General Motors (GM) is expected to announce significant spending cuts on its self-driving unit Cruise this week, following a series of bad news for the subsidiary after an incident with one of its robotaxis last month.
On Wednesday, GM will outline how much it plans to cut spending on the self-driving arm, according to Financial Times, after a Cruise robotaxi hit and pinned a woman in San Francisco on October 2. Since the accident, the company has slowly been whittling back certain planned operations, including production plans and the mere scope of what cities the startup will operate in.
Currently, GM has invested a quarterly average of around $700 million, though how much it plans to cut Cruise’s operations is not yet clear. The automaker has spent billions of dollars on the startup self-driving company, last year spending $2.1 billion to buy out Softbank’s minority stake in the company. GM also had a long-term revenue target of about $80 billion by 2030, though the announcement is also expected to affect this outlook.
Part of Cruise’s pitch has been based on a goal of “zero crashes, zero emissions, zero congestion,” though it has said it is currently focused on rebuilding public trust.
GM recently said its “strategy is to relaunch in one city and prove our performance there, before expanding… [once] we have taken steps to improve our safety culture and rebuild trust.”
GM-owned Cruise hires law, tech firms to review accident response
In addition to cutting spending, Cruise has announced multiple delays to the production of its Origin self-driving van, resignations from two separate co-founders and executives, recalls of its 950 Chevy Bolt self-driving vehicles and more. Following the incident, Cruise’s self-driving permit was immediately revoked by the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), and the company faces a federal investigation from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
A letter was sent to the NHTSA that had been signed by 26 different transportation labor organizations, highlighting “grave safety concerns about the expanded testing and operation of automated driving system-equipped vehicles,” according to Transportation Trades Department chief of staff Matthew Colvin.
Some have questioned how the company’s finances will look in the wake of the incident, especially as it moves away from tangible returns that possible investors can justify investing in. Barclays auto analyst Dan Levy thinks will be front and center in the minds of investors keeping tabs on the announcements this week.
“The big question is to what extent ‘Zero Zero Zero’ also hinged on zero rates,” Levy said. “This has been a big theme this year in auto; everyone has had to step back from the euphoria.”
Along with being concerned about returns, GM investors are also hesitant about the startup’s safety following the accident, as expressed by some in the weeks since.
“The problem for Cruise as a business is GM is dependent on it for all the software [revenue] targets the company has set,” said one GM investor. “We don’t see a path to profit, but we do see they will burn a lot of cash trying. GM would be better placed winding back its bet, and returning the money to shareholders.”
“The public are also recognising that being unwitting guinea pigs to unproven tech that’s desperately underregulated is not what anybody has signed up for,” the investor added, noting that a move to reduce spending “as much as possible” at Cruise would constitute an “easy win.”
What are your thoughts? Let me know at zach@teslarati.com, find me on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send your tips to us at tips@teslarati.com.
Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) reported its earnings for the first quarter of 2026 on Wednesday afternoon. Here’s what the company reported compared to what Wall Street analysts expected.
The earnings results come after Tesla reported a massive beat on vehicle deliveries for the second quarter, delivering 489,126 vehicles and building 451,758 cars during the three-month span.
This was a major shock for those on Wall Street as they anticipated somewhere around 400,000 deliveries for the quarter, and showed Tesla still has plenty of demand for its vehicles around the world and in the U.S. despite losing the $7,500 EV Tax Credit last year.
Tesla Q2 2026 Earnings Results
- Non-GAAP EPS – $0.33 reported vs. $0.53 expected
- Revenues – $28.236 billion reported vs. $26.4 billion expected
- Free Cash Flow- -$1.092B
- Profit -$ 4.751B
Tesla (beat/missed) analyst expectations, so the market response to the company’s quarter is what we will look for next.
Tesla shares closed today down just over 1 percent, trading at $374.01.
In the past, it has been anyone’s guess with what Tesla shares will do after they report earnings. Strong quarters have resulted in sharp drops, while lackluster quarters have seen the stock shoot up considerably.
Tesla will hold its Q2 2026 Earnings Call in about 90 minutes at 5:30 p.m. on the East Coast. Remarks will be made by CEO Elon Musk and other executives, who will shed some light on the investor questions that we covered earlier this week.
You can stream it below. Additionally, we will be doing our Live Blog on X and Facebook.
Q2 2026 Earnings Call https://t.co/zZS6ii2TWK
— Tesla (@Tesla) July 22, 2026
Tesla is about to make parking in busy parking lots at businesses and other points of interest less stressful than ever by allowing drivers more control over where they park and how, CEO Elon Musk confirmed on X.
Tesla has been working to improve the parking performance of vehicles utilizing the Full Self-Driving suite, but now it is looking to add more customization, allowing drivers to choose the specific space they park in, but also potentially the orientation the car pulls into the spot:
It’s coming soon
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 21, 2026
Musk has reiterated on X twice over the past several weeks that Tesla is working to make things with the FSD suite based more on the driver’s specific preferences and behaviors that were seen in past drives.
Essentially, it sounds like if you tend to park away from a business to avoid other vehicles, Tesla FSD will soon recognize that preference of yours and start parking further away as well. Additionally, the prospect of assigned parking spaces has been something many owners have voiced concerns about.
Living in a community with assigned parking spaces makes using FSD incredibly difficult as it will rarely park in the correct spot when there are so many to choose from. This is also pertinent in work settings where there are sometimes assigned parking spaces.
The updates to Tesla’s Full Self-Driving suite in terms of listening to driver preferences with parking are also extending to routing. Tesla announced yesterday that with the release of its 2026 Summer Update, it was adding Automatic Navigation and Preferred Routes:
Tesla reveals 2026 Summer Update with crazy fixes to Nav and more
Tesla has always maintained the idea that any human input is bad input, and that, ideally, Tesla Full Self-Driving will always make the right decision. Of course, this is all in theory, but the issue is that so many of Tesla’s interventions have come because it does something that is not necessarily wrong, but perhaps not what the driver would prefer.
Taking these preferences into account will help Tesla alleviate some of the potentially unnecessary interventions that drivers perform.
Tesla is starting to prepare for the launch of the Optimus robot in its smartphone app, new coding strings show. Elon Musk has referred to Optimus as what will be the greatest-selling product of any kind of all time, and now, Tesla is getting ready for its launch.
Tesla’s smartphone app had several first-time mentions of the Optimus program, according to Tesla App Updates, who intially reported on the appearance. Here’s what they found:
A Dedicated “Robot” Phone Key Authentication
Tesla is working on a Bluetooth Low Energy, or BLE, authentication that is specifically for robots. This does not only apply to Optimus, though, as Robotaxi, which is Tesla’s autonomous ride-hailing platform, might also identify vehicles within the fleet as robots as well.
Tesla shows rapid teardown of Model S and X lines, paving the way for Optimus at Fremont
Essentially, pairing your phone as a key to anything Tesla identifies as a robot to a “whitelist” of authorized devices. Optimus, Robotaxi, or other products that fall into this category will only respond if the device trying to communicate with it is authorized.
This is a great security feature that will eliminate at least face-value and low-level threats.
Home Data Collection and System Alerts
This appears to be somewhat of a neural network for Optimus within your house. There will be a dedicated screen that asks for consent to collect both video and spatial data while Optimus performs in-home tasks. Everything from vacuuming, washing dishes, dusting, and other activities will be tracked.
There will also be a comprehensive alert system that will track everything from low battery to mechanical issues.
Other Changes
Most of the changes tracked in this particular app update are related to Tesla’s 2026 Summer Update, and include things such as image assets for new features, a preview of the new custom wraps feature, and other unique features.
You can check out our coverage on what is included with the 2026 Summer Update here:
Tesla reveals 2026 Summer Update with crazy fixes to Nav and more
Tesla (TSLA) Q2 2026 earnings results: miss on EPS, beat on revenue
Tesla is about to make parking in busy lots less stressful than ever
