Tesla Optimus fail, Rivian AI/Autonomy day, Mercedes GLB EV, and more

In the Electrek Podcast (electrek.co/guides/electrek-podcast), we discuss the most popular news in the world of sustainable transport and energy. In this week’s episode, we discuss a very telling Tesla Optimus fail, Rivian's AI/Autonomy day, Mercedes GLB EV, and more.

The show is live every Friday at 4 p.m. ET on Electrek’s YouTube channel (youtube.com/channel/UCcOIZzJgLCyMPILY7-1Vsdg/f…).

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Here are a few of the articles that we will discuss during the podcast:

• Tesla Optimus robot takes a suspicious tumble in new demo (electrek.co/2025/12/07/tesla-optimus-robot-tak…)

• Tesla US sales drop to under 40,000 units following tax credit expiration, lowest in years (electrek.co/2025/12/12/tesla-us-sales-drop-to-…)

• Tesla CEO Elon Musk claims driverless Robotaxis coming to Austin in 3 weeks (electrek.co/2025/12/09/tesla-ceo-elon-musk-cla…)

• Rivian AI & Autonomy Day: In-house silicon chip, next-gen AI platform, LiDAR for Level 4 self-driving [Video] (electrek.co/2025/12/11/rivian-ai-autonomy-day-…)

• Subaru’s new electric SUV delivers over 300 miles range and it starts at under $35,000 (electrek.co/2025/12/09/subaru-uncharted-ev-pri…)

• The Mercedes GLB is back as an electric SUV and it’s better in just about every way [Images] (electrek.co/2025/12/08/new-mercedes-glb-3-row-…)

• Global EV sales jump 21% in 2025 as Europe surges and the US stalls (electrek.co/2025/12/11/global-ev-sales-jump-21…)

• Ford and SK On kill massive $11.4B US battery joint venture, split factories between them (electrek.co/2025/12/11/ford-sk-on-kill-massive…)

Here’s the live stream for today’s episode starting at 4:00 p.m. ET (or the video after 5 p.m. ET:

youtube.com/live/ZM1kpEBNtak