Transportation | The Verge

Can ‘eSUV’ e-bikes really go from trail to town?

2026-09-26T04:27:45-04:00

Have you ever wanted an electric bike that easily transitions from the drudgery of urban asphalt to adventures in gravel and dirt? That's what a subclass of so-called "electric SUV" (eSUV) e-bikes claims to do, with their wide, all-terrain tires and front and rear suspension, plus practical accessories like fenders and racks.

So, that's what I set out to test on a new TL Carbon e-bike from Amflow, the DJI offshoot that upended the mountain bike industry a few years ago with its incredibly small and powerful Avinox motors.

After a month of testing in the heart of Amsterdam - including a three day bikepacking trip along coastal bicycle super …

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Tesla’s Optimus robot is going through growing pains

2026-09-25T13:01:36-04:00

Hitting its goal of making 20,000 Optimus robots per week is reportedly proving tricky for Tesla. The Information reports that Tesla produced "several hundred robots a week" last month, after it repurposed its Model S and Model X production lines for Optimus earlier this year. However, this strategy is reportedly creating manufacturing snags, like issues lining up parts precisely, as The Information notes: "Not only are the Optimus production lines new, but the Optimus parts are much smaller and have to fit together far more precisely than car parts."

It reports that even in the "V3" Optimus robots it's currently producing, the hands and f …

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Here’s the Tesla Semi… again

2026-09-25T06:21:12-04:00

Remember the Tesla Semi? The long-gestating, heavy-duty truck first introduced in concept form in 2017 is finally in volume production as of April 2026 - nearly a decade after its initial introduction. On Thursday evening, the company held yet another event for the Semi to demonstrate to customers and investors that the long wait was finally over.

The event was held at Tesla's new Semi factory next to Gigafactory Nevada, where the company says it can build 50,000 trucks a year, or 1,000 per week. The purpose was to announce a raft of new (and old) customers for the Semi, including PepsiCo, US Foods, DHL, WattEV, ABF, Einride, IMC, and OK P …

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Waymo’s driverless cars continue to crash less often than people

2026-09-24T09:53:01-04:00

Waymo's latest batch of self-reported data continues to affirm the company's message that its driverless cars are safer than human drivers. As policymakers continue to debate the safety and economic impact of autonomous vehicles, Waymo is hoping that its own data will help bring more supporters to its side - even as some experts say the data fails to capture the non-crash traffic disruptions caused by its robotaxis.

Waymo said it examined 271 million driverless miles in five cities through the end of June, which is 50 million more miles than its last safety report. The total number of miles driven across Atlanta, Austin, Phoenix, Los Angele …

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Saudi Arabia’s new Exobot EVs make the Cybertruck look normal

2026-09-22T16:14:54-04:00

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is mostly known for its global dominance over petroleum production and oil reserves - not necessarily cars and auto manufacturing, and certainly not electric vehicle production. So it was a little surprising on Monday when a Saudi startup called Ceer unveiled a pair of hyper-angular, spaceship-like EVs, with plans to launch an additional five models by 2030.

The Exobot (yes, that's the real name) sedan and SUV are expected to go on sale in Saudi Arabia starting in 2027. The ultra-futuristic designs scream Tron, Blade Runner, and every other sci-fi movie you've seen - and then some. The gullwing doors are ripped s …

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Rivian’s R2 beat its own climate goals four years early

2026-09-22T12:03:45-04:00

Rivian always planned for its all-important R2 vehicle to be less expensive than its pricey R1 predecessors, but also less polluting. The production process for the R2 would rely on more renewable energy, and the vehicle itself would feature more recycled and biodegradable materials than the models that came before it. With this and a few other tricks, Rivian set the target to achieve a 50 percent lifetime carbon reduction for the R2 by 2030.

Today, the company released its 2025 impact report outlining its sustainability progress for the year. The main takeaway is that over the entire lifespan - everything from production, driving, and eve …

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Waymo is offering transit discounts again, this time with Visa

2026-09-22T09:35:27-04:00

Waymo has made several attempts over the years at offering transit discounts to its customers in the hopes of getting them to more frequently use the company's robotaxis to connect with a train or a bus. The Alphabet-owned company announced the latest effort today, teaming up with Visa to offer a discount on robotaxi rides when they use Waymo to connect with transit.

The new incentive is being rolled out first to customers in the San Francisco-Bay Area. When riders use a Visa credit card to take a Waymo trip and public transit within two hours of each other, the company will automatically put a $2.85 credit on their account that can be app …

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A cut cable disrupted hundreds of flights across the US

2026-09-22T05:58:31-04:00

A JetBlue airplane rolls past an FAA air traffic control tower at Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. | Ryan Collerd/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Hundreds of flights were cancelled or delayed on Monday after construction crews in New Jersey accidentally cut a Verizon fiber cable used for air traffic control.

FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said that a circuit failure led to the discovery of the severed fiber cable, ABC News reports. The outage hammered airports across the Northeast, causing ground stops at all three major New York City airports.

In a statement to CNBC, Verizon said that it bore "no responsibility for this incident," putting the blame on "construction contractors working in the area" that "dug up and cut our cable."

Ironically, it looks like trains make have taken …

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GM can’t ‘bring back’ Apple CarPlay because it never left

2026-09-21T13:47:54-04:00

Last week, GM announced a new software experience for its upcoming Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra trucks, including a new look for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, the popular phone mirroring systems that the automaker made a big deal about removing from its electric vehicles in 2023.

Naturally, this led to some confusion about whether GM was "bringing back" CarPlay and Android Auto to its vehicles. Yahoo Finance reported it that way, calling it an "about-face" by the automaker, while Apple Insider's headline boasted that GM "cave[d]" on its decision to remove the interface from its gas-powered vehicles. Even The Verge's own commenters were …

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Waymo says Singapore will be its next international robotaxi city

2026-09-18T05:40:43-04:00

Waymo Ojai fully autonomous ride-hailing vehicle travels along a city street, San Francisco, California, August 20, 2026. | Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images

Waymo says it will launch a robotaxi service in Singapore in 2028, as the Alphabet-owned company continues to eye overseas markets for expansion.

Waymo's vehicles will begin arriving in Singapore in "the coming months," the company says, in preparation of mapping and autonomous testing with human safety drivers behind the wheel in 2027. Waymo says it is "working toward offering fully autonomous ride-hailing to the public" by 2028.

Waymo will need approval from Singapore's Land Transport Authority (LTA) before it can begin accepting passengers. The city-state requires all autonomous vehicles to undergo a safety assessment conducted at the …

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