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Michigan becomes first state to approve self-driving cars for public roads
Michigan has become the first state to approve the sale of autonomous cars for use on public roads. Governor Rick Snyder signed the legislation making the sale of self-driving cars legal on December 9. The legislation is part of a package of four bills that cleared the Michigan senate last September. In addition to authorizing the sale of autonomous cars, the package includes funding for the American Center for Mobility — a research campus where autonomous driving technologies can be tested before being offered to the public.
Proposed American Center for Mobility Credit: Michigan Economic Development Corp
The new law permits the sale of vehicles similar to Google’s autonomous test car that has no steering wheel, accelerator, or brake pedal. “By establishing guidelines and standards for self driving vehicles, we’re continuing that tradition of excellence in a way that protects the public’s safety while at the same time allows the mobility industry to grow without overly burdensome regulations,” Gov. Snyder said at a bill signing ceremony. “We are still the heart and soul of the auto industry, make no mistake about that,” Snyder continued.
The driving force behind the legislative package — which was vigorously supported by Ford and General Motors — is a desire to stop the brain drain of engineers from Michigan to Silicon Valley and other West Coast technology centers like Seattle. The American Center for Mobility will be constructed at the GM’s former Willow Run powertrain factory and automotive testing area. Prior to that, Willow Run manufactured B-24 bombers during World War II and was an important part of a manufacturing structure that made America the so-called “Arsenal of Democracy.”
Willow Run already has some infrastructure that will be useful for testing autonomous cars. It has long straightaways for high speed testing. It features a three level interchange, a high speed loop, and several bridges and tunnels. In addition, it already has the infrastructure needed to test connected car systems and features mock-ups of urban, suburban, and rural environments, according to AutoBlog.
This legislation will turn “the eyes of the world once again on Michigan for its engineering and its research,” says Michigan senator Ken Horn, a co-sponsor on the legislative package. “It’s a different kind of car-building,” Horn said on the Senate floor prior to voting, “but car-building nonetheless.”
It is ironic that Michigan should be so intent on being a leader in some areas while remaining doggedly opposed to innovations in others. The determining factor seems to be what Ford and General Motors want, as they are the tail that wags the dog in Michigan. The state bitterly opposes Tesla’s direct to customer sales model, for instance.
On the one hand, the state has bought shares of Tesla Motors for its retirement fund. Tesla is also a significant presence in Michigan’s manufacturing sector after purchasing the former Michigan-based Riviera Tool Company. But despite all Tesla’s lobbying efforts, the state’s franchise dealers, with substantial support from General Motors, have managed to block any changes to state law that would permit Tesla to open showrooms in the state to sell its cars directly to the public.
The new law permitting the sale of self-driving cars highlights the current struggle between traditional car companies and technology companies. Leading up to next week’s Technology In Motion conference co-hosted by Automotive News, Mike Ableson, vice president of strategy and global portfolio planning for General Motors, said automakers need to look at “the innovations coming out of Silicon Valley from Apple and Google and Samsung and put boundaries around that, not just for the OEM but also for the consumer. How far into the car do you let them come?”
Frank Weith, director of connected services at Volkswagen Group of America, said automakers need to make sure they don’t lose their identity as new technologies play a larger and larger role in the cars of the future. “We don’t want to be just a commodity, selling bulk vehicles to Google or Apple or Uber,” Weith said. “We want to be part of the consumer experience and keep our product up there.”
Both Ableson and Weith pointedly refrain from mentioning Tesla, but the shadow of Elon Musk is clearly a background factor in their remarks.
Tesla’s Supercharger Diner in Los Angeles dominated the company’s global usage rankings after just one year, proving the concept is more than just a one-off novelty location that will fade away.
The performance could incite the company to build more locations, something that CEO Elon Musk has hinted at for some time.
Tesla’s Supercharger Diner delivered 21.2 GWh of energy in its first year of operation, the company’s head of Charging, Max de Zegher, revealed on X. Of the top 10 most utilized Supercharger locations in Tesla’s global infrastructure, the Diner in Los Angeles was the most used by drivers, and it wasn’t particularly close:
Tesla Diner opened exactly 1 year ago. Inspiring that futuristic places like this exist.
It’s our highest usage Supercharger in the world: 21.2 GWh delivered in a year, 1.6k sessions/day.
Top 10 Superchargers by energy delivered: https://t.co/9YvJ8lw696 pic.twitter.com/koB3AUJHws
— Max (@MdeZegher) July 21, 2026
On its launch day one year ago, nobody was too sure what the Tesla Diner would be about. It seemed like an interesting concept, and considering it had been in the works for years, it was a highly anticipated launch that many were looking forward to.
Based on its success, we could see additional Diners with Superchargers built throughout the United States, and potentially beyond. Musk has said on several occasions that the company would be willing to bring the Diner idea to more markets.
Tesla makes major change at Supercharger Diner amid epic demand
Of the markets that Musk has mentioned, both Palo Alto and Austin have come to be perceived as ideal selections. However, there are no concrete plans as of now to build new Supercharger Diners anywhere; the location on Santa Monica Boulevard will remain the exclusive spot to pick up Tesla-inspired eats, at least for the time being.
Tesla short sellers won big following the company’s massive fall on Wall Street after it reported subpar Earnings on Wednesday.
Tesla short sellers collected about $4.12 billion in single-day profits on Thursday, according to Bloomberg. Shares fell as much as 15 percent during Thursday’s session. It closed as one of the worst days for Tesla on Wall Street in the past three years.
Investors sold off the stock after Tesla said it would aggressively direct its spending toward AI and its Optimus robot project. The company had record revenues, which were driven by one of the strongest quarters in terms of vehicle deliveries in company history.
However, it missed EPS estimates by reporting just $0.33, a far cry from the $0.53 analysts expected.
S3 Partners reported that about 3 percent of Tesla’s outstanding stock is sold short. Managing Director at S3, Ihor Dusaniwsky, provided the short seller’s potential profit, as well as another figure: shorts have likely had paper gains of $8.92 billion this year, as Tesla shares are down 30 percent in 2026.
Tesla (TSLA) Q2 2026 earnings results: miss on EPS, beat on revenue
Tesla has burned short sellers many times in the past, but the company’s latest Earnings Call was a chance for those skeptics to taste some payback. Although the company gave some very transparent information regarding future projects, the rollout of Robotaxi, Optimus, and Semi, many investors took their profits on Thursday.
Notable short sellers like Michael Burry have been transparent about their skepticism around Tesla shares. Burry just revealed three weeks ago that he had opened up a new short on the stock, stating he shorted Tesla shares at $416.22. “Happy it jumped back to this level,” he said in a blog post.
At the time of publication, Tesla shares were down about 3 percent and the stock was trading at $309.92.
Tesla’s long-standing saga regarding its door handles and a manual release has entered its latest chapter, and as a result, a big change is coming.
On Friday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) denied Tesla’s petition that was seeking a defect investigation into roughly 180,000 Model 3 vehicles for an issue involving the emergency mechanical door release.
🚨 The NHTSA denied a petition from Tesla that would have thrown out concerns regarding its door handles.
NHTSA said Tesla’s petition did not present evidence of a safety-related defect warranting an investigation. The agency said a rulemaking process would be a better strategy. pic.twitter.com/j6PzUBM1mT
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) July 24, 2026
NHTSA said that Tesla’s petition did not present evidence of a safety-related defect in the door handles or their emergency releases. Instead, the agency determined that it would rather solve the issue of the lack of labeling or location of emergency mechanical door releases and the federal safety rules that govern them.
Essentially, the NHTSA wants to create and enforce rules that would require automakers to make emergency door latch releases more clearly labeled in a car. Despite a Tesla having manual door releases on all four passenger doors, many people do not know they exist or how they work.
Tesla addresses door handle complaints with simple engineering fix
In recent times, Tesla has faced some criticism involving its door handles, specifically because some occupants have reported that they are unable to exit their vehicles after losing power. The door handles on a Tesla are electronically operated, but in the event that the 12V battery dies, there is a manual release that can be used.
The NHTSA only identified a single complaint involving the mechanical door releases: a 2022 Model 3 owner said the release was concealed and unlabeled after the vehicle lost power after a front-end collision. It has also already started to create a separate rulemaking process to make emergency door-egress systems more obvious.
It should be noted that all Teslas have mechanical emergency door releases, but they are placed in various locations as the vehicles have aged and been redesigned from year to year. Refer to the safety manual for your vehicle if you have any confusion about where the emergency releases are and how they work.
Tesla’s Supercharger Diner probably just secured more locations
Tesla short sellers win big after shares fall after earnings
