Despite making some progress in contract negotiations with the United Auto Workers (UAW) union, Ford says there are still some major gaps to address before an agreement is reached. The statement comes after Ford avoided escalated strikes by meeting some UAW demands last week, just as parts workers walked out of 38 Stellantis and General Motors (GM) distribution centers on Friday.
Ford said on Sunday that there were still “significant gaps to close” in contract negotiations with the UAW, according to a report from Reuters. The UAW said it made “some real progress at Ford” over the weekend, although it added that the two parties still had serious issues to work through.
On Sunday evening, Ford said the related “issues are interconnected and must work within an overall agreement that supports our mutual success.”
At the time of writing, the UAW has not yet commented on the statement from Ford. The news also comes ahead of U.S. President Joe Biden’s plans to visit Michigan in support of the strikes on Tuesday.
Ford also said that it would be pausing construction on a $3.5 billion battery manufacturing plant in Michigan, as detailed in a Monday afternoon report from Reuters.
“We are pausing work and limiting spending on construction on the Marshall project until we’re confident about our ability to competitively operate the plant,” Ford said. “We haven’t made any final decision about the planned investment there.”
The Detroit automakers have offered contracts with 20-percent raises over the next four and a half years, though the UAW is reportedly still asking for 40-percent wage hikes over a four-year period, in addition to 32-hour work weeks. The union is also demanding the restoration of defined pension benefits and an end to a tiered wage system that requires a certain amount of time to reach top wages.
Workers at an additional 20 Stellantis and 18 GM parts distribution centers walked off the job on Friday due to a lack of progress in UAW contract negotiations. The walkouts are straining other Stellantis and GM manufacturing facilities, rendering them unable to receive the necessary parts to continue production. The expanded strikes totaled around 5,600 workers, joining the initial wave of 12,700 workers who walked out a week prior.
The UAW represents roughly 150,000 workers total, and this is the first time in history that the union has lodged strikes against all three of the Michigan automakers simultaneously.
“Like the rest of us all, all we’re asking is to not have to struggle. Just wanting enough money to pay my bills, buy groceries, and have enough for extras like taking my kid to the jump park.”– Samantha Richter, a worker at Ford Michigan Assembly Plant https://t.co/pCgxP36QWo
— UAW (@UAW) September 25, 2023
Last week, GM said it was forced to lay off around 2,000 workers at a Fairfax, Kansas plant, citing a lack of available work due to the UAW strikes. The automaker went on to call the UAW demands “untenable,” adding that it wouldn’t be able to offer unemployment for the laid-off employees.
As the Detroit Free Press reports, one auto supplier in Wixom, Michigan also announced plans to lay off 230 workers on Monday. The figure represents 75 percent of employees at Eagle Industries, Inc., which makes a material used in car door components along with other non-automotive products. While the company hasn’t explicitly disclosed its clients, a separate analysis noted that its product had been used in Ford’s vehicles.
“As a result of unforeseen business circumstances, we are providing information in anticipation of a potential layoff at the worksite,” wrote the company in a note to the state of Michigan. “The estimated number of workers is subject to change due to evolving business circumstances.”
Some predict that the ongoing strikes will likely result in higher vehicle prices due to increased costs for parts. Another analysis from the University of Michigan noted that as many as 150,000 workers could be subject to layoffs if the strikes last an entire month, highlighting the situation’s far-reaching effects until the parties can finalize a deal.
“These growing spillover effects across the automotive supply chain produce successively larger spillovers to the broader economy, as well,” states the analysis, “as laid-off workers in the supply chain lose purchasing power and cut back on spending in other parts of the economy.”
Update: Updated to include the Monday afternoon report from Reuters, in which Ford said it was pausing construction on a Michigan battery plant.
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Tesla has taken home the “Overall Loyalty to Make” award from S&P Global Mobility for the fourth consecutive year, reinforcing Tesla owners’ willingness to come back. The 2025 awards are based on S&P Global Mobility’s analysis of 13.6 million new retail vehicle registrations in the U.S. from October 2024 through September 2025. The complete list of 2025 winners includes General Motors for Overall Loyalty to Manufacturer, Tesla for Overall Loyalty to Make, Chevrolet Equinox for Overall Loyalty to Model, Mini for Most Improved Make Loyalty, Subaru for Overall Loyalty to Dealer, and Tesla again for both Ethnic Market Loyalty to Make and Highest Conquest Percentage.
Tesla’s streak in this category started in 2022, and the brand has now won the Highest Conquest Percentage award for six straight years, meaning it keeps pulling buyers away from other brands at a rate no competitor has matched. Tesla’s retention among Asian households reached 63.6% and among Hispanic households 61.9%, rates that significantly outpace national averages for those groups. That breadth of appeal across demographics adds a layer of significance to a win that some might dismiss as routine.
The timing matters too. After several consecutive quarters of decline, Tesla’s share of U.S. EV sales jumped to 59% in Q4 2025. That rebound, arriving just as competitors were flooding the market with new models and incentives, suggests Tesla’s loyalty numbers are not simply the result of limited alternatives. Buyers are still choosing it when they have plenty of other options.
What keeps Tesla owners coming back has a lot to do with the and convenience of charging. The Supercharger network is the most straightforward example. With over 65,000 Superchargers globally, it remains the largest and most reliable fast-charging network in the world, and owners who have built their routines around it face a real practical cost when considering a switch. Competitors have made progress, but the consistency, speed, and availability of Tesla’s network is still the benchmark the rest of the industry is chasing. Then there is the software side. Tesla has built a model where the car you own today is functionally different from the car you bought two years ago, through over-the-air updates that add continuous game-changing improvements such as Full Self-Driving that has moved from a driver-assist feature to an increasingly capable autonomous system. For many Tesla owners, leaving the brand means starting over with a car that will not get meaningfully better over time, and that is a trade-off fewer and fewer are willing to make.
Tesla Robotaxi services in Austin have been operating since last Summer, but Tesla has admittedly been delayed in its expansion of the geofence, fleet size, and other details in a bid to prioritize safety as new technology rolls out.
But those barriers are being broken with new guardrails being removed from the program.
Tesla has achieved a significant advancement in its autonomous ride-hailing program. As of May 4, the Robotaxi fleet in Austin, Texas, has begun operating unsupervised during evening hours for the first time. This expansion moves beyond previous limitations that restricted unsupervised service to daylight hours, typically ending in mid-afternoon.
Tesla Robotaxi in Austin is operating unsupervised in the evenings for the first time today.
Previously in Austin, unsupervised operation ended mid-afternoon
— Robotaxi Tracker (@RtaxiTracker) May 4, 2026
The change brings Austin in line with operations in Dallas and Houston. Those cities have supported evening unsupervised runs since their initial launches in April, and both recently received additions of new unsupervised vehicles to their fleets. This coordinated progress across Texas strengthens Tesla’s regional presence and provides a broader testing ground for the technology.
This milestone carries substantial weight in the development of autonomous vehicles. Extending operations into low-light conditions meaningfully expands the Robotaxi’s operational design domain (ODD)—the specific environments and scenarios in which the system is approved to operate safely without human intervention.
Nighttime driving presents unique technical demands: diminished visibility, headlight glare from oncoming traffic, reduced contrast for identifying pedestrians and lane markings, and greater variability in camera sensor exposure.
Tesla’s pure vision approach, powered by neural networks trained on vast real-world datasets rather than lidar or pre-mapped routes, must handle these variables reliably. Demonstrating consistent unsupervised performance after sunset validates the robustness of the end-to-end AI stack and its ability to generalize across diverse lighting conditions.
Beyond technical validation, the expansion holds important operational and economic implications. Evening hours often coincide with peak urban demand for rides, including commutes, dining, and entertainment outings.
Enabling service during these periods increases daily vehicle utilization, allowing each Robotaxi to generate more revenue while gathering additional high-value training data. Higher utilization accelerates the virtuous cycle of data collection, model improvement, and further ODD growth.
Looking ahead, this step paves the way for more ambitious rollouts. Success in low-light environments positions Tesla to pursue near-24-hour operations, potentially integrating highways and expanding into varied weather patterns. Regulators worldwide frequently demand evidence of safe performance across day-night cycles before granting wider approvals.
Proven capability in Texas could expedite deployments in planned cities such as Phoenix, Miami, Orlando, Tampa, and Las Vegas during the first half of 2026.
Tesla confirms Robotaxi expansion plans with new cities and aggressive timeline
Moreover, scaling evening service supports Tesla’s long-term vision of a high-efficiency robotaxi network. Greater fleet productivity lowers the cost per mile, making autonomous mobility more accessible and competitive against traditional ride-hailing.
As the company iterates on software updates informed by nighttime data, reliability is expected to compound rapidly, unlocking denser urban coverage and longer-distance trips.
In summary, the introduction of an unsupervised evening Robotaxi service in Austin represents more than an incremental schedule adjustment. It signals a critical maturation of the underlying technology and sets the foundation for broader geographic and temporal expansion.
With Texas operations gaining momentum, Tesla is steadily advancing toward transforming urban transportation at scale.
Cybertruck
Tesla Cybercab just rolled through Miami inside a glass box
Tesla paraded a Cybercab in a glass display at Miami’s F1 Grand Prix event this week.
Tesla set up an “Autonomy Pop-Up” at Lummus Park in Miami Beach from April 29 through May 3, 2026, embedded within the official F1 Miami Grand Prix Fan Fest. The centerpiece was a Cybertruck towing the Cybercab inside a glass display case marked “Future is Autonomous,” rolling through the beachfront crowd.
Miami is on Tesla’s confirmed list of cities for robotaxi expansion in the first half of 2026, making the promotion a strategic promotion that lays groundwork in a target market.
This was not Tesla’s first time using Miami as a showcase city. In December 2025, Tesla hosted “The Future of Autonomy Visualized” at its Miami Design District showroom, coinciding with Art Basel Miami Beach. That event featured the Cybercab prototype and Optimus robots interacting with attendees. The F1 pop-up this week marks Tesla’s return to Miami and follows a pattern Tesla has been running since early 2026. Just two weeks before Miami, Tesla stationed Optimus at the Tesla Boston Boylston Street showroom on April 19 and 20, directly on the final stretch of the Boston Marathon, letting tens of thousands of runners and spectators meet the robot for free, generating massive earned media at zero advertising cost.
Tesla is sending its humanoid Optimus robot to the Boston Marathon
Tesla has confirmed plans to expand its robotaxi service to seven cities in the first half of 2026, including Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, Miami, Orlando, Tampa, and Las Vegas, building on the unsupervised service already running in Austin. Musk has said he expects robotaxis to cover between a quarter and half of the United States by end of year. On the production side, Musk told shareholders that the Cybercab manufacturing process could eventually produce up to 5 million vehicles per year, targeting a cycle time of one unit every ten seconds. Scaling robotaxis to 10 million operational units over the next ten years is a key condition of his compensation package, alongside selling 20 million passenger vehicles.
As for the Cybercab’s price, Musk has said buyers will be able to purchase one for under $30,000, with an average operating cost around $0.20 per mile. Whether those numbers hold through full production remains to be seen.
Cybercab at F1 Fan Fest in Miami
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Tesla owners keep coming back for more
Tesla Robotaxi service in Austin achieves monumental new accomplishment
