China Pauses All Self-driving Permits After Outage

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Happy Wednesday! It's April 29, 2026, and this is The Morning Shift — your regular roundup of nan apical automotive headlines from astir nan world, successful 1 place. This is wherever you'll find nan astir important stories that are shaping nan measurement Americans thrust and get around.

In this morning's edition, we're looking astatine China's region connected self-driving, and nan prevalence of Chinese cars astir nan Mexican border. We'll besides look astatine Volkswagen reconsidering its German accumulation base, and Mercedes' less-than-stellar first 4th results. 

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Back successful March, Baidu's fleet of Apollo Go robotaxis stopped dormant crossed nan metropolis of Wuhan, China. This concerned regulators, who person now decided to return action: China has halted each caller autonomous driving permits successful nan country. From Bloomberg:

China has suspended issuing caller licenses for autonomous vehicles, according to group acquainted pinch nan matter, aft dozens of Baidu Inc.'s Apollo Go robotaxis abruptly stopped successful Wuhan past month, stranding passengers and disrupting traffic.

The incident alarmed authorities, and 3 agencies including nan Ministry of Industry and Information Technology convened a gathering earlier this period pinch officials from cities that person robotaxis aliases autonomous-driving pilots, nan group said. Regulators called for section governments to behaviour a afloat self-review and heighten information monitoring to forestall akin incidents, said nan people, who declined to beryllium identified because they aren't authorized to speak publicly.

The suspension of caller licenses prevents self-driving companies from adding caller robotaxis to their fleets, starting a caller trial task aliases expanding to a caller city, nan group said. It's not clear really agelong nan suspension will last, nan group said.

Can you ideate having regulators that really get concerned erstwhile robotaxis malfunction? Pshh, China, that's not really you compete connected nan world stage. Oh, wait, we're already losing to you? Well then. 

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All on nan Mexican broadside of nan U.S. border, streets are afloat of thing you seldom spot here: Chinese-made and branded cars, from companies for illustration Geely aliases Great Wall Motor. On nan different broadside of nan border, group look to emotion these inexpensive rides, arsenic erstwhile Jalop Ryan Felton explains successful nan Wall Street Journal:

CIUDAD JUÁREZ, Mexico—Just 5 miles from nan U.S. border, a bustling commercialized portion present offers nan buzzy Chinese car brands presently blocked from nan American market.

A Geely dealership features nan all-electric EX2, a sleek compact that starts astatine only astir $20,000. A bulky hybrid pickup motortruck sits adjacent to a charger extracurricular a BYD dealership. Great Wall Motor boasts immoderate beefy gas-powered sport-utility vehicles, 1 advertised pinch nan motto "Be More Tank."

Luis Hernandez, a Geely salesman, said he has poached galore longtime Ford and Chevrolet owners attracted to nan affordable sticker prices and whiz-bang Chinese technology. He precocious sold 2 Geely Emgrand sedans, which commencement astatine astir $17,000, to a Mexican family for their 2 daughters to commute to assemblage successful El Paso, wherever nan sleekest Chinese cars are now attracting attention.

"If they were allowed to beryllium sold successful nan United States," Hernandez boasted of nan Chinese models, "they would destruct nan American car market."

U.S. automotive executives don't wholly disagree. Without a clear scheme to woody pinch Chinese competitors, immoderate of them said successful interviews, nan presence of affordable, high-tech Chinese cars could upend a U.S. manufacture that contributes $1.3 trillion to nan system each year.

China tin make amended cars for little money than we can. Will we ever scope a constituent successful our existent ostentation wherever nan American group simply person truthful overmuch governmental will towards inexpensive cars that politicians can't support throwing bans around? 

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Volkswagen wants to make much money, arsenic companies mostly do. The problem is, it chiefly makes its cars successful Germany — not a inexpensive labour market. Now, nan institution is looking to move its labour guidelines elsewhere. From Automotive News: 

Volkswagen Group's apical activity concluded that nan automaker's long-standing business exemplary is nary longer sustainable, mounting nan shape for deeper restructuring, capacity reductions and a sharper displacement toward section accumulation successful cardinal markets.

VW Group's guidance and supervisory boards reached nan conclusion during a gathering connected April 27, according to group acquainted pinch nan matter. While nary general decisions were taken, nan conclusion underscores mounting unit connected nan group to accommodate to a much fragmented world waste and acquisition situation and faster technological change.

For decades, VW relied connected processing vehicles successful Germany and exporting them aliases producing localized versions abroad. That exemplary is progressively strained by U.S. tariffs, EU-China waste and acquisition tensions and nan capital-intensive displacement to electrical vehicles, which requires caller platforms and artillery production.

Executives are now moving connected measures to reconstruct profitability, including expanding section accumulation successful awesome markets and implementing structural changes that spell beyond accepted cost-saving programs. Initial steps are expected to beryllium outlined aft nan summer, alongside a long-delayed scheme for allocating accumulation crossed nan group's factories.

The portion mentions section production, but really agelong until we commencement seeing Chinese-made Volkswagens connected each thoroughfare corner?

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This has been a weird twelvemonth for automakers truthful far. We've had tariffs, we've had monolithic income drop-offs successful China, and now there's a warfare affecting nan costs of metals and gas. Mercedes, it seems, isn't immune to nan weirdness. From Reuters: 

BERLIN, April 29 (Reuters) – Mercedes-Benz reported a crisp driblet successful operating profit astatine nan commencement of 2026, a twelvemonth group to bring higher earthy worldly costs and further tariff pressures, weighing connected nan German carmaker arsenic it overhauls its exemplary lineup to ​boost sales.

The Middle East conflict has driven up world manufacture costs, compounding unit connected European automakers ​already deed by precocious U.S. import tariffs.

Mercedes, for illustration German peers Volkswagen and BMW, is besides ⁠battling falling income successful China, arsenic home brands for illustration BYD and Nio encroach connected nan premium conception aft ​conquering nan wide marketplace pinch cheap, tech-laden EVs.

Mercedes reported connected Wednesday net earlier liking and taxation (EBIT) of ​1.9 cardinal euros ($2.22 billion) successful nan first quarter, down 17% connected nan year.

First-quarter margins slipped to 4.1%, down from 7.3% a twelvemonth earlier, but wrong nan expected full-year scope of 3-5%.

This has been a reliable year, truthful I don't responsibility Mercedes for being down a small bit. I'm besides not a shareholder, though. 

Gun to my head, I would've guessed this happened 4 years later. 

AAA