Autonomous Driving

Today's Stories

1. 1

   UBS: China car shipments to Europe nearly double registrations

   UBS says nearly twice as many China-made automobiles are being shipped to Europe as are being registered there, partly because trucking shortages delay deliveries from ports to dealers. That gap between shipments and registrations complicates the battle for the market between US and Chinese carmakers, suggesting the pressure on European automakers may be greater than official figures show.

   The vote on EU-wide approval of Tesla's supervised Full Self-Driving system is unlikely before December 2026, so the pace of that regulatory decision is a key marker for how quickly US driver-assistance tech can reach European roads.

2. 2

   Tesla sell ratings fall to 13.1%, lowest since April 2023

   Sell ratings are 13.1% of 61 analyst recommendations on Tesla — the lowest share since April 2023, down from a 2026 high of 23.3% in January, per Bloomberg-compiled data. Less bearish coverage doesn't mean more optimism — the last sell rating disappeared only because the analyst behind it left, not because anyone upgraded the stock, so the drop reads more like lost conviction than a bullish turn.

   Tesla's AI story now carries the valuation, so the test is whether autonomy, robotaxis and Optimus robots produce meaningful revenue, margins and returns. Watch the Cybercab rollout, which already fell short of investor expectations.

3. 3

   Waymo sex risk: creators, tourists named by Rouchitsas

   Rouchitsas said content creators, including those on OnlyFans and Pornhub, may see Waymo rides and public shuttles as cheap, well-lit, quasi-soundproof studios. Tourists unfamiliar with local customs are the second group. Robotaxi interiors are private in feel but not in law or social meaning, so the risk is that one passenger's behavior causes offense. In some countries, that offense may lead to action beyond mere disapproval, Rouchitsas said.

   How robotaxi design handles cultural and legal differences, since brands already operate in the Middle East, Asia, and China. In India, a colleague noted riders may book a seat rather than the whole car, potentially sharing with strangers.

4. 4

   PlusAI trailers stolen in Fremont held 40,000 pounds of sand, not Nvidia chips

   Thieves stole two PlusAI trailers from its Fremont, California warehouse last week, one Nvidia-branded, but they carried 40,000 pounds of sand for load-testing, not chips; police recovered them. The theft hit a self-driving software developer whose trailers were carrying material for research and development testing, and the company said it had never had a tractor or trailer stolen since its 2016 founding.

   Whether freight firms can settle on a standard way to track trailers and cargo, a gap PlusAI's Lauren Kwan flagged, since no industry-wide solution exists yet.

5. 5

   Pony.ai, Verne start driverless robotaxi trials in Zagreb

   Pony.ai and Verne began fully driverless Robotaxi test rides with passengers on public roads in Zagreb, along a 22-kilometer route to Franjo Tuđman Airport Zagreb, a European first. The step moves the service beyond rides with an onboard operator, and Pony.ai's CEO said it marks progress in the company's international growth.

   Whether the routes expand as planned hinges on meeting Croatian regulatory approvals for passenger testing; the fleet has logged more than 200,000 kilometers in operations since early April.

6. 6

   DrivingBench Sandbox rename got AI to drive a real Corolla

   DrivingBench, run by three engineers at the AI startup Axiom Math, connected GPT-6 Astra, Claude Fable 5.1, Grok 4.6 and GPT-5.6 Sol to a 2022 Toyota Corolla. Only GPT-6 Astra completed the roughly 135 m course, in 5 minutes 22 seconds. Drivers were told to brake at any time and the vehicle was speed-limited through a cone-lined course, so the result is a benchmark of physical capability, not a usable self-driving system.

   The team is considering DrivingBench v2, with more trials per model and harder courses, so whether the outcome holds depends on whether the renamed sandbox still works at greater scale.