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NHTSA has opened a formal investigation into comma.ai’s aftermarket driver assistance devices after five crashes where cars running openpilot plowed into stopped or slow-moving vehicles in their own lane. Two of those crashes killed three people. The probe covers an estimated 30,000 comma three, comma 3X, and comma four devices. It’s the biggest regulatory problem for George Hotz’s startup since NHTSA pushed it to cancel its first product back in 2016. NHTSA’s case against comma The agency’s Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened Preliminary Evaluation PE26007 on September 21. It names comma’s last three generations of hardware along with openpilot…

America is Honda’s biggest market, with around 40% of the automaker’s total sales generated by US customers. So, naturally, Honda has a big presence in the States with no fewer than eight manufacturing facilities and a huge workforce numbering tens of thousands. But, even so, the company is grappling with a bit of a capacity issue at the moment. To be more specific, the problem is that all its North American plants are operating at maximum capacity, which calls for an expansion plan and, ultimately, more jobs for American workers. Honda is now getting close to a final decision on…

The Drive 🤝 your inbox. Every weekday The Daily Brief wraps up the biggest stories and our exclusive reporting on the auto industry and car culture. It seemed like the car community scored a rare win last week when California finalized a new law backed by Jay Leno and others that relaxes its notoriously strict emissions tests for classic cars. But now that the photo ops are over, “Leno’s Law” looks less like a landmark victory over burdensome regulations and a lot more like a giant missed opportunity. Though California is just one of 29 states that require some form…

While PC component prices remain high, you can save a good bit of money on a system by purchasing a prebuilt desktop. Walmart has a well-equipped CyberPowerPC gaming PC on sale for $1,549, almost $600 off its original price of $2,139. It’s powered by an Intel Core i7-14700KF processor, and paired with 32GB of 6000MHz DDR5 memory and an Nvidia RTX 5070 Founders Edition with 12GB of VRAM. The case is a CyberPowerPC MA-O1, an in-house design with extensive cooling options and three dedicated knobs for adjusting internal RGB lighting colors.While it might not feel like it at first blush,…

The Volkswagen ID. UNYX 09, the second model jointly developed by Volkswagen and Xpeng. Credit: Volkswagen Anhui. The Volkswagen ID. UNYX 09 is the second model jointly developed by Volkswagen and Xpeng, following the ID. UNYX 08 SUV. The sedan offers a CLTC range of up to 755 km and an assisted-driving chip with 750 TOPS of computing power. Volkswagen’s Chinese joint venture Volkswagen Anhui opened pre-sales for the ID. UNYX 09 on Thursday, with prices ranging from 199,900 yuan ($29,620) to 249,900 yuan. The car is the second model jointly developed by Volkswagen and Xpeng (NYSE: XPEV), and is…

The first time I turned on the Rosalina edition of the Switch 2 Rematch controller, and a rainbow of RGB lighting rippled across the stars on its face, I expelled a sound of delight that would’ve been embarrassing had anyone other than my two small dogs been in the room. The noise was involuntary, high-pitched and entirely warranted, because this gamepad is a slice of handheld joy — and that’s a feeling we could all use a little more of nowadays. On top of the adorable factor, the Turtle Beach Rematch Wireless Controller for Switch 2 is a comfortable, reactive…

Just a few days ago, General Motors teased the introduction of its biggest combustion engine ever (at least for a car or truck sold to the public). It also talked up some impressive performance improvements. Now, the General has revealed all the key specifications, and the monster diesel is, indeed, the new power and torque king of the heavy duty pickup truck class. GM didn’t stop there, though, as it also upgraded the steering, brakes, and even the gas V8 option to make the Chevy Silverado HD and GMC Sierra HD more impressive than ever before. Mostly complete Duramax 8.3-liter engines…

BYD revealed the second-generation Seagull inside and out in a series of sketches: a bigger, smarter version of its most affordable EV. When is BYD launching the new Seagull EV? The Seagull, sold as the Dolphin Surf and Dolphin Mini in markets outside China, is BYD’s entry-level electric hatch. In China, the Seagull starts at just 69,900 yuan, or about $10,000. That’s much cheaper than any new vehicle in the US. To give you a better idea, the most affordable new car in the US is the 2026 Hyundai Venue, which starts at just over $20,500. Even overseas, BYD’s electric…

The Drive 🤝 your inbox. Every weekday The Daily Brief wraps up the biggest stories and our exclusive reporting on the auto industry and car culture. Hi there! Welcome to The Downshift, a daily news roundup curated by The Drive’s editorial team. (Really, it’s just me, Caleb. I’m filling in for my amigo Adam today. Thanks for having me!) Each story gets a short summary and a link to the original source if you want to dive deeper. Here’s what’s bubbling on Thursday, Sept. 24: 🚐 Volkswagen pulled the ID. Buzz from the U.S. market in late 2025, saying it…

The 2027 Mercedes-Benz GLC is on dealer lots now with confirmed VIN-specific listings at Mercedes-Benz dealers across the country and a remarkably consistent discount pattern already documented on current inventory. Multiple confirmed dealer listings show GLC 300 4MATIC units at $1,649 below sticker across different optioned configurations , including a GLC 300 4MATIC at $55,076 against a $56,725 MSRP, another at $55,776 against $57,425, and a third at $57,876 against $59,525. One outlier listing at Mercedes-Benz of Laguna Niguel shows a unit at $58,107 against a $57,985 MSRP , $122 above sticker , confirming that multi-dealer comparison remains…