Polestar has finally taken the wraps off its first electric SUV. The newly official Polestar 3 is now set to reach customers in the fourth quarter of 2023 with a starting price of $85,300 in the US. Pre-orders are available now. While that places the EV firmly in luxury territory, there will be a few advantages that could help it stand out.

To begin, the Polestar 3 will promise solid performance. The Volvo offshoot is touting an early estimate of 379 miles of range (using WLTP testing methods) thanks to the 111kWh battery pack. We'd expect a more modest EPA rating in the US, but that still suggests the vehicle could beat the 305 miles of Mercedes' more expensive EQS SUV. Polestar also claims a 0-62MPH time of 5 seconds from the 483HP dual motor system (4.7 seconds and 510HP with the $6,000 Performance Pack), a 130MPH top speed and 250kW fast charging support.

More importantly, there's plenty of technology on deck. The standard Polestar 3 comes with a host of cameras, radar and ultrasonic sensors to offer safety features borrowed from Volvo, including interior radar to warn when children are still in the back seats. You can also order an as yet unpriced Pilot Pack with LiDAR that lays the groundwork for self-driving features.

You'll find significantly more processing power inside, too. The 14.5-inch infotainment display will take advantage of a "next-generation" Snapdragon Cockpit Platform, and this is Polestar's first model to use an NVIDIA Drive computer to power driver assist features. The Plus Pack and regular Pilot Pack will be included with this initial model year, bringing features like a 25-speaker Bowers & Wilkins audio system (complete with Dolby Atmos), a heads-up display and driver aids for highways and parking.

Polestar

The Polestar 3 may not hit its stride until mid-2024, when the brand expects to start US production in South Carolina. However, it already signifies the start of a new chapter. Polestar has been a one-EV car company until now — there was no reason to bother if you wanted anything other than a Model 3-rivalling sedan. Between this, the upscale Polestar 5 sedan and Polestar 6 convertible, the badge is targeting a considerably wider (if still well-off) audience.

Though already having some success with its Ioniq lineup, Hyundai has far bigger plans for its EV future — including taking a page from Tesla in terms of software updates. The automaker just unveiled a new roadmap, saying it'll invest $12.6 billion to transform its lineup across brands into "Software Defined Vehicles" (SDVs). 

As part of that, it's developing new platforms and a new Connected Car Operating System (CCOS). It wants all its vehicles (both ICE and EV) to be over-the-air (OTA) capable by 2025, at which point it expects to have 20 million connected vehicles on the road.

The first leg in Hyundai's plans is two new EV platforms called eM and eS for Hyundai, Kia and Genesis vehicles based on its Integrated Modular Architecture (IMA) announced earlier this year. The eM platform will be used for consumer EVs in all segments, offering 50 percent more range on a charge than current models, according to Hyundai. It'll also support Level 3 and higher self-driving levels. Meanwhile, the eS platform is designed for logistics, deliveries and other business segments. 

The idea is to have more more modularity and standardization for components like batteries and motors, helping streamline production and cut costs. Critically, it'll also let Hyundai use the same vehicle controller across brands and segments, making OTA software and "Feature on Demand" (FoD) upgrades possible.

Hyundai Motor Group

Another key part of the roadmap is the software platform. The group will use something Hyundai calls the Connected Car Operating System (ccOS), applied to all controllers and using "extremely high computing power." To achieve that, it's working with NVIDIA on loading an optimized version of ccOS onto NVIDIA DRIVE, its next-gen chipset for autonomous driving and other vehicle functions. 

Speaking of that, it also plans to advance its autonomous driving tech. The ccOS operating system is a key part of that, processing all the data collected by cameras, radars and LiDARs mounted in vehicles. Hyundai hopes to use ccOS to commercialize Level 3 vehicles soon, and go to Level 4 and 5 "in due course." 

“This year, the Group will apply an advanced Highway Driving Pilot (HDP) on the Genesis G90, which is a Level 3 technology for autonomous driving based on the second-generation integrated controller," said Hyundai's autonomous driving head Woongjun Jang. "The Group is also developing its Remote Parking Pilot (RPP) for Level 3 autonomous driving."

To accomplish all that, Hyundai Group plans to invest 18 trillion won ($12.6 billion) by 2030, which will go toward building a Global Software Center and be ploughed into research. "This will pace the Group at the forefront of providing entirely new mobility solutions as society changes, transportation means evolve, and software defined vehicles become commonplace," according to the press release. 

It's not just Tesla that can offer games to play while you're waiting in your car. BMW is teaming up with AirConsole to deliver casual games in its cars starting in 2023. The technology downloads games to your infotainment system, and uses your phone as the controller. This is clearly meant to keep you distracted while you charge your EV, but the automaker sees this as helpful for any time you're waiting in the car — say, to pick someone up at the airport.

BMW didn't say which vehicles were first in line for the gaming upgrade. However, it pitched AirConsole's tech as a 'perfect' fit for the Curved Display already in use in vehicles like the iX.

This isn't quite as flexible as Tesla's approach to games, which lets you play using dedicated controllers and even the car's steering wheel. However, it could still prove valuable if you want to do more while waiting than fiddle with your phone. It's also an acknowledgment that the role of a car's infotainment is shifting in the EV era, when you can spend half an hour at a charging station. They now serve as media hubs that are just as useful when your car is idle.

In an EV market increasingly populated by SUVs, trucks and the tiny SUVs we call crossovers, it’s refreshing to have another actual electric car option. But the 2022 BMW i4 M50 is more than just a sedan with an EV powertrain shoved inside. It’s a fine-tuning of suspension, chassis and power that should give those looking at future BMW EVs a reason to be excited.

Starting at $67,300, the all-wheel drive performance Gran Coupe delivers M power in a package that’s actually quite comfortable on long road trips. The i4 M50 might take a range hit compared to the regular i4, but if you’re looking for an outstanding driving experience both on the twisties and on the highway, this is definitely worth considering while shopping for your next electric car. If M models aren't quite your speed, BMW recently announced the announced significantly cheaper 2023 i4 eDrive35. That EV arrives in the first quarter of 2023, and will start at $52,395. Watch the video below for the full story on the BMW i4 M50.

Rivian has notified customers that it's recalling 13,000 EVs — or almost all of the electric trucks and SUVs it has ever delivered — due to an issue that could render drivers unable to steer and control their vehicles. The company issued the recall after becoming aware of seven reports wherein a fastener connecting the steering knuckle to the vehicle's upper control arm "may not have been sufficiently torqued," according to Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal. 

In the letter sent to customers, Chief Executive Officer RJ Scaringe said the company is recalling vehicles despite the small number of reported defects "out of an abundance of caution." He said the fastener could become loose in "rare circumstances" and lead to loss of steering control, but that there had been no reported injuries related to the issue. 

At the moment, Rivian has two models on offer, which are the R1T truck and the R1S SUV, but it also makes electric delivery trucks for its minority owner Amazon at its factory in Normal, Illinois. Like most players in the auto and tech industries, the global supply chain woes over the past couple of years impacted its production capability. It even tried to raise the price of its R1T pickup truck by $12,000 due to inflation and component shortages earlier this year, though it quickly reversed the decision after customer backlash.

In July 2022, the automaker reported that it had almost doubled its production output to 4,401 vehicles for the second quarter of the year compared to the first. That's a fraction of other automakers' output — rival company Tesla, for instance, manufactured 258,580 EVs within the same period — but it's a positive step towards achieving its goal of producing 25,000 vehicles in 2022.

This recall isn't expected to prevent the company from reaching that goal, and the automaker is hoping that it can check all affected vehicles within 30 days. Rivian told customers that they can bring their vehicles to service centers to have the fasteners in their vehicles tightened within minutes. The company also said that they can send mobile repair vans to customers. Those experiencing possible symptoms for the issue, such as noise and vibration, may want to look into that option.

Toyota is finally back on track with production of the bZ4x, its first EV. Reutersreports the company has restarted manufacturing of the electric crossover after fixing a defect that could see wheels come loose during hard braking or sharp turns. The company also said it fixed a previously unannounced flaw with poorly installed airbags that could fail or cause injuries.

The automaker said it tackled the wheel issue by replacing the hub bolts and ensuring the new parts were tightened properly. There was no mention of when sales would resume in the US, although Japanese customers can once again lease the bZ4x (their only option for driving the car) starting October 26th. Subaru also hasn't said how it will address American sales of its equivalent model, the Solterra, although it hadn't reached US buyers before the defect emerged.  

The short-term financial damage of the fix was relatively limited. Toyota recalled just 2,700 vehicles worldwide, most of them in Europe. Even the buybacks and credits would be modest for a company that sold nearly 28,000 Camrys in the US alone last month. Only 232 bZ4x examples have sold in the US this year.

The bigger concern is the effect on Toyota's reputation. The company has long been accused of being slow to embrace EVs, and only expects them to represent a third of yearly sales by 2030 where many rivals anticipate more. The recall only worsened the situation by taking the recently-launched machine off the market for more than three months. Toyota still has to prove that it can make a successful EV, and the wheel flaw certainly hasn't helped.

Tesla's long-delayed semi-truck has started production, and the company will begin making deliveries as soon as December 1st, Elon Musk has announced on Twitter. When the automaker unveiled the Tesla Semi way back in 2017, it expected to start manufacturing the electric big rigs by 2019. While that obviously didn't happen, Musk told employees in an email back in early 2020 that the vehicle was already in limited production and that it was "time to go all out and bring the Tesla Semi to volume production." In April that year, however, the automaker announced in an earnings call that it's delaying deliveries yet again to 2021. 

Alas, 2021 wasn't the Semi's year either. Tesla notified shareholders in another earnings call that deliveries would be delayed to 2022 due to the global supply chain shortages affecting the tech and auto industries, as well as its then-limited production capability for the vehicle's 4680 style battery cells. Musk didn't say outright that the company's component shortage issues for the semi-truck have already been addressed. But if it has started building the vehicles, and there's already an expected delivery date, Tesla must have at least enough parts to build Semis for its first customer. 

The first batch of Semis will be delivered to Pepsi, which ordered 100 vehicles from the company back in December 2017. As TechCrunch notes, other big companies had also ordered trucks from the automaker, including Walmart and UPS. And in May this year, the automaker opened reservations to more customers for a deposit of $20,000. A Semi costs between $150,000 and $180,000, depending on the range, and it could go as far as 500 miles on a single charge. 

Honda has finally offered more than a tiny peek at the Prologue, and it might prove interesting if you're not fond of overly flashy EV designs. The company has provided a full design preview indicating that the electric SUV is built to be practical, not ostentatious. The "neo-rugged" (yes, we know) styling isn't special apart from the 21-inch wheels and spelled-out Honda badge on the back, and the focus is more on an interior with "ample" room for people and their gear. This is aimed squarely at first-time EV buyers who want the reassurance of a familiar design — you could switch from a CR-V or Passport without feeling like you've stepped on to another planet.

There will be plenty of technology inside. While Honda hasn't shared full details of the interior, you can expect an 11-inch digital instrument display, an 11.3-inch infotainment display and USB-C ports. Android Auto, Apple CarPlay and a WiFi hotspot mode will be available. This isn't a touchscreen-dominated vehicle like the cute Honda E, but the tech is clearly prominent. Again, it's focused on practicality.

The Prologue is being co-developed with GM and is based on the American brand's Ultium platform. It's the first salvo in a larger electrification push that includes EVs built on the in-house "e:Architecture" in 2026, and lower-priced models (also involving GM) in 2027. 

Much of the Prologue is still a mystery, including its range and pricing. It won't reach North America until sometime in 2024. However, Honda characterizes it as a step up from the CR-V hybrid with a larger wheelbase (8in longer and 5in wider). We'd expect the company to price the pure EV accordingly, and it's even planning a two-year lease for the 2023 CR-V hybrid in hopes of attracting shoppers who want to ease into electrified driving.

Tesla has announced that it's phasing out ultrasonic sensors (USS) used in its EVs to detect short-range obstacles, Electrek has reported. While other automakers use LiDAR, radar and other sensors on top of cameras, Elon Musk's company is determined to use only cameras in its Tesla Vision driver assistance system. 

It will remove the ultrasonic sensors from Model 3 and Model Y vehicles over the next few months, then eliminate them in Model S and Model X models by 2023. They're mainly used for parking and short-range collision warnings, Tesla said.

With the changes, new vehicles not equipped with USS will have some features limited or disabled, including Park Assist that warns of surrounding objects when traveling under 5 MPH, along with Autopark, Summon and Smart Summon. The features will be restored via over-the-air updates "in the near future," once the features perform just as well with the camera-only system, the company said. It believes the changes will not affect the crash safety ratings of these vehicles.

Last year, Tesla started phasing out radar sensors in favor of vision-only Autopilot, tweeting at the time that "vision has much more precision [than radar]." And Musk has previously told employees that if humans can drive cars with binocular vision only, machines should be able to as well, The New York Times reported last year. 

However, Tesla's radar was able to detect potential accidents "two vehicles ahead" that drivers couldn't even see, so that appears to be a safety benefit lost. And when radar was discontinued, the company had a spate of "phantom braking" accidents where the system mistakenly calculated a car was about to collide with something — triggering an NHTSA probe.

After pandemic-related disruptions in Q2, Tesla ramped up its manufacturing capacity again last quarter, leading the company to make a record number of deliveries between July 1st and September 30th. The company built 365,923 electric vehicles during the period. That marks a year over-year production increase of nearly 54 percent, as Tesla manufactured 237,823 cars in Q3 2021. Production was also up by 41.5 percent from Q2 2022, when the automaker built 258,580 vehicles.

The company produced 19,935 Model S and Model X cars in Q3 and delivered 18,672. For the Model 3 and Model Y, those figures were 345,988 and 345,988, respectively. In total, Tesla says it was able to deliver 343,830 vehicles in Q3, the most it has delivered in any quarter to date. However, that was below expectations, according to Reuters. On average, analysts anticipated that Tesla would deliver 359,162 EVs during the quarter.

Tesla built around 20,000 more vehicles that it was able to deliver during Q3. "As our production volumes continue to grow, it is becoming increasingly challenging to secure vehicle transportation capacity and at a reasonable cost during these peak logistics weeks," Tesla said in a statement.

CEO Elon Musk noted last year that Tesla sees a significant increase in deliveries at the end of every quarter. That's because the Shanghai Gigafactory, which recently built its 1 millionth car, manufactures EVs bound for Europe and other countries in the first half of each quarter, "then cars for far away parts of China, then cars for nearby parts of China," Musk said.

"In Q3, we began transitioning to a more even regional mix of vehicle builds each week, which led to an increase in cars in transit at the end of the quarter," Tesla said. "These cars have been ordered and will be delivered to customers upon arrival at their destination."

The number of cars Tesla manufactured and delivered dropped dramatically in Q2 2022. It was forced to suspend work at the Shanghai factory in March due to a COVID-19 outbreak in China. Production at the plant has resumed, while recently opened Gigafactories in Berlin and Texas have helped the company significantly improve its manufacturing numbers. We'll learn more about what the uptick in production and deliveries means for Tesla's bottom line when the company announces its Q3 financial results on October 19th.