Elon Musk Has His Tesla Robotaxi Sights Set On San Francisco

Good morning! It’s Thursday, July 10, 2025, and this is The Morning Shift, your daily roundup of the top automotive headlines from around the world, in one place. This is where you’ll find the most important stories that are shaping the way Americans drive and get around.

In this morning’s edition, Tesla CEO Elon Musk threatens to send his robotaxis to San Francisco, over one million Ram trucks might still have a big rollaway issue, Nissan halts U.S. production of three vehicles it sells in Canada, and we’ve got another massive Ford recall on our hands.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk says the company’s already-controversial robotaxis will head to the San Francisco Bay Area in “a month or two” depending on regulatory approval, and given their track record I cannot tell if this is a promise or a threat.

The potential move comes about a month after the Austin, Texas-based automaker rolled out the long-promised and very-limited service in it’s hometown. Right now, there are only about a dozen operational robotaxis, and they only cater to a select group of passengers. They’ve also got many restrictions including a human safety monitor in the front passenger seat. From Reuters:

Tesla will expand the service to “a larger area in Austin this weekend,” Musk said on his social media platform X in response to a post from a user about the lack of an update on expansion. Musk did not specify the location or size of the expansion.

Another X user – Tesla Owners Silicon Valley – then asked about an expansion to the Bay Area, and Musk replied, “Waiting on regulatory approvals, but probably in a month or two.

[…]

[W]hile Tesla faced almost no regulation in Texas, California tightly controls where and how firms can operate autonomous vehicles and requires testing data for permits.

In California, Tesla would need a series of permits from the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to operate a fully autonomous robotaxi service that charges customers.

Back in March, the CPUC gave Tesla the first in a series of approvals that are required to eventually launch the service. The automaker would be entering an autonomous vehicle field that is currently being dominated by Alphabet’s Waymo.

At present, Waymo has about 1,500 vehicles in its fleet, and it has been expanding slowly but surely for years. It has rides available in San Francisco, Los Angles, Austin, and Atlanta. Musk and Tesla have a whole lot of work to do if they ever want to catch up.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating a rollaway issue that could impact about 1.2 million Ram pickup trucks. The organization says it opened a recall inquiry, citing concerns related to the brake transmission shift interlock. That’s the mechanism that keeps the vehicle from shifting while the brake pedal isn’t depressed.

The issue only seems to impact Ram 1500, 2500, 3500, 4500 and 5500 models built for MY13 to MY18 that are fitted with column shifters. Sure, everyone made fun of that little shifter dial Ram used during this time, but look who’s laughing now.

Real Ram Heads™ might have noticed that this isn’t the first time NHTSA has looked into the issue facing Ram and its brake transmission shift interlock. Actually, it’s not even the second. From the Detroit Free Press:

In 2017, NHTSA recalled over 1.4 million Ram trucks from 2009 to 2017 model years when it was discovered the trucks could be shifted out of park and into gear without pressing the brake or putting the key in the ignition.

A year later in 2018, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (now Stellantis) recalled 180,000 more Ram trucks for the same issue.

The problem was supposed to be remedied following the 2017 and 2018 recalls, but NHTSA’s new investigation indicates that the agency has now received 14 new vehicle-owner complaints and six death and injury reports citing a similar transmission interlock failure.

The reported failures, NHTSA said, “occurred on vehicles that had all previously been repaired” under the first two recalls.

NHTSA says this latest investigation will review the effectiveness of the previous recall remedies and address them further if deemed necessary. A spokesperson for Stellantis told Freep that the automaker is cooperating with the investigation.

I guess if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.

Nissan is pausing production of three vehicles it builds in the U.S. for the Canadian market because of Donald Trump’s tariff mess. Both the U.S. and our neighbors to the north have imposed mutual tariffs on auto imports. Because of that, production for Canadian market Pathfinders, Muranos and Frontiers has been halted.  The former two are built at a facility in Tennessee, while the latter is assembled in Mississippi.

There’s no word on how long the suspension is expected to stick around, or even when it started. However, the Japanese newspaper Nikkei suggests it started all the way back in May. From Reuters:

“This is a short-term and temporary measure, and we remain hopeful that ongoing discussions between the U.S. and Canadian governments will lead to a successful agreement in the near future,” Nissan said in a statement.

[…]

Nissan said its top-selling vehicles in Canada, such as the Versa, Sentra and Rogue, were all sourced from either Mexico or Japan, with production from those two countries accounting for 80% of its Canadian sales.

[…]

The Trump administration imposed 25% additional tariffs on auto imports in April, prompting Canada to implement retaliatory tariffs. Mazda Motor also halted Canada-bound production at its Alabama plant while boosting production for the U.S. market, the company said in May.

While Canada is a relatively small market for Nissan, the suspension underscores the difficulty facing global automakers from the tariffs. The levies have also added to a deepening crisis at Nissan, which has been badly hit by deteriorating sales and an ageing vehicle lineup.

Nissan doesn’t have any factories in Canada, and last year it sold around 104,000 vehicles in the country. That’s less than half of what it sold in Mexico and a bit more than 10% of what it sold in the U.S. Overall, it accounted for just 3% of Nissan’s global sales in the last financial year. Still, Nissan really isn’t in a position to sell fewer cars or lose out on the money it needs to stay afloat. 

Folks, it wouldn’t be a day that ends in “y” without a Ford recall. The Blue Oval is recalling 850,318 vehicles in the U.S. because of an issue with the low-pressure fuel pump that could eventually lead to the mechanism’s failure. As I’m sure you know, engines need fuel to work, so the faulty pump could end in an engine stall, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. From Reuters:

A faulty fuel pump can reduce fuel flow from the tank to the engine, causing an engine stall and increasing the risk of a crash, NHTSA said.

The auto safety authority received six consumer complaints alleging loss of power due to pump failure.

Before a fuel pump fails, drivers may notice poor engine performance, including misfiring, rough running, reduced power, or a check engine light, NHTSA said in a notice to dealers.

Failures are more likely when fuel levels are low or in hot weather, it added.

[…]

Ford is still developing a remedy.

The wide-ranging recall impacts vehicles like the Lincoln Aviator, Ford Explorer, F-150 pickup trucks and even the Mustang. The NHTSA says that about 10% of the potentially affected vehicles actually have the defect. 

History.com

It’s very funny to me that all these years later, your weird uncle still thinks seatbelts are a government ploy to kill you.

I never would have thought that in the Big 25, Hoodie Allen would drop my personal song of the Summer, but here we are.