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Inside Silver Peak, America's only active lithium mine

SILVER PEAK, NV — On the edge of Western Nevada, hours from a major city and miles down private dirt roads, lies the United States’ only lithium-producing plant.

The nearest town is Tonopah – population 2,179 – where a prospector discovered silver at the turn of the twentieth century. The town’s mining roots are still on display, but the action has shifted to the country’s largest lithium brine operation 45 minutes away.

Silver Peak has been producing lithium since the 1960s. Specialty chemicals company Albemarle acquired the site in 2015 from Foot Mineral Company, and has owned it ever since.

Silver Peak has gained newfound attention in recent years as the energy and transportation sectors race to wean themselves off climate-warming fossil fuels. Lithium’s unique properties make it the common denominator across battery technologies. Forecasts for just how much will be needed in the decades to come varies. Under the International Energy Agency’s most ambitious climate scenario, lithium supply will have to grow 40-fold by 2040 from today’s levels.

The U.S. used to be a leader in lithium production, but it’s since ceded that position to foreign nations, including China. Now the Biden Administration has said that bringing battery supply chains back to U.S. shores is a matter of national importance, and the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act – the largest climate package in U.S. history – underscores this new push towards domestic production of vital materials.

Part of the trouble with bringing new supply online, however, is the sheer amount of land required. The scale of Silver Peak is hard to grasp from picturs. It spans 13,000 acres, and seems to appear out of nowhere, tucked between mountain ranges in the Nevada desert.

Evaporation ponds at Albemarle’s lithium operation in Silver Peak, NV.

Pippa Stevens | CNBC

The sun bears down and it hardly rains – ideal conditions for this type of lithium extraction, which depends on solar evaporation. There’s also salt, a byproduct of production, everywhere.

The huge site is not bustling with activity, which makes it seem even larger than it is. The sun provides much of the labor, and less than 80 people total work at the facility. But it’s sites like these – vast, sweeping operations – that will power the future.

“The U.S. is at the start of really expanding and developing its supply chain domestically for this critical mineral lithium, as well as the broader supply chain for electric vehicles and electrification,” said Karen Narwold, executive vice president and chief administrative officer at Albemarle.

“From Albemarle’s perspective, we think the United States can bring the full supply chain here.”

From hundreds of feet underground…to your car

Lithium can be produced from brine, hard rock or clay, and each method requires its own set of conditions and extraction processes. Silver Peak produces lithium from brine tapped from the Clayton Valley basin.

Salty brine that contains lithium is pumped from between 300 and 2,000 feet underground to the surface. Then, over the course of 18 to 24 months, solar evaporation concentrates the lithium.

This is one of the first of 23 ponds that lithium-rich brine travels through over the course of 24 months at Albemarle’s Silver Peak site. Brine is pumped from as much as 2,000 feet underground to the surface.

Pippa Stevens | CNBC

Lithium prices skyrocket

Lithium has garnered significant attention in recent months due to a sharp price spike, surging more than 700% since January 2021, according to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. In some places, including the Chinese spot market, prices are up even more.

In a boom-and-bust cycle of sorts that mirrors other commodity markets, prices rose over the course of 2017 and into 2018 before cratering halfway through the year and falling throughout 2019. At that point the market was oversupplied, which led to a lack of investment in new production. The effects of that slowdown are still being felt. Today, supply is racing to catch up with demand, and some are warning that it simply won’t.

According to forecasts from Benchmark, 600,000 tons of lithium carbonate equivalent will be mined this year — that’s 10,000 tons less than needed. By the end of the decade, the firm envisions annual supply reaching 2.15 million tons of LCE, which will lag demand by a whopping 150,000 tons.

One of the intermediate-stage ponds at Albemarle’s lithium facility. As the brine becomes more concentrated with lithium the pools take on more of a turquoise color.

Pippa Stevens | CNBC

The surge in lithium demand comes from countries and companies doubling down on climate goals in the past few years. That includes automakers, which are announcing ambitious all-electric fleets.

Lithium isn’t the only mineral in these batteries — they also require cobalt, graphite and nickel. Each has its own limitations, and scientists are experimenting with different battery chemistries.

But while it’s possible to swap out some materials, at this point there’s no viable alternative to lithium.

Although lithium is not a scarce resource, getting a new mine up and running can take about seven years. These projects are capital intensive and require many permits, all of which means the industry is slow moving.

Lithium Americas has been trying for more than a decade to get production going at its Thacker Pass clay mine in Nevada, against opposition from environmentalists and Native American tribes. Piedmont Lithium is in the process of developing a spodumene mine in North Carolina, which it hopes will begin producing by 2026.

Albemarle is working on its own North Carolina mine at Kings Mountain. It’s a brownfield mine – meaning it was previously producing – which the company hopes will help it speed past the hurdles that delay new projects. Albemarle also has processing facilities in the state.

Extractive industries are resource-intensive by their very nature and can be highly disruptive to local ecosystems. But it’s hard to see how the world can move away from fossil fuels without new lithium production. An electric vehicle requires more than six times as many mineral inputs relative to internal combustion vehicles, according to the IEA. Under the Paris-based agency’s most ambitious climate scenario, it forecasts 230 million electric cars, buses, vans and heavy trucks on the road by 2030.

This is the last of the 23 evaporation ponds at Albemarle’s Silver Peak lithium site. From here, the lithium is sent for on-site processing where it’s turned into lithium carbonate.

Pippa Stevens | CNBC

Still, some believe these forecasts are far too ambitious, and the world should instead focus on existing resources rather than developing new sites.

Recycling could also become an option – Albemarle is one of the companies working on this – but the market hasn’t yet reached critical mass. Technologies are also being developed to make operations more efficient so that mines yield as much as possible.

Albemarle sets its sights on expansion

Silver Peak is Albemarle’s largest U.S. lithium production site at present, but it constitutes only a small portion of the company’s overall lithium production. Silver Peak produces about 5,000 metric tons per year of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE), while Albemarle’s Chile operation – in the Salar de Atacama region – has the capacity to produce 85,000 metric tons per year. The operation there uses the same brine production process that was first developed in Nevada.

The company also co-owns two mines in Australia, and operates a number of processing facilities, including in China.

Albemarle is also increasing its footprint at Silver Peak. In Jan. 2021 the company announced plans to double capacity to 10,000 metric tons a year, which the company said is enough to power around 160,000 electric vehicles.

Bags of lithium carbonate at Albemarle’s Silver Peak facility. Some of it is sent to the company’s processing plant in North Carolina, where it can be turned into lithium hydroxide, which is used for EV batteries.

Pippa Stevens | CNBC

Albemarle’s Narwold said the expansion, initially slated for completion in 2025, is ahead of schedule. The company spent the last year and a half constructing 22 new brine-pumping wells, completing the first stage of the expansion.

By the end of this year Albemarle will be pumping at 20,000 acre feet annually, which is equivalent to roughly 18.5 million gallons of water per day. That represents the full extent of Albemarle’s water rights, which is also the entirety of the rights available in the Clayton Valley.

Albemarle is not just a lithium company: it also has bromine and chemicals divisions. But the lithium segment has grown in importance following the price spike and Albemarle’s expansion plans. Lithium now accounts for about two thirds of the company’s revenue, according to Meredith Bandy, vice president of investor relations and sustainability at Albemarle. That’s up from a few years ago, when each division was about one third of overall revenue.

“We’ve been investing in the lithium market for the last couple of years, and that’s starting to pay off in terms of volumetric growth as well as price performance,” she said.

Traditionally Albemarle had long-term, fixed contracts with customers. But this year the company restructured some of those contracts in an effort to capture upside from rising prices. It seems to be paying off.

One of the bright blue ponds at Albemarle’s lithium plant in Silver Peak, Nevada.

Pippa Stevens | CNBC

During the second quarter, Albemarle said net sales from its lithium division jumped 178% year over year. The company raised its full-year guidance three times between May and August, when Albemarle posted second-quarter results. The company will report third-quarter earnings on November 2.

For the full year, Albemarle now expects adjusted EBITDA for its lithium division to grow between 500% and 550% on a year-over-year basis. That’s up from prior expectations of a 300% jump.

“There’s a tremendous amount of demand. The industry really is having to work hard – Albemarle is having to work hard – to keep up with that demand,” said Bandy.

Investors have rewarded the company’s performance. The stock climbed to an all-time high on September 14, during a rocky period in the broader market. Shares have since fallen 18%, but the stock is still up about 8% for the year, with a company valuation around $30 billion.

By comparison the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite are down 25% and 33%, respectively, for 2022.

Climate bill: a game changer?

While the vast majority of battery production takes place outside the U.S. — China is a key player, currently refining 56.5% of global lithium, according to Benchmark — the Biden Administration is trying to change that.

In February, the White House announced funding for domestic production of materials and minerals critical to the energy transition. Then, in March, Biden invoked the Defense Production Act for these materials.

Albemarle’s Silver Peak lithium plant spans 13,000 acres.

Pippa Stevens | CNBC

“To promote the national defense, the United States must secure a reliable and sustainable supply of such strategic and critical materials,” a March statement from the White House read, citing lithium as among the “critical materials.”

But the most meaningful initiative, by far, is the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act. The bill, which is the largest climate funding package in U.S. history, focuses on incentives and credits aimed at accelerating the U.S.’ shift towards renewable energy while also jumpstarting domestic manufacturing.

The bill includes measures that will help battery companies on both the supply and demand side. Over time, a greater portion of an electric vehicle’s battery materials must be sourced from the U.S. or one of its free-trade allies in order for consumers to qualify for the tax rebates. Producers can also take advantage of the manufacturing tax credits.

Narwold called the Inflation Reduction Act a “great step forward.”

“It really does give the impetus to start focusing domestically on building that supply chain. No reason why the United States can’t be a significant contributor to that supply chain with the right support, both from the government – state and federal – as well as from the industry,” she said.

Bags of lithium carbonate. This is the end product after the lithium-rich brine has spent about 24 months travelling through evaporation ponds at Albemarle’s Silver Peak plant.

Pippa Stevens | CNBC

– CNBC’s Katie Brigham contributed reporting.

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Mercedes-Benz is ready to show off the GLC EV, but that’s just the start

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Mercedes-Benz is ready to show off the GLC EV, but that's just the start

Mercedes’ best-selling SUV is about to go electric. The GLC EV will make its official debut in less than two months at IAA Mobility 2025 in Munich, where Mercedes-Benz will offer a glimpse of its upcoming models and much more.

When will the Mercedes GLC EV debut?

“We’re not just introducing a new model – we’re electrifying our top seller,” according to Mercedes-Benz Group CEO, Ola Källenius.

The GLC SUV remained the most popular Mercedes-Benz SUV in the US and globally through the first half of the year.

Mercedes has been hyping the GLC EV for some time now, releasing teaser images and “spy photos” of it testing in the frigid northern Swedish countryside. Earlier this month, CEO Ola Källenius gave us an exclusive preview of the electric SUV during a test drive.

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The luxury automaker claims the electric GLC “is the first of a whole new series of cars with elevated Mercedes-Benz iconic design,” adding it “presents a new face of the brand.”

According to Mercedes, it “embodies everything expected” from its top seller. The new model is “iconic, versatile, intuitive and smooth.” We will see it for the first time in less than two months.

Although it was expected, Mercedes confirmed for the first time on Monday that the all-new GLC EV will indeed debut at this year’s Munich Auto Show, which kicks off on September 9.

Mercedes says the event “begins an exciting new era” for the luxury brand with its biggest product launch ever. Alongside the electric GLC, Mercedes will hold the world premiere for the new CLA EV, CLA Shooting Brake, and Concept AMG GT XX.

Mercedes-CLA-EV
The new electric Mercedes CLA (Source: Mercedes-Benz)

We will also get a sneak peek into the future of Mercedes-Benz vans with a camouflaged prototype of the electric VLE, which is set to launch in 2026.

Mercedes'-electric-van-testing
Mercedes-Benz VAN.EA-P electric van testing in Sweden (Source: Mercedes-Benz)

At the show, Mercedes will showcase its latest tech like the new Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), Intelligent Cockpit, and more.

Visitors can also drive demo models to test out the self-driving tech (MB.DRIVE ASSIST PRO) firsthand. If you’re feeling up to it, you can also try out DRIVE PILOT, “the world’s fastest system for conditionally automated driving.” The system supports speeds of up to 95 km/h (59 mph).

Check back for more info closer to the event. Mercedes is expected to continue revealing new details leading up to the show.

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Cash App opens up to Apple Pay and Google Pay for the first time

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Cash App opens up to Apple Pay and Google Pay for the first time

Cash App’s new Pools feature lets users set a group funding goal, name the pool, and invite contributors.

Courtesy: Cash App

Cash App is going on the offensive in peer-to-peer payments.

The Block-owned payments platform on Tuesday unveiled Pools, a new peer-to-peer feature designed to make group payments simple. It’s the company’s first major P2P product launch in nearly two years.

“This is the first time we’re going into out-of-network payments with Pools,” said Owen Jennings, Block’s head of business, referring to the feature’s ability to accept contributions via Apple Pay or Google Pay from people who aren’t on Cash App.

Pools allows users to create and manage a shared balance for group payments — whether splitting a dinner bill or collecting funds for a group trip. Contributions can be made through Cash App or via Apple Pay and Google Pay, which opens up the experience to users outside the app for the first time.

By sharing a Pool link, organizers can collect funds even from friends who don’t use Cash App, making out-of-network participation easier.

The launch comes as Cash App races to regain momentum in a high-stakes rivalry with Venmo, which has been steadily growing under new leadership at PayPal.

Read more CNBC tech news

PayPal reported its second-quarter results before the market opened Tuesday. Venmo had another knockout quarter, with revenue growing more than 20% year over year — its highest growth rate since 2023.

That followed a similarly strong first quarter where Venmo’s revenue growth doubled the pace of payment volume, driven by rising adoption of debit cards, instant transfers, and online checkout. The gains were fueled by heavier use of Venmo debit cards, instant transfers, and online checkout integrations. PayPal does not break out Venmo revenue.

For Block, the debut of Pools is a strategic reset. The company posted disappointing first-quarter results in May, missing revenue expectations and admitting it had lost focus on growing Cash App’s user base.

“Money is fundamentally social in nature,” Jennings said.

“We want Cash App to be the financial operating system for the next generation… to essentially be the money app where a customer can run their entire financial life,” added Jennings, who was previously Cash App’s chief operating officer.

That includes reinvesting in the peer-to-peer features that first made the app popular, and now aiming to make them more social and accessible — functionality that’s central to Cash App’s broader growth strategy.

Contributors can join a pool and send money through Cash App or external wallets like Apple Pay and Google Pay.

Courtesy: Cash App

Jennings said opening up access to Apple and Google accounts is an opportunity to get more active users and bring people into the ecosystem.

The company sees each non-user who contributes to a pool as a potential convert.

“This product is fundamentally geared at network expansion and improving the virality of our peer-to-peer products,” he added. “It’s the foundation of Cash App — it’s how Cash App started, but it’s also the growth engine that fuels everything else.”

Internally, the rollout represents a cultural shift at Block. The feature went from idea to launch in just a few months, driven by what Jennings described as “high velocity, high quality” development powered in part by internal AI tools like the company’s open-source assistant, Goose.

“The pace of development on this and our ability to get it in customers’ hands feels really different this year,” Jennings said. “Especially in the past three or four months, relative to how things felt about a year ago.”

He added that the shift isn’t unique to Block.

“You’ll probably broadly see that in the industry, where the pace of development is going to pick up as the marginal cost of a great line of code continues to fall. And this is just a great example of how we were able to move really fast.”

When a pool reaches its target, organizers can close it and transfer the collected funds directly into their Cash App balance.

Courtesy: Cash App

The launch also reflects CEO Jack Dorsey’s call to return Cash App to its core growth engine. On the company’s first-quarter earnings call, Dorsey acknowledged the platform’s recent underperformance

“I just don’t think we were focused enough and had enough attention on the network and the network density, and that is our foundation,” he said.

While Cash App continues to expand its banking and lending products — including its FDIC-approved Borrow program — Dorsey emphasized that the app’s success still hinges on peer-to-peer engagement.

“We of course want to deepen engagement with our customers through banking services and Borrow,” he said. “But at the same time, we need to make sure that we continuously grow our network, and that starts with peer-to-peer.”

Pools is designed to drive organic user growth — not direct revenue.

“We’re not looking at this from a profit maximization perspective,” Jennings said. “This is very geared at network expansion and getting back to a place where actives are growing at a healthy clip.”

The tool comes with built-in progress tracking, seamless integration with Cash App’s banking tools, and the ability for organizers to set a target amount and share a link to collect contributions.

Pools is currently available to a limited set of Cash App users, with a broader rollout expected in the coming months. For Block, it’s the start of what Jennings described as a new chapter — one focused on making money feel “more multiplayer.”

WATCH: Mastercard stock jumps as it links Fiserv’s new stablecoin to its global payments network

Mastercard stock jumps as it links Fiserv's new stablecoin to its global payments network

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Another Chinese self-driving test: deadly results and lawbreaking in city ADAS use

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Another Chinese self-driving test: deadly results and lawbreaking in city ADAS use

Chinese media outlet Dongchedi posted another massive test of automotive self-driving systems, testing many of the same cars as it did in the highway test we we reported on this weekend.

This time, the test covers various urban driving scenarios, where much more human carnage is possible due to the presence of vulnerable road users like pedestrians and two-wheelers. And given how poorly the cars did on the last test, you can guess how they might have done on this one – although, once again, Tesla fared rather well.

The last video tested 36 cars in 6 different scenarios, all on highway driving and intended to replicate plausible highway situations that might lead to a crash. The new video is a little shorter than the last one, but still hefty at just over an hour long. It’s also only available in Chinese, but helpfully with English subtitles.

This time, the group was trimmed down to 26 cars from 36, but 9 scenarios were tested instead of 6, leading to a total of 234 simulations.

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Dongchedi had the help of Chinese state media in making the test possible, and it shows in the extremely high production value of the videos, which it posted on its automotive Youtube channel DCARSTUDIO. Once again, we recommend a watch, because it’s very well made.

The innovation behind these videos is that, unlike most other crash tests that either happen in labs or on closed courses like racetracks, airport runways or parking lots, DCAR used actual public roads which were shut down for the purpose of testing.

Why does this matter? Well, we’re testing ADAS systems here, not just normal passive crash structures like crumple zones, or even emergency driver aids like automatic emergency braking.

And the thing about ADAS systems, particularly those with an end-to-end, “navigate-on-autopilot“-like feature where the car can follow directions and make lane changes, turns, merges and other road transitions for you, is that they can’t be activated on roads where there are no directions to be had. (this came up in discussions after the famous Mark Rober Wile E. Coyote video, which still had value even if it didn’t test Tesla’s end-to-end system)

So – you’ll never be able to test how an SAE Level 2 driver’s aid will respond in a real world situation if you don’t test it on real-world roads. That’s what DCAR set out to do, and the result is once again quite spectacular. (And as the same caveat as last time – these aren’t actually driverless systems, like Waymo’s Level 4 system, but rather driver’s aids that still require an attentive driver in the seat)

This time, DCAR shut down two different segments of road: a massive, complex roundabout and another segment of road with a few unsignaled intersections and a long straight.

The first four tests incorporated portions of this huge roundabout, which would be complex for human drivers, but in situations for which there is quite an obvious solution: don’t hit that car/pedestrian in front of you.

The five tests here consisted of:

  • 1. A vehicle is stopped in the left lane at the entry to the roundabout, obscuring an oncoming car in the lane you are trying to merge into.
  • 2. Trying to merge left through a line of cars, in order to make a left turn to escape to the center of the roundabout.
  • 3. Driving through center road of roundabout, two scooters stop in the scooter lane to yield for 4 children, who run out in front of the car (this test was preceded by a sharp u-turn, and some vehicles failed to even enter the testing area as they disengaged during the turn).
  • 4. A broken down car in the center lane of the roundabout, with a warning triangle set up.

Admittedly, this is quite a complicated roundabout and most of us looking at it (at least from here in the West) probably can’t read exactly what those lane markings mean at first. And the markings also confused some systems – but if you want to offer a self-driving system, you need to be able to handle the roads as they exist.

The SU7 Ultra didn’t crash on test 1 – because it got confused and stopped at the roundabout entry.

The second location centered around a few unsignaled intersections, with more situations that are dangerous but plausible. They went as follows:

  • 5. Just a U-turn. That’s it. This is a freebie… right?
  • 6. Going straight through an unsignaled T-intersection, with a car turning left into your lane in front of you, obscured by the driver’s A-pillar blind spot.
  • 7. Driving straight, with a car reversing into your lane from a perpendicular parking spot or driveway.
  • 8. Driving straight, a scooter emerges from a group of several scooters and changes lanes in front of you.
  • 9. A sharp left at an intersection, with a scooter turning through the intersection in front of you, and a pedestrian in the crosswalk on the other side.

Each of the tests occurred at generally low speeds, which means systems should have had a lot of time to consider and apply brakes, and the brakes should be more effective than they might have been in higher-speed highway scenarios from the first video.

The Tesla Model 3 also avoided a collision – because it drove into the bike/pedestrian lane instead. On the 2nd try, it took the right way, and yielded in time to avoid a collision – though perhaps yielded a little too much, waiting for the whole roundabout to clear instead of just its own lane.

Despite the lower speeds, many of the cars tended to approach these tests with confidence and aggression, either refusing to yield at all or only yielding at the last moment, to the point where it almost seemed like luck that they avoided a collision. Some cars also exceeded the speed limit, making their job of avoiding a collision more difficult.

Six cars failed to turn left at the roundabout in Test 2, and ended up driving in circles forever instead. Other cars which succeeded this test were too aggressive, barreling into small spaces when they could have just waited.

Disturbingly, many of the cars wouldn’t even acknowledge it if they did get into a crash, and would continue on driving until DCAR’s (brave) human test driver and the host of the video intervened to end the test.

The Xpeng P7+ was one of 11 cars to hit the child mannequins in Test 3

Unlike the highway tests, the urban tests included other road users. The highway tests included a truck and one construction worker, but urban tests included scooter riders and children – common sights in cities, which should certainly be reflected in the training data that companies use machine learning to train their ADAS systems with.

Not all is bad – some cars noticed the children early and slowed pre-emptively, then stopped when the kids darted out.

And these are arguably much more important scenarios in terms of human safety. Highways are typically safer than urban driving, and one reason is because there aren’t pedestrians around, so if you hit someone, they’ll be protected by a big metal box that’s going roughly the same speed as you. With a pedestrian or scooter rider, there’s no protection, and often a much higher speed delta, which means higher danger.

Zeekr couldn’t even figure out the sharp right turn to get to test 3, and ended up in the bushes multiple times.

Even in situations where the cars should have had a clear view of these other road users, they failed to show the caution that should be required of cars sharing the road. A driver should know to pre-emptively be more cautious when there are pedestrians present – especially children. Certain vehicles did show this behavior, but many didn’t.

In the last of 9 tests, the Denza Z9 ran over a child mannequin, then continued driving off in a hit-and-run.

Interestingly, compared to the previous highway test, there was less inconsistency within vehicle brands this time around. Most of the vehicles that use similar solutions tended to show similar behaviors on the same test, even if those cars were from different brands – for example, the Luxeed R7 and AVATR 12 took second and third place in the overall standings, and both are equipped with Huawei’s ADS self-driving system.

The Toyota bZ3X hit both the scooter and the child in the final test.

And once again, Tesla did well in these tests, with the Model X taking the top spot, avoiding a collision in 8/9 tests. The one it failed was test 7, the reverse test, where it drove through at high speed clipping the rear of the car.

The Model 3 showed similar behavior on the reverse test, but also failed others (tests 2, 4, and 5), leaving it behind several other vehicles in the rankings. Which means that, if we average brand scores and rank brands, Avatr and Aito both had roughly similar performance brand-wide as Tesla did.

Both the Model 3 and Model X failed the reversing car test, clipping the back of it. It’s the only test the Model X failed.

But like last time, we have to give the caveat that these tests all happened in good weather – and all in the daytime, unlike the highway tests, some of which happened at night.

Vision-only systems like Tesla’s have a disadvantage at night and in inclement weather as compared to systems with LiDAR or radar, and those situations were not tested in this video. Nevertheless, Tesla still did better than other vision-only systems, and even those with more advanced sensing technology, which is impressive (though it was still prone to making weird decisions, like when it tried to take a bike lane above, and on the U-turn test below)

Zeekr performed among the worst, at it did in the highway tests. Xiaomi also had middling to disappointing results – it’s a driver’s car, though, so maybe drive it rather than letting the machines do it for you. The biggest drop in rankings was the Great Wall Motors Wey Lanshan, which was a top-performer on the highway and yet scored one of the worst in urban driving.

Once again, Carnewschina assembled a table of the results (scroll to the bottom, past the highway test results), which we link to here as a thanks for their work in sifting through DCAR’s Chinese graphics and turning it into a more legible format for English speakers.

Everyone had a different “solution” for the crashed car in test 4 – all cars avoided a collision, but many really didn’t understand what to do or where to go.

Collectively, these systems did about as bad as they did in the highway tests – a lot of simple scenarios were failed. The tests showed that these systems still get confused by relatively simple scenarios, and aren’t taking full advantage of the benefits in reaction time and all-around sensing that they should have with their many sensors and supercomputer systems to process them.

Test 8, a merging scooter, had a high, 62% failure rate, despite being one of the deadliest situations tested – and one where lots of training data should be available, given how common scooters are.

In particular, many of the tests involved situations where a driver’s eyes would have trouble anticipating a collision due to the A-pillar blind spot, something that should restrict a car’s sensing systems which can be placed so as to avoid blind spots. But many still failed to notice or react properly.

Test 6 should have been easy – just slow down a bit to avoid the car turning left. A-pillar obstruction should not affect the car’s sensors, as it would a driver’s eyes. But many cars refused to yield – even if this one was “the other car’s fault,” a simple brake tap would have avoided collision.

Like last video, DCAR interviewed Lu Guang Quan, from the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He once again pointed out that ADAS systems trained on machine learning can learn poor behaviors from the dataset, and these can be harder to correct than rule-based systems would be.

“End to end systems rely massively on samples,” said Lu. “iI their training data shows cars often ignoring the rule that vehicles inside a roundabout have the right of way, then the model learns to ignore it too.”

Cars showed poor etiquette – cutting across lane lines at the last moment, cutting in front of other cars, and stopping in pedestrian zones. One car would have racked up 6 points on its license in a single intersection, out of a possible 12 before license revocation under Chinese law.

DCAR noticed that the systems routinely broke basic traffic laws and showed poor driving etiquette. The systems “don’t have traffic laws built into their foundation, nor do they treat compliance as a top priority. It’s like no one ever taught them to follow the rules – and they didn’t learn it from user data either.” (We saw a real-world example of this when Tesla first released FSD in China, and one driver got 7 tickets in a single drive)

DCAR ended the video on a slightly positive note, stating “we do believe China’s homegrown brands will be able to reduce the risk in these scenarios through future OTA updates. For now, the safest approach is still human-machine co-driving, letting ADAS help reduce the risk of collision while the human driver remains ready to take over when the system reaches its limits.”

And we at Electrek will close similarly as we did in the last article – we continue to hope this is a reminder to everyone who has gotten comfortable with using these systems routinely. Urban environments are complex and the presence of vulnerable road users makes them much more dangerous.

Even though brands are offering ADAS that works on urban roads now, you still need to apply your full attention to the driving task while behind the wheel of one of these vehicles – even the best-performing Tesla FSD, which all of us who have used it (or who watched the video above) know is prone to weird decisions at times, even if those decisions don’t lead to a collision.


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