News
Volkswagen orders $4B in LiDAR sensors, what Elon Musk calls ‘a fool’s errand’
Volkswagen has reportedly ordered up to $4 billion of LiDAR sensors from Israeli company Innoviz Technologies to help develop self-driving programs for the German automaker. Fresh off of its recent mutual removal of CEO Herbert Diess from the Group’s executive lineup, Volkswagen is putting considerable sums of money into a self-driving strategy that Diess’s industry best friend, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, has called “a fool’s errand.”
Reports from Bloomberg showed Volkswagen’s software unit Cariad purchased $4 billion in sensors, bringing the company’s total order sheet to roughly $6.6 billion. Innoviz CEO Omer Keliaf said there is potential for more purchases and supply deals with VW in the future.
It is the latest move for VW, which recently decided to amicably cut ties with its Chief Executive Herbert Diess, who has spearheaded the company’s involvement in electric vehicles. Electrification efforts often coincide with self-driving projects, and while ICE vehicles also have Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), the future of autonomy is uncertain. It is unknown who will figure it out first, and when they will do it.
With companies committing to all-electric lineups as soon as 2035, it is likely that self-driving vehicles will only be electric as it will take some time to figure out. Company approaches vary from manufacturer to manufacturer, but one thing remains the same: Every automaker is different.
How companies plan to tackle self-driving vehicles is entirely up to them. Tesla, which has been working on its Full Self-Driving fleet for several years, is still attempting to solve various things, like Autosteer on City Streets. It has taken an unorthodox approach to self-driving, axing any radar modules from its Model 3 and Model Y vehicles last May and its flagship Model S and Model X cars in February 2022. While it has tested LiDAR in the past, CEO Elon Musk has stated that anyone relying on the strategy would be “doomed.”
-->“LiDAR is a fool’s errand,” Musk said at Tesla’s Autonomy Day in 2019. “Anyone relying on lidar is doomed. Doomed…expensive sensors that are unnecessary. It’s like having a whole bunch of expensive appendices. Like, one appendix is bad, well now you have a whole bunch of them, it’s ridiculous, you’ll see.”
Tesla’s Autonomy Day highlights Elon Musk’s vision for a full self-driving future without LiDAR
LiDAR helps utilize lasers to determine the distance between objects. They are expensive, but many companies have gone into the LiDAR path, like Waymo and Cruise, which recently obtained the first-ever permit to carry out driverless ride-sharing services in the San Francisco Bay Area.
This is not to say that Diess was axed because of his friendship with Musk, nor is it to say that Diess was a major proponent against LiDAR due to his relationship with the Tesla CEO. However, it is clear cut that in the game of electric vehicles, there are allies, but there are never friends. After all, it is a race to see who can figure out autonomy first, and Volkswagen has been biting at Tesla’s heels with dreams of eventually surpassing the world’s best-selling electric automaker.
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News
Tesla Europe rolls out FSD ride-alongs in the Netherlands’ holiday campaign
The festive event series comes amid Tesla’s ongoing push for regulatory approval of FSD across Europe.
Tesla Europe has announced that its “Future Holidays” campaign will feature Full Self-Driving (Supervised) ride-along experiences in the Netherlands.
The festive event series comes amid Tesla’s ongoing push for regulatory approval of FSD across Europe.
The Holiday program was announced by Tesla Europe & Middle East in a post on X. “Come get in the spirit with us. Featuring Caraoke, FSD Supervised ride-along experiences, holiday light shows with our S3XY lineup & more,” the company wrote in its post on X.
Per the program’s official website, fun activities will include Caraoke sessions and light shows with the S3XY vehicle lineup. It appears that Optimus will also be making an appearance at the events. Tesla even noted that the humanoid robot will be in “full party spirit,” so things might indeed be quite fun.
“This season, we’re introducing you to the fun of the future. Register for our holiday events to meet our robots, see if you can spot the Bot to win prizes, and check out our selection of exclusive merchandise and limited-edition gifts. Discover Tesla activities near you and discover what makes the future so festive,” Tesla wrote on its official website.
-->This announcement aligns with Tesla’s accelerating FSD efforts in Europe, where supervised ride-alongs could help demonstrate the tech to regulators and customers. The Netherlands, with its urban traffic and progressive EV policies, could serve as an ideal and valuable testing ground for FSD.
Tesla is currently hard at work pushing for the rollout of FSD to several European countries. Tesla has received approval to operate 19 FSD test vehicles on Spain’s roads, though this number could increase as the program develops. As per the Dirección General de Tráfico (DGT), Tesla would be able to operate its FSD fleet on any national route across Spain. Recent job openings also hint at Tesla starting FSD tests in Austria. Apart from this, the company is also holding FSD demonstrations in Germany, France, and Italy.
News
Tesla sees sharp November rebound in China as Model Y demand surges
New data from the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) shows a 9.95% year-on-year increase and a 40.98% jump month-over-month.
Tesla’s sales momentum in China strengthened in November, with wholesale volumes rising to 86,700 units, reversing a slowdown seen in October.
New data from the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) shows a 9.95% year-on-year increase and a 40.98% jump month-over-month. This was partly driven by tightened delivery windows, targeted marketing, and buyers moving to secure vehicles before changes to national purchase tax incentives take effect.
Tesla’s November rebound coincided with a noticeable spike in Model Y interest across China. Delivery wait times extended multiple times over the month, jumping from an initial 2–5 weeks to estimated handovers in January and February 2026 for most five-seat variants. Only the six-seat Model Y L kept its 4–8 week estimated delivery timeframe.
The company amplified these delivery updates across its Chinese social media channels, urging buyers to lock in orders early to secure 2025 delivery slots and preserve eligibility for current purchase tax incentives, as noted in a CNEV Post report. Tesla also highlighted that new inventory-built Model Y units were available for customers seeking guaranteed handovers before December 31.
This combination of urgency marketing and genuine supply-demand pressure seemed to have helped boost November’s volumes, stabilizing what had been a year marked by several months of year-over-year declines.
-->For the January–November period, Tesla China recorded 754,561 wholesale units, an 8.30% decline compared to the same period last year. The company’s Shanghai Gigafactory continues to operate as both a domestic production base and a major global export hub, building the Model 3 and Model Y for markets across Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, among other territories.
Tesla bear Michael Burry got blunt with his beliefs over the company’s valuation, which he called “ridiculously overvalued” in a newsletter to subscribers this past weekend.
“Tesla’s market capitalization is ridiculously overvalued today and has been for a good long time,” Burry, who was the inspiration for the movie The Big Short, and was portrayed by Christian Bale.
Burry went on to say, “As an aside, the Elon cult was all-in on electric cars until competition showed up, then all-in on autonomous driving until competition showed up, and now is all-in on robots — until competition shows up.”
Tesla bear Michael Burry ditches bet against $TSLA, says ‘media inflated’ the situation
For a long time, Burry has been skeptical of Tesla, its stock, and its CEO, Elon Musk, even placing a $530 million bet against shares several years ago. Eventually, Burry’s short position extended to other supporters of the company, including ARK Invest.
Tesla has long drawn skepticism from investors and more traditional analysts, who believe its valuation is overblown. However, the company is not traded as a traditional stock, something that other Wall Street firms have recognized.
While many believe the company has some serious pull as an automaker, an identity that helped it reach the valuation it has, Tesla has more than transformed into a robotics, AI, and self-driving play, pulling itself into the realm of some of the most recognizable stocks in tech.
Burry’s Scion Asset Management has put its money where its mouth is against Tesla stock on several occasions, but the firm has not yielded positive results, as shares have increased in value since 2020 by over 115 percent. The firm closed in May.
In 2020, it launched its short position, but by October 2021, it had ditched that position.
Tesla has had a tumultuous year on Wall Street, dipping significantly to around the $220 mark at one point. However, it rebounded significantly in September, climbing back up to the $400 region, as it currently trades at around $430.
It closed at $430.14 on Monday.
Tesla Europe rolls out FSD ride-alongs in the Netherlands’ holiday campaign
Tesla sees sharp November rebound in China as Model Y demand surges
