The Lucid Air may already be known as one of the most advanced electric cars on the road, boasting the longest range of any EV sold in the United States, but the brand itself is still fighting an uphill financial battle. Each vehicle sold continues to come at a steep loss, so its recent tie-up with Uber, along with efforts to lure drivers away from rival brands, could prove critical to securing a stable future.

Read: Lucid’s Next EV Isn’t A Sedan, It’s An Affordable Off-Roader Made In Saudi Arabia

Through its tie-up with Uber, Lucid will receive $300 million in investments, making Uber its second-largest shareholder after the Saudi Public Investment Fund. Uber will purchase 20,000 Gravity SUVs from Lucid and use them as part of an expansive robotaxi fleet that’ll be introduced across the States starting next year.

Big Backer, Big Bet

This deal could not have come at a more crucial time for Lucid. Following the Trump administration’s decision to axe the EV tax credit and eliminate fines for carmakers who don’t comply with emissions regulations, electric vehicle manufacturers face the prospect of falling sales. Even so, Lucid chief executive Marc Winteroff is confident the Uber deal will serve as the start of an important new era for the brand.

“The largest ride-hailing business in the world does a strategic deal and invests,” Winteroff said. “It tells you something… 20,000 is a starting point. The sky’s the limit.”

Lucid is also thinking of innovative ways to make the most of its Uber deal. According to the firm’s leader, it will sell vehicles to fleet managers on the Uber platform, and wants to source revenue from charging on a per-mile basis. Winteroff added that the removal of the tax credit is “a big number of pure profit that we know have to live without,” so it’s understandable why the firm wants to make the most out of the Uber deal.

Taking Aim at Tesla

During the same interview, Winteroff moved beyond the Uber deal and took a thinly veiled swipe at Elon Musk’s company. He said Lucid has noticed a rising number of Tesla owners making the switch, pointing to the brand’s aging lineup and Musk’s political involvement, which has turned off many buyers.

“We have seen an uptick, that’s definitely the case, in Europe and also here in the US,” Lucid’s CEO revealed. “The Model S, nothing has changed in 12 years now… [customers] are actively looking for other options.” However, Lucid has a long way to go before it can truly threaten Tesla when it comes to sales numbers.

Key to Lucid’s future plans is a mid-size SUV. This new model will start at under $50,000 and may be named the Earth. It will take styling cues from the brand’s existing models, and its production is scheduled to start by the end of 2026. It will also spawn a rugged version inspired by the recent Gravity X Concept and be followed up by an additional model, set to launch in 2028.

Workers install fiber optic cables for a school in Harrisburg, Pa. The Trump administration’s changes to a federal grant program meant to expand broadband access have disqualified hundreds of thousands of locations — including homes, businesses and community buildings — from receiving internet access. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

LEFT HAND, W. Va. — The residents of Roane County, West Virginia, enjoy living among the rolling mountains and winding, two-lane roads. Situated between Charleston and Parkersburg, two of the state’s largest cities, the rural county is known for its small towns and historic buildings.

That’s how Sherry Husted, the director of the Roane County Public Libraries, described her native community as she worked last week at Geary Public Library in Left Hand, West Virginia. Each of the county’s three library branches has at least three public computers and free internet access, among other services.

These services are essential to residents living in Roane — where less than 32% of the county’s households, businesses and community buildings — have reliable internet connectivity, according to the Federal Communications Commission’s National Broadband Map.

“We love our rural area,” Husted said. “But there’s always the catch. You love your rural area, but then access to things is always more limited there.”

Members of the library staff regularly help patrons fill out job applications and build resumes. They also help those who have never used a desktop computer before — many of the county’s residents rely on their cellular devices and spotty mobile service, Husted said. Most residents still use landline phones, she added.

And those with internet access at home are paying a steep price. Husted’s plan with Frontier, which includes fiber internet and a landline, comes to $170 a month.

“If you work from home, you need reliable internet,” she said. “Frontier does the best they can. But this is a very rural area, so the trees and terrain are constantly messing up the internet. And because of the demand on these older lines, your internet may not be reliable enough to host things like meetings or classes.”

Roane County is one of the areas federal officials hoped to support through the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program, or BEAD, a federal grant program meant to expand broadband access. The $42.45 billion initiative, created under the Biden administration’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021, aimed to close the digital divide — with a focus on rural communities.

The Trump administration’s changes to the program, however, have disqualified hundreds of thousands of locations — including homes, businesses and community buildings — from receiving internet access. And the program’s new technology-neutral approach will also shift a large portion of the federal funds toward satellite internet companies, including Elon Musk’s Starlink, that cost less to build but have more uneven service than underground fiber optic cable.  That means households and businesses that were looking forward to reliable, high-speed internet will no longer get support from the BEAD program.

While some experts were initially skeptical about the program’s goals, every state utilized its allocated funds to develop plans to provide high-speed fiber internet to nearly every home and business in the country, said Christopher Mitchell, the director of the Community Broadband Networks Initiative with the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, an anti-corporate advocacy group.

Most states are expected to get started on deployment projects in 2026. But the Trump administration’s changes have undermined the major investment for rural areas, Mitchell said.

“I think everyone should care about it — even though most people don’t live in rural America — because when we electrified the entire country, the entire economy grew,” Mitchell said. “We will all benefit from this when everyone has more options to share their knowledge, their gifts and their productivity in the economy.”

Even West Virginia, ranking last in internet connectivity, would have effectively achieved universal broadband under the state’s original proposal, according to an unreleased draft of the state’s plan obtained by The Benton Institute for Broadband and Society, a policy group. West Virginia has about 78% connectivity, the only state with less than 80%.

But under West Virginia’s updated final proposal, submitted to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration earlier this month, tens of thousands of households and businesses will no longer have access to BEAD funding.

West Virginia Republican Gov. Patrick Morrisey said he is still optimistic about the rollout, telling reporters recently that some of the decrease in coverage was because of inaccurate information. Some areas had just a few homes, or addresses only had a barn on the property, he and an aide said.

“We’ve been trying to target all the available locations that are eligible,” the governor said Sept. 18 at a news conference at the West Virginia State Capitol. “It’s a pretty fulsome application, and so obviously there were some changes made to accommodate some of the responses from the administration. And in a positive way, they’re trying to save money.”

There are other changes: States and Washington, D.C., may no longer set rates for low-cost residential service options, raising worries that internet providers will put forward plans they say meet the low-cost requirement, no matter the price. And under the “technology-neutral” approach, some locations will no longer be receiving fiber internet, which the federal government previously emphasized due to its speed and durability.

The new guidelines also remove provisions that encouraged states to work with companies and representatives from minority communities. Requirements related to labor, the environment and climate change also were cut.

West Virginia isn’t alone. Under the new rules, thousands of households, businesses and community buildings across the country will be disqualified from the federal government’s push to provide internet access to the areas that need itmost. And those locations that are still eligible for funding may not receive the best service available — or be able to afford it.

West Virginia has one of the country’s worst workforce participation rates. Internet access is key to changing that, said Bill Bissett, chairman of the West Virginia Broadband Enhancement Council.

“We are hopeful that this new proposal will be supported because we need to get started on this development as soon as possible,” Bissett said. “Because the longer we wait, the less people will be connected because of increased costs in deployment and infrastructure.”

Following the required revisions, West Virginia fared well compared with other states, said Drew Garner, the director of policy engagement at the Benton Institute. But Garner said he expects frustration in other states.

“West Virginia, because it did a good job with its restructuring, is still going to have a lot of strong outcomes,” Garner said. “But across the country in some of these other states, I think there’s going to be a lot of frustration with these changes and the way it walked back from what was going to be a very promising outcome.”

BEAD restructuring

In June, the Trump administration revised the rules of the BEAD program in what the U.S. Department of Commerce said was an effort to lessen regulatory burdens, reduce costs and streamline the process.

As of Sept. 18, 41 states had submitted their updated final proposals, according to a database from Connected Nation, a nonprofit that advocates for expanded broadband access.

In December 2022, when the FCC released its updated National Broadband Map, nearly 12 million locations across the country were in need of internet service. Over the years, that number has decreased because of private investments, continued deployment by existing internet providers and additional support from other federal programs.

States originally identified 4.86 million locations that would be eligible for getting internet connectivity through BEAD funds. But that number is projected to fall to 4.19 million locations following revisions initiated by the Trump administration, according to an analysis from Broadband Expanded, a project from the New York Law School.

West Virginia was originally slated to deploy broadband to approximately 110,000 locations. Now, 73,560 of those locations will receive BEAD funding, according to the state’s new proposal. Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, Nebraska and Rhode Island could see more than half of the locations in their state disqualified from the program.

But some of those locations may still be in need of internet, said Garner, of the Benton Institute.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), which is part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, directed states to remove certain locations from the BEAD program because they’d acquired internet access from another source.

But, in an effort to save taxpayer money, states also had the option to say they were “financially incapable” of serving a location.

“One of the changes the administration made to the BEAD program is that states and the NTIA now have a way to simply say that these locations are just too expensive,” Garner said. “They can say, ‘It is just going to cost too much, so now we’re going to say they’re ineligible.’”

The BEAD program’s new technology-neutral approach poses another challenge. The original program favored fiber because of its speed, reliability and ability to reach remote locations. But some argue that other technologies would be cheaper.

This change has opened the door for satellite internet providers, including Elon Musk’s Starlink, to receive money from the program. Starlink could be awarded approximately $10 billion, according to The Wall Street Journal.

In West Virginia, Starlink will serve more than 4,100 locations, according to the governor’s office.

“Based on the technology and based on all the evidence we have, some of these technologies — unlicensed fixed wireless especially — are not really a reliable internet service that’s going to meet the needs of a 21st century household,” Garner said.

Rural advocates speak up

In Nebraska, more than half of the counties in the state have signed onto letters to federal officials objecting to the changes, including the disqualification of nearly half the state’s eligible locations.

“It’s very frustrating. We have all these holes in our county, and BEAD was going to bring service to those areas,” Milford County Commissioner Misty Ahmic told the Nebraska Examiner.

Critics in Pennsylvania have said directing funds toward satellite companies is “shortsighted.” Satellite companies Starlink and Project Kuiper, an Amazon subsidiary, were awarded a combined $19.2 million to expand internet access in Pennsylvania.

And in Oklahoma, critics noticed the updated plan would not be using $225 million of the state’s allocated BEAD funds.

The state’s head broadband official said the new proposal would still serve everyone, but critics told the Oklahoma Voice that it would be wrong to send back any federal money while people across the state continue to struggle with internet access.

Originally, states were allowed to use these leftover funds to pay for things other than broadband deployment, such as West Virginia’s plans to improve cellular service and streamline the permitting process for broadband projects. But the federal telecommunications agency has not released guidance on how the leftover funds are to be used under the restructured program.

“There’s a lot of fear right now that NTIA may try to call that money back, which would be a big shame,” Garner said. “That leftover money is the state’s, according to the law. And these ancillary funds would play a huge role to support the BEAD program.”

Affordability also will be a barrier for some households. States may no longer set low-cost service option rates for low-income households. And the federal Affordable Connectivity Program ended last year without additional funding from Congress.

Morrisey said his administration is being aggressive, collaborating with the Trump administration to get internet access to eligible areas.

“I applaud the Trump administration for working with us, but once again, I am not going to do a victory lap until we actually get this all done,” the governor said.

Providing internet to every person in West Virginia was always a lofty goal, said Husted, the Roane County Public Library director.  Other initiatives have promised to connect rural residents over the years, Husted said, and she remains skeptical about this outcome.

“In rural areas, you’re going to need to plan for things, and sometimes that puts us at a disadvantage compared to the cities,” Husted said. “With the internet or with other supplies, sometimes we have to decide what is more important to us.”

Editor’s note: This story has been corrected to read that internet providers will have to offer low-cost residential service options under the revised BEAD program, but that states and Washington, D.C., may no longer set those low-cost rates.

Stateline reporter Madyson Fitzgerald can be reached at mfitzgerald@stateline.org. West Virginia Watch reporter Amelia Ferrell Knisely can be reached at aknisely@westvirginiawatch.com.

Erika Kirk joins U.S. President Donald Trump onstage during the memorial service for her late husband, conservative political activist Charlie Kirk, at State Farm Stadium on Sept. 21, 2025 in Glendale, Arizona.  (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and several Cabinet officials spoke at a five-hour memorial ceremony Sunday in Arizona for the late conservative political activist Charlie Kirk, whom Republicans are mourning as a friend and crediting as a force behind Trump’s second presidency.

Trump told a packed stadium, “America loved Charlie Kirk.”

“It is agonizing and unthinkable to say goodbye to a patriot whose heart still had so much to give,” Trump said.

The president described the suspected gunman who authorities say targeted Kirk as a “radicalized, cold-blooded monster.”

Trump praised Kirk and said it was the activist’s influence that helped him  choose Vance as vice president. Interspersed in his comments about Kirk, Trump aimed insults at what he described as “radical left lunatics,” promoted his anti-crime campaign and teased a forthcoming announcement from the administration regarding autism. 

Vance spoke about his friendship with Kirk and attributed the electorate’s swing to conservatism to Kirk’s outreach, saying Kirk “changed the course of American history.”

Vance joined Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi in recent days calling for consequences for Americans who criticized Kirk following his death. During his remarks at the memorial, Vance said he saw “the very worst parts of humanity” in comments and social media posts.  

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth recounted meeting Kirk a decade ago when “he was building a movement.”

“I still have this sticker (that reads) ‘Big Government Sucks,’” Hegseth said, recalling an early campaign slogan for Turning Point USA, the organization Kirk co-founded in 2012.

Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff for policy, said those devoted to Kirk will “defeat the forces of darkness and evil.”

“You thought you could kill Charlie Kirk. You made him immortal,” Miller said.

Kirk’s wife Erika Kirk confirmed she will now sit at the helm of Turning Point USA as the nonprofit’s CEO after several speakers who heralded the organization’s future alluded to the change.

In an emotional speech, she told those in attendance that she has forgiven the suspected shooter.

“I forgive him because it was what Christ did. It is what Charlie would do, the answer to hate is not hate,” Erika Kirk said. 

During his remarks, Trump jokingly apologized to Erika because he said he “can’t stand” his opponents.

Kirk “did not hate his opponents. He wanted the best for them. That’s where I disagreed with him. I hate my opponents and don’t want the best for them. I’m sorry, Erika,” Trump said.

Musk, members of Congress in attendance

The memorial service began at 11 a.m. Mountain time at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, which seats upwards of 60,000.

A large painting of Kirk, who was fatally shot 11 days ago at age 31, was displayed on stage. Large LED screens played videos and displayed photos of the activist, who was very influential among Republicans and conservatives.

A seven-piece band backed Christian singer Chris Tomlin as Trump administration officials walked onto the floor of the stadium. Cameras captured the entrances of Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. All delivered speeches.

Billionaire Elon Musk, a major donor to Trump’s 2024 campaign and the former leader of Trump’s government efficiency project, entered the stadium to cheers, according to CNN. Cameras caught Trump and Musk shaking hands and apparently speaking while seated together prior to Trump’s remarks.

Current and former U.S. senators and representatives were among members of the audience, including former Florida U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz. 

A U.S. military color guard displayed flags during the national anthem.

The memorial service was livestreamed and is available on C-SPAN.

Journalists outside the stadium reported thousands of people lining up early hoping to attend the ceremony. 

Kirk was fatally shot by a suspected lone gunman on Sept. 10 while he was speaking at Utah Valley University, according to authorities, who are seeking the death penalty. NBC reported Saturday that law enforcement officials have not found any link between Kirk’s shooting and left-wing groups.

Utah native Tyler Robinson, 22, is charged on seven counts, including aggravated murder, violent offense in the presence of a child and witness tampering. 

Authorities say Robinson sent text messages about “hatred” to his roommate following the shooting. Charging documents say Robinson’s parents recounted their son’s recent interest in LGBTQ rights and that he had started to “lean more to the left.”

Charlie Kirk called a ‘martyr’

Speakers praised Kirk’s work and at numerous points during the ceremony referred to him as a “martyr” for the conservative movement and Christianity.

Far-right YouTube commentator Benny Johnson referred to Kirk’s “revival spirit” and influence in spreading a Christian worldview.

“Charlie Kirk is a martyr in the true Christian tradition. You take out a tyrant, his power goes away. You cut down a martyr, his power grows,” Johnson said.

Johnson called out Trump administration officials in the crowd as “rulers of our land.”  

“May we pray that our rulers here, rightfully instituted and given power by our God, wield the sword for the terror of evil men in our nation, in Charlie’s memory. I want to live in a country where the evil are terrified, and where the good and the faithful and the moral people of our nation can live in peace, debate in peace, disagree in peace and start families in peace.”

GOP Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida said she owed her political career to Kirk, who hired her to do outreach to young Hispanic voters.

“These were the sparks that lit the path for me on the eve of my departure to medical school to decide to change course and join TP USA, where I could help Charlie battle the socialist indoctrination on college campuses,” Luna said.

The U.S. House passed a resolution Friday honoring Kirk, supported by all Republicans and 95 Democrats.

Presidents and memorial services

It is notable for a sitting president, vice president and multiple Cabinet members to deliver remarks at a memorial service for a private citizen. Trump ordered flags lowered after Kirk’s death.

Trump spoke, along with Republican congressional leaders, at the U.S. Capitol in 2018 at a memorial for the late evangelist Billy Graham, who had relationships with U.S. presidents going back decades, with Graham lying in honor in the Capitol Rotunda. Trump ordered flags at half-staff.

President Barack Obama delivered the eulogy for the nine victims of the racially motivated mass shooting at the Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. Notably, Obama spontaneously sang “Amazing Grace.” Obama did not order flags lowered following the massacre.

Kirk maintained professor watch list, hosted podcast

Kirk was born in 1993 in the Chicago suburb of Arlington Heights.

He co-founded Turning Point USA aiming to mobilize conservative youth and young adults on high school and college campuses. 

Kirk toured campuses across the U.S. speaking on contemporary hard-right topics, including anti-LGBTQ positions and encouraging young women to retreat from careers and return to the home. 

Among the organization’s projects was the “Professor Watchlist” that published the names of professors across the country in searchable format by categories including “anti-Christian views,” “feminism,” “climate alarmist” and “racial ideology,” according to its web page.

Kirk hosted “The Charlie Kirk Show,” a successful daily radio show and podcast. Devoting an entire episode in July to the Jeffrey Epstein case, Kirk was among those in Trump’s voter base to urge the president to release more information about the federal investigation into the late financier and convicted sex offender.  

Kirk’s work garnered attention beyond the United States. Rev. Rob McCoy, Kirk’s pastor, recounted a recent trip to South Korea 

“Charlie looked at politics as an on-ramp to Jesus,” McCoy told the crowd.

Turning Point USA Inc., which has been tax exempt since 2014, reported $84.9 million in revenue in 2024, according to the organization’s publicly available 990 tax forms published on ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer.

Love him or hate him, Elon Musk has built a reputation for sometimes making the impossible seem inevitable. From electric cars dominating global markets to rockets that land themselves with pinpoint precision, his record is extraordinary. Yet, even for someone with those successes, the 2025 CEO Performance Award just presented by Tesla’s board represents a challenge of unprecedented scale.

Read: Tesla Just Quietly Fixed A Problem Owners Have Complained About For Years

The plan could grant Musk over 423 million shares and a total compensation package of around $1 trillion. Of course, that only happens if Tesla hits some staggering milestones. The award is split into 12 tranches, each unlocking as Tesla hits specific market capitalization targets.

According to the SEC filing detailing the package, it goes as follows: the first tranche at $2 trillion, nine more at $500 billion increments, and the final two at $1 trillion each, culminating in a mind-bending $8.5 trillion valuation by 2035. Right now, Tesla is worth a little over $1 trillion.

A Trillion-Dollar Tightrope

Market cap is only a small piece of the story, though. Musk must also achieve at least $400 billion in sustained annual adjusted EBITDA and hit operational targets that push Tesla into uncharted waters. Among them: putting 1 million fully autonomous Robotaxis into commercial service and delivering 1 million Optimus AI bots.

Market cap is only a small piece of the story. Musk must also deliver at least $400 billion in sustained annual adjusted EBITDA, which is finance-speak for the company’s earnings from its core business before accounting for things like taxes, interest, or non-cash costs such as depreciation.

On top of that, he faces operational goals that push the company into uncharted territory, such as putting 1 million fully autonomous Robotaxis into commercial service and delivering another 1 million Optimus AI robots.

Today, Robotaxi still requires a safety driver in the car, so these targets aren’t theoretical; they demand breakthroughs in autonomy, scaling, and execution. It’s a package that forces a hard look at Musk’s history. He’s undeniably a visionary, but he’s often over-promised and under-delivered. He’s often been late, sometimes very late, about tech promises. That’s to say nothing of his political engagement.

Betting His Legacy On Autonomy

At the same time, if he can actually achieve everything laid out in this compensation package, it’ll be hard to argue that he’s not the defining innovator of our era. That said, the board has set up this award in a way that Musk can’t simply hit the goals and cash out.

He must remain at Tesla for the next 7.5 to 10 years. The goals must be met by 2035. Tesla said it “believes that Mr Musk’s vision and leadership are critical to nailing that execution”.

At this point, all of Musk’s promises of autonomy are all the more intriguing. His salary and perhaps his legacy rely on him being right about Tesla leading the autonomy charge sooner rather than later.

Elon Musk finally addressed what so many have been asking for. The Model YL, an elongated version of the Model Y, was launched in China recently, but until now, we haven’t heard about whether or not it would actually come to America. The long and the short of it is, very likely next year.

The Model Y is Tesla’s best-selling car. In fact, it’s one of the best-selling cars worldwide across all brands. It’s not surprising then that fans would want the new six-seater version wherever they can get it. That kind of automatic demand made bringing the car to the U.S. seem like a no-brainer, and it still is, unless Musk finally accomplishes what he’s been promising for several years.

More: Tesla’s Model Y L Gets Bigger And Pricier With New Six-Seat Layout

That promise is full-scale Level 5 autonomy to the point that it would negate the need for the Model YL. If that sounds a bit far-fetched, don’t feel bad. Musk has notoriously over-promised and under-delivered. Still, he finally addressed US production of the Model YL and brought up autonomy again.

In response to another person asking about the car on X he said “This variant of the Model Y doesn’t start production in the US until the end of next year. Might not ever, given the advent of self-driving in America.” No doubt, Tesla’s Robotaxi program is rolling out relatively fast, and faster than some cities say it legally can, but it’s far from a polished Level 5 system.

This variant of the Model Y doesn’t start production in the US until the end of next year.

Might not ever, given the advent of self-driving in America.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 20, 2025

Every Robotaxi shuttling passengers around has an actual Tesla employee inside acting as a safety officer. On top of that, it begs the question that Musk didn’t respond to in his comment section. “Wouldn’t people with a lot of kids still want a 3-row SUV even with self-driving?” That didn’t come from some Tesla hater, either, but from the person the richest man in the world responded to in the first place.

Nevertheless, Musk isn’t saying exactly how larger families are supposed to get around, even if Robotaxi takes off. For now, expect Model YL production to begin in the USA late in 2026, or maybe even in early 2027.

Credit: Tesla

Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) system, along with its ambitious claims, has repeatedly drawn the company into controversy, and it now faces yet another round. The company is once again facing legal trouble, this time after a U.S. District Judge in California ruled that Tesla must answer a certified class action alleging it misled drivers about the self-driving abilities of its vehicles. Tesla had argued the case should be dismissed, but the court disagreed.

Read: Musk’s Robotaxi Pitch Just Backfired And Shareholders Are Suing

The automaker has consistently promoted the idea that all vehicles it built since 2016 came equipped with hardware capable of full self-driving, albeit under supervision. These assurances were made across Tesla’s website, blog posts, social media channels, and directly by chief executive Elon Musk.

In practice, though, the cars have not lived up to those promises. Tesla also asserted that vehicles with its Full Self-Driving package would eventually deliver Level 4 and Level 5 autonomy, but neither has materialized.

Judge’s Assessment

U.S. District Judge Rita Lin noted that claims about Tesla vehicles lacking the necessary hardware for autonomous driving, combined with the company’s failure to “demonstrate a long-distance autonomous drive with any of its vehicles,” provide grounds for lawsuits brought by two groups of drivers.

Tesla does not engage in typical mass advertising, and the Judge noted that ordinarily, the channels it used to promote its self-driving hardware and software may not be “enough to establish a class-wide exposure for a traditional car manufacturer.”

However, she said it’s reasonable to infer that class members went to Tesla’s website for information on its Full Self-Driving (Supervised) technology. She added that thousands of people likely saw a claim on Tesla’s website from October 2016 to August 2024 that said its vehicles contained the hardware necessary for fully autonomous driving.

Tesla’s Defense

Tesla countered that it is unreasonable to assume all class members saw those statements. The automaker also argued there is no unified proof showing the claims were significant enough to influence purchasing decisions, according to Reuters.

The class actions in California include drivers who purchased the Full Self-Driving Package from May 19, 2017, to July 31, 2024, and who opted out of Tesla’s arbitration agreement, as well as drivers who purchased the package from October 20, 2016, to May 19, 2017.

In the US, Tesla’s arbitration clause requires all disputes to be resolved through arbitration rather than in court, unless a purchaser or lessee opts out of the clause within 30 days of buying or leasing a Tesla vehicle.