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Mercedes-Benz apologizes for ‘red hot’ AMG GLA 45 ad amid Europe’s summer heat wave

(Photo: Mercedes-Benz Kundencerter/Twitter)

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Veteran automaker Mercedes-Benz has issued an apology on Twitter following a gaffe in a recent ad for one of its vehicles, the Mercedes-AMG GLA 45 4MATIC. The apology comes amidst a strong negative reaction from users of the social media platform, many of whom found the company’s framing of the vehicle as a “red hot” addition to this summer’s record-setting temperatures as insensitive. 

Mercedes-Benz’s advertisement for the vehicle featured a variant of the GLA 45 4MATIC in a stunning red finish. As a way to emphasize the car’s attributes, the automaker related its shade to the sweltering summer heat. “If this summer wasn’t warm enough already, the Mercedes-AMG GLA 45 4MATIC will heat things up even more with this red-hot finish,” the carmaker wrote.  

The wordplay was not appreciated by a notable number of social media users, many of whom called out the company for the seemingly tone-deaf nature of the tweet. This year’s summer has been particularly brutal, after all, with Europe’s scorching heat wave in July being 3 degrees Celsius hotter than usual. Scientists have noted that the intense heat experienced in the region was exacerbated by climate change, as noted in a CNN report. 

So notable were the effects of July’s summer heat wave in Europe that last Wednesday, a Eurostar train traveling from Belgium to London broke down and trapped 40 passengers in 40 degrees Celsius heat without air conditioning. In France, public events and schools were canceled as temperatures reached alarming levels. In Spain, the heat helped exacerbate a 10,000-acre wildfire, which was one of the worst to hit Catalonia in decades. 

July’s heat wave was felt across the European region, with the UK, Belgium, and the Netherlands recording their highest temperatures to date last month. Germany, where Mercedes-Benz is based, experienced the same intense heat, with temperatures topping 40 degrees. According to a report from the World Weather Attribution group, temperatures in the region would have been between 1.5-3 degrees lower without climate change.  

Amidst the strong reaction to its advertisement, Mercedes-Benz has posted an apology, admitting that the tweet was not its “finest hour.” “Folks, that was really not our finest hour. We apologize sincerely. We’re working hard on the transformation of our car fleet. We aim for CO2-neutral mobility,” the company wrote. The automaker also included a link to its Ambition2039 initiative, a plan for the company to become carbon-neutral in 20 years. 

Daimler, Mercedes-Benz’s parent company, is currently in hot water in Germany, with the company being on the sights of the country’s vehicle authority, the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) over the alleged use of illegal shut-off devices for the diesel-powered Mercedes-Benz GLK 220, a popular SUV, as well as other vehicles equipped with the automaker’s OM642 and OM651 engines. The KBA’s investigation of Daimler has resulted in a recall of 60,000 units of the GLK, though the number could be as high as 700,000 vehicles if other vehicles using the OM642 and OM651 engines are also found to have used the emissions-cheating device.

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Simon is an experienced automotive reporter with a passion for electric cars and clean energy. Fascinated by the world envisioned by Elon Musk, he hopes to make it to Mars (at least as a tourist) someday. For stories or tips--or even to just say a simple hello--send a message to his email, simon@teslarati.com or his handle on X, @ResidentSponge.

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Elon Musk

Tesla FSD takes owner on a 20,000+ mile joy ride

Tesla owner David Moss just pushed his intervention free FSD streak past 20,000 miles total.

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Tesla FSD 14.3 [Credit: TESLARATI)

Tesla Model 3 owner David Moss has spent the better part of eight months turning his vehicle into a rolling stress test for Full Self-Driving, and this week he pushed his single, continuous FSD streak past 20,000 miles without a human intervening.

Moss, a Tacoma, Washington resident who sells LiDAR scanning equipment for a living, first drew wide attention in December 2025 when he logged 10,000 consecutive miles on FSD v14.2. Days later he drove from the Tesla Diner in Los Angeles to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, covering 2,732 miles in two days and 20 hours with zero disengagements, the first verified coast to coast autonomous drive in Tesla’s history. Tesla even featured the trip as an official customer story in March. That original streak eventually reached 12,961 miles across 30 states before ending in rural Wisconsin in January, when snow and single digit temperatures forced Moss to take over.

Tesla FSD successfully completes full coast-to-coast drive with zero interventions

He started over, and this run has gone further. In late May, Moss drove 3,760 miles across Canada with two companions, from Horseshoe Bay in Vancouver to a Tesla showroom in Halifax, again without a single intervention, a trip Tesla AI software VP Ashok Elluswamy publicly congratulated him for on X. In June, he pushed the same unbroken streak south, aiming to link the Canadian border to the Mexican border, and crossed 10,000 miles on Tesla’s newly added in car streak counter along the way, the first driver to do so since Tesla began showing confetti animations for the feature.


It’s worth noting that every mile is logged through the FSD Database, a community run tracker built by Tesla influencer Omar Qazi, well known as @WholeMars on X, that pulls telemetry straight from the car and records disengagements down to a tenth of a mile. That verification is what separates Moss’s numbers from casual claims on social media.

The streak itself is a fairly recent addition to Tesla’s software. FSD v14.2 introduced a Self Driving Stats panel tracking the ratio of autonomous to manual miles, and v14.3.4 added the live streak counter in June, which resets the moment a driver brakes, wrenches the wheel or cancels navigation. Reaching 20,000 miles on that counter means a single Tesla drove itself through countless highways, city grids, construction zones and Supercharger stalls without a single reset.

Moss has said the goal was never to set a record for its own sake, but to show, mile by verified mile, what the software can already do.

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Elon Musk explains what happens when AI outsmarts all of us

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Elon Musk told The Economist that artificial intelligence will likely surpass the combined intelligence of every human on Earth within about five years, and that humans may not remain in charge once that happens. In a wide-ranging interview with editor-in-chief Zanny Minton Beddoes, recorded at Giga Texas for the outlet’s Insider series, Musk compared the widening gap between AI and human intelligence to the gap between humans and chimpanzees.

“It’s hard to imagine that the chimpanzee would be in charge,” he said, addressing what happens to human authority once AI moves far beyond us.

Elon Musk reiterates his most optimistic prediction yet with “UHI” forecast

Musk’s timeline stretches out from there. Five years for AI to out-think humanity combined, ten years before humans lose meaningful control, and by 2036, he says, money itself may stop mattering.

Musk notes that if robots and AI produce more goods and services than people could ever consume, currency loses its purpose. He told Beddoes that governments could respond with direct payments, what he called “universal high income,” a term he first used in an X post last August describing a future where “everyone will have the best medical care, food, home, transport and everything else.”

He also floated a more surprising prediction that deflation, and not inflation, would become the bigger economic problem, since expanding the supply of goods and services faster than the money supply grows would push prices down rather than up.

None of this is new territory for Musk, who has spent years describing an “age of abundance” built on Optimus and autonomous vehicles. What’s notable is the timing. The interview landed the same week Tesla shares dropped roughly 19 percent following a second quarter earnings report that beat on revenue but missed badly on profit, and as SpaceX stock continues to slide from its post-IPO peak.

Musk’s own net worth has fallen close to $700 billion since mid-June, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, even as he describes a future where personal wealth stops being the point.
Musk did not dodge the risk side of the equation either. He put the odds of AI contributing to human extinction somewhere in the 10 to 20 percent range, then arrived at what he called his “philosophical conclusion” since the technology cannot realistically be stopped and the arguably better response is to keep building it and hope the outcome leans toward abundance rather than catastrophe. “I’ve gone from exhilaration to terror regarding AI,” he told Beddoes, “even intraday.”

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Tesla adds new ‘Traction Control Modes’ for better handling in any conditions

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla is adding a new “Traction Control Modes” feature to its cars for better handling in any conditions. These features will roll out to the Model 3 and Model Y, the two vehicles in Tesla’s lineup that typically do not have drive modes for various conditions.

Tesla did include this in the Model S and Model X, as well as the Cybertruck.

The new feature will roll out with the 2026 Summer Update, which Tesla announced last week and subsequently started rolling out to some owners today. The Summer Update is the latest iteration of the usual four seasonal releases the company rolls out throughout the year. These releases typically feature some owner-requested features, as well as improvements to things like the Full Self-Driving suite.

Tesla reveals 2026 Summer Update with crazy fixes to Nav and more

This release is no different. Among the changes are improvements to Navigation, new customization options with wraps and how they can be shared and stored, more functionality with the Tesla smartphone app, and new gamification with self-driving.

However, Tesla announced today that it was adding another feature to the Summer Update. Traction Control Modes will now be available with the release

Tesla describes them:

“Choose from three updated Traction Control Modes: Auto for normal driving conditions, Slippery Surface for icy or wet roads, Stuck Assist when stuck in snow, mud, or sand. The mode resets to Auto at the start of each drive. To select, go to Controls > Dynamics > Traction Control Mode.”

The use of these modes will help improve a Tesla’s overall performance in less-than-ideal conditions. Typically, these traction control modes monitor wheel speed through sensors and track engine power to adjust responsiveness in various conditions.

These drive modes are not an ultimate solution to all driving conditions; just because there is a “Stuck Assist,” doesn’t mean your Tesla will dig itself out of a foot-and-a-half trench during a blizzard. It is important to remember that some of these scenarios also require some assistance from the driver. For example, driving in sand requires tires to be aired down significantly to increase traction and control.

However, this will be a welcome addition for those who use the Full Self-Driving suite and might not be convinced of its performance in adverse conditions. Some of us prefer to be in control in rain, snow, or ice, which is totally understandable. However, adjusting the Traction Control Mode while utilizing FSD in snow, rain, or ice could increase confidence and overall experience.

Tesla’s Summer Update is already rolling out to some owners, so it should be making its way to most of the fleet over the next several weeks. The Spring Update rolled out at a very conservative pace, so if you don’t have it by the end of August, don’t be too upset. It might just be Tesla’s method.

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