Musk Swears Tesla’s Robotaxi Will Be Here June 22

Good morning! It’s Thursday, June 12th, 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, Elon Musk sets a totally real date for Tesla’s robotaxi rollout, Ford’s “employee pricing for all” plan is really working, Consumer Reports gets political and GM pledges billion in U.S. manufacturing investments. 

Tesla CEO Elon Musk says the automaker is tentatively planning to offer public rides with its self-driving Model Y robotaxis starting on June 22 in Austin, Texas. It’s a deeply important moment for the automaker, which has all but given up on a cheaper EV. Sales are dropping like a rock because of Musk’s politics and a lackluster model lineup. For better or worse, there’s a lot riding on Tesla’s ability to actually deliver a robotaxi — pay no attention to the fact companies like Waymo have been doing this for years now.

Musk told his followers on X that the company was “being super paranoid about safety, so the data could shift” in regards to that June 22 date. Don’t be too shocked when that happens, but Tesla really needs this to work. From Reuters:

A successful robotaxi launch is crucial for Tesla as sales of its EVs have softened due to rising competition and a backlash against Musk’s embrace of far-right political views in Europe, and his recent work for U.S. President Donald Trump before their public falling out.

Musk has promised a paid robotaxi service in Austin starting with about 10-20 of its Model Y SUVs that will operate in a limited area and under remote human supervision.

The company then plans to expand operations to other U.S. states later in the year, including California which has stringent AV regulations.”Austin >> LA for robotaxi launch lol,” Musk said on X, in an apparent reference to the southern Californian city of Los Angeles.

Tesla has been testing its self-driving vehicles on public streets in Austin, Musk said last month. Earlier on Tuesday, Musk re-posted a video on X that showed a Model Y making a turn at an Austin intersection with no human driver and the word “Robotaxi” written on it, and followed closely by another Model Y.

Musk has said in the past that these vehicles will use a new version of Tesla’s Full Self-Driving software, and I hope it’s much improved. There are countless stories of that system screwing up in horrendous and unsafe ways.

Regardless, there isn’t much else known about Tesla’s theoretical robotaxi services. How people will summon cars, where they will operate, and the extent of their remote supervision are all unanswered questions at this point.

Who would have thought that the novel idea of making cars more affordable would drive demand? Well, Ford seems to have figured that out with its “From America, For America” employee pricing plan it rolled out in response to tariff worries. Now, it’s paying off in a big way.

The Dearborn-based automaker says it had a 14.7% share of the U.S. market at the end of May. That represents a 1.9% increase over the same time last year — a wild jump to make in just 12 months. From Automotive News:

Ford started offering employee pricing to all customers April 2 in response to President Donald Trump’s import tariffs. The incentive, which applies to most new Ford models, was slated to end June 2 but has been extended through July 6.

[…]

Ford sales in May rose 16 percent behind strong gains for gasoline and hybrid models, even as electric vehicle deliveries dropped 25 percent.

[…]

[President of Ford Blue and Ford Model e Andrew] Frick said Ford would continue to look at pricing on a model-by-model basis, taking into account where it has advantages over competitors. He said some companies were finding different ways to account for tariffs beyond top-line price increases.

“There’s a lot of levers,” Frick said. “There’s variable marketing incentives, there’s series mixes. … We’ve seen companies say, ‘We’re not going to raise prices. We’re committed to not raising prices,’ yet they deescalate variable marketing and took away maintenance packages, which is a form of net pricing. There’s a lot of ways companies are doing this.”

He went on to say that Ford’s vulnerability to tariffs is lower than other automakers because of how much it produces in the U.S. Around 80% of the vehicles Ford in the U.S. last year were built right here.

Of course, that still leaves about 20% that are vulnerable to tariffs. Because of that, Ford told dealers last month it plans to raise prices on three Mexico-built vehicles — the Mustang Mach E, Bronco Sport and Maverick — by up to $2,000. Womp womp.

Consumer Reports, one of our favorite vehicle testing and news sites, is urging Republican lawmakers to drop a plan to impose a $250 annual fee on electric cars to pay for road repairs. That’s on the low end, too. One Republican Senator has proposed a year fee of $500 for EVs and $250 for plug-in hybrids. From Reuters:

The fees would mean consumers would pay anywhere from three to seven times as much as owners of similar conventional gasoline vehicles in federal gas taxes, Consumer Reports said. 

[…]

Chris Harto, senior policy analyst at Consumer Reports said the EV fees were “punitive taxes designed to confiscate fuel savings from consumers who just want to save money for their families.” 

Lawmakers in April dropped a $20 federal yearly registration fee on all vehicles starting in 2031 to fund road repairs.

This proposal is part of a U.S. House bill that would also end the $7,500 EV tax credit by December 31 for new EVs as well as the $4,000 used EV tax credit. It also repeals emission rules and kills an Energy Department loan program that supports the manufacturing of green advanced technology vehicles. Just to make matters worse, it would also phase out EV battery production credits in 2028.

General Motors says it will invest $4 billion in three U.S. manufacturing sites over the next couple of years to prepare for changing production that is slated to begin in 2027. It’s also planning to move the manufacturing of the Chevy Blazer and Equinox stateside from Mexico. The announcement also confirmed that GM has no current plan to produce EVs at its Michigan Orion Assembly plant — instead focusing on gas vehicles at that location. This news certainly seems to be a direct response to President Trump’s tariffs. From the Detroit Free Press:

GM planned to relaunch Orion Assembly after a $4 billion retooling and expansion to assemble the Silverado EV and GMC Sierra EV later this year for late 2025 model year production, but that was pushed ahead six months to mid-2026.

Previously, Orion made the Chevrolet Sonic and Bolt EVs, though production of those vehicles ended there last year.

The plan now is to produce gas-powered full-size SUVs and light duty pickup trucks at Orion in early 2027, according to the company.

Also by then, GM’s Factory Zero in Detroit-Hamtramck will serve as the dedicated assembly location for the Chevrolet Silverado EV, GMC Sierra EV, Cadillac Escalade IQ, and GMC Hummer EV pickup and SUV.

[…]

GM CEO Mary Barra said in a statement: “We believe the future of transportation will be driven by American innovation and manufacturing expertise. Today’s announcement demonstrates our ongoing commitment to build vehicles in the U.S. and to support American jobs. We’re focused on giving customers choice and offering a broad range of vehicles they love.”

GM is also planning to retool its Fairfax Assembly plant in Kansas City as well as its Spring Hill Manufacturing plant in Tennessee. Fairfax will start building gas-powered Equinoxes in mid-2027, and it’ll start producing the 2027 Chevy Bolt EV by the end of 2025, according to Freep. Spring Hills will take over Blazer production from Mexico, and it’ll also build the Cadillac Lyriq, Vistiq and XT5.

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It’s ridiculous to me that 51 years later we’re still debating who is allowed to play youth and professional sports. Let people play what they want.

“God Only Knows” is probably the most beautiful pop song of all time. Argue with a wall. Rest in peace, Brian Wilson.