GM’s Cruise has had a rocky week, with California suspending the company’s license to operate as a result of misrepresentation by the company in an accident investigation.
The accident in question was actually not initially caused by Cruise’s vehicle. A human driver struck a pedestrian in a crosswalk, then fled the scene. The strike was hard enough to shove the pedestrian into the path of a Cruise autonomous vehicle, which braked heavily in an attempt to avoid the accident.
The pedestrian was then trapped underneath the Cruise vehicle, at which point the AV entered a post-accident mode where it pulled to the side of the road. This unfortunately dragged the pedestrian approximately 20 feet at a speed of about 7 miles per hour, potentially causing more injury to the already seriously injured victim.
Two problems were identified in this circumstance: first, the Cruise vehicle should have remained in place, rather than dragging the pedestrian under the car. Second, in post-accident investigations, Cruise misrepresented the facts of the accident to both the DMV and to media, by not mentioning or showing video of the post-accident movement. DMV had to learn of this from SF officials, rather than from Cruise itself.
This misrepresentation was a major cause of DMV’s decision to revoke Cruise’s license. DMV provided Cruise with a list of requirements to get back on the road, but that list is not public.
And as the news of Cruise’s misrepresentation and suspension has percolated, the public has not reacted kindly to this information. In Los Angeles, for example, where Cruise does not operate but Google’s Waymo does (on a trial basis), one politician called for the city to declare itself off-limits to driverless vehicles (we’ve ridden a driverless Waymo in LA, and came away impressed).
Now, two days later, Cruise has “proactively” made the decision to suspend its driverless operations in the other areas it operates as well, namely, Phoenix, Arizona and Austin, Texas.
(2/3) In that spirit, we have decided to proactively pause driverless operations across all of our fleets while we take time to examine our processes, systems, and tools and reflect on how we can better operate in a way that will earn public trust.
Cruise says that this has nothing to do with any undisclosed on-road incidents, and that it is taking this step to examine its processes and regain public trust. It will also continue “supervised AV operations,” with a safety driver present in the cars.
Electrek’s Take
This is a good move for Cruise, and a good move for autonomous vehicles as a whole.
Cruise’s initial reaction to this incident was, simply, bad. Lying to regulators is never a good idea. It put a black mark on AVs for regulators and for the public, and reduced trust not just for Cruise, but for other autonomous vehicle systems.
As I’ve been talking about a lot for the last couple days (and, well, years), it was inevitable that people would react thusly to any problems with AVs, as it is not only a new technology and suffers from the “devil you know versus devil you don’t know” problem, but it also incorporates the theme of technological unemployment, which is becoming all the more real with the rise of AI.
In the accident in question, the human driver’s actions were certainly worse than the AV’s. The human started the accident and then fled the scene. But virtually all discussion has focused on the AV, rather than the human driver.
Cruise claimed in a blog post that its simulations showed that its car would have avoided the accident – but that blog post was not well-received, as it did not properly take responsibility for the post-accident scenario in question.
This move by Cruise today does seem to finally take responsibility for the post-accident scenario, which is a positive development. Hopefully this will let the temperature in the room cool a little, and we can have some better conversations and more responsibility going forward on the part of Cruise.
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While much of the Western world is still figuring out how to get more people on electric bikes, China just flipped a switch, and the results are staggering. Thanks to a generous nationwide trade-in program rolled out around six months ago, China has seen an explosive surge in electric bicycle sales, with over 8.47 million new e-bikes hitting the road in the first half of 2025 alone.
The program, which offers subsidies to riders who trade in their old, often outdated electric bikes for newer, safer, and more efficient models, has sparked a new e-bike sale boom in a country already dominated by e-bike travel. In major provinces like Jiangsu, Hebei, and Zhejiang, over one million new e-bikes were sold in each region in just six months. That’s a tidal wave of e-bike sales.
The incentives vary depending on location and the model being traded in, but for many consumers, the subsidies cover a substantial portion of a new e-bike’s price – enough to turn a “maybe next year” purchase into a “right now” upgrade. And these aren’t just budget bikes either. The program has driven demand for higher-quality models with better batteries, safer braking systems, and more reliable electronics, accelerating both adoption and innovation across the industry.
The move has proven successful in replacing the millions of older models with lower-quality lithium-ion batteries that had posed safety risks around the country. Instead, China has pushed for higher-quality lithium-ion batteries, a return to a newer generation of higher-performance AGM batteries, and even interesting new sodium-ion battery options.
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Most e-bikes in China look more like what we’d consider seated scooters
According to China’s Ministry of Commerce, more than 8.4 million consumers have participated in the e-bike trade-in program so far, contributing to a sales increase of 643.5% year-over-year and more than doubling sales month-over-month. Meanwhile, production of new electric bicycles rose by nearly 28%, as manufacturers scrambled to meet demand. The sales boosts have already been seen in the financial reports of major industry players like NIU.
And it’s not just the big players benefiting – over 82,000 small independent e-bike dealers reported average sales increases of ¥302,000 (around US $42,000), giving a serious boost to local economies.
What’s particularly striking here is how fast this happened. The program was officially launched late last year as part of a broader effort to stimulate domestic consumption and phase out outdated vehicles and appliances. But while most analysts expected gradual growth, the e-bike sector responded much more quickly. In less than a year, the trade-in subsidies have reshaped the electric bicycle market, creating a consumer-driven boom that shows no signs of slowing.
For those of us watching from outside China, it’s hard not to wonder what might happen if other countries tried something similar. While most families in Chinese cities already own an electric bike and thus see this as an opportunity to trade it in for a newer model, Western countries like the US are still figuring out how to stimulate commuters into buying their first e-bike.
It’s too soon to know exactly how long the boom will last or whether the momentum will carry into 2026 and beyond. We’ve seen bicycle industry bubbles grow and burst before. But one thing’s clear: with the right incentives, even modest ones, it’s possible to ignite real, large-scale change. China just proved it with nearly 8.5 million new e-bikes to show for it.
And if you’re wondering what it looks like when a country takes electric micromobility seriously, this is it.
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Today was the official start of racing at the Electrek Formula Sun Grand Prix 2025! There was a tremendous energy (and heat) on the ground at NCM Motorsports Park as nearly a dozen teams took to the track. Currently, as of writing, Stanford is ranked #1 in the SOV (Single-Occupant Vehicle) class with 68 registered laps. However, the fastest lap so far belongs to UC Berkeley, which clocked a 4:45 on the 3.15-mile track. That’s an average speed of just under 40 mph on nothing but solar energy. Not bad!
In the MOV (Multi-Occupant Vehicle) class, Polytechnique Montréal is narrowly ahead of Appalachian State by just 4 laps. At last year’s formula sun race, Polytechnique Montréal took first place overall in this class, and the team hopes to repeat that success. It’s still too early for prediction though, and anything can happen between now and the final day of racing on Saturday.
Congrats to the teams that made it on track today. We look forward to seeing even more out there tomorrow. In the meantime, here are some shots from today via the event’s wonderful photographer Cora Kennedy.
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The numbers are in and they are all bad for Tesla fans – the company sold just 5,000 Cybertruck models in Q4 of 2025, and built some 30% more “other” vehicles than it delivered. It just gets worse and worse, on today’s tension-building episode of Quick Charge!
We’ve also got day 1 coverage of the 2025 Electrek Formula Sun Grand Prix, reports that the Tesla Optimus program is in chaos after its chief engineer jumps ship, and a look ahead at the fresh new Hyundai IONIQ 2 set to bow early next year, thanks to some battery specs from the Kia EV2.
New episodes of Quick Charge are recorded, usually, Monday through Thursday (and sometimes Sunday). We’ll be posting bonus audio content from time to time as well, so be sure to follow and subscribe so you don’t miss a minute of Electrek’s high-voltage daily news.
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