News
Lincoln unveils Star Concept EV with plans for three fully electric vehicles by 2025
Lincoln unveiled its Star Concept EV earlier this week to showcase its “captivating, dynamic new face – revealing the brand’s vision for connected, electrified vehicles.” The Star Concept EV, which officially debuted on Wednesday, brings fresh design ideas and concepts to Lincoln’s brand language, which prepares to partially transition to electric powertrains with three full EVs by 2025.
“This is a shining example of what happens when we combine Lincoln luxury with flexible electrical architecture to create unimaginable experiences for customers,” Ford CEO Jim Farley said. “We can truly revolutionize how people engage with the brand and scale it across an exciting lineup of products that catapult Lincoln into the digital, connected age.”
Despite its futuristic design, the Star Concept encapsulates a new design language with Lincoln’s tenets of beauty, human, gliding, and sanctuary on full display. These design tenets will help Lincoln navigate a tough transition to EVs, as it plans to have three models powered by electric powertrains by 2025. An additional model is expected the following year.
Rivian's partnership with Ford will bring Lincoln its first luxury electric vehicle
“As Lincoln enters the next chapter in our transition to a zero-emissions future, the Lincoln Star Concept will lead the way for our portfolio of fully electric vehicles,” Lincoln President Joy Falotico said. “It is an excellent example of how we are redefining luxury for the next generation as we work to transform the vehicle into a third space – a true place of sanctuary – for our clients.”
How the Star Concept will lead Lincoln’s EV Efforts
The Lincoln Star Concept EV delivers modern aesthetics with intelligent features, but the company truly planned to make the vehicle “the ultimate sanctuary for clients.”
“Electrification is removing many traditional vehicle design constraints, allowing us to reimagine what a vehicle can be,” Chief Design Officer for Ford Motor Company Anthony Lo said. “The Lincoln Star is a study of experiences and themes that push the boundaries of Lincoln design – and it’s just the start.”
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- Lincoln Concept vehicle. Not available for purchase.
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- Lincoln Concept vehicle. Not available for purchase.
A hat-tip to Lincon’s evolving design language, the new Star Concept EV combines sleek and dynamic silhouette features with an immersive experience that is truly one-of-a-kind. Lincoln said that the vehicle, “whether stationary or in motion, the concept uses design, light, displays, scents, and sounds to create an immersive experience for clients. Intelligent technology that enhances comfort, productivity, and entertainment is deployed throughout to bring the romance of travel back in a uniquely Lincoln way.”
Electric vehicles in today’s market are more like smartphones than like automobiles, in a way. Lincoln highlights its focus on an intelligence system to capture the essence of a “digital assistant.” These assistive techniques and ideas for a more in-depth ownership experience will enable features like “connected vehicle-to-vehicle and infrastructure capabilities, as well as next-generation leading driver-assist features such as Help Me See and Park for Me,” Lincoln said.
A Sanctuary Vehicle
An increased focus on luxurious feel and comfort was obviously dialed in by Lincoln before releasing images of the Star Concept EV. The interior is partitioned into first and second-row areas, with premium, spacious, wraparound seating that offers comfortable reclined lounge posture and individual leg rests, providing a truly unmatched interior experience only seen in the most premium luxury vehicles. Horizontal display screens seamlessly integrated into the vehicle’s interior provide a unique and modern experience.
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- Lincoln Concept vehicle. Not available for purchase.
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- Lincoln Concept vehicle. Not available for purchase.
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- Lincoln Concept vehicle. Not available for purchase.
Lincoln is also introducing “rejuvenation moods:”
“Three rejuvenation moods join a new Lincoln Embrace sequence harmonizing audio, scenting and lighting throughout the cabin. A symphonic orchestration with crisp, high-resolution animations on the displays creates an immersive digital sanctuary. Whether stuck in traffic or just enjoying a few quiet moments after work, the rejuvenation moods provide a true sanctuary in a third space:
- Coastal Morning uses gentle, oceanic sounds, a fragrance of sea mist and the soft, warm glow of the sun with dynamic lighting throughout to replicate a stroll on the beach at sunrise
- Mindful Vitality is meant to reenergize the senses, with invigorating, upbeat audio, dynamic abstract artwork, soft, glowing lighting and a flowery fragrance throughout
- Evening Chill mirrors dusk using a calming night soundtrack coordinated with night sky video and an evergreen fragrance”
“The Lincoln Star Concept has been a true labor of love for our team and provides us with a platform to share and test our experiences and design philosophy with clients as we evolve our Quiet Flight DNA,” Kemal Curic, Lincoln’s Global Design Director, said. “Signifying transcendence through both space and time, the concept creates a sense of peace and serenity within an electric experience and previews what is to come from Lincoln.”
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Tesla is being sued by the family of the woman who was killed in a Texas crash involving a Model 3. The driver, who is also being sued, claimed the vehicle was operating on Autopilot mode, but Tesla executives have come out challenging that claim, stating that the driver of the vehicle overrode the system.
The lawsuit was filed by 76-year-old Martha Avila’s daughter and her husband, who allege a “design defect” involving a Tesla and a failure to warn. The suit alleges negligence against Tesla and the driver, Michael Butler.
Butler “stated he was operating with an automated driving assistance system engaged at the time of the crash,” the Harris County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. He showed no signs of intoxication and was cooperative, the Sheriff’s Office said, according to NBC News.
Just after reports of the crash and numerous headlines that immediately blamed Tesla’s Autopilot suite, both Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Head of AI Ashok Elluswamy challenged that. Musk said the crash made “no sense” given that Tesla Autopilot and Full Self-Driving do not travel at the speeds the door cameras captured the car traveling at, which Tesla says was 73 MPH.
Tesla finally clarifies fatal Texas crash, confirms driver manually overrode acceleration
Elluswamy also revealed that Tesla data showed Butler overrode the system by pressing the accelerator to 100%, and that the pedal was compressed fully even after the car had crashed. Tesla has not released this data to the public, likely because it is communicating with agencies like the NHTSA on an investigation.
The suit uses a Washington Post analysis of government data that “identified at least 17 fatal incidents linked to Tesla Autopilot.”
This is far from the first time an accident has been blamed on Autopilot. A fatal crash in Texas was blamed on Autopilot several years ago, but when Tesla released data to the NTSB, which was investigating the crash, Autopilot was not available where the crash occurred, and Autosteer was never enabled, meaning the car was manually controlled at the time of the accident.
“Application of the accelerator pedal was found to be as high as 98.8 percent,” the NTSB said in their findings. The highest recorded speed in the five seconds leading up to the impact was 67 miles per hour. The area where the crash occurred is residential, and Texas State laws… pic.twitter.com/XGD97NHVZ2
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) March 18, 2026
More information on the accident will be released as Tesla works with agencies to find the cause of the crash. From personal experience, it is hard to imagine Tesla Autopilot or FSD operating in this manner. It drives sometimes too cautiously in residential areas in parking lots, at least in my experience. Speeding happens, but at this rate in this type of area, it is hard to believe.
We look forward to more details being released with time.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has awarded the 2025-2026 Tesla Cybertruck crew cab pickup its highest honor: Top Safety Pick+. This marks the Cybertruck as the only full-size pickup to achieve this distinction in recent evaluations.
The award applies specifically to vehicles built after April 2025, following structural upgrades including front underbody reinforcements and footwell modifications.
These changes enabled strong performance in updated crash tests. The Cybertruck earned “Good” ratings in the small overlap front (driver and passenger sides), updated moderate overlap front, and updated side tests—core requirements for the Top Safety Pick+ designation.
It also secured acceptable or good headlights across trims and a “Good” rating for its standard front crash prevention system in pedestrian scenarios, along with acceptable or good performance in vehicle-to-vehicle testing.
The Cybertruck avoided every single pedestrian collision, including:
- Daytime child crossing
- Nightitime adult crossing
- Night parallel adult
In IIHS pedestrian front crash prevention tests, @Cybertruck avoided every single collision – daytime, nighttime & different angles
It was also the only pickup to earn Top Safety Pick+ (highest award) in 2026https://t.co/BNPqT9TbsW pic.twitter.com/M6nwDisBFK
— Tesla (@Tesla) June 24, 2026
In the large pickup category, competitors such as the Toyota Tundra received only a standard Top Safety Pick, while the Ford F-150 and Ram 1500 did not qualify for either award. This positions the Cybertruck as a standout in occupant protection and crash avoidance among its peers.
Credit: IIHS
Ironically, the same vehicle celebrated for superior U.S. safety performance remains banned from public roads in the United Kingdom and much of Europe. Regulators there cite the Cybertruck’s sharp external edges and highly rigid stainless-steel construction as failing pedestrian-protection standards. European and UK rules require rounded surfaces on protruding parts to minimize injury risk in collisions with vulnerable road users.
Critics also point to the truck’s substantial weight and unyielding body structure, which some argue could transfer more force to other vehicles or pedestrians rather than absorbing it.
Tesla’s engineering philosophy underpins the Cybertruck’s strong IIHS results. The vehicle features a distinctive stainless-steel exoskeleton made from ultra-hard 30X cold-rolled stainless steel. This provides exceptional structural rigidity and a robust safety cage that resists deformation in side impacts and rollovers.
Engineers designed integrated load paths to channel crash forces away from the occupant compartment while allowing controlled energy absorption in key zones. Post-April 2025 refinements to the front underbody further optimized performance in overlap crashes.
Complementing the passive structure is Tesla’s advanced active safety suite, including the standard Collision Avoidance Assist system with automatic emergency braking. This contributed directly to the vehicle’s strong front crash prevention scores. The skateboard platform and low center of gravity also enhance stability and handling, reducing the likelihood of certain crashes.
The IIHS recognition highlights how Tesla’s combination of high-strength materials, structural innovation, and software-driven safety systems can deliver top-tier protection in rigorous testing. While global regulatory differences on design and pedestrian interaction continue to limit the Cybertruck’s availability outside North America, its U.S. safety credentials set a new benchmark for full-size pickups.
Elon Musk
SpaceX’s newest Starmind will make earth data centers obsolete
Elon Musk confirmed Starmind as SpaceX’s AI satellite constellation name, targeting one million orbital compute nodes.
Elon Musk confirmed that Starmind will be the official name of SpaceX’s planned AI satellite constellation, following a trademark filing by xAI that surfaced earlier this week. Starmind is what’s being described to the FCC as a constellation of up to one million AI satellites
It’s worth noting that SpaceX’s Starlink communication satellite and Starmind are built on the same orbital infrastructure concept but serve entirely different purposes. Starlink is a connectivity network, with satellites receiving and relaying data between points on Earth, and functioning as a high-speed internet backbone in space. The satellites themselves do not process or think, and move information from one place to another, the same function a fiber cable performs underground.
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Starmind, on the other hand, is something completely different, and tather than moving data, its satellites would compute data through artificial intelligence and directly in orbit using onboard processors powered by large solar arrays. Where a Starlink satellite is essentially a very fast pipe, a Starmind satellite is a server. The practical implication is that Starmind would allow AI models to run inference, process queries, and generate outputs from space, then beam results down to users anywhere on Earth within milliseconds, and without the data ever needing to travel to a terrestrial data center.
Starship will be able to carry 30 to 50 AI1 satellites per launch, delivering the equivalent of dozens of server racks per flight, with no land acquisition, no power grid approval, and no cooling infrastructure required on the ground.
SpaceX is pursuing this new technology as terrestrial data centers are running into hard limits such as lack of physical space, community opposition, and power and water consumption at a scale that is increasingly difficult to permit. Space has unlimited solar power, natural vacuum cooling, and no zoning boards. Musk said in a June 8 video presentation that he expects space to become the lowest-cost location to deploy AI compute within two to three years. Two AI1 prototypes are scheduled to launch in early 2027, with volume production targeted for the end of that year at a new facility called Gigasat.
The real world applications Starmind enables extend well beyond powering Grok. A constellation of orbiting AI processors could run inference workloads for any paying customer, anywhere on Earth, with latency measured in milliseconds rather than the seconds associated with ground-based cloud routing across continents. Starmind, if it scales as described, would make SpaceX the landlord of AI compute the same way Starlink made it the landlord of satellite internet.
Tesla and driver sued by family of woman killed in Texas crash: what we know
Tesla Cybertruck is officially the safest pickup, IIHS says
