Volkswagen AG's main plant in Wolfsburg may face historically low production levels this year, and a faster transition to electric vehicles will be required to remain competitive, according to senior officials from the German automaker. The planned production of the electric vehicle, dubbed Trinity, is due to roll off the assembly lines in 2026, which is too late to ensure proper plant utilization.

It will need a faster transition to electric vehicles to remain competitive, according to senior union officials.

The head of VW's work council, Daniela Cavallo, complained that the average annual productivity at the Wolfsburg plant is lower than in the past 10 years. "The workers are becoming more and more concerned," he said. "They do not know of such long periods of short-term work."

The American media company Vice Media has published an article in which it talks about the details of Tesla’s cooperation with beta testers under the Full Self-Driving Beta (FSD Beta) program, access to which is provided by subscription for $ 200 a month. In addition, the company received a copy of the non-disclosure agreement, which is signed by the program participants.
It all happened against the background of an incident related to testing the FSD V10 system. On September 4, 2021, Galileo Russell, author of the YouTube channel HyperChange, posted a video of testing an autopilot system while driving under a monorail in Seattle, the supporting structure of which runs along the middle of the road. At one point, Tesla turned sharply to the right towards the pedestrian crossing, thereby creating an emergency situation for people crossing the roadway. Russell managed to react in time and stopped the electric car.

Later, the owner of the hedge fund Taylor Ogan cut out the moment of the autopilot error and posted the clip on Twitter, the video went viral and received wide coverage among users. The short tweet gave the public the impression that Tesla was endangering pedestrians and drivers in order to beta test new versions of the software. At Russell’s request, the Twitter administration removed the post with the clip. September 19 David Zipper of the School of Management. John F. Kennedy, re-uploaded the video to the site, expressing concern about the impact of Tesla electric vehicles on the safety of road users.
In one of his latest videos, Galileo Russell mentioned that Tesla does not want beta testers to share clips from test drives, as materials that should build public confidence in the autopilot system backfire. After Vice received a copy of a non-disclosure agreement, according to which beta testers are prohibited from commenting in the media on the quality of the tested software and publishing videos that put the autopilot in a bad light, the blogger’s words were confirmed.

Earlier it became known about the lawsuit filed by police officers of the state of Texas after Tesla in autopilot mode rammed official cars and seriously injured law enforcement officers. In the lawsuit, Tesla Motors is accused of selling users of low-quality software, which creates potentially dangerous situations for drivers.

Volkswagen is setting up a new battery systems plant for electric vehicles in Hefei, eastern China, which will be ready for production in 2023.

By 2025, the automaker is investing more than € 140 million in its joint venture with state-owned JAC to produce 150,000-180,000 battery systems for electric vehicles annually. Volkswagen also owns a stake in battery manufacturer Gotion.

Previously, Volkswagen said that in the next decade, of its planned 22 million electric vehicles, more than half will be produced and sold in China. Before the end of the year, production starts at Byton and Tesla factories, and here we do not mention the production of several brands of electric vehicles outsourced. Previously, Volkswagen said that in the next decade, of its planned 22 million electric vehicles, more than half will be produced and sold in China. By the end of the year, production starts at Byton and Tesla factories, and here we do not mention the production of several brands of electric vehicles for outsourcing.

Already the first years of the next decade will be the time when electric vehicles will firmly take the mainstream, and, therefore, will require the same growth of the necessary infrastructure.