Tesla's A "Legacy" Car Maker Now, Who'll Be Hands Free Next, Polestar & TRX vs Raptor

A listener wants a fun weekend car with supervised self-driving that is not a Tesla, which sends us down a rabbit hole on when Ford, GM and Rivian might actually ship level three autonomy, and whether Tesla has quietly turned into a legacy car company. We dig into Tesla's R&D spending per vehicle versus GM, why the charging and range crown has slipped to Hyundai, Kia and Lucid, and what we would actually do to fix Tesla's product lineup and priorities.

From there we cover GM's Ultium charging push, the strange story behind Volvo getting a connected-car waiver while Polestar did not, and whether EV road trips make sense with young kids in the car. We also talk through GM's heavy but practical EV trucks, why a hybrid or gas Silverado EV would be a game changer, and settle the debate between the Ram 1500 TRX, Rumble Bee and Ford Raptor R.

 

0:00 Intro: winging it this week 0:22 Listener question: a fun, self-driving car that isn't a Tesla 4:16 Has Tesla become a legacy car company? 11:07 Tesla's R&D spending compared to GM 20:56 How we'd fix Tesla 29:31 GM's Ultium push for faster charging 32:15 Volvo's connected-car waiver and Polestar's problem 37:27 Road tripping in EVs with young kids 43:08 GM's EV trucks, the mid-gate, and wanting a hybrid Silverado EV 47:48 Ram TRX vs Ford Raptor R showdown