President Donald Trump has wasted no time in upending his predecessor’s policies––from rescinding funding for EV charging infrastructure and proposing a slew of tariffs to initiating steps to revoke what he falsely calls the previous administration’s “EV mandate.”

The moves have brought uncertainty and disruption to the US automotive industry at a time when leaders are navigating the costly transition to electric vehicles.

Amid the chaos, medium-duty EV manufacturer Harbinger Motors aims to offer its customers a bit of certainty. The startup recently unveiled what it’s calling the “IRA Risk-Free Guarantee,” a program that promises price stability to customers if the commercial clean vehicle tax credit in the Inflation Reduction Act is rescinded. The 45W credit enables businesses to claim a credit of up to $40,000 on qualifying commercial vehicles.

Harbinger’s Class 5 stripped chassis model with a 140 kilowatt-hour battery capacity, for example, currently sells for $103,200.

“Buyers of this model will receive an IRA Risk-Free Guarantee credit of $12,900 at the time of purchase, bringing initial cost down to $90,300,” per a news release. “This matches the typical selling price of the equivalent Freightliner MT-45 diesel medium-duty stripped chassis, in addition to the Harbinger electric chassis offering enormous fuel and maintenance cost savings.”

If the tax credit remains in effect as of next January, the customer would owe a second payment to Harbinger equal to the discount’s value. If the provision goes away, Harbinger would waive the second payment.

Tech Brew recently spoke with John Harris, Harbinger’s CEO and co-founder, about the company’s decision to offer this guarantee and the ongoing federal policy changes.

Keep reading here.—JG

For all generative AI’s advances in language and reasoning, it’s still confined to our screens for now. That could eventually change as the tech industry steps up sci-fi-esque efforts to give this new intelligence a human-shaped shell.

On that front, Nvidia last week rolled out a set of new tools for developers building humanoid robots, including what it says is the first open foundation model for leveling up their generalist capabilities, Isaac GR00T N1. The release comes as some high-profile startups and big AI companies are starting to explore ways to build AI advances into robotics.

“The age of generalist robotics is here,” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said in the announcement. “With NVIDIA Isaac GR00T N1 and new data-generation and robot-learning frameworks, robotics developers everywhere will open the next frontier in the age of AI.”

The model is pretrained with the ability to perform basic functions, like “grasping, moving objects with one or both arms, and transferring items from one arm to another,” as well as multistep tasks. Nvidia suggests these motor skills might be of use for functions like “material handling, packaging, and inspection.”

Keep reading here.—PK

“Disruption” is the word of the moment in the auto industry after President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that, starting next week, the US will impose a 25% tariff on all vehicles imported into the US.

“While we’re still uncertain about exact policy outcomes, it looks like we are headed for the highest effective tariff rate since World War II,” Jonathan Smoke, Cox Automotive’s chief economist, said during a presentation Wednesday ahead of the announcement. “For the auto market, that is especially problematic, as such tariffs would be highly disruptive to North American vehicle production––resulting in tighter supply, higher prices, and lower production and sales.”

What to know: The auto tariffs are slated to take effect at 12:01am ET on April 3, per Trump’s proclamation, which also stated that new import tariffs on car parts will go into effect by May 3.

Car parts from Canada and Mexico that meet the requirements of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement will be exempt “until US Customs and Border Protections has a system in place to apply tariffs to non-US parts,” CNN reported.

Underscoring the significance of the policy: About half the vehicles sold in the US are imports.

Keep reading here.—JG

The future of transportation is electric, autonomous, and AI-driven—so what’s next? Join us in New York or via livestream on May 29 as experts from energy, mobility, and policy explore the latest in EV and battery innovation, AI’s role in autonomous vehicles and traffic management, smart grid advancements, and the cybersecurity challenges of a connected transportation system. Don’t miss this look at the tech and trends shaping how we move—register now!

Usually, we write about the business of tech. Here, we highlight the *tech* of tech.

DNA for sale; get your DNA here! In case you missed it, genetic testing company 23andMe filed for bankruptcy earlier this week, Healthcare Brew reported, meaning users’ genetic data could soon be up for sale. Wired has notes on how to delete your info from 23andMe’s databases.

Speaking of data privacy: If you use any of Amazon’s Alexa voice assistants, “it’s a good time to revisit the terms of your relationship,” Washington Post tech columnist Shira Ovide writes in a column about the company’s plans to eliminate an option that allowed users to opt out of sending Alexa voice recordings back to Amazon.