Thailand’s automotive industry is changing for the better, and it took the COVID-19 pandemic to accelerate the shift to electrification.
Since the pandemic has started, shutdowns of automotive factories have allowed a shift to electric vehicles from combustion engines to take shape.
900,000 Thai citizens are employed in the automotive industry. Now, many of them are returning to work after a long layoff because of the pandemic.
Because so many automotive manufacturing facilities have been shut down for an extended period, there is a significant parts shortage. The lack of materials is favorable for a push toward EVs because the battery-powered cars require significantly fewer parts compared to their gas-powered counterparts. An EV uses between 1,500 and 3,000 parts per vehicle, while a combustion engine uses 30,000 total parts.
Therefore, auto part makers are forced to adapt to keep their doors open and reduce the loss of jobs.
Thai auto-parts manufacturers are focusing on other industries like medical equipment to keep the economy afloat as the pandemic could cause over 300,000 jobs to be lost, Reuters reported.
Research firm IHS Markit forecasts that Thailand’s automotive demand could be sliced in half to 1.14 million vehicles because of the virus.
Bangkok-based Siam Filter Products Limited has avoided laying off its employees by increasing the production of parts that are needed in other industries as large orders from automakers have decreased significantly because of the pandemic.
Instead of producing auto parts, Siam Filter has started creating industrial and medical filters, along with developing a new variation of facial mask that has been used to contain the spread of COVID-19 through the air.
Siam employee Kasem Tiankanon said that many of the company’s workers are concerned about the future, but the transition to producing new products is necessary. “We cannot just stay in the auto business. If you don’t adjust, you’ll die.”
Before the pandemic started removing employees from their posts, Thailand’s manufacturing companies were beginning to transition toward the production of electric vehicle parts to prepare for a sustainable future that the country’s government is pushing for.
The Thai Government was looking to increase the presence of EVs by 2030 to 750,000 vehicles as pollution concerns started to worry politicians. Asian-based automakers, like Honda and Nissan, are pushing toward electrification, and the two companies have received $888 million in investments to begin producing hybrid and battery-electric vehicles in an attempt to be sustainable.
Other companies, like China’s top pickup truck maker, Great Wall Motor Company, need more support to start producing EVs. Great Wall obtained two former General Motors plants in Thailand in February for SUV and pickup production. Still, the company’s Vice President told Reuters it needs government support to begin producing sustainable vehicles.
The Thai automotive industry has reached a breaking point. The lack of parts because of the halt in manufacturing has provided the country’s car industry with a parts shortage. However, the deficit can be maintained by producing electric vehicles instead of combustion engine cars.
Kiranee Tammapiban-udom of Maverick Consulting Group said, “The industry is approaching an inflection point. It will be left behind if policies do not accommodate EV manufacturing, its ecosystem, and consumption.”
Tesla revealed a major new Cybercab detail in a guide it released for First Responders, showing new territory in its beliefs and intentions for the ride-hailing-focused vehicle that entered production in April.
The First Responders Guide is released to give fire departments, paramedics, and other emergency personnel the proper guidance on what to do in the event of an accident, entrapment, or other situation that would require immediate attention.
On one of the pages of the First Responders Guide, Tesla revealed a stark detail about the Cybercab, which could help personnel enter the vehicle more easily in case of an emergency.
Tesla Cybercab has one important piece that AI4 cars might need for FSD
It shows Tesla has no intention of releasing any Cybercab units that were initially proposed for ride-hailing services for the general public with any manual controls, meaning a steering wheel or pedals:
“A Cybercab equipped with steering wheel, brake pedal, and an acceleration pedal is typically an engineering or test vehicle, and operates at SAE Level 2 autonomy. Cybercab is not typically equipped with a steering wheel or acceleration and brake pedals.”
New official Cybercab documentation from Tesla:
“A Cybercab equipped with steering wheel, brake pedal, and an acceleration pedal is typically an engineering or test vehicle, and operates at SAE Level 2 autonomy. Cybercab is not typically equipped with a steering wheel or… https://t.co/P6ut1mZyzr pic.twitter.com/yq6skl9s2J
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) June 27, 2026
This is a major development for those who continue to believe Tesla planned to release the Cybercab with any sort of manual controls so that passengers could take over if needed. However, when Tesla started manufacturing production versions of the Cybercab in Giga Texas earlier this year, they were spotted without a steering wheel or pedals.
It essentially confirms the company has no intentions of bringing manual controls to the car’s production versions. Some have argued that the likelihood of Tesla having something
There still are some Cybercab units out there with a steering wheel and pedals, and as Tesla said, these cars are engineering or test vehicles, which have Safety Monitors on board to help the car out of a precarious situation or emergency.
Tesla released the Full Self-Driving v14 ‘Lite’ suite to owners of Hardware 3 or AI3 vehicles today, adding several new features to the vehicles that were once believed to be capable of unsupervised self-driving.
Now, Tesla has released this modified suite to older Tesla vehicles, adding plenty of new features and capabilities.
Here are the full release notes for the suite:
- Distilled the intelligence from HW4 V14 into HW3. This allows HW3 to directly learn how to handle scenarios using HW4 V14 as a guide. This process unlocks the improvements that have been made to HW4 including Reinforcement Learning (RL) and offline models for HW3.
- Improved both proactive and reactive responsiveness across a wide variety of categories including navigation handling, merges and forks, pedestrian interactions, traffic lights, and vehicle cut-in scenarios.
- Improved general comfort in nominal scenarios through fewer false slowdowns, smoother steering and more consistent lane centering.
- Introduced parking, unparking, and reversing capabilities.
- Added Arrival Options for you to select where FSD should park: in a Parking Lot, on the Street, in a Driveway, or at the Curbside.
- Speed Profiles are now available at all times, to further customize driving style preference.
These improvements, according to Tesla’s Head of AI, Ashok Elluswamy, help distill the driving behavior from AI4’s v14 series into both the camera and compute configurations of AI3.
Tesla Full Self-Driving v14 ‘Lite’ for older cars finally gets released
He added:
“It includes destination options and speed profiles on city roads, but more importantly significantly improved safety. We hope you’ll enjoy it, once the build ships wide.”
FSD v14 Lite is now rolling out to AI3 early-access customers. Based on the feedback, will rollout to more customers over the next few weeks.
This build distills the driving behavior from AI4’s v14 series into both the camera and compute config of AI3. It includes destination…
— Ashok Elluswamy (@aelluswamy) June 29, 2026
Tesla will continue to roll out the v14 Lite suite more widely in the coming weeks, the company said.
Tesla has finally released its Full Self-Driving v14 ‘Lite’ suite for older cars that equip the Hardware 3 or AI 3 chip, which have not been able to handle the newest versions of the company’s driver assistance software.
Tesla officially started releasing the v14 Lite suite to owners in the Early Access Program last night. The company’s Head of AI, Ashok Elluswamy, said that the rollout will continue over the next few weeks. The build distills the driving behavior from AI4’s v14 series into both the camera and compute configurations of an AI3 car.
🚨 Tesla is releasing v14 Lite for AI3 owners who are in early-access
This will give AI3 cars the ability to experience new FSD features like parking preferences. https://t.co/pp6Q5FOKoz pic.twitter.com/tqexMB8SVy
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) June 29, 2026
It also includes a variety of new features that were available to AI4 cars running v14, including:
- Start Self-Driving from Park
- Arrival and Parking Options
- Speed Profiles
The release is highly anticipated because those owners with AI3 vehicles were early adopters into the FSD platform and were promised that their cars would be capable of achieving Full Self-Driving.
However, Tesla CEO Elon Musk admitted during the company’s recent Q1 Earnings Call that these vehicles would not be capable of achieving unsupervised Full Self-Driving, which is what Tesla had originally said.
Owners were not pleased with this answer, or the idea that their commitment to buying the suite outright for thousands of dollars would not yield the ability to drive without operating the car. Tesla gave some solutions for this, including a discount on a new car, or an upgrade to an AI4 or AI5 self-driving computer and new, upgraded cameras.
Tesla owners do not seem pleased with these options, as they require giving the company more money.
Nevertheless, it is important to note that Tesla came through for owners here by releasing v14 Lite before the end of Q2, something it had promised owners during the previous Earnings Call. Tesla has had trouble keeping up with timelines, but this is a big achievement for the team.
Tesla reveals huge Cybercab detail in new guide for First Responders
Tesla Full Self-Driving v14 ‘Lite’ Release Notes: new capabilities and features
