1. Volkswagen recalls 4.2 million cars worldwide
Volkswagen Group just issued a global recall of 4.2 million cars — one of the biggest safety actions of the year. The fault is a corrosion-prone bolt in the steering wheel that can affect steering control, though the company says no incidents have been reported so far. Caught up in it: 2.6 million Volkswagens — Golf, Tiguan and Caddy models built between 2013 and 2024 — plus 700,000 Audis (including the Q3), over a million Skodas and 200,000 Seats. Good news locally: Volkswagen Australia has confirmed no Aussie models are affected, and Audi Australia says only left-hand-drive cars are in scope.
Source: Drive.com.au
2. Tesla robotaxis run later in Austin — watch out for the kittens
Tesla has pushed its Austin robotaxi service one hour later — rides now run until 11pm, up from 10pm — and added 111 Cybercabs to the fleet. Musk says the main thing the team is trying to solve is teaching the cars not to run over pets that are hard to see at night. His words: "grey kittens on grey tarmac in the dark." The wrinkle: Teslas use visual-spectrum cameras rather than LiDAR, which can see without needing light. Musk reckons AI photon-counting lets the cameras see well in the dark too.
Source: Not a Tesla App
3. Switzerland's first robotaxi takes to the road
While Tesla battles the dark, Switzerland's first public robotaxi service is rolling — in daylight only, 1pm to 5pm daily. The pilot, called Iamo ("intelligent automated mobility"), runs three electric self-driving cars between around 100 designated stops across four municipalities in Zurich's Furttal valley, booked through an app. At CHF 4.70 plus CHF 0.38 per kilometre, a 10km ride costs about CHF 8.50 — a fraction of a regular Zurich cab. It's run by Swiss Transit Lab with the cantons of Zurich and Aargau plus Swiss Federal Railways, designed to connect the suburbs to the rail network.
Source: Geneva Times
4. Jaguar's 1,000hp Type 01 EV breaks cover in New York
Jaguar's electric reboot goes public this week — the Type 01 gets unveiled in New York on 8 October. It's the first real look at Jag's ultra-premium EV future: a 1,000-horsepower, three-motor machine with a 120kWh battery pack, a 1.4-metre roofline and 23-inch wheels, priced at £130,000. The torque vectoring system monitors grip 1,000 times every second. After the controversial 2024 rebrand and a rough sales year in 2025, this is the car that has to make the new Jaguar story stick.
Source: Wisevoter
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