Lyft’s ride-sharing service is challenging its drivers to switch to electric vehicles by incentivizing their use with a new incentive program.
Lyft is offering a $150 cash bonus to drivers who complete 50 rides with pickups in the State of California. The only stipulation is you must use one of the company’s qualifying EV models to qualify.
Drivers can win up to $8,100 by earning the $150 bonus every week until the challenge closes on December 29, 2024. Lyft said approved drivers in the State of California must have one of the company’s qualifying EVs registered to their account by December 31, 2023.
The program aligns with Lyft’s EV thesis, which was announced in June 2020. The company committed to a platform consisting of 100 percent EVs “or other zero-emission technologies” within ten years, which would put the goal just eight years away.
“Switching to electric vehicles is not just good for the planet; it’s good for people – riders, drivers, and the communities they serve,” the company said. “By helping to solve one of the biggest pieces of the climate challenge, we believe we can provide direct economic benefits to rideshare drivers and environmental benefits to communities most heavily impacted by smog and asthma.”
The EV incentive challenge is not the first development Lyft has made in its quest for electrification. However, it could be the most productive. Lyft said in its press release for the program that the challenge is geared towards helping drivers sell their gas cars and drive EVs instead.
Along with the weekly bonuses, Lyft is offering several other advantages through the challenge, including fast-charging discounts, Cashback on public charging, and home charging discounts through Wallbox and COIL.
“Electrifying our transportation network is a crucial step in helping reverse the negative impacts of climate change,” Lyft’s Director of Sustainability Paul Augustine said. “We know many drivers on Lyft want to switch to EVs, which is why we’re focused on addressing the biggest barriers they face in transitioning: upfront costs and access to charging. These offerings are the latest in many steps we are taking to support drivers in switching to an EV on Lyft.”
Lyft will also add thousands of Hyundai, Kia, Ford, and Polestar EVs to its Express Drive rental program next year. The Express Drive program allows people to earn by renting a car through Lyft in collaboration with Flexdrive and Hertz.
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News
Tesla is preparing to take on autonomy’s final boss
India’s city streets are notorious for their complexity and congestion.

If there is any sign that Tesla is now confident about its self-driving program, it would be this. As could be seen on Tesla’s Careers page, the company is now hiring Autopilot Vehicle Operators in Delhi and Mumbai, India.
As far as real-world traffic is concerned, one could argue that India’s city streets are the final boss of autonomous driving systems due to their complexity and congestion.
Tesla job openings
As per Tesla in its recent job openings, Prototype Vehicle Operators will be responsible for driving an engineering vehicle for extended periods and conducting dynamic audio and camera data collection for testing and training purposes. In both its job listings for Mumbai and Delhi, Tesla noted that successful applicants will be gathering real-world data on the weekends and around the clock.
Considering the job openings in India, Tesla seems to be intent on rolling out its advanced driver-assist systems like FSD in the country. This is quite interesting, as Tesla is not hiring Prototype Vehicle Operators in other territories that recently launched, such as the Philippines. Perhaps Tesla intends to tackle FSD’s final boss of sorts before rolling out FSD in other territories.
FSD’s rollout
Tesla’s autonomous driving program uses the company’s Full Self-Driving system, which is currently available on vehicles in North America and China. Tesla, however, has a more advanced version of FSD called Unsupervised FSD, which is currently being used in vehicles that are part of the Robotaxi pilot in Austin and the Bay Area.
Elon Musk has also recently announced on X that Tesla will be releasing FSD V14 in the coming weeks. He also shared a number of improvements that can be expected from FSD V14. “The FSD release in about 6 weeks will be a dramatic gain with a 10X higher parameter count and many other improvements. It’s going through training & testing now. Once we confirm real-world safety of FSD 14, which we think will be amazing, the car will nag you much less,” Musk wrote in his post.
News
Tesla Sweden finally makes IF Metall union give up 600-day strike
Tesla and the union have opened the door to resolutions that do not involve a collective agreement.

After nearly two years of industrial action and sympathy strikes, Swedish labor union IF Metall has stated that it is softening its stance in its dispute with Tesla. With this, Tesla and the union have opened the door to resolutions that do not involve a collective agreement.
Union chair Marie Nilsson told Sveriges Radio’s Ekot that while the preferred outcome remains a signed agreement, “other alternative solutions” are now on the table.
Union reconsiders rigid demands
The strike, which began over 600 days ago, has been marked by a series of strategic moves from both sides. IF Metall blocked Tesla’s access to license plates by targeting mail delivery, while Tesla bypassed the restrictions by importing vehicles in bulk through German ferries to Trelleborg, among other strategies.
Despite the high-profile tactics, the number of active strikers has been relatively small, just about 60 in total, as noted in a CarUp report. Tesla Sweden has also maintained that it does not intend to bow down to the union’s demands. Over the 600-day strike, Tesla Sweden has adapted its operations to get around the union and its allies’ strikes.
Possible paths to ultimate resolution
Nilsson, for her part, noted that IF Metall is now willing to explore alternatives, such as embedding industry-standard terms directly into Tesla’s employment contracts or shifting Tesla’s Swedish operations to a company that already has a collective agreement.
“You can do it in different ways. The easiest thing would be to sign a collective agreement. But when that is not possible, we have to find other alternative solutions as well, so we are open to discussion,” Nilsson stated.
IF Metall, if any, has acknowledged that Tesla has already improved working conditions in Sweden since the dispute began. Tesla Sweden has argued that its working conditions are already better than union standards, which is reportedly one of the reasons why very few company employees actually participated in IF Metall’s strike.
“There have been conversations throughout the journey where we compared our conditions. Tesla has adjusted details without going into details, they want to be a good employer, it’s about wages and conditions,” Nilsson stated.
Cybertruck
Tesla Cybertruck is getting a big security upgrade
“Cybertruck was not 100% carryover in execution like S3XY, so it required work.”

Tesla confirmed today that a massive Cybertruck security feature is on the way soon, and it is one that owners have been asking about for a long time.
Like all Teslas, Cybertruck has the excellent security feature known as “Sentry Mode.” The feature essentially turns your Tesla into a moving security camera, recording any event that happens nearby.
It has been used to solve crimes such as vandalism and burglary, and even used by police departments to solve other, high-profile crimes.
Tesla quietly added this extra Sentry Mode feature to deter vandals
However, Cybertruck has been missing one key feature of Sentry Mode: the use of the B-Pillar camera has not been enabled, leaving one of the most vandalized and targeted vehicles in the United States with a weakness.
One person who has been vocal about it is Tesla Cybertruck enthusiast Greggertruck, who has been pushing for answers for months. He finally got his answer from Cybertruck Vehicle Program Manager Siddhant Awasthi:
“It will come soon! Cybertruck was not 100% carryover in execution like SX3Y so it required work. Team has finished work on this and just need to make sure it’s validated and runs reliably (which it should for its feature).”
It will come soon! Cybertruck was not 100% carryover in execution like SX3Y so it required work. Team has finished work on this and just need to make sure it’s validated and runs reliably (which it should for its feature)
— Siddhant Awasthi (@siddawa) August 14, 2025
It sounds as if Tesla’s issue was something they similarly experienced when deploying Full Self-Driving to Cybertruck. The other four Tesla vehicles were able to use FSD because they’re all relatively similar in ride height and overall functionality. They share tons of similarities.
Cybertruck did not get FSD right away because Tesla still had to work on the differences between it and the other cars in the lineup. As Awasthi said, “Cybertruck was not 100% carryover in execution like S3XY, so it required work.”
Tesla Cybertruck FSD release expected for Sept, Park Assist to come first
It sounds as if Tesla is close to resolving some of the more intricate details of adding the functionality, and it was just a matter of time before it figured out the issue.
The release of the B-Pillar camera being active during Sentry Mode events on Cybertruck will likely come in a software update in the coming weeks.
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