The Change Optimist: Weekly News Roundup - August 02, 2026

BYD’s all-electric Racco kei car is now on sale in Japan from under 2 million yen (about $12,200), with 130 miles of range. It’s the first Chinese-brand kei car to crack Japan’s most culturally protected vehicle segment. theverge.com

BYD is pushing the range envelope with the Great Han, a flagship sedan that promises 1,008 km per charge. electrek.co

BYD is widening the Qin family with a bigger, fast-charging sedan built for a younger crowd. The preview images hint at a Model 3-sized rival powered by Blade Battery 2.0 and Flash Charging, arriving next month. electrek.co

BYD is bringing its boxy, seven-seat Ti 7 SUV to Europe and the UK, and it’s cheaper than the Land Rover Defender PHEV. electrek.co

MG kicks off presales for the MG 07 in China, priced under $20,000 USD with LiDAR and an 845 km range. carnewschina.com

Spain hopes Chinese investment will help boost jobs and increase automotive industrial know-how. reuters.com

Australia’s new-car mix leans heavily toward China, with dealers forecasting Chinese brands will command 58% of sales by 2035, roughly 900,000 vehicles a year. carnewschina.com

Seconds, not minutes, are becoming the metric for EV charging in China, with BYD’s Flash Charging delivering a 10-70% fill in about 4 minutes 22 seconds and Geely’s Golden Brick powering Lynk & Co 10 series at similarly blistering speeds. electrek.co

Tesla built its 10 millionth EV, a milestone that puts Elon one step closer to the 20 million target required to unlock his future $1 trillion pay package. techcrunch.com

Elon dismissed a report that executives at Tesla were told to prepare for a separation of its China business ahead of a potential merger with ‌SpaceX as “fake news”. reuters.com

A first-time EV driver was told at a Tesla showroom that the Model Y she was about to test drive would drive just like a gas car. She accidentally drove it into a hair salon, which caught fire. She is now seeking at least $10.3 million in compensatory damages and another $350,000 in punitive damages. autoblog.com

The NHTSA has opened a new investigation into 1.2 million Tesla Model 3 and Model Y vehicles over a potential suspension failure issue. driveteslacanada.ca

Tesla has confidentially settled with three of the five named plaintiffs in the racism lawsuit that has been hanging over its Fremont factory since 2017. electrek.co

Tesla is asking a federal judge for emergency access to a supplier’s plant in Troy, Texas, so it can haul out the tooling it needs to keep building the Cybertruck. The supplier, Angstrom Automotive Group, is closing the plant and won’t let Tesla in. Tesla says that without those dies, several thousand Cybertrucks already committed to customers won’t get built. electrek.co

Elon says that Tesla Semi self-driving is about a year away. We’ll believe that when we see it. electrek.co

xAI takes Minnesota to court over a ban on nudify apps, arguing the law limits free speech. cnbc.com

SpaceX stock bounced back after hitting an all-time low of $109.53, down nearly 30% from its $150 IPO price and 50% from its $225 peak. finance.yahoo.com

House lawmakers are demanding records and a tour of Elon’s xAI Memphis data centers and power plants. cnbc.com

Elon’s Boring Company is reportedly raising funding at a $20B valuation. The raise comes as Vegas Loop expands and new city contracts stack up. techcrunch.com

ICYMI: BMW Group, in collaboration with Figure AI, ran a 10-month test of the Figure 02 robot where their robots supported the production of more than 30,000 BMW X3 vehicles. This year they will deploy the Figure 03 robot to expand the use of Physical AI in production at BMW’s Spartanburg facility. figure.ai | press.bmwgroup.com | automotiveworld.com

US government bans new foreign-made humanoids, robot dogs, and solar inverters, citing risks to national security. techcrunch.com

The Verge argues that the FCC’s ban on robots made outside the US won’t make homes safer. It narrows choices and raises prices, a policy move that hurts consumers more than it helps security. theverge.com

Google DeepMind releases Gemini Robotics 2, a new AI model aspiring to bring AGI to the physical world. deepmind.google

Brain waves could be the missing signal for teaching physical AI. A headset that reads moments of error and intention during hands-on training might turn messy demos into cleaner data robots can learn from. techcrunch.com

Enigma is taking its $71 million seed round, led by Index Ventures and Ribbit Capital, to execute a global experiment with 100-plus AI robots to learn the best ways for humans to interact with machines. techcrunch.com

DoorDash launches drone delivery in 20 US cities, partnering with Wing to offer 30-minute delivery for small packages. techcrunch.com

BYD plans to unveil its first humanoid robots in August. scmp.com

The Guardian argues that putting robots into the classroom is probably a bad idea. theguardian.com

Renewable energy developer Origis Energy has brought another 500 megawatts of solar online at its Rockhound complex in West Texas, pushing the sprawling project’s operating capacity to nearly 1 gigawatt. electrek.co

Plug-in solar panels look like an easy ticket to home energy, but the real test is safety, insurance, and how credits land on your bill. nytimes.com

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is proposing to eliminate a foundational safety principle that for 50 years has minimized the radiation people in the US are exposed to. apnews.com

China approved eight new nuclear reactors on Friday, with the projects reportedly worth more than 170 billion yuan ($25 billion), accelerating its atomic buildout as the country seeks to power its economy without increasing carbon emissions. bloomberg.com

Canada built its nuclear industry to avoid dependence on foreign enriched uranium. Its new BWRX-300 small modular reactors, or SMRs, will depend on it. cbc.ca

Oil prices settle more than 1% higher, log strongest month since March. reuters.com

ExxonMobil’s earnings doubled, Chevron posted its highest quarterly earnings on record as energy prices soared during the Strait of Hormuz’s prolonged closure. wsj.com

Prime Minister Mark Carney says that he doesn’t “see the value” in using Canadian energy exports as a bargaining chip as The Donald continues to threaten further tariffs on Canadian goods. cbc.ca

Enbridge delayed the planned expansion of oil export pipelines out of Canada, citing the need for governments to finalize policy plans and producers to commit to growing oil sands production. bloomberg.com

Cenovus chief says pipeline plans make Canada’s oilpatch ripe for major investment. financialpost.com

Nova Scotia is inviting tidal energy developers to test their smaller-scale in-stream devices in the Bay of Fundy. novascotia.ca

Ford CEO Jim Farley tells employees Chinese automakers could enter the US market within a decade. The warning is a call to action for Ford’s workforce to move faster on cost and quality. reuters.com

GM and Ford are talking less and less about EVs. techcrunch.com

Stellantis Q2 operating income triples on North America recovery, with Jeep and Ram leading the charge. cnbc.com

Toyota Canada reports that 65% of its H1 2026 sales were EVs or hybrids. autonews.com

Nissan’s new CEO Kazuyuki Yamaguchi cuts product development time by 40%, targeting a 30-month cycle to match China’s speed. autonews.com

Hyundai reveals a new 7-seat electric minivan concept, targeting families who want EV practicality without the SUV premium. electrek.co

Germany’s auto industry is at a crossroads, with output down 15% and the sector’s share of GDP shrinking for the first time in decades. nytimes.com

BMW’s M boss says why he thinks some drivers will prefer the electric M3. theverge.com

Porsche to axe one in five jobs by 2035. reuters.com

Mercedes isn’t walking away from the US market, betting the payoff is worth the risk as China-US tensions heat up. Ola Kallenieus says they’ll adjust to new rules and press ahead with more US manufacturing to defend the brand’s American foothold. thedrive.com

Ferrari’s Luce EV is sold out for 2026, with new orders being pushed into 2027. electrek.co

Saudi prince takes a 5% stake in Lucid, sending the stock up 25% on hopes of fresh capital and a deeper partnership with the Saudi sovereign wealth fund. electrek.co

Rivian beats quarterly revenue estimates as R2 launch, software business gain traction. electrek.co

Rivian’s e-bike spinoff will start delivering bikes soon, after months of delays. techcrunch.com

Uber is building an autonomous vehicle empire, partnering with and investing in more than 30 autonomous vehicle companies over the past two years. techcrunch.com

Zoox clears its final federal hurdle and wins the first US approval for a paid driverless robotaxi service. techcrunch.com

Lyft and Baidu begin London robotaxi testing, marking Baidu’s first autonomous vehicle deployment outside China. techcrunch.com

Waymo and other robotaxi operators face scrutiny over emergency response failures, with cities demanding clearer protocols for when autonomous vehicles block emergency vehicles. techcrunch.com

Waymo is “gradually resuming” freeway driving. theverge.com

Waymo’s new Ojai cars are getting Gemini AI. theverge.com

Waymo is 66% safer than human drivers in preventing serious injuries, per IIHS. The data makes a strong case that robotaxis can outperform humans on safety, though public trust still lags the numbers. iihs.org

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