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Ford officially launches Tesla Supercharger access, free adapter now available to order

Ford Tesla adapter

Last May, Ford was the first automaker to announce its plans to adopt Tesla’s charge connector, now known as the North American Charging Standard (NACS). In addition to adding Tesla’s connector to its own EVs in 2025, Ford also said it would make a free adapter available to existing Ford EV owners.

Starting today, Ford says that eligible Mustang Mach-E and F-150 Lightning owners can request their free CCS to NACS adapter. The first deliveries are slated to begin shipping in March. Ford is also starting to roll out a software update that unlocks Tesla Supercharger support for Mach-E and Lightning vehicles.

“Today, Ford F-150 Lightning and Mustang Mach-E retail customers are the first of any non-Tesla automaker to gain access to Tesla Superchargers across the U.S. and Canada,” Ford says.

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Apple Car design Project Titan

Apple cancels Apple Car project after more than a decade

Bloomberg reports that Apple has officially canceled its effort to build an electric car. The move was announced internally by Apple COO Jeff Williams and Kevin Lynch, who had been leading the Apple Car project since 2021.

“Apple’s most senior executives finalized the decision in recent weeks,” the report says. The project had reached a “make-or-break point” inside Apple, with Tim Cook also facing pressure from shareholders to make a decision.

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Apple loses veteran hardware engineering executive to Rivian

Apple veteran DJ Novotney is departing the company for a new role at Rivian, according to a report from Bloomberg. Novotney, a vice president of hardware engineering, has spent almost 25 years at Apple and worked across multiple generations of the iPod, the iPhone, the Apple Watch, and more. His LinkedIn page hasn’t yet been updated, but he is shown pictured next to a Rivian.

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Hands-on: Ford debuts new in-car digital platform with dual-screen Apple Maps via CarPlay

Ford today has officially announced its new next-generation in-car infotainment system. While Ford is doubling down on its own native experience, it’s also expanding its commitment to CarPlay.

I had a chance to visit Ford’s headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan last week for a sneak preview of the new “Ford and Lincoln Digital Experience.” Here’s what you need to know…

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GM CarPlay

GM dealers aren’t happy future EVs won’t support CarPlay: ‘There’s an infinite number of ways this could go bad’

Earlier this year, GM announced its boneheaded decision to ditch CarPlay in all of its future EVs, opting for a partnership with Google instead. The company has received an incredible amount of backlash since that announcement, and unsurprisingly, GM dealerships are also none too happy about the move.

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apple car hyundai

Report: Hyundai finally adding wireless CarPlay support to more cars starting this year

Hyundai’s complicated relationship with CarPlay might soon get a little bit easier to understand. A new report this week suggests that Hyundai plans to add support for wireless CarPlay and Android Auto to its cars that are also equipped with integrated satellite navigation, starting later this year. Historically, Hyundai cars with integrated navigation have only supported wired CarPlay.

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Rivian developing ‘Apple Watch as a key’ feature, native Apple Music integration

While Rivian isn’t working on CarPlay support, the EV maker is planning a few other features that Apple fans will appreciate. In a recent Q&A session this week, Rivian’s head of software development, Wassym Bensaid, revealed that the company is actively testing support for allowing Apple Watch to serve as a key for R1T and R1S vehicles.

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Tim Cook goes for a ride in Rivian electric pickup at Sun Valley ‘summer camp for billionaires’

As reported earlier this week, Apple CEO Tim Cook is attending the Sun Valley Conference this week in Idaho, often referred to as a “summer camp for billionaires.” While we rarely learn much about what goes on at Sun Valley each year, a fun Friday story this year is that Tim Cook has been spending some time checking out the Rivian electric truck and SUV.

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Full Self-Driving Diary: A longtime Tesla driver’s perspective on FSD beta

Tesla Full Self-Driving Beta Hero

After a month of safe and cautious driving, I finally achieved a Safety Score of 99 last week, and shortly thereafter, I was granted access to the Full Self-Driving Beta for my 2021 Model Y. The experience with the FSD Beta over the last seven days has made a few things clear: it’s very much a beta, but it’s very, very impressive when it works.

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Elon Musk wanted to be Apple CEO, but Tim Cook dropped an F bomb on that idea [U: Musk denies]

Update: Tesla CEO Elon Musk is denying that this interaction ever took place. He wrote on Twitter today that he and Cook have never spoken or written to each other. “There was a point where I requested to meet with Cook to talk about Apple buying Tesla. There were no conditions of acquisition proposed whatsoever. He refused to meet,” Musk says.

The history between Tesla and Apple, and between Tim Cook and Elon Musk, varies depending on who you talk to. At one point, Musk claimed to have reached out to Cook about selling Tesla to Apple, but Cook refused to even take a meeting. Cook, on the other hand, claims to have never spoken to Musk.

Now, Wall Street Journal reporter Tim Higgins is out with a new book next month called Power Play: Tesla, Elon Musk and the Bet of the Century, and it recounts an expletive-ridden conversation between Cook and Musk about Apple acquiring Tesla.

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