Cruise’s fully autonomous robotaxis recently contributed to some annoying road congestion in the streets of Austin, as captured by a video you can see below. The footage comes at a somewhat turbulent time for the self-driving rideshare company, as its vehicles are catching some opposition from residents in the cities they operate in. As is with most cases, there’s more to the story here, which appears to be a perfect example of an EV being at the wrong place at the wrong time… except in this case, it was a large chunk of Cruise’s Austin fleet…
While most people would argue that the self-driving cars from companies like Cruise, Waymo, and Motional do more to ease the pains of traffic congestion and pollution than they contribute, not everyone is hailing down the rideshare bandwagon just yet.
In San Francisco, home to many of these robotaxi companies, local “vigilantes” (or, better yet, NIMBYs) have used the traffic cone as their weapon of opposition, covering up sensors on the EVs to stop them in their tracks. Way to show ’em, guys; that’ll stop road congestion!
While we don’t agree with the tampering of robotaxis, it’s not unfair to say that the nascent technology has room for improvement, and some feel that urban municipalities should not be used as a testing ground. Regardless, companies like Cruise have come a long way, expanding beyond the Bay Area into new cities throughout California and outside of The Golden State in Austin, Texas.
Unfortunately, some of Cruise’s growing pains in Austin were caught on camera as a swarm of robotaxis flooded a congested area. We spoke to Cruise and got the lowdown about what exactly happened.
Credit: u/analkaos / Reddit
Cruise found its robotaxi fleet in a (literal) jam in Austin
To truly grasp the traffic situation, you need to check out the full video from Reddit user u/analkaos posted to r/damnthatsinteresting yesterday. The 48-second clip shows gridlocked traffic on a narrow Austin street dominated by Cruise EVs.
According to the team at Cruise, the fleet ended up in a high-demand area, which also brought with it a slew of pedestrian and passenger vehicle traffic. As you can see in the video, one of the Cruise vehicles got stuck in an intersection while committing to a turn, thus further congesting traffic in three different directions.
Unfortunately, more and more Cruise robotaxis flooded the narrow Austin street to meet the peak demand, only to join in the traffic jam. But why were there so many robotaxis in this one specific area? Cruise states that at the time, there were limited routes going north and south through the city, and a detour from an alternative route led the EVs to the same doomed parkway.
Unfortunately, Cruise could not manually reroute the vehicles quickly enough, so there was nowhere for them to go. That being said, as soon as the company became aware of the traffic situation, it immediately stepped in and resolved the issue, leading all its EVs to exit the area and do so autonomously. Cruise shared the following statement with Electrek regarding the video shot in Austin:
We prioritize safety in everything we do. It was a crowded, challenging environment; and, there was no pedestrian, vehicle or property damage.
We fully recognize the inconvenience, and we’ve taken proactive measures to relieve the crowding in the area.
Our expanded ODD will help to reduce concentration of vehicles and provide more services to the places customers want to be.
This was a minor inconvenience at best for those unfortunate drivers who got temporarily stuck in that mess but a pain nonetheless. Luckily, there weren’t any orange cones around!
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links.More.
Danish energy giant Ørsted has canceled plans for the Hornsea 4 offshore wind farm, dealing a major blow to the UK’s renewable energy ambitions.
Hornsea 4, at a massive 2.4 gigawatts (GW), would have become one of the largest offshore wind farms in the world, generating enough clean electricity to power over 1 million UK homes. But Ørsted announced that it’s abandoning the project “in its current form.”
“The adverse macroeconomic developments, continued supply chain challenges, and increased execution, market, and operational risks have eroded the value creation,” said Rasmus Errboe, group president and CEO of Ørsted.
Reuters reported that Ørsted’s cancellation of Hornsea 4 would result in a projected loss of up to 5.5 billion Danish crowns ($837.85 million) in breakaway fees and asset write-downs. The company’s market value has declined by 80% since its peak in 2021.
The cancellation highlights significant challenges currently facing offshore wind development in Europe, particularly in the UK. The combination of higher material costs, inflation, and global financial instability has made large-scale renewable projects increasingly difficult to finance and complete.
Advertisement – scroll for more content
Ørsted’s decision is a significant setback to the UK’s energy transition goals. The UK currently has around 15 GW of offshore wind, and Hornsea 4’s size would have provided almost 7% of the additional capacity needed for the UK’s 50 GW by 2030 target, according to The Times. Losing this immense project off the Yorkshire coast could hamper the UK’s pace of reducing dependency on fossil fuels, especially amid volatile global energy markets.
The UK government reiterated its commitment to renewable energy, promising to work closely with industry leaders to overcome financial and logistical hurdles. Energy Secretary Ed Miliband told reporters in Norway that the UK is “still committed to working with Orsted to seek to make Hornsea 4 happen by 2030.”
Ørsted says it remains committed to its other UK-based projects, including the Hornsea 3 wind farm, which is expected to generate around 2.9 GW once completed at the end of 2027. Despite the challenges, the company emphasized its ongoing commitment to the British renewable market, pointing to the critical need for policy support and economic stability to ensure future developments.
Yet, the cancellation of Hornsea 4 demonstrates that even flagship renewable projects are vulnerable in the face of economic pressures and global uncertainties, which have been heightened under the Trump administration in the US.
If you live in an area that has frequent natural disaster events, and are interested in making your home more resilient to power outages, consider going solar and adding a battery storage system. To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. They have hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them.
Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisers to help you every step of the way. Get started here. –trusted affiliate link*
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links.More.
The Tesla Roadster appears to be quietly disappearing after years of delay. is it ever going to be made?
I may have jinxed it with Betteridge’s Law of Headlines, which suggests any headline ending in a question mark can be answered with “no.”
The prototype for the next-generation Tesla Roadster was first unveiled in 2017, and it was supposed to come into production in 2020, but it has been delayed every year since then.
It was supposed to get 620 miles (1,000 km) of range and accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in 1.9 seconds.
Advertisement – scroll for more content
It has become a sort of running joke, and there are doubts that it will ever come to market despite Tesla’s promise of dozens of free new Roadsters to Tesla owners who participated in its referral program years ago.
Tesla uses the promise of free Roadsters to help generate billions of dollars worth of sales, which Tesla owners delivered, but the automaker never delivered on its part of the agreement.
Furthermore, many people placed deposits ranging from $50,000 to $250,000 to reserve the vehicle, which was supposed to hit the market 5 years ago.
“With respect to Roadster, we’ve completed most of the engineering. And I think there’s still some upgrades we want to make to it, but we expect to be in production with Roadster next year. It will be something special.”
He said that Tesla had completed “most of the engineering”, but he initially said the engineering would be done in 2021 and that was already 3 years after the prototype was unveiled and a year after it was supposed to be in production:
There was one small update about the Roadster in Tesla’s financial results last month.
The automaker has a table of all its vehicle production, and the Roadster was updated from “in development” to “design development” in the table:
It’s not clear if that’s progress or Tesla is just rephrasing it. Either way, it is not “construction”, which makes it unlikely that the Roadster is going into production this year.
If ever…
Electrek’s Take
It looks like Tesla owes about 80 Tesla Roadsters for free to Tesla owners who referred purchases, and it owes significant discounts on hundreds of units.
It’s hard for me to believe that Tesla is not delivering the new Roadster because the vehicle program would start about $100 million in the red, but at this point, I have no idea. It very well might be the reason.
However, I think it’s more likely that Tesla is just terrible at bringing multiple vehicle programs to market simultaneously. Case in point: it launched a single new vehicle in the last five years.
At this point, I think it’s more likely that the Roadster will never happen. It will join other Tesla products like the Cybertruck Range Extender.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links.More.
The 2025 Lucid Air isn’t just any luxury sedan. It’s the world’s most efficient car with over 400 miles of range. After introducing new discounts this month, Lucid is offering over $20,000 in savings on select 2025 Air models.
Lucid Air EV discounts top $20,000 in May
In the first quarter, the Lucid Air was the best-selling EV and the third top-selling sedan overall in its segment, including gas-powered cars.
After launching the 2025 Air Pure last summer, Lucid claimed it was the “world’s most efficient car” at 5.0 miles of range per kWh. That translates to over 420 miles of EPA-estimated range and the highest MPGe rating of any EV at 146 MPGe.
Lucid introduced new discounts this month, making the 2025 Air significantly more affordable. The 2025 Lucid Air Touring is available with up to $20,500 in savings with leases starting at just $599 for 36 months.
Advertisement – scroll for more content
The promo includes a $1,000 on-site bonus, a $2,000 conquest offer, a $10,000 Air Credit, and a $7,500 EV credit.
Other trims, including the Lucid Air Pure and Lucid Air Grand Touring, offer discounts of up to $18,000 and $15,500, respectively.
2025 Lucid Air offers (Source: Lucid)
The 2025 Lucid Air Touring starts at $78,900 with 620 HP and 406 miles of range. Lucid is offering 2025 Air Pure models from $69,900, with up to 420 miles of range. The Grand Touring gets up to 512 miles with prices starting at $110,900.
Lucid increased its Tesla trade-in allowance this month, which can save you an additional $4,000. To take advantage of the deals, you must take delivery by May 31, 2025.
That’s based on an MSRP of $94,900 with a down payment of $8,030. Later this year, Lucid will launch the lower-priced Touring model, starting at $79,900.
Ready to check out Lucid’s luxury EVs for yourself? You can use our links below to view current offers on Lucid Air and Gravity models in your area.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links.More.