Happy ceasefire day and welcome to Regulator, a newsletter for Verge subscribers about Big Tech’s rocky journey through the world of politics. If you’re not a subscriber yet, you can do so here, but my only request is that you sign up before Donald Trump decides to revisit his previous threats toward Iran and kickstart World War III.
Technology
Tesla’s self-driving cars under fire again
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The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has opened a new investigation into 2.88 million Tesla vehicles running “Full Self-Driving” (FSD). Officials say the system may be breaking traffic laws, and worse, causing accidents. According to Reuters, 58 reports describe Teslas blowing through red lights, drifting into the wrong lanes and even crashing at intersections. Fourteen of those cases involved actual crashes, and 23 caused injuries.
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WOULD YOU BUY THE WORLD’S FIRST PERSONAL ROBOCAR?
Red lights, train tracks and trouble ahead
In one striking pattern, six Tesla vehicles reportedly ran red lights before colliding with other cars. One driver in Houston complained that FSD “is not recognizing traffic signals,” saying the car stopped at green lights but ran through reds. The driver even said Tesla had seen the issue firsthand during a test drive, but refused to fix it. The agency is also reviewing new reports that some Teslas using FSD failed to handle railroad crossings safely, with one case involving a near-collision with an oncoming train.
WILL AUTONOMOUS TRUCKS REPLACE DRIVERS BY 2027?
Tesla faces new federal probe into crashes linked to Full Self-Driving mode. (Tesla)
Mounting legal and safety scrutiny
This is far from Tesla’s first brush with regulators. The company is already facing several investigations tied to both its Autopilot and FSD systems. In one high-profile case, a California jury ordered Tesla to pay $329 million after an Autopilot-related crash killed a woman. Another investigation is looking into Tesla’s limited Robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, where passengers reported erratic driving and speeding — even with human safety drivers onboard. Meanwhile, Tesla is still fighting a false advertising lawsuit from California’s DMV. Regulators say calling the software “Full Self-Driving” is misleading, since it requires constant driver supervision. Tesla recently changed the name to “Full Self-Driving (Supervised)” to reflect that reality.
Regulators say more crashes may come
Tesla’s latest FSD software update arrived just days before the investigation began. But the NHTSA says the system has already “induced vehicle behavior that violated traffic safety laws.” This investigation, now in its early stages, could lead to a recall if the agency finds that Tesla’s self-driving software poses a safety risk.
LUCID JOINS TESLA AND GM WITH HANDS-FREE HIGHWAY DRIVING
Regulators say some Teslas ran red lights and ignored traffic signals. (Christopher Goodney/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
What this means for you
If you drive a Tesla with FSD enabled, stay alert. The system isn’t fully autonomous, no matter what the name suggests. You should:
- Keep your hands on the wheel and eyes on the road at all times.
- Manually override the system when approaching intersections, crosswalks or railroad tracks.
- Check for Tesla software updates regularly — they may include critical safety fixes.
- Report any unsafe FSD behavior to NHTSA.
For everyone else, this investigation is a reminder that “self-driving” still means supervised driving.
Robotaxi tests raise fresh safety questions for Tesla’s self-driving cars. (AP)
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Kurt’s key takeaways
Tesla’s dream of a fully autonomous future keeps hitting speed bumps. With safety regulators circling and lawsuits piling up, the company’s next moves will shape public trust in AI-driven transportation. Still, the push toward automation isn’t slowing down; it’s just under heavier watch.
How much control would you give an AI behind the wheel? Let us know by writing to us at Cyberguy.com.
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Copyright 2025 CyberGuy.com. All rights reserved.
I’m back after being waylaid last week by the deadly combo of a moderate cold and the beginning of pollen season. (Twenty-one percent of the District’s acreage is taken up by public green space, and DC is consistently ranked the best city park system in America. Unfortunately, I am allergic to every tree and grass.) If you’ve got tips on anything I may have missed or anything I should know about the upcoming weeks, send ’em to tina.nguyen+tips@theverge.com.
Do you actually believe anything OpenAI says?
On Monday, OpenAI published a 13-page policy paper addressing the impact that artificial intelligence would have on the American workforce. The company also proposed what it believed was the solution: putting higher capital gains taxes on corporations replacing their workers with AI and using that money to create a bigger public safety net. Its solutions included a public wealth fund, a four-day workweek funded by “efficiency dividends,” and government programs to help transition workers into “human-centered” work, all financed by the abundance that artificial intelligence would deliver.
Unfortunately, it was released the day that The New Yorker’s Ronan Farrow and Andrew Marantz published a meticulously reported, 17,000-word-plus article chronicling Sam Altman’s history of lying to everyone around him, including to his Silicon Valley backers, his employees, his board, and — relevant in this case — lawmakers trying to regulate AI. The New Yorker article reinforced a long-standing narrative about Altman, and OpenAI by extension: They may spout idealistic values, but would quickly jettison them for financial and political gains.
On its own, said several people I spoke to, the paper was a net positive to AI governance overall, in that it introduced new ideas into the political discourse around the emerging technology. But unless the company’s policy and political influence made good on those promises, said OpenAI’s critics, it may as well just be a piece of paper.
“My guess is that there are people on the team who care about the stuff, who’ve thought really hard about this document and are proud of it, and did good work, even if it’s not addressing all of the questions that I wish it would address,” Malo Bourgon, the CEO of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute (MIRI), told me. “And there’s still the question of: Are those people gonna find themselves in the position that many previous people at OpenAI have found themselves in, where they thought the company had certain values or aligned with things they cared about, and then ended up finding out that wasn’t the case, becoming disenchanted and leaving?”
With OpenAI proposing policy, it’s worth looking back at its history with the government, which the New Yorker piece details in depth. Altman had been one of the first major CEOs to publicly advocate for federal oversight for AI, going so far as to propose a federal agency to oversee advanced models in 2023 — but privately he worked to suppress the laws containing his own safety proposals. A state legislative aide in California accused OpenAI of engaging in “increasingly cunning, deceptive behavior” to kill a 2023 AI safety bill that it was publicly supporting. In 2025, the company subpoenaed supporters of a California state-level AI bill in an effort to, as one such supporter put it to The New Yorker, “basically scare them into shutting up.” And though Altman had once worked extensively with the Biden administration to build AI safety standards, the moment that Donald Trump became president, Altman successfully persuaded him to kill the initiatives he’d once advocated for.
Nathan Calvin, the general counsel at Encode, an AI policy nonprofit where he focuses on state legislative initiatives, had received one of those subpoenas. “What I’ve seen from their policy and government affairs engagement has just been abysmal,” he told me. While he believed that the team who’d written the OpenAI proposal, primarily from the technical safety research side, was acting with good intentions, he was still reserving judgment. “Will those folks remain engaged as we move from general policy principles towards the many other ways in which lobbying and government influence actually happens? Part of me is hopeful, but a lot of me is also quite skeptical about whether that will happen.” (OpenAI did not return a request for comment.)
A modest, absolutely not craven request:
Next week I plan on running an issue of Regulator cataloging the nerdiest events happening during Nerd Prom, aka the White House Correspondents’ Dinner party circuit. If you’re a tech founder, tech company, or someone that does something related to technology and you’re throwing an event during WHCD week, please let me know what you’re up to! From what I’ve heard so far, the tech world is about to shake up the normal social dynamics of the week — I’ve already caught wind of the Grindr party in Georgetown, and the Substack party, which famed looksmaxxer Clavicular is attending — and I’m so, so excited to pull together the most bonkers “SPOTTED” column that Washington’s ever experienced.
(Again, this is contingent upon whether we’re at war with Iran by the end of April, in which case, I imagine no one will be up for frivolity.)
Speaking of DC reporters, this is very true of all of us:
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After nearly two years on pause, Virgin Galactic is selling tickets again. The catch is the price. A seat now costs $750,000. That number is not a typo. It is also a sharp increase from the company’s earlier pricing, which was $600,000. Now the company is reopening sales with 50 new spots available.
The company says flight testing is expected to begin in the third quarter of 2026, with commercial service starting in the fourth quarter of 2026.
If you are thinking about booking, you are not alone. More than 675 customers are currently waiting for their turn to experience space travel.
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AIR TAXIS IN THE U.S. COULD LAUNCH THIS SUMMER
Virgin Galactic’s spaceplane fires its rocket engine as it climbs toward the edge of space during a suborbital flight. (Virgin Galactic)
What a Virgin Galactic $750,000 ticket actually includes
Buying a ticket does not mean moving to space. These are short suborbital trips that last about 90 minutes. Here is how it works. Virgin Galactic uses a spaceship that launches from a carrier aircraft at high altitude. After release, the spaceplane fires its rocket engine and climbs to the edge of space. Passengers experience a few minutes of weightlessness before gliding back to Earth. It is closer to a thrill ride than a long mission. Still, for many, the appeal is simple. You get to see Earth from above the atmosphere.
Why space travel ticket prices keep rising
Going to space sounds incredible, but paying for it is a very different story. Building reusable spacecraft is expensive. Testing takes years. Safety requirements are intense. When something goes wrong, the entire program can slow down.
Virgin Galactic knows this firsthand. The company has faced delays, technical challenges and even tragedy. In 2014, a test flight operated by Scaled Composites, the company that designed and built the spaceplane, crashed and killed co-pilot Michael Alsbury. Since then, progress has been careful and at times slow. That helps explain the high ticket price. With only a limited number of flights and passengers, companies rely on premium pricing to stay afloat.
The company’s latest financials highlight that reality. Virgin Galactic reported a net loss of $279 million in 2025 and negative free cash flow of $438 million, underscoring how expensive it is to build and scale commercial spaceflight. CEO Michael Colglazier signaled that pricing could continue to climb as the company ramps up production and testing.
A new generation of spacecraft is driving the timeline
This latest ticket release is tied to a new development phase. Virgin Galactic says it expects its next-generation SpaceShip to enter ground testing in April 2026, with flight testing expected to begin in the third quarter of 2026. Commercial flights with this new vehicle are still on track for the fourth quarter of 2026.
A second SpaceShip is already in progress and is expected to enter service between late 2026 and early 2027, which is expected to increase flight frequency even more.
“We completed pivotal milestones during the first quarter of 2026, and with assembly of our first SpaceShip nearly complete and ground testing set to begin in April, we have released a limited number of Virgin Galactic Spaceflight Expeditions, each priced at $750,000,” said CEO Michael Colglazier.
That production ramp is key. The company is trying to move from monthly flights to a twice-weekly schedule per ship.
NEW PERSONAL EVTOL PROMISES PERSONAL FLIGHT UNDER $40K
Richard Branson floats in zero gravity during a flight, demonstrating the experience passengers can expect. (Virgin Galactic)
Who is competing in space tourism right now?
The timing of this relaunch is not random. Blue Origin has paused its tourist flights for at least two years. Meanwhile, SpaceX is focused on satellites, cargo missions and government contracts. That leaves Virgin Galactic as the only active option for private individuals who want a ticket to space right now. It is a small market, but for now, it is theirs.
Can space travel ever become affordable?
This is the big question hanging over the industry. Space tourism has been around for more than two decades, yet only a handful of people have actually gone. The dream has always been to make it more accessible. Right now, that dream still feels far away. Companies are trying to scale up. Virgin Galactic plans to increase flights from about four per month to as many as 10. If that happens, prices could eventually come down. But for now, the math is simple. Limited supply plus high costs equals very expensive tickets.
FLYING CAR NOW FOR SALE FOR $190,000
The view from the edge of space shows Earth’s curvature, one of the main draws of space tourism. (Virgin Galactic)
What this means for you
Even if you are not planning to spend $750,000 on a 90-minute trip, this still matters. First, it shows how close space travel is to becoming a real consumer experience. Not for everyone yet, but no longer something that feels out of reach. Second, the technology being developed for these flights often trickles down. Advances in materials, safety systems and aviation design can influence other industries over time. Finally, it is a reminder of how early we still are. Space tourism exists, but it is not mainstream. It is still in the phase where wealthy early adopters help fund the future.
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Kurt’s key takeaways
Virgin Galactic reopening ticket sales is a signal. The industry is not fading away. It is evolving and trying to enter a new phase. At the same time, the higher price tag tells a different story. Space is still hard. It is still risky. It is still expensive. For now, the view from above remains one of the most exclusive experiences money can buy.
Would you ever pay for a trip to space if prices dropped enough, or does the risk still outweigh the thrill? Let us know by writing to us at Cyberguy.com.
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Copyright 2026 CyberGuy.com. All rights reserved.
Microsoft first started trying to get rid of the Control Panel in 2012, with the launch of Windows 8. More than a decade later, it’s still working on migrating all the old Control Panel items into the modern Settings app in Windows 11. While there have been hints that the Control Panel might finally go away, the reality is a lot more complicated for Microsoft.
“We’re doing it carefully because there are a lot of different network and printer devices & drivers we need to make sure we don’t break in the process,” explains March Rogers, partner director of design at Microsoft. I could be wrong, but I think this is the first full explanation we’ve had from Microsoft about why it’s taken so long to get rid of the Control Panel.
It looked like Microsoft was about to finally cut the Control Panel in 2024, after years of Microsoft pushing aside the Control Panel in its latest Windows 11 updates. But a support note hinting at the imminent removal of the Control Panel was quickly updated to confirm Microsoft was still in the process of migrating the Control Panel to the Settings app.
Last year Microsoft also migrated clock settings, keyboard character repeat delay, mouse cursor blink rate, and formatting for time, number, and currency into the Settings app. There are also plenty of other mouse settings in the main Settings app that let you avoid the Control Panel these days.
I can’t remember the last time I used the Control Panel thanks to Microsoft’s recent mouse and keyboard improvements to the main Settings app, but a lot of Windows users used to prefer the legacy interface simply because you don’t have to dig into multiple levels to find different controls.
Microsoft is “focusing on design craft in Windows at the moment,” according to Rogers. The Settings interface is being “redesigned for clarity” this month, alongside other improvements to Windows 11 that are part of a broader effort to fix the OS.
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