A Waymo robotaxi in San FranciscoWelcome to The Downshift, or TDS for short, The Drive's morning news roundup serving the biggest automotive headlines from around the world.The Downshift summarizes news items in a few sentences, with links to other sites to get the deeper story. Here's your bulletin for Thursday, July 9, 2026.🔊The latest episode of The Drivecast, The Drive's weekly podcast, is now live on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts. There was a snag in the episode publishing yesterday, so if you were looking out for it, we thank you for your patience!🚨National Highway Traffic Safety Administration chief Jonathan Morrison has called on autonomous vehicle makers to design products that don't impede first responders. "Let me be clear: the inability to detect and appropriately respond to such situations represents a functional insufficiency," Morrison said in a letter, as the department is reportedly scheduling meetings with vendors this month to address the problem. [Reuters]📈China's domestic car sales may have fallen a staggering 26% compared to June of last year, but its exports are up 80%—a total of 905,000 cars. This echoes the recent success that BYD has found in markets beyond China. [Associated Press]💷AdvertisementAdvertisementA group of Aston Martin's creditors holding more than 50% of the company's shares have signed a cooperation pact, as concern builds over its debt. [Bloomberg]⚡Mercedes has announced an AMG version of its compact sedan, called the CLA45, powered by three axial-flux electric motors that produce 671 horsepower together from a 94-kWh battery. [Autocar]🎰McLaren has introduced the 788HS, which it says is the final evolution of the 720S family. The new model has 10% more downforce than the 765LT, weighs 2,789 pounds, and packs 777 horsepower ("788" is a reference to its output as expressed in pferdestärke—I guess "777" just wasn't a big enough number.) Only 100 coupes and 100 convertibles will be built. [McLaren]🤖Mitsubishi, of all companies, is getting into the humanoid robot game, as it plans to deploy them at its factories and also build them in a partnership with a startup called Highlanders Inc. [Automotive News]Got a tip? Reach out to tips@thedrive.com
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