Tesla Is Gearing Up For Autonomy Tests In China

Happy Wednesday! It’s May 20, 2026, 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, we’re looking at Tesla’s latest round of self-driving hiring, as well as the consumer effects of tariffs. We’ll also look at Stellantis’ plans to build Chinese EVs in France, and Hyundai’s latest recall. 

Tesla is still banking on autonomous software saving the company, despite not having the best driver-assist suite on the market. The company is looking to expand its questionable software to China, and it’s hiring everything from engineers to test drivers in the country to make that goal happen. From Bloomberg:

Tesla Inc. has launched a recruitment drive for driver-assistance roles in China after repeated delays to the launch of technology seen as key to competing with a local rivals such as Xiaomi Corp. and Huawei Technologies Co.

The automaker posted job openings earlier this month for positions including autopilot test engineers, data labelers and real test operators, marked “urgent,” according to company recruitment notices on its website. The hiring spree spans nine major Chinese cities, including key auto and tech hubs Beijing, Shanghai, Wuhan and Guangzhou.

Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk has long viewed the launch of Tesla’s so-called Full Self-Driving — which despite its name still requires constant human supervision and intervention — as crucial for the company’s next stage of growth in China, where it has steadily been losing market share to local carmakers. Musk had previously expected to officially launch the advanced driver-assistance technology as early as February, but last month executives said regulatory approval is now expected by the third quarter of the year.

The next step in the American Century of Humiliation will be Chinese citizens hopping on Xiaohongshu to go “Oh my god, Americans allow this on their roads?” 

Remember those tariffs that are maybe still around but also maybe not, and are maybe being refunded to carmakers but also still being charged? Well, car companies are finally looking to pass those costs onto consumers, but don’t worry — everything is already so unaffordable, consumers likely won’t even notice the difference. From Automotive News: 

Automakers are more likely to pass tariff costs downstream this year than in 2025, but the impact on dealerships and consumers should be minimal, experts say.

Affordability concerns in the U.S. have masked the impact of tariffs on new vehicles as sticker prices now top $50,000. Dealers still have the advantage of brand loyalty, and they can lean on salesmanship and build up their used-vehicle inventory as tariff cushions, dealership leaders and sales trainers told Automotive News.

“Everything feels so unaffordable,” said Jennifer Myers, CMO at Kunes Auto & RV Group. “I don’t even know if people are noticing that this one’s a little more unaffordable than this one.”

Turns out, once your product is too expensive for consumers, you can jack up the price as much as you want and they won’t notice! What’re they gonna do, buy it even less? 

Stellantis has long been looking to use up excess production capacity in Europe, and Chinese automakers have been looking to dodge the bloc’s tariffs. Sounds like a match made in heaven, and Stellantis and Dongfeng seem to agree — the two have teamed up to build EVs in France. From Automotive News: 

Stellantis will form a joint venture with China’s Dongfeng to build and sell the state-owned Chinese automaker’s vehicles in Europe.

The Stellantis-led 51/49 joint venture will be responsible for the manufacturing, engineering, purchasing, and sales and distribution of Dongfeng vehicles in Europe, Stellantis said in a statement May 20.

The companies also said they intend to localize, in line with Made-in-Europe requirements, production of Dongfeng new energy vehicle models in a Stellantis plant in Rennes, France. New energy vehicles, a Chinese category, can mean battery-electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids or extended range EVs.

Building Dongfeng vehicles in a French factory would enable the company to avoid European Union tariffs on China-made BEVs and EREVs.

Dongfeng will also build Jeeps in China, which ought to be fascinating. Catch me gray market importing a Chinese jeep for the build quality in a couple years. 

Another day, another recall. This time it’s Hyundai, taking back 54,000 Elantra Hybrids for fire risks around an overheating piece of the hybrid infrastructure. From Reuters: 

Hyundai Motor (005380.KS), opens new tab is recalling 54, 337 vehicles ​in the U.S. over ‌a fire risk linked to the overheating of hybrid power ​control unit, the ​U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety ⁠Administration (NHTSA) said on Wednesday.

Here ​are further details:

* The recall ​covers certain 2024-2026 Elantra Hybrid vehicles.
* Overheating in the hybrid power control ​unit under high ​electrical loads can cause affected vehicles ‌to ⁠fail to start or enter reduced‑power mode, the auto regulator said.

Despite this sounding like a hardware flaw, the fix is apparently software-based. I’m not sure how much I’d like to drive around in a car I knew could catch fire at any time but for a few lines of code. 

I know in Andy’s house he’s a hero, but not in mine. 

Ain’t about how fast I get there
Ain’t about what’s waiting on the other side
It’s the climb

I woke up with Virtual Insanity stuck in my head, and I have absolutely no idea why. I haven’t listened to this song in forever. I haven’t seen it referenced recently. But for some reason, I woke up and it was stuck in there. Let’s get it in your head too.