We can’t quit electric cars — or robotaxis

The Vergecast

Vox Media Podcast Network

News, Tech News, Technology

4.4 • 4.1K Ratings

🗓️ 25 February 2025

⏱️ 73 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Robotaxis: in. EVs: Out? The Verge's Andy Hawkins joins the show to talk about the goings-on in the transportation industry, including the reasons car makers are slowing down on EV production (but not giving up entirely) and why suddenly everyone's back in on robotaxis. Then, The Social Web Foundation's Evan Prodromou tells us what's new with the fediverse. We talk about Bluesky, Threads, Mastodon, and the increasingly ambitious plans for the ActivityPub protocol. Finally, we talk through some feedback on last week's episode about the pricing of the iPhone 16E, and how the way you buy your phone changes the way you feel about its price. Further reading: EV truck maker Nikola goes bust Senate Republicans introduce bills to make EVs more expensive Volkswagen claims it’s actually making that $20,000 EV and will show it next month Ford lost $5 billion on EVs in 2024, teases new models Lyft eyes robotaxi launch in 2026 Uber to Austin: get ready for Waymo The fediverse, explained: Mastodon, Threads, and the open future of social networking Flipboard’s Surf app is a feed reader for the fediverse Tumblr’s fediverse integration might finally happen soon. The Social Web Foundation Apple launches the iPhone 16E Email us at [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Vergecast, the flagship podcast of Intra Protocol Competition.
0:08.1	I'm your friend David Pierce, and I am once again attempting to learn how to do a Rubik's
0:12.6	cube. So during the pandemic, the two sort of weirdest days I had were the day that I woke
0:17.7	up and decided to learn how to juggle, which I successfully did. I'm not going to do it for you now, but I'm like a reasonably good juggler now. And then there was the day that I woke up and decided to learn how to juggle, which I successfully did. I'm not going to do it for you now, but I'm like a reasonably good juggler now.
0:23.5	And then there was the day that I woke up and decided I was going to learn how to solve a Rubik's
0:27.1	cube and just utterly failed.
0:29.4	And so now I have this Rubik cube that just sits here on my desk and I sort of fidget with
0:33.4	it during meetings.
0:34.2	I like it for that, but mostly it just taunts me because it is unsolved
0:37.8	and I don't know how to solve it. So I have a bunch of YouTube videos. I have a web page that is just
0:42.6	step-by-step instructions. I'm realizing this is less like a creative endeavor and more just
0:47.1	sort of memorizing an algorithm. But I kind of like that. I'm ready for that. I'm going to try it. It's going to be great. I'll update you next week to see if I actually pull this off.
0:55.1	That is not what we're here to do on the show today. We're going to do two things today. First, we're going to talk to Andy Hawkins about what's going on in the car world.
1:02.5	Because right now it seems like EVs are kind of going away and robo taxis are suddenly back. So we're going to talk about both those things. Then we're going to talk to
1:10.9	Evan Prodromo, who is one of the people overseeing the activity pub protocol. We're going to talk
1:15.5	about blue sky and threads and Mastodon and the whole world of social networking right now and where
1:22.2	we're headed this year. We also have a really fun hotline question about the iPhone 16E with
1:27.0	some of the thoughts that we've
1:28.1	heard from all of you since we talked about it on Friday.
1:31.1	Lots to do, lots to talk about.
1:32.8	But the first step in my Rubik's cube, as I understand it, is to get one side solved.
1:37.8	So I'm going to go do that, and we will be right back.
	...

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