Tesla fully self-driving, now with more texting and driving
Happy Friday and welcome Critical materialsyour morning source for the biggest stories shaping the future of the automotive industry.
On today’s docket: Elon Musk says you can text and drive on Full Self-Driving (Supervised), President Trump is a big fan of kei cars, and Stellantis is backing away from EVs and betting on hybrids instead. We’ll break down why this is actually good news. Let’s dive in.
25%: Elon Musk says you can now text in your Tesla
According to Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Tesla owners using the latest version of its fully autonomous (Supervised) driver assistance feature can now text and drive.
Tesla fans cheered the move online. Goal, ace TechCrunch notes that one big problem is that texting and driving is illegal almost everywhere in the US:
Nearly all 50 states have banned texting while driving, and about half of states have made any cell phone use while driving illegal, according to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
Musk confirmed the update in an X post on Thursday, responding to a Tesla driver who noted they may have been looking at their phone “for an extended period of time.” The carmaker’s top boss said yes, you can text and drive “depending on (the) context of the surrounding traffic”.
It’s not entirely clear what that means. I’ve reached out to Tesla for comment, but the company typically doesn’t respond to press inquiries.
Officially, FSD still requires full supervision. Despite Tesla’s many promises to build driverless cars, the FSD isn’t ready for you to take a nap on the way to work just yet.
“Currently enabled features require active driver supervision and do not make the vehicle autonomous,” reads the fine print on Tesla’s website.
Perhaps the strangest thing about this news is that if Tesla were to move from face-to-face capability in passenger cars, it would be a huge deal. This is what Tesla has been promising to provide for about a decade now. But right now, there’s no big announcement — just a vague tweet.
Zoom out and it’s clear that road rules – like bans on phone use – will need a major overhaul in the near future. Because more and more autonomous cars are coming, whether from Tesla or other companies.
A few years ago I tested Mercedes-Benz Drive Pilot, which is America’s first advanced driver assistance system that allows you to not pay attention in certain situations (traffic jams). I remember thinking it didn’t make sense that TikTok and texting were technically banned, but I could read a book, zone out, or watch YouTube on the Benz’s screen.
50%: Trump wants Kei Cars for America. Fat Luck.
This week, President Donald Trump took a hammering at aggressive Biden-era fuel economy targets for the auto industry. For anyone not crazy about higher gas bills or irreversible climate change, this was bad news.
But here’s some holiday cheer, especially if you’re a car nerd. At the same Oval Office press conference, Trump alluded to how America should have the same kind of small cars as Japan. “They’re very small, they’re really cute,” he said. He said he wanted kei cars built in the USA
Transport Minister Sean Duffy added that the president “has given me a directive to clarify the regulations we have on this.”
Perhaps these relaxed regulations will lead to some cheap, small cars hitting American shores. (Don’t tell the president this, but a boom in smaller runabouts would be an urban planner’s dream: better for the climate, urban congestion, and pedestrian safety.)
But before you get too excited, remember that Americans have never embraced small cars. Here’s what one automotive expert had to say Bloomberg on the subject:
“The reason Japanese automakers don’t make or sell kei cars in the U.S. is commercially feasible,” said Bloomberg Intelligence auto analyst Tatsuo Yoshida.
We’ve tried that before, folks. There is a reason why the Smart car no longer exists in the US. Maybe neighborhood electric vehicles, small low-speed cars that share a lot with kei cars and are available in the US, will become popular one day. But that hasn’t happened yet.
So good idea. Target Drive I summed it up nicely: “fake news”.
75%: Stellantis bets a lot on hybrids
Stellantis, the maker of Jeep, Ram, Chrysler and a number of European car brands, favors full electric vehicles and is keen to expand its hybrid offering in the US. Reuters reported on Thursday.
“We truly believe the hybrid will be one of the most popular powertrains in the U.S.,” Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa said at Thursday’s conference call.
There are two ways to interpret this.
On the one hand, Stellantis continues to use the policies of the new anti-EV administration to sell internal combustion cars for a while longer. He is not alone there.
But I’d also read it as proof that electrified vehicles aren’t going anywhere. He’s the same guy who stood by Trump when he tore up the fuel economy rules. And even he knows what Americans will really want in the coming years: cars that use less gas.
100%: Would you buy a Kei Car?
Car enthusiasts love the desire for small Asian sports cars and SUVs. But could you see yourself actually driving? Which one would you buy?
Contact the author: Tim.Levin@InsideEVs.com