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UAW strikes: GM shuts down Kansas plant and lays off 2,000 workers

Credit: GM

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General Motors (GM) has shut down a manufacturing plant in Kansas and laid off the site’s roughly 2,000 workers after the automaker stated plans to do so last week. The news comes as the latest amidst strikes from the United Auto Workers (UAW) union targeting Ford, GM and Stellantis.

Following the UAW strikes at a GM assembly plant in Wentzville, Missouri last Friday, the automaker said on Wednesday that it doesn’t have work available for its Fairfax, Kansas workers, according to NBC News. GM has also said it won’t be able to offer unemployment benefits to the workers “due to the specific circumstances of this situation.”

“The fundamental reality is that the UAW’s demands can be described in one word — untenable,” wrote GM President Mark Reuss in an op-ed for Detroit Free Press on Wednesday. “As the past has clearly shown, nobody wins in a strike. We have delivered a record offer. That is a fact.”

Roughly 12,700 workers from GM, Ford and Stellantis walked off the job after previous union contracts expired last Thursday. The UAW strikes have targeted key manufacturing plants, asking workers to leave the premises without any notice to affect the automakers’ larger supply chains.

Jeep, Chrysler and Dodge owner Stellantis announced plans to lay off 68 workers at an Ohio facility, warning of another 300 layoffs in Indiana if the situation does not improve.

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Additional layoffs are happening at a Stellantis machining plant in Perrysburg, Ohio, outside of Toledo, due to “storage constraints.” The company predicts a similar situation at a transmission and casting plant in Kokomo, Indiana.

Ford also laid off around 600 employees at a plant in Wayne, Michigan.

Tesla’s Elon Musk invites UAW to hold a union vote “at their convenience”

UAW President Shawn Fain has warned that the union will broaden strikes on Friday if the automakers don’t make “serious progress” on creating a new contract. Roughly 150,000 workers total are represented by the UAW.

Currently, the UAW is asking for pay increases of between 36 and 40 percent over a four-year period, a 32-hour work week, significant changes to the time it takes to earn top wages and more. The automakers have offered contracts featuring roughly 20 percent wage hikes over four years.

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Strikes have so far hit GM’s full-size van and midsize truck plant in Wentzville, a Ford Bronco SUV and Ranger midsize truck plant in Wayne, Michigan, and a Stellantis plant in Toledo, Ohio, which produces the Jeep Wrangler and Gladiator.

According to Reuters, the three automakers remained in a negotiation stand-off with the UAW on Wednesday, ahead of the union’s plans to escalate strikes to other facilities. Analysts think that the next wave of strikes could target production facilities building more profitable pickups, such as the Chevy Silverado from GM and the Dodge Ram from Stellantis.

Ford reached a deal to prevent a mass walkout of Canadian workers on Tuesday after the union Unifor threatened a strike of its roughly 5,600 workers across three plants in the country.

The agreement has still yet to be ratified by Unifor, and Ford Canada said it wouldn’t disclose details about the deal. However, it reportedly included improved wages and pensions along with added support for transitioning to electric vehicles (EVs).

While EV manufacturer Tesla isn’t unionized and is not directly involved with the strikes, transitioning to EVs has been a main concern for the unions, as EV production requires fewer employees. As such, the UAW seeks to increase workers’ stability amidst the EV transition.

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Tesla only builds EVs, so unlike the “Big 3,” the automaker won’t have to phase out gas car production. Some predict that the strikes could benefit the EV maker, while others argue that ripple effects from the strikes could turn out to be a negative across the auto industry.

You can watch UAW President Shawn Fain’s update below, posted on Tuesday, in which he warns of the upcoming Friday deadline.

What are your thoughts? Let me know at zach@teslarati.com, find me on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send your tips to us at tips@teslarati.com.

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Zach is a renewable energy reporter who has been covering electric vehicles since 2020. He grew up in Fremont, California, and he currently lives in Colorado. His work has appeared in the Chicago Tribune, KRON4 San Francisco, FOX31 Denver, InsideEVs, CleanTechnica, and many other publications. When he isn't covering Tesla or other EV companies, you can find him writing and performing music, drinking a good cup of coffee, or hanging out with his cats, Banks and Freddie. Reach out at zach@teslarati.com, find him on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send us tips at tips@teslarati.com.

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Tesla Full Self-Driving (Supervised) v14.1.7 real-world drive and review

On an hour-long drive, we tested v14.1.7 and tested its new capabilities, which are mostly overall performance and smoothness fixes rather than integrations of new features that are unknown to routine FSD users.

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tesla interior operating on full self driving
Credit: TESLARATI

Tesla started rolling out its Full Self-Driving (Supervised) v14.1.7 suite last night to owners, and there are several improvements to note within the new update that are at least the start of fixes to highly-mentioned issues.

On an hour-long drive, we tested v14.1.7 and tested its new capabilities, which are mostly overall performance and smoothness fixes rather than integrations of new features that are unknown to routine FSD users. However, there are a handful of shortcomings that are still present within the suite, which are not something that will be fixed within the span of a single update.

For what it is, Full Self-Driving does an excellent job of navigating — once you get it on its correct path. Our issues tend to be confined to navigation, routing, and the decision-making process that has to do with the way the car wants to get you to your destination. There were five things that happened on our first drive with v14.1.7 that are worth mentioning. The full drive will be available at the bottom of this article.

Navigation and Routing Still Seems to Be a Major Challenge

In past content, we’ve discussed the issues with routing and navigation, and how a Tesla chooses its path. Most noticeably, these issues occur in the same areas; for me, it’s my local Supercharger. My 2026 Model Y with AI4 continues to pick less-than-optimal routes out of the Supercharger, and in this instance, it actually chose to turn down a road, pull over, and give me the wheel, essentially asking, “Hey, can you get me on the right track here?”

This is still my biggest bone to pick with FSD, even more so than some of the bonehead moves it’s made in tougher scenarios (mostly parking lots with very limited visibility due to shrubs being planted in the worst possible locations). It’s rare that it happens, but this particular Supercharger has been a true thorn in the side of my Tesla.

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This is not an issue that is confined to v14.1.7, or even v14 in general. Unfortunately, it is an issue that has persisted throughout my ownership experience, as well as during Demo Drives.

Stuttering and Hesitation at Intersections was Non-Existent

There was some confusion regarding my language in a recent article where I stated Tesla is confronting the issues that have been reported regarding the “stabbing” with braking.

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“Tesla began the v14.1.4 launch last night, which included minor improvements and addressed brake-stabbing issues many owners have reported. In my personal experience, the stabbing has been awful on v14.1.3, and is a major concern.

However, many things have improved, and only a couple of minor issues have been recurring. Many of the issues v13 addressed are no longer an issue, so Tesla has made significant progress.”

It has undoubtedly improved, but it is not resolved.

With that being said, I did not feel a single example of hesitation, stabbing, or stuttering at a single intersection or instance when it has been present in the past. CEO Elon Musk said it would be fixed with v14.2, so it seems like Tesla is well on its way to resolving it.

Proper Handling of Crosswalks

It’s crazy how many people still do not stop for pedestrians at clearly-marked crosswalks. I had two instances of it happen during the drive, with FSD stopping for those pedestrians both times.

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Human drivers did not stop either time:

Handled Merging onto a Highway with an Inconsiderate Driver Well

Routinely, drivers will get over into the left lane, if they are able, to allow merging traffic to safely enter the freeway. It does not always happen this way, and it’s not required by law.

Not exclusive to v14.1.7, as many past iterations would have done this as well, but it was nice to watch the vehicle slow down to let that traffic pass. It then entered the freeway safely, and the entire maneuver was well done.

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Took an Appropriate Move with Oncoming Foot Traffic and Debris in a Tight Alleyway

This was probably the most on-edge I was during the drive because: 1) FSD chose to take an unnecessary alleyway, and 2) there was a box and oncoming pedestrians.

The car was aware of everything that was going on. In order to avoid the box, it would have had to turn toward the pedestrians, and in order to avoid the pedestrians, it would have had to turn into the box.

It chose to wait patiently, and after the pedestrians were past the car, FSD chose to proceed.

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Closing Thoughts

Overall, we’re very impressed with v14.1.7, and we think this is Tesla’s best iteration of the FSD suite yet, as it should be since it’s the newest version available. Tesla’s attention to detail regarding the brake stabbing is really well done, and it seems evident that a complete fix is on its way.

Other than the navigation issue at the very beginning, which was not an intervention, at least in my opinion, this was a really successful drive.

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Elon Musk debunks report claiming xAI raised $15 billion in funding round

xAI also responded with what appeared to be an automated reply, stating, “Legacy Media Lies.”

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Credit: xAI

Elon Musk has debunked a report claiming his AI startup xAI had raised $15 billion from a funding round. Reports of the alleged funding round were initially reported by CNBC, which cited sources reportedly familiar with the matter.

CNBC’s report

The CNBC story cited unnamed sources that claimed that the new capital injection would help fund GPUs that xAI needs to train its large language model, Grok. The news outlet noted that following the funding round, xAI was valued at $200 billion. 

Artificial intelligence startups have been raising funds from investors as of late. OpenAI raised $6.6 billion in October, valuing the startup at a staggering $500 billion. Reuters also reported last month that OpenAI was preparing for an IPO with a valuation of $1 trillion. Elon Musk’s xAI is looking to catch up and disrupt OpenAI, as well as its large language model, ChatGPT, which has become ubiquitous.

Elon Musk and xAI’s responses

In his response on X, Elon Musk simply stated that the CNBC story was “false.” He did not, however, explain if the whole premise of the publication’s article was fallacious, or if only parts of it were inaccurate. 

Amusingly enough, xAI also issued a response when asked about the matter by Reuters, which also reported on the story. The artificial intelligence startup responded with what appeared to be an automated reply, which read, “Legacy Media Lies.”

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xAI, founded in July 2023 as an alternative to OpenAI and Anthropic, has aggressively built out infrastructure to support its flagship products, including Grok and its recently launched Grokipedia platform. The company is developing its Colossus supercomputer in Memphis, which is heralded as one of the world’s largest supercomputer clusters.

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Tesla reportedly testing Apple CarPlay integration: report

Citing insiders reportedly familiar with the matter, Bloomberg News claimed that CarPlay is being trialed by the EV maker internally.

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla is reportedly testing Apple’s CarPlay software for its vehicles, marking a major shift after years of resisting the tech giant’s ecosystem. 

Citing insiders reportedly familiar with the matter, Bloomberg News claimed that CarPlay is being trialed by the EV maker internally. The move could help Tesla gain more market share, as surveys have shown many buyers consider CarPlay as an essential feature when choosing a car.

Not the usual CarPlay experience

Bloomberg claimed that Tesla’s tests involve a rather unique way to integrate CarPlay. Instead of replacing the vehicle’s entire infotainment display, Tesla’s integration will reportedly feature a CarPlay window on the infotainment system. This limited approach will ensure that Tesla’s own software, such as Full Self-Driving’s visuals, remains dominant. 

The feature is expected to support wireless connectivity as well, bringing Tesla in line with other luxury automakers that already offer CarPlay. While plans remain fluid and may change before public release, the publication’s sources claimed that the rollout could happen within months. 

A change of heart

Tesla has been reluctant to grant Apple access to its in-car systems, partly due to Elon Musk’s past criticism of the tech giant’s App Store policies and its poaching of Tesla engineers during the failed Apple Car project. Tesla’s in-house software is also deemed by numerous owners as a superior option to CarPlay, thanks to its sleek design and rich feature set.

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With Apple’s retreat from building cars and Elon Musk’s relationship with Apple for X and Grok, however, the CEO’s stance on the tech giant seems to be improving. Overall, Tesla’s potential CarPlay integration would likely be appreciated by owners, as a McKinsey & Co. survey last year found that roughly one-third of buyers considered the lack of such systems a deal-breaker.

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