Chinese EV Dominance and Hacked Alarms Paralyze Western Roads
July 21, 2026
The convergence of Chinese manufacturing dominance and vulnerable dealership-installed tracking hardware is stripping Western automakers of market share while exposing millions of vehicles to remote paralysis. As Florida and Queensland hand over traffic priority and urban transit to autonomous robotaxis and AI-managed intersections, the material layer of public mobility is being captured by proprietary chips and unpatched security flaws.
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A Device Hidden in Cars Across the US Leaves Them Vulnerable to Hacking and Paralysis. Patch It Now
Dealerships installed alarms in millions of vehicles—and left them in even if the buyer didn’t want them. Now researchers warn they can be hacked to unlock, track, and disable cars.
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20 years ago, China bet big on electric vehicles. Now Western carmakers are feeling the pain
YoungNH/Getty In Germany, Japan and the United States, famous carmakers are in trouble. One reason is intense competition from Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers – and growing public demand for EVs. The automakers who dominated the 20th century have largely failed to shift to electric. Volkswage…
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Chinese companies are taking over the EV market. What’s behind their meteoric rise?
xieyuliang/Getty If producing electric vehicles (EVs) was an Olympic sport, China would be dominating the medals podium. China now leads the world in the sale and export of EVs, a term encompassing everything from battery-powered cars to plug-in hybrids. Chinese companies also produce the lion’s sha…
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New trial of AI-powered traffic lights will be a test for who gets priority on public roads
Later this year, a Queensland council will trial Australia’s first traffic light system powered by artificial intelligence (AI). The new traffic technology will be trialled by the City of Moreton Bay at the intersection of two suburban roads in Petrie, just north of Brisbane. At first, this might so…
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Amazon’s Zoox recalls self-driving vehicles amid emergency response issues
The recall is the latest development in a series of reports of autonomous vehicles impeding emergency response efforts.
- geopolitics
- structural power
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Tesla Robotaxis go to Florida
It must be earnings day, because Tesla is making a Robotaxi announcement. The company said in a post on X that it was launching its Robotaxi service in Orlando and Tampa, attaching a pair of maps that show each city's service area. No word on fleet size or whether interested customers would be able…
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Ford’s $30,000 electric truck: all the news about the company’s big EV re-do
The end of the Ford F-150 Lightning was also the start of a new era for the automaker. After failing to capture the market with the electric version of its popular F-Series truck, Ford is going back to the drawing board with its Universal Electric Vehicle Platform. The first offering will be a $30,0…
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Lucid’s bankruptcy rumor is a bad sign for the EV future
Lucid Motors found itself in a tough bind this week, fending off bankruptcy rumors and watching its stock price plunge as a result. The company quickly denied the report, calling it "completely false" and pointing to its available free cash flow as evidence that it has enough runway to operate into…
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Car-free streets reduce noise and air pollution. More cities should have them
Every summer, cities around the world host car-free days and temporarily pedestrianize streets. Following their success elsewhere in the world, temporary pedestrianized streets are becoming more common in North America, such as for large sporting events, cultural festivals and farmers’ markets. This…
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Stellantis taps Mobileye for hands-free driving assist
Stellantis will use technology from Intel's Mobileye to power its Level 2 hands-free driving features for its vehicle brands, the companies announced Tuesday. Starting in 2027, Stellantis will begin using Mobileye's EyeQ system-on-a-chip and a data crowdsourcing program called the Road Experience Ma…
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Why stop at Eurovision? Canada should adopt European EV standards
The federal government’s new plan is to introduce tailpipe emission standards intended to reach a weaker goal of 75 per cent EVs by 2035. That pales in comparison to Europe’s 90 per cent target.