In 1927, the German director Fritz Lang’s legendary film, Metropolis, introduced the idea of humanoid robots. Now, nearly a century later, robots have become a common site on automotive assembly lines but look little like the Maschinenmensch Lang envisioned. Or they have so far. But as part of a new partnership with the California-based startup Figure, BMW is about to put the first humanoid robots to work on its assembly line in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Read all about it at Headlight.News.
Faster than a speeding bullet … (okay, faster than a Porsche 911) … able to stop speeding bullets and then tow trailers with minimal range loss. When Tesla CEO Elon Musk handed over the keys to the first production Cybertruck last November, he made lots of jaw-dropping claims about the safety, performance and range of the all-electric pickup. But can it live up to the hype? Maybe not, according to some recent reports. More from Headlight.News.
Ford wants to show what a high-performance version of its all-electric pickup can be capable of and today rolled out the F-150 Lightning Switchgear Demonstrator. It will make its first public appearance at the grueling King of the Hammers off-road race next week.
With EVs mandated to reach 50% of new U.S. vehicle sales in 2030 — and to replace internal combustion models by 2035 in the EU — the search is on for the battery technology that can win over consumers with longer range, lower costs and quicker charging speeds. But solid-state, the technology expected to replace today’s lithium-ion batteries, is so far failing to live up to its hype.
While growing eightfold between 2019 and 2023, EV sales flattened out during the second half of last year, and a new study puts much of the blame on public concerns about problems with the public EV charging network. It’s not just the lack of chargers but the fact that so many of them are routinely out of service. Find out more at Headlight.News.
Nissan delays the launch of two all-electric sedans it had planned to produce at its factory in Canton, Mississippi. The move comes as the auto industry, overall, reacts to a slowdown in the growth of EV sales. Headlight.News has more.
Computers, TVs, drones, “smart” appliances, digital cameras. If those are the things you think of when someone mentions “consumer electronics,” you’re not alone. But you should add automobiles to the list as, these days, they’re starting to look more like smartphones on wheels. Indeed, high-tech “mobility” was one of the big topics at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. And Headlight.News was there, checking out the latest high-tech vehicles, features and services. These are the standouts.
We were surprised to discover a set of four “spy shots” of the 2025 Dodge Charger Daytona SRT when we went surfing the web this morning — all the more so when it turned out the pre-production pics came from Dodge itself. Here’s what we know about the all-electric muscle car.
The North American International Auto Show is returning to January, reversing an effort to build attendance by moving the annual event to a summer schedule. Like other auto shows in the U.S. and Europe, the Detroit Auto Show has suffered from declining interest by both the public and the automakers who once saw it as a must-attend event.
Tesla has become the latest automaker to raise wages for its U.S. workers, a move that industry-watchers see as an effort to stall an organizing drive by the United Auto Workers Union. The Texas-based EV manufacturer is seen as particularly vulnerable, especially at its California assembly plant which has faced numerous complaints about racial and sexual harassment and unsafe working conditions.
From Henry Ford to the Jetsons, the idea of flying cars has long caught the public imagination. And, finally, they may be coming to reality. Headlight.News talks to RJ Schreiner, a former Marine pilot who’s now chief test pilot for Supernal, the Hyundai subsidiary that debuted its S-A2 flying cab at CES 2024.
Despite its increasingly aggressive push to electrify, Volkswagen isn’t walking away from some of its most familiar models, notably the Golf GTI. And it offered a first, thinly disguised look at the hot hatch, due out next year, during a news conference at CES 2024 this week.