Electric, Hybrid, Self-driving Vehicles & Lithium Batteries

[phkrause]

Robotaxi Rivalry Revs Up

Amazon’s Zoox began offering robotaxi rides to the public in San Francisco yesterday, challenging Alphabet-owned Waymo’s Bay Area dominance and marking the first time two rivals are operating in the same city. Founded in 2014 by an Australian designer and the son of Apple’s chairman, Zoox was acquired by Amazon for roughly $1.3B in 2020. Zoox builds its boxy, all-electric, steering-wheel-free vehicles, while Waymo installs its technology into cars from manufacturers such as Jaguar and Chrysler. This summer, Amazon announced the conversion of a former California bus factory into a Zoox plant projected to make 10,000 robotaxis annually. Roughly 50 Zoox vehicles now operate between San Francisco and Las Vegas, where the company first began offering public rides in September. Rides in both cities are currently limited to select areas and are free, pending regulatory approvals.  Waymo, which has charged for rides in San Francisco since 2023, expanded its routes last week to highways around San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Phoenix. 1440 Topics: Dive into our editor-curated resources on self-driving cars here.

[phkrause]

America's big robotaxi rollout

Data: Axios research. (Current and future robotaxi providers include Waymo, Uber, Lyft and Zoox, among others.) Map: Kavya Beheraj/Axios Hailing a taxi in some parts of America comes with a growing chance that when the car arrives, no one will be behind the wheel, Axios Future of Mobility Joann Muller writes. Why it matters: Once the stuff of science fiction, robotaxis are now regularly plying the streets of Atlanta, Austin, L.A., Phoenix and San Francisco, and will be coming soon to at least a dozen more cities. ? Zoom in: Alphabet-owned Waymo is driverless in five cities, with 15 more markets coming in 2026 and beyond. Uber and Lyft are gradually adding robotaxis from Waymo and other partners to their ride-hail networks. Tesla has small robotaxi fleets in Austin and San Francisco (with human safety monitors riding along). Phoenix is likely next. CEO Elon Musk has big expansion plans. Most other players, including Amazon's Zoox, Toyota-backed May Mobility, Hyundai-owned Motional and Uber-backed Nuro, are in various stages of testing. Amazon-owned Zoox started carrying passengers in San Francisco with its futuristic cars earlier this month. Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images ? Reality check: A flurry of expansion announcements, mostly from Waymo, the industry's 800-pound gorilla, would lead you to believe robotaxis are everywhere. In L.A., Phoenix and San Francisco, that might be true. But elsewhere in the U.S., robotaxis are still pretty much a novelty. Uber customers in Atlanta or Austin can set their preferences for a robotaxi. But the number of cars is limited, meaning they'll have a longer wait. ?️ What to watch: Waymo's expanding service areas now include airports in San Jose, Phoenix and, soon, San Francisco. It's starting to offer high-speed freeway trips for some users in San Francisco, L.A. and Phoenix.

[phkrause]

? Waymos gone wild

Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios Waymo's self-driving taxis are suddenly behaving like they took driving lessons from New York City cabbies, The Wall Street Journal reports. ?"They're bending traffic laws, getting impatient with pedestrians and embracing the idea that when it comes to city driving, politeness doesn't pay: It's every car for itself," per the paper. Chris Ludwick, a Waymo senior director of product management, told the Journal that the cars are getting more "confidently assertive" to better mesh with us wild human drivers. ? Ask anybody who's ever driven in big cities: You either embrace the chaotic dance of it all, or get left in the dust. Gift link.

[phkrause]

? USA loses EV crown to China

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

Tesla vehicle sales declined for a second consecutive year in 2025, hitting a low since 2022. Why it matters: The figures put CEO Elon Musk's company behind Chinese competitor BYD as the world's leading electric vehicle maker. Tesla vehicle sales are critical to funding Musk's AI ambitions, including humanoid robots and self-driving cars, Axios' Nathan Bomey reports. ? By the numbers: Tesla said it delivered 1.64 million in 2025, down 9% from the previous year. The Q4 vehicle sales fell 20,000+ short of the 440,000 that analysts polled by FactSet anticipated, AP notes. Sales suffered in 2025 over backlash to Musk's political ties to President Trump. They were also hurt by the expiration of a $7,500 tax credit that was phased out by the Trump administration at the end of September. It was also the automaker's worst fourth-quarter showing since 2022. Data: FactSet, Tesla investor relations. Chart: Axios Visuals ?? Fun fact: Driven by tax incentives, 96% of all new cars registered in Norway in 2025 were EVs, Reuters reports. Tesla held onto its title as the country's best-selling car brand for a fifth straight year, accounting for 19.1% of the market — ahead of VW (13.3%) and Volvo (7.8%). More on Tesla.

[phkrause]

A New EV King

China’s BYD has overtaken Tesla as the world’s top electric vehicle seller. Elon Musk’s Austin-based company yesterday reported selling 1.64 million EVs last year, roughly 9% fewer than in 2024. BYD, meanwhile, delivered approximately 2.26 million EVs in 2025, a nearly 28% year-over-year increase. BYD, which began as a rechargeable battery manufacturer in the 1990s, surpassed Volkswagen as China’s bestselling car brand in 2023. The Shenzhen-based automaker has recently expanded its sales outside China as well; the UK is its largest international market, with year-over-year sales surging 880% in September. Tariffs exceeding 100% effectively bar BYD cars from the US, where overall EV sales in November fell over 40% from a year earlier. Tesla, which remains America’s largest EV maker, reported a 16% year-over-year decline in fourth-quarter sales. The US sales slowdown follows the Sept. 30 expiration of federal EV tax credits. Tesla's third-quarter sales rose 29% from the prior quarter as consumers rushed to beat the deadline. Tesla shares fell 2.6% yesterday, after rising 18.6% in 2025. Explore what we've learned researching Tesla and electric vehicles.

[phkrause]

⛔️ Waymo says one of its robotaxis struck a child near a school in Santa Monica, and federal safety officials are investigating, Axios' Joann Muller reports.

[phkrause]

🚗 New scrutiny for robotaxis

A recent Waymo robotaxi accident outside a school in Santa Monica, Calif., highlights both the promise and the limits of AI operating safely behind the wheel. Axios' Joann Muller reports. Federal regulators are investigating after a Waymo robotaxi struck a child who ran into the street from behind a double-parked SUV. The company says the vehicle braked after detecting the child, slowing from 17 mph to under 6 mph before contact. Santa Monica Police didn't report any injuries. Based on Waymo's modeling, a "fully attentive human driver" would have hit the child at roughly 14 mph — a difference the company says shows a "material safety benefit." 🖼️ The big picture: With nearly 40,000 people killed each year in crashes involving human drivers, whether autonomous vehicles can do better is central to public trust. Keep reading ...

[phkrause]

🚗 EV losses pile up

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios The price of misjudging the switch to electric vehicles swelled again yesterday, as Jeep maker Stellantis announced $26.2 billion in charges — the largest yet by any automaker, Axios' Joann Muller reports. That amount reflects the cost of canceling EVs and compensating suppliers — plus what CEO Antonio Filosa called "poor operational execution" by predecessor Carlos Tavares. 📉 The automaker's shares fell nearly 25% yesterday on the news. 💸 Stellantis' move is the latest in a series of write-offs amid slower-than-expected EV demand: GM took $7.6 billion in charges for 2025, with more likely in 2026. Ford announced $19.5 billion in EV write-downs. VW took a $6 billion hit, mostly from scaling back its EV plans for Porsche. Go deeper.

[phkrause]

🔋 Ford's race for cheaper EVs

Early designs of Ford's new electric midsize pickup truck. Photo: Ford Ford is chasing physics to make electric vehicles more affordable, even borrowing aerodynamic tricks from F1 racing in the quest to squeeze out better performance at a far lower cost, Axios' Joann Muller writes. Why it matters: Ford, like the rest of the industry, got burned on EVs, writing off $19.5 billion worth of investments on cars no one wanted to buy. But it's not abandoning its electric ambitions. Ford's bet is that people will prefer a well-equipped battery-powered car over a gas model if the price is right. A $30,000 midsize pickup truck, due in 2027, is the initial test of the carmaker's latest strategy. It's the first in a family of vehicles to be built on a new low-cost EV platform Ford secretly began working on in 2022. Other models — potentially including compact SUVs, sedans and commercial vans — will follow over the next decade. Keep reading.

[phkrause]

🚘 Mapped: Waymo's Sun Belt surge

Data: Waymo. Map: Jacque Schrag/Axios Waymo is accelerating its rollout of robotaxis in the U.S., adding four new cities in Texas and Florida this week as self-driving technology begins to penetrate mainstream America, Axios Future of Mobility author Joann Muller writes. Why it matters: Armed with $16 billion in fresh capital from parent Alphabet and others, Waymo is quickly extending its lead over other players like Tesla and Amazon-owned Zoox, which are still mostly in testing mode. The newest markets are Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Orlando. The service will start slowly, with riders invited on a rolling basis until Waymo adds more cars to its fleet and scales up necessary operations like vehicle charging, service and maintenance. By later this year, it will be more widely available, Waymo says. 🛣️ Between the lines: Now in 10 cities, Waymo has doubled the number of markets it serves in a matter of months. It's laying the groundwork for service in at least 20 cities, and is on track to provide more than 1 million driverless rides per week by the end of the year.

[phkrause]

The future is driverless

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

Picture this: By 2035, most new cars sold globally will offer some form of hands-off driving assistance, and millions will be driving around with no active driver at all, Axios transportation correspondent Joann Muller writes. 🚗 As many as 2.5 million fully driverless vehicles could be on the road globally by 2030 — climbing to more than 16 million by 2035, Telemetry's Sam Abuelsamid estimates. 🚖 State of play: Waymo already has robotaxis in 10 cities, with plans to be in 20 by the end of the year. A decade from now, Americans should have no shortage of options: Tesla and Amazon-owned Zoox are gearing up to launch robotaxis. Uber and Lyft are deploying partners' robotaxis on their networks. Driverless semitrucks are already starting to roll out in Texas and Arizona. ⚡️ The impact: Autonomous vehicles could expand mobility for seniors and people with disabilities, reduce crashes by taking human error out of driving, and reshape cities by reducing the need for parking. 📚 A perk: Freed from the act of driving, millions of passengers will be able to read books or email, watch movies, or even take a nap.

[phkrause]

🚘 No steering wheel? No problem, feds say

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

The federal government is trying to clear a regulatory path for new types of vehicles that drive themselves and don't have a steering wheel or pedals, Axios Future of Mobility author Joann Muller writes. Why it matters: Fully automated robotaxis don't need driver controls, but the law still requires them. Updating federal standards could determine who leads the global race in autonomous vehicle technology. Despite the lack of federal legislation on autonomous vehicles, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration just announced several policy actions to try to advance the technology. It's fast-tracking its review of a petition by Amazon-owned Zoox to deploy up to 2,500 purpose-built robotaxis with no steering wheels. NHTSA also wants to toss out motor vehicle standards that don't apply much to AVs, starting with requirements for windshield wipers, defrosters and defoggers. Keep reading.

[phkrause]

🚙 Uber makes $1.25B Rivian bet

An interior view of a Rivian with a newly introduced autonomous driving system. Photo: Rivian Uber plans to invest up to $1.25 billion in EV maker Rivian as part of an ambitious plan to deploy thousands of electric robotaxis, Axios' Joann Muller reports. The companies expect to add 10,000 Rivian R2 robotaxis to Uber's rideshare network, starting in San Francisco and Miami in 2028. They plan to expand to 25 U.S., Canadian and European cities by 2031. 🚕 Autonomous vehicles are a threat to Uber, which abandoned plans to develop its own self-driving tech. Now it's defending its ride-hailing turf by deploying partners' self-driving cars on its platform. Go deeper ...

[phkrause]

🚘 New robotaxi rule: Trust your instincts!

Waymo Jaguars at a staging facility in San Francisco. Photo: Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images Robotaxi operators are discovering that built-in safety redundancies can sometimes backfire, Axios Future of Mobility author Joann Muller writes. Why it matters: Every incident involving robotaxis — every dumb or potentially dangerous error — is being scrutinized as operators work to earn public trust. In one infamous incident, many of Waymo's robotaxis stopped operating and blocked traffic during a chaotic power outage in San Francisco that knocked out traffic signals and cellular networks. Waymos are trained to call for remote guidance when they encounter a traffic light that's not working. But operators were quickly overwhelmed. Waymo attorney Allison Drutchas explained that the company is identifying "areas or times when that extra level of conservatism is no longer appropriate, and the car should sort of trust its opinion and proceed, even if it hasn't gotten a response from remote assistance." That means treating the intersection like a four-way stop and yielding appropriately to other traffic.

[phkrause]

The Lithium Boom Is Heating Up

Lithium stock prices grew 2X+ from June to January. $ALB climbed 227%. $LAC hit 151%. $SQM, 159%.    But the real winner may be a private stock, EnergyX. This $1B unicorn’s tech can recover up to 3X more lithium than traditional methods at speeds 500X faster than evaporation ponds. That led industry leaders like General Motors and POSCO to invest. Now they’re preparing to unlock up to 9.8M tons of lithium in Chile and just commissioned the largest lithium facility of its kind in the US.

[phkrause]

🚘 Ford's EV moonshot

Axios automotive expert Joann Muller traveled to Long Beach, Calif., to see the latest on a Ford project she has been covering for nine months:

A former Tesla executive leading Ford's secretive West Coast effort to design an affordable electric vehicle has a bigger, unspoken mission: help Ford reinvent the way it designs and builds cars.

• Ford VP Alan Clarke gave reporters an inside look at the innovation labs inside the EV skunk works in Long Beach, which until recently had been strictly off-limits — even to CEO Jim Farley and other top executives.

A secret EV truck team spent four years experimenting as engineers rethought every design and manufacturing process, from simplifying the electrical architecture to revamping the assembly line to cut costs and improve efficiency.

• The group's first product, a mid-size electric pickup truck, will be built in Louisville, Ky., and go on sale next year.

🔮 What's next: Ford expects the EV platform to eventually anchor a whole family of EVs, from compact cars to full-size vans.

• Go deeper: "The Secret Team Blowing Up Ford's Assembly Line to Make a $30,000 Electric Truck" (WSJ gift link).

[phkrause]

Meet your new robot mechanic

Automated Tire's SmartBay. Photo: ATI AI is coming for one of America's dirtiest jobs: tire changes, Axios' Joann Muller reports. Demand for tire service is accelerating, in part because EVs need more frequent replacements. Meanwhile, tire shops are struggling to hire technicians. 🛞 Andy Chalofsky, a serial tire entrepreneur, says automation is the answer. His latest company, Automated Tire Inc., has developed SmartBay, a robotic system that can inspect vehicles, swap tires and balance wheels with minimal human help. 👩‍🔧 The AI-powered system lets a single technician manage up to three service bays simultaneously. Chalofsky says that robots can do a tire service in 30 minutes. That's more than twice as fast as human workers. 💵 ATI leases the system to dealerships and tire shops for just under $5,000 per month — less than what it costs to hire an experienced technician. Go deeper ...

[phkrause]

⚡️ Catch me up

Ferrari's first fully electric car, the Luce. Photo: Ferrari via Reuters 🔋 Ferrari unveiled the Luce, a five-seat electric sports car with four motors designed by Apple legend Jony Ive and Australian industrial designer Marc Newson. Reception was bumpy: Shares fell nearly 8% after critics compared the Luce's look to mass-market EVs — a tough open for a car that starts at $640,000. More details ... Go deeper (Bloomberg gift link).