Weekend Tech Innovation Roundup August 10, 2024

A major solar energy player is calling it quits.

SunPower, a major solar panel manufacturer, announced Monday that it is filing for bankruptcy. The development is latest in a string of bad headlines for a company that once helped create a plane that crossed the U.S. with propellers energized by sunbeams. SunPower is expecting to sell itself to rival Solaria pending the results of bankruptcy auction. - Melvin Backman Read More

After over 120 years of building cars, the automotive industry has provided us all of the puzzle pieces we need to build the perfect sports car. Honda really knows its powertrains, and Mazda really knows its chassis and handling. If you take the peanut butter and the chocolate and put them together, you get the perfect sports car. This K-swapped NC Miata is ready to completely embarrass a lot of much more expensive modern sports cars. - Bradley Brownell / Jalopnik Read More

Wealthy Chinese businesspeople love to waft around in traffic in the absolute lap of luxury, and the local market has really figured out the best way to create a luxurious passenger experience. For starters, it’s electric, mostly for noise reasons, but also because China is significantly more electric-minded than we are here in the U.S. market. Most importantly, however, it’s a van. Vans are just the best shape to fit six adults in comfort. This van, the Zeekr 009, is a damn big one, and it’s exciting enough that it just might change your idea of what a Chinese-built vehicle is. - Bradley Brownell / Jalopnik Read More

More than 20 people are in hospital after a Mercedes-Benz electric car burst into flames in a South Korean car park. The car exploded and damaged more than 100 cars parked nearby. The fire released a cloud of toxic smoke into the building above, which left 23 people in need of medical attention. - Owen Bellwood / Jalopnik Read More

A defense technology startup just raised $1.5 billion from investors to “rebuild the arsenal of Democracy” by manufacturing tens of thousands of autonomous weapons systems. - William Gavin Read More

Google and Meta ran a secret ad campaign targeting teens, in violation of Google’s own rules, the Financial Times reports. The ads on YouTube were intended to bring more 13- to 17-year olds to Instagram as TikTok’s dominance rises. - Laura Bratton Read More

Rivian shares are down Wednesday morning after the electric truck maker reported a wider loss for its April to June quarter than expected, although the startup says it has a path to reach positive gross profit by the end of 2024. - William Gavin Read More

In a parallel universe, today is Tesla Robotaxi release day. Unfortunately for the automaker’s stans, that is not the world we live in. Back in April, CEO Elon Musk said the long-awaited Tesla Robotaxi would be officially unveiled today, August 8. Welp, that’s not happening, and that announcement from Musk is looking more and more like a way to get the automaker’s stock out of a rut. - Andy Kalmowitz / Jalopnik Read More

Yesterday, we reported on a gruesome Tesla Cybertruck crash that left one person dead after their truck burst into flames following the initial impact. Now, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is opening an investigation into the incident, according to Reuters. - Andy Kalmowitz / Jalopnik Read More

Elon Musk is taking OpenAI and Sam Altman to court, accusing both the man and the startup of breaching contracts and violating a federal law against racketeering. - William Gavin Read More