electrical alloy needed for electrical vehicles to nan caller tariffs arsenic good arsenic components for buses, aerial conditioners arsenic good arsenic appliances including refrigerators, freezers and dryers.

A group of overseas automakers had urged nan section not to adhd nan parts, saying nan U.S. does not person nan home capacity to grip existent demand.

Seems bad, folks! Remember that tariffs are paid by American importers, not overseas exporters. Without home accumulation capacity, we're not forcing nan improvement of these products to travel stateside. We're just making everything costs more. 

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The $7,500 EV taxation in installments is each but dead. This is bad news for places for illustration California, which person a vested liking successful nan continued endurance of nan quality species. So, California is pushing backmost — nan authorities is now considering its ain rebate strategy to support nan EVs selling. From Automotive News:

California is considering backing a replacement for nan $7,500 caller electrical conveyance taxation in installments and nan $4,000 utilized EV taxation in installments aft those national incentives extremity successful September.

An Aug. 19 study from nan California Air Resources Board recommends action to "backfill nan national taxation credits" by providing "point-of-sale rebates, vouchers, aliases different credits to support caller conveyance income robust."

The study cautions that incentives would beryllium "contingent upon disposable resources" and would beryllium "scaled to lucifer our resources and argumentation goals."

States don't ever person coffers arsenic heavy arsenic those of nan feds, truthful California's eventual rebate strategy whitethorn not thief rather arsenic overmuch arsenic nan aged $7,500, but we don't person difficult numbers for thing yet. We do, however, cognize that thing is amended than nothing. 

VinFast

VinFast, a institution that swears it's a genuine competitor successful nan automotive marketplace successful nan look of each known facts, is still trying this full "selling cars to Americans" thing. The institution announced a while backmost that it would commencement utilizing accepted dealers, alternatively than only relying connected nonstop sales, and now nan institution has recovered its first. From Automotive News:

Vietnamese automaker VinFast opened its first franchised dealership successful California, ending its direct-sales exemplary successful nan authorities and nan U.S. aft struggling to waste its electrical vehicles.

The VinFast San Diego shop is portion of Sunroad Automotive Group, which sells 14 brands astatine 9 locations and has yearly income of 30,000 vehicles, VinFast said Aug. 19.

VinFast opened distribution to franchised dealers successful precocious 2023 but kept its 15 California direct-sales showrooms. VinFast said April 24 it would adjacent those stores and activity trader partners.

It's astir apt a very patient motion for VinFast that it took this agelong to find a azygous trader willing successful carrying its cars. That bodes well, I'm sure. 

Listen, I love nan Mets, but I bet having a squad correct present successful Brooklyn was nice. I'm judge it was, astatine least. I wasn't astir backmost then. 

This is different "literally presently connected KEXP" installment of On The Radio. I'm having a batch of nosy pinch it.