Republicans in Congress have voted to use the Congressional Review Act to roll back California’s states’ right to protect its own residents’ lungs and pocketbooks with better pollution rules.
But here’s the thing: Congress doesn’t have that authority because that’s not how the Congressional Review Act works, so the republican party is once again just letting everyone know that it wants to poison Americans and raise their fuel costs, no matter the legality of doing so.
We’ve heard plenty of stories recently about how the senile felon squatting in the White House wants to harmAmericans. But in the last 100 days of the exact kind of incompetent flailing that anyone with half a brain expected out of him, relatively less attention has been paid to the attempts of republicans in Congress to poison Americans.
Well, they’ve decided to jump into the spotlight and remind everyone just how bad the entire party is, as republicans in Congress have voted to increase pollution and fuel costs for California and 11 other states.
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The vote comes in the form of a Congressional Review Act (CRA) action withdrawing California’s “waiver” from the EPA, even though the CRA does not apply to the waiver. The House voted on the same resolution a few weeks ago, and the Senate has passed its resolution today.
For more than half a century, California has asked for and been granted this waiver that allows it to set its own emissions rules. Other states can follow California’s rules (and around 11 states do so, though that amount differs for each rule), as long as they do so exactly, and as long as those rules are stronger than the national ones.
It has this unique authority because California had its own Clean Air Act before the federal Clean Air Act was passed, and because the state had a unique problem with smog at the time and needed stricter rules than the rest of the country. So a carveout was made in the federal law in recognition of this.
California’s clean air laws have been effective in reducing pollution, with vehicle-based pollutants dropping by 98% in the last 50 years. But of course, there’s still more to be done, as the LA area remains one of the smoggiest in the country due to factors including geography, high car dependency, heavy shipping traffic, and a lack of public transitt.
Despite the protestations of industry at the time and since, these rules have not made it impossible for them to operate, or sell cars, or profit from selling cars, in California or any other states that follow its rules.
California’s newest set of rules is set to save Californians, and the residents of other states who follow them, hundreds of billions of dollars on health, fuel, and maintenance costs through 2050 by encouraging electrification – and of course will save thousands of lives due to pollution reductions. Republicans targeted not just California’s regulation on light duty vehicles (ACC II), but also some other truck emissions rules (the ACT and HD low-NOx Omnibus rules).
So, Congress has declared it wants to end California’s progress in protecting its own residents. Despite the massive improvement in health and air quality, and reduction in health costs as a result, republicans in Congress are onceagain making it clear that they favor poisoning Americans, so much so that they’ll even try illegal actions to do it.
The problem with using the Congressional Review Act in this situation is that it is doubly illegal to do. The CRA gives Congress the authority to roll back government agency actions, like those of the EPA, but it has been rarely used since its passing, since doing so results in a dysfunctional government and an unpredictable business environment.
Further, even if it were within 60 days, the CRA can’t be used to reject California’s waiver, because it isn’t a “rule.” The CRA only allows Congress to change “rules,” and the waiver isn’t a rule itself; it’s just EPA telling California that it can set its own rules. Both the Senate Parliamentarian and the Government Accountability Office (the real government office that holds government to account, unlike Elon Musk’s fake and redundant “Department of Government Efficiency” advisory board), along with many, manyothers have recognized that this is the case, and Congress knows it. But hey, at least they have the oil companies on their side.
So, Congress’ action here is illegal, and doubly so, because the waiver is not a rule, and it is outside of the 60 day window. This action is also dangerous to your health, exacerbates climate change, and will raise Americans’ fuel costs and cede ground to China in the changing global auto industry.
Notably, one republican Senator, Mike Lee of Utah, correctly acknowledged that this is an illegal action, stating clearly that “California’s CAA federal preemption waivers cannot be reviewed under the Congressional Review Act (CRA) because the waiver granted by EPA is not a rule as that term is defined in the CRA.” However, regardless of publicly acknowledging that this cannot be done, republicans still did it anyway.
They know that this vote has no legal backing – but it still took the vote anyway, impotently screaming from the rafters “WE WANT TO KILL YOU!!!”… which apparently some people still need to hear.
But if republicans know this is illegal, why are they doing it? There are likely a number of reasons:
To avoid the filibuster, which would give Democrats a chance to stand up for clean air, and which is not allowed for CRA actions (at least, within the 60 day window… which we are outside of, so that’s another way republicans are acting illegally).
To avoid having to amend or repeal the Clean Air Act, which would likely raise more eyebrows from the few republican voters with any remaining rationality or self-interest. This action is harder to understand and therefore more likely to go under the radar.
To show to their oil donors that they are aligned in their mission to harm life on earth.
Likely as another meaningless entry into the republican culture war, where the party starts ridiculous fights over nothing in order to stop or distract from positive motion on changes that might help alleviate some of the plight republicans are constantly trying to force on Americans.
The vote was 51-44, with 50 republicans and one Democrat voting to harm Americans with this illegal act. The Democrat was Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, who voted for the measure despite the harm it will bring to the auto industry that is so important in her state, which will be made less relevant globally as it retreats in the face of rising competition from China.
California’s response may or may not involve legal action – despite that this is illegal, the CRA also claims that it is not subject to judicial review, which is a violation of the checks and balances enshrined in the Constitution.
California could alternately seek to achieve the same goals through other measures that have no Congressional oversight, such as charging higher registration fees for gasoline-powered vehicles (something which many states, including California, already stupidly do against electric cars, at the behest of, once again, the oil industry – and yes, republicans want to do this federally, too).
For its part, the California Air Resources Board, the organization responsible for California’s regulations, said “CARB will continue its mission to protect the public health of Californians impacted by harmful air pollution” after the House’s initial CRA vote. So, we hope that CARB will continue to act within the law, and ignore Congress’ violent action opposing clean air.
And California Governor Gavin Newsom reacted, stating “This Senate vote is illegal. Republicans went around their own parliamentarian to defy decades of precedent. We won’t stand by as Trump Republicans make America smoggy again — undoing work that goes back to the days of Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan — all while ceding our economic future to China.“
More than 100 clean air groups sent a letter supporting the waiver in the face of republican attacks on your health… and another one led by the American Lung Association, and another one led by the Natural Resources Defense Council, and another one led by the Coalition for Sensible Safeguards. But who listens to those idiots when there’s oil donor money at stake?
That hasn’t stopped other bad actors from stepping in to show support. The auto lobbyist that represents virtually every car company, which calls itself the “Alliance for Automotive Innovation” despite routinely opposing electrification efforts, came out in favor of ending California’s clean air rules. This is despite the weasel who runs the organization, John Bozzella, appearing on stage to give a speech when the EPA implemented rules with similar goals on a national level.
And don’t forget: the Alliance Against Automotive Innovation’s opposition to EVs will signal the final nail in the coffin for the US auto industry. China is getting great at building EVs, to the point that other nations are desperately trying to put up barriers to stop them. But it hasn’t worked, and it won’t work. The only thing that will work is getting more serious about EVs, and trying to stop them ain’t it.
And, of course, the oil industry, responsible for untold death and destruction, has also arranged itself on the side of this illegal action to poison Americans and raise their fuel costs, alongside republicans in Congress. What a surprise.
We, at least, know what side we’re on.
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Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) v14, its first major update in a year, disappoints as data points to a lower increase in miles between disengagements than expected.
The system also features new hallucinations, brake stabbing, and excessive speeding.
The update has been highly anticipated for several reasons.
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First off, it has been a year since Tesla released any significant FSD update to customers, as it focused on its internal robotaxi fleet in Austin. The update is believed to feature improvements developed through Tesla’s robotaxi fleet, which requires supervising like its consumer FSD.
Secondly, CEO Elon Musk has claimed that Tesla still plans for “Supervised Full Self-Driving” to become unsupervised by the end of the year in consumer vehicles. For that to happen, we needed to see a massive improvement from v13 to v14.
As I previously reported, I anticipated an improvement in miles between critical disengagements from ~400 miles in v13 to ~800 to 1,200 miles in v14. It would be a significant improvement, but still way short of what’s needed to make FSD unsupervised.
Tesla notoriously doesn’t release any data about its FSD program. Musk has literally told people to rely on anecdotal experiences posted on social media to gauge progress.
Fortunately, there’s a crowdsourced dataset that gives us some data to track progress with miles between critical disengagement. It’s far from perfect, but it is literally the best data available, and Musk himself has shared the dataset in the past – albeit while misrepresenting it.
In the last week, Tesla started pushing the FSD v14 update (now v14.1.4) to more owners – resulting in more crowdsourced data and anecdotal evidence.
With now over 4,000 miles of FSD v14 data, miles between critical disengagement sits about 732 miles – below the lower end of our expectations:
Tesla would need to be closer to 10,000 miles between critical disengagements to allow unsupervised operation, and even then, it would likely be in geo-fenced areas with speed limitations.
This is unlikely to happen by the end of the year, as Musk predicted, as FSD v14 appears to have some significant issues still.
First off, many FSD v14 drivers are reporting that the update is having problems with hallucinations where the car decides to stop on the side of the road seemingly randomly:
I had a great first day with FSD v14.1.4! Multiple hands-free, point-to-point rides with no disengagements. A few “brake stabbing” events were slightly annoying but not dangerous.
It does seem like FSD v14 sometimes misinterprets other vehicles’ turn signals as emergency vehicle lights and pulls over.
In some cases, FSD v14 has been known to completely disable FSD features inside vehicles:
V14 is getting really annoying. Summon continued to fail with an error condition. Now in the car and FSD just isn’t functional. I don’t get it. Come on, Tesla. My brother got the same issue yesterday where his facia camera was nonfunctional and went black, obviously disabling FSD… pic.twitter.com/D8H8DY83sC
Many FSD v14 drivers have also reported an increase in “brake stabbing”, where the vehicle seems to hesitate and frantically applies the brakes and releases them – resulting in a stabbing motion.
Now, I don’t want to hear anything about my use of anecdotal evidence and crowdsourced data. That’s literally the best data available for FSD.
Unlike virtually all other companies developing self-driving technology, Tesla refuses to release any.
If it were to release some data, I’d be happy to use it.
One thing is clear from v14 so far: unsupervised FSD in consumer vehicles is not happening in any meaningful way this year.
I expect significant improvements in upcoming FSD v14 point updates. Maybe enough to get it to my previous expectations of ~800 to 1,200 miles between disengagements, but that’s about it.
Finally, while I generally don’t count on NHTSA to enforce any rule in any significant way when it comes to Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving” effort, I think they might actually do something about “Mad Max.”
This video on Instagram has 4.5 million views, and it shows extremely dangerous driving behavior at up to 90 mph (145 km/h)
I think the authorities will have to intervene here, because it makes no sense for an unproven autonomous driving system to be able to operate under those parameters.
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Toyota’s best-selling car is finally going electric. The Corolla EV looks more like a Porsche or BMW than the Toyota vehicles on the road today, but that’s just the start.
The Toyota Corolla is evolving into a rad-looking EV
After revealing the Corolla Concept for the first time at the Japan Mobility Show on Tuesday, Toyota’s CEO, Koji Sato, said the compact car has always been “a car for everyone.”
Since it hit the market over 50 years ago, Toyota has sold well over 50 million Corollas. The Corolla even surpassed the VW Beetle in the 90s to become the world’s best-selling vehicle. Like the Prius, Toyota’s compact car lured in buyers with an affordable price and a reputation as a reliable daily driver.
Although it’s still a top-seller, the Corolla has lost some of its charm as more advanced, stylish, and efficient electric cars hit the market.
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Toyota looks to change that with a drastic overhaul that takes the Corolla to the next level. To stay relevant, Sato asked the crowd at the event, “How should the Corolla evolve?”
Toyota CEO Koji Sato reveals the Corolla Concept at the Japan Mobility Show (Source: Toyota)
We all want to drive a car that looks cool, but there’s much more to it nowadays. Buyers are increasingly seeking more efficient vehicles with the latest software, connectivity technology, and other features.
“Whether it’s a battery EV, plug-in hybrid, hybrid, or internal combustion engine vehicle―whatever the power source―let’s make good-looking cars that everyone will want to drive!” Toyota’s CEO said, adding the car is “packed with inventions aimed at making that a reality.”
Although Toyota didn’t confirm the concept was headed for production, the next-gen Corolla is expected to arrive with a similar style.
The concept still features Toyota’s newest design elements, like the “hammerhead” front end, but with a bit more of a futuristic feel.
You can barely tell the concept is a Corolla, aside from the massive COROLLA badging on the rear. Toyota didn’t reveal any powertrain details, but the charge port and closed-off grille suggest it’s an EV.
The next-gen Toyota Corolla is expected to be offered as an EV, a plug-in hybrid, a hybrid, and, likely, still an ICE variant.
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Three months after Uber, Lucid Motors, and Nuro announced a partnership that would enable Gravity SUV robotaxis, the rideshare network has shared where the public will first be able to hail one. Spoiler alert, it’s easy to guess if you give it half a thought.
As we reported in July, Uber Technologies committed to a $300 million investment in Lucid Group (parent company of American EV automaker Lucid Motors), to deploy at least 20,000 Lucid vehicles as robotaxis over the next six years.
Those Lucid vehicles, which will consist of the automaker’s flagship Gravity SUV to begin, will hit public roads equipped with a Level 4 autonomous system called Nuro Driver. Nuro, the third partner in this equation, is a robotics company specializing in zero-occupant delivery vehicles, which garnered an existing partnership with Uber Eats as well as a “hefty” (yet undisclosed) investment from Uber Technologies.
Last month, Lucid delivered its first Gravity SUV to Nuro to begin the retrofitting process of the Nuro Driver system to support Uber’s hopes for a luxe robotaxi fleet. While the partners continue to work toward building an exciting new fleet of Lucid Gravity Robotaxis, Uber has shared the location where they will first go into service… Casper, Wyoming.
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Just kidding!
It’s the San Francisco Bay Area, of course.
Lucid Gravity SUV fitted with Nuro’s self-driving tech (Source: Lucid)
Uber to deploy Lucid Gravity EVs in Bay Area in 2026
Today’s update from Uber expands upon the ongoing partnership with Lucid Group and Nuro. According to the companies, the San Francisco Bay Area will be the first market where riders will see this next-generation autonomous robotaxi program in operation. That milestone is expected sometime in 2026.
Uber has shared that it has been updating policymakers and regulators at every level on the progress of its exclusive Lucid Robotaxis and continues to meet the operational requirements. Notably, Uber has shared that on-road development with the Lucid Gravity robotaxi engineering fleet is already underway in the Bay Area.
Furthermore, Nuro and Lucid intend to be operating over 100 Gravity robotaxis as part of the test fleet “in the coming months.” Lucid interim CEO, Marc Winterhoff, spoke about today’s announcement:
Lucid has always celebrated its California roots, and we’re thrilled to make the San Francisco Bay Area the first market for our new robotaxi on the Uber platform, powered by the Nuro Driver. Beginning next year, riders will experience a level of convenience, safety, and comfort unlike anything else on the road. We can’t wait to bring this service to life and expand it to communities across the country.
To build this fleet of Uber-exclusive robotaxis, the required hardware will be integrated into Lucid Gravity SUVS while they are still on Lucid’s assembly line in Arizona. Those builds will then be integrated with Nuro’s proprietary software when Uber officially commissions them.
All eyes on 2026 as we now know that residents around the Bay Area will be able to hail a driverless Lucid Gravity through the Uber platform. I’m very much looking forward to seeing this fleet in action.
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