A jury ordered Tesla to pay $243 million in a fatal crash that involved the carmaker’s Autopilot system. Get all the latest automotive news in the Executive Briefing.
Today’s headlines:
+ Racing was suspended at Bonneville Speed Weeks after veteran driver Chris Raschke was fatally injured when the new Speed Demon III racer went airborne at 300+ mph. More at Hot Rod.
+ Ford is seeking tariff relief from the Trump administration after trade agreements were reached last week with European and Asian trade partners but not Mexico and Canada. More at The Detroit News.
+ EVgo has secured $225 million in loans from five commercial banks in a bid to accelerate its expansion plans and add more than 1,500 new DC fast chargers to its network. More at Electrek.
+ New car registrations in France fell in July to 116,377 vehicles, a 7.66 percent decline from one year ago, while sales at Tesla tumbled 25.6 percent to just 1,307 vehicles. More at World Auto Forum.
+ Frederic Vasseur has signed a new contract to continue as Ferrari Formula 1 team principal beyond the end of this year, though the length of the agreement was not disclosed. More at BBC Sport.
+ A police constable in West Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, resigned when a radar speed trap he set up issued $600,000 in fines in two weeks without the legal authority. More at Car and Driver.
+ EV maker Xiaomi reported via the Weibo social media platform in China that the company delivered more than 30,000 vehicles in July, setting another monthly record. More at CarNewsChina.
+ The Supreme Court in the United Kingdom is expected to deliver a long-awaited judgment on the nation’s multi-billion dollar new-car financing scandal involving kickbacks. More at CNBC.
+ A Florida jury found Tesla liable to pay $243 million to victims of a 2019 fatal crash of an Autopilot-equipped Model S, opening the door to further litigation involving Tesla vehicles. More at Reuters.
+ Used car retailer Carvana reported its strongest quarter ever in Q2 2025, delivering all-time records of $4.84 billion in revenue, profitability, and retail sales of 143,280 vehicles, More at CBT News.
+ Legendary off-road racer Walker Evans, who won the Baja 1000 five times and also competed in 41 races the early years of the NASCAR Truck Series, has passed away at 86. More at Racer.
Photo courtesy of Tesla.
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Rest in Peace to our Dodge brother the Legend Walker Evans, and to the last Speed Demon Chris Raschke…
Expect more huge jury verdicts because psuedo-autonomous driving aids, adaptive cruise control and “level 0-3 autonomy” are oversold as “level 5” while NHTSA fine-tunes its policy of what’s-the-least-it-can-do. Condolences to the families involved…
I drove a Tesla with Full Self Driving for several years and numerous updates. It is a very impressive system but it is not at all what Musk says it is, or as he demonstrates it in highly controlled scenarios. At its best it drives like a 16 yr-old with learner’s permit. You must watch it every second. I found it more tiring than driving myself. I seldom used it except to explore its capabilities.
There is a huge contrast between Musk’s sales pitch in his public presentations and how Tesla owners are actually directed to use the system. If you follow the warnings on the screen, you will be totally safe. But then the system is mostly superflous at that point.
All the legacy automakers brand their L2-3 systems as something implying “cruise control plus” which leaves Tesla in a bad spot just for calling it “Full Self-Driving”.