Tesla moves core driver-assist behind a subscription paywall. Ars reports Tesla is discontinuing “Autopilot” as a package and putting lane-keeping behind a ~$99/month FSD subscription push. LINK
Volvo’s next mass-market EV platform is here. Volvo unveiled the EX60 (about $60k) on its new SPA3 platform, with production slated to start April 2026. LINK
EV batteries: the circular-economy push gets formalized. CATL and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation published a whitepaper laying out “circular EV batteries” direction and critical-minerals implications. LINK
Big biopharma manufacturing commitment escalates again. Manufacturing Dive reports Genentech is more than doubling its North Carolina facility investment to $2B. LINK
At-home neuromodulation for depression clears a major hurdle. MassDevice reports FDA approval for Neurolief’s prescription, physician-directed at-home neuromodulation therapy for MDD. LINK
Logistics consolidation: Echo Global Logistics signs an agreement to acquire ITS Logistics—another signal that shippers want scale + tech under one roof. LINK
Auto retail/data ecosystem reshuffle: TrueCar is taken private in a $227M deal led by Fair Holdings, refocusing on profitability and how consumers access “mobility.” LINK
Medtech manufacturing capacity update: Jin Medical says its new Chuzhou facility buildout is in the final stage, projecting full-capacity production by end of April 2026. LINK
Contract manufacturing signal (regulatory-ready): Aztech Global says its Malaysia facility secured U.S. FDA registration—positioning it as a manufacturing partner for U.S.-market device owners. LINK
Policy watch (UK auto): A Financial Times item highlights a report urging the UK to relax ZEV targets to support domestic automotive/battery production and investment. LINK
The “software-defined car” business model is getting more aggressive. Tesla’s move to repackage lane-keeping as a subscription isn’t just a pricing change—it pressures OEMs and suppliers to prove ongoing value (and compliance) post-sale. Expect more emphasis on feature entitlement, OTA validation, and audit-ready logs. LINK
Circular batteries are turning into real procurement requirements. The CATL/Ellen MacArthur direction-setting is a hint that automakers will increasingly ask suppliers for traceability, recoverability, and recycled-content pathways—not as ESG fluff, but as a cost/risk lever for critical minerals. That flows straight into materials qualification, reverse logistics, and remanufacturing playbooks. LINK
Biopharma’s buildout keeps pulling industrial capacity along with it. Genentech’s $2B North Carolina expansion underscores how fast U.S. biologics/advanced therapies manufacturing is scaling. For suppliers, the gating factors tend to be validation bandwidth, specialized equipment lead times, and “right-first-time” quality systems more than pure square footage. LINK
Home-use neuromodulation will stress-test medtech scaling. FDA approval/clearance is the start; now the hard part is manufacturing consistency (electrodes, electronics, firmware control), complaint handling, and post-market surveillance. Companies that can industrialize fast without quality drift will win the category. LINK
Across automotive and industrials, recurring revenue + regulation are converging: features are being monetized post-sale while governments/testers increasingly demand safer, more verifiable behavior. In manufacturing/medtech, the winners will be the teams that can scale capacity with quality systems intact—especially as battery circularity, biopharma mega-projects, and home-use devices raise the bar for traceability, validation, and process control.