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The California Public Utilities Commission voted in favor of expanding the operations of two robotaxi companies in the city, dealing a victory to companies seeking to expand their presence in San Francisco and beyond.

After repeated delays and a marathon seven-hour public meeting, the commission finally decided in consecutive 3-to-1 votes on Thursday to accept the applications, a decision that has implications for the self-driving space and for unions, safety advocates and others tussling over its growth.

"This technology has the ability to help California meet its clean energy and transportation goals, as these carriers offer service in electric vehicles" said Commissioner John Reynolds shortly before the vote. "AVs also provide people with more transportation options, and have the potential to offer transformative options for those with disabilities."

The decision comes as companies raise and spend billions on their self-driving technology and bank on …

General Motors and Ford Motor Co. were among the biggest decliners in the U.S. stock market Thursday on growing concern that demands from union leaders could send the automakers’ labor costs soaring.

The UAW is calling for wage increases and other changes that the Detroit 3 estimate would add more than $80 billion in expenses for each of them, Bloomberg reported this week.

GM shares fell 5.8 percent Thursday in New York, their biggest daily plunge in nearly eight months. Ford fell 4.5 percent and Stellantis declined 1.8 percent. GM and Ford were the second- and fourth-biggest percentage decliners on the benchmark S&P 500.

“GM and Ford may be in the penalty box for a while. Wall Street hates uncertainty,” said Morningstar analyst David Whiston. “This is not a normal negotiation both in style and the demands they are asking.”

The union wants a 46 percent wage increase, restoration of traditional pensions, cost-of-living increases, a short…

Hyundai's fifth-generation Santa Fe will offer a more spacious interior, new convenience and safety technology and wildly different styling when it goes on sale in the first half of 2024. While it seems to have more of everything, glaringly absent for U.S. customers is a plug-in variant to complement gasoline and hybrid counterparts.

The automaker revealed the midsize crossover in Santa Fe, N.M., late last month ahead of its North American debut at the 2023 Los Angeles Auto Show in November.

Last year, the Santa Fe was Hyundai's No. 2 seller behind the Tucson, and has dropped to No. 3 this year behind the Tucson and Elantra, though sales are up 6.4 percent to 71,754 through July.

The latest North American-bound Santa Fe will offer two powertrains: a turbocharged 2.5-liter engine with an estimated 277 hp and a turbocharged 1.6-liter hybrid that could deliver 177 hp.

That's one fewer powertrain option on the menu. The …

Unifor is seeking a three-year contract with the Detroit 3. Cadillac unveils its first all-electric Escalade. Plus, dealership buy-sell expert Stephen Dietrich talks about what the market looked like in 2022 and what he’s seeing this year.

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The checklist for a safe car trip in the era of climate change goes a little something like this: four-wheel drive to handle more intense rainfall, two-way charging to withstand a blackout, and seatbelts all around because EVs are dangerously heavy. Drivers dealing with wildfire smoke might add one more accessory to the lineup: five small air filters taped to a box fan.

This little Apollo 13 apparatus, which can be plugged into a car’s cigarette lighter, is known as a Corsi-Rosenthal box. It was developed by Richard Corsi, dean of the college of engineering at the University of California Davis, and his buddy Jim Rosenthal during the worst days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when it became clear that school districts weren’t taking air purification seriously. Today, Corsi is similarly irked by the auto industry’s lackluster approach to the air inside its vehicles.

“We can do a lot to improve indoor air quality in cars,” he says. “What’s fascinating is that wildfire…

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WASHINGTON — U.S. auto safety regulators said Thursday they are opening a special crash investigation into a fatal accident in Virginia involving a Tesla Model Y suspected of relying on advanced driver assistance systems and striking a heavy truck.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is probing a July 19 fatal crash in which the driver of a Tesla died after striking a tractor-trailer truck in Warrenton, Va.

The Fauquier County Sheriff's Office said the 57-year-old Tesla driver was killed after the tractor trailer was attempting to turn onto a highway from a truck stop. The Tesla struck the side and went underneath the tractor trailer and the driver was pronounced deceased on the scene. The driver of the tractor trailer was issued a summons for reckless driving.

Since 2016, the U.S. auto safety regulator has opened more than three dozen Tesla special crash investigations in cases where driver systems such as Autopilot were suspected of be…

NEW YORK — In electrifying its flagship Escalade franchise, Cadillac loaded the battery-powered full-size SUV with luxury creature comforts, a long-range battery and advanced technology.

Cadillac said the 2025 Escalade IQ, unveiled here Wednesday, is General Motors' most aerodynamic full-size SUV, which contributes to a GM-estimated 450-mile range. The $130,000 Escalade IQ reflects Cadillac's all-electric future, but it will be sold alongside the gasoline-powered version for some time as consumer demand for EVs evolves.

The electric version has Escalade DNA and yet also aims to carve out a unique identity. Here are six cool features on the Escalade IQ.

Enjoy watching a GMC Hummer EV CrabWalk its way out of a tight space? Cadillac is introducing its own version, Arrival Mode, on the Escalade IQ. Delivered via an over-the-air software update, Arrival Mode allows all four wheels to turn at the same time, making "pulling in or out of …

Gotion Inc. is gearing up to make its first hires around Big Rapids, Mich., for a $2.4 billion electric vehicle battery parts plant that executives hope will remain non-unionized.

The project is moving forward following the Chinese company's acquisition of 270 acres of land for the factory in Green Township and approval from company Chairman Li Zhen, who toured the site a few weeks ago with board members and expressed concerns over pushback to the plant.

"Certainly they had some questions," said Chuck Thelen, executive at Gotion tasked with moving the plant in Michigan forward. "When it gets to national news, it even makes its way back to Germany and China. So, they were a little concerned."

Gotion, whose largest shareholders are Volkswagen and Zhen, a Chinese national, has been at the center of controversy, from locals concerned over environmental pollution to politicians raising red flags over national security.

Thelen said he answered the ques…

Dave Boyle is the CEO of Traxtion, which provides service departments with tire and wheel alignment software and hardware.

First car: '69 Chevrolet Malibu (wish I had it today)

First concert you attended: The Cars

Name a pet peeve: People who are always late

Most thrilling/adventurous thing you've done: Raced cars professionally for 15 years

Your personal hero and why: My dad; isn't a father every son's hero?

First job: Professional race car driver

Something on your bucket list: Attend the Monaco Grand Prix

One thing you learned on the job you never forgot: As a manager, you need to explain something seven times before they will understand and internalize this.

If you could pick up a new skill, what would it be? Professional musician (I "try" to play the drums today)

3 people you'd invite to dinner, living or dead: My two grandfathers and father

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CarGurus Inc.'s net income continued its double-digit percentage nose-dive in the second quarter, dropping 23 percent to $13.8 million, the company said Wednesday, nearly a week after it was initially slated to report quarterly results.

The vehicle listings company said overall revenue tumbled by 53 percent to $239.7 million and digital wholesale revenue plunged 80 percent year-over year to $68.8 million, though CEO Jason Trevisan said efforts to stabilize that segment have turned a corner.

CarOffer, CarGurus' wholesale digital trading platform, is a big part of its digital wholesale segment. The segment booked a $6.3 million second-quarter operating loss, more than double the loss from a year ago.

One bright spot: revenue from the company's U.S. marketplace business — its other reporting segment — grew 3.7 percent to $158.4 million from the same period last year. Trevisan attributed the gains to higher sales and price increases targeting both new and …

Vroom Inc. said Wednesday it recorded a narrower net loss in its second quarter but saw additional year-over-year declines in revenue and sales volume that have occurred since the company moved to scale back the business last year.

The online used-vehicle retailer reported a net loss of $66.3 million for the quarter ended June 30, slimmer than both the $115.1 million loss it reported for the same period in 2022 and the $75 million loss it reported for first-quarter 2023. Total revenue fell 53 percent to $225.2 million. Vroom sold 4,127 vehicles via e-commerce, down 55 percent from the year-ago period but up 5 percent quarter over quarter.

The company — which announced last year it would halt growth and restructure in light of a more volatile macroeconomic environment — continues to target improving gross profit per vehicle sold, Vroom CEO Tom Shortt said on a Wednesday earnings call with analysts and investors.

"We are at the turn where we are beginnin…