Rolling-Coal And Emissions Cheating Devices Are No Longer A Criminal Offenses In Donald Trump's America

Good morning! It's Friday, January 23, 2025, and this is The Morning Shift, your daily roundup of the top automotive headlines from around the world, in one place. This is where you'll find the most important stories that are shaping the way Americans drive and get around.

In this morning's edition, you can now pretty much roll coal with impunity in the United States, Tesla has finally launched robotaxis without safety monitors years after it promised it would, Volkswagen is giving the ID 4 a real name and Elon Musk says Europe and China will approve Full Self-Driving soon.

President Trump's Department of Justice has ordered federal prosecutors to stop pursuing criminal charges and drop all pending cases that target the sale of illicit "defeat devices" that tamper with the air pollution control systems in diesel-powered vehicles. Pretty much, what this means is rolling coal is now legal to do because we live in a hell run by 12-year-olds.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche's edict is the first time that the DOJ has formally taken steps to scale back environmental criminal enforcement since Trump first took office a bit over a year ago. In a memo reviewed by the media, Blanche wrote that he made this decision "to ensure consistent and fair prosecution under the law, as well as to ensure the best use of Department resources." Yeah, bud. I'm sure. From CBS News:

Although the Trump administration took drastic steps throughout 2025 to roll back environmental rules targeting greenhouse gas emissions, many of those actions focused on regulations or civil enforcement, as opposed to criminal environmental enforcement.

In justifying the decision, Blanche cited a new and untested legal theory that runs counter to conclusions reached by both career federal prosecutors and attorneys for the Environmental Protection Agency, according to internal government records reviewed by CBS and multiple sources familiar with the matter.

The theory posits that the violations could not be prosecuted as crimes under the Clean Air Act, and could only be pursued as civil offenses.

A Justice Department spokesperson, when asked for comment on the memo, pointed to a social media post made late Wednesday afternoon. It said the department was "exercising its enforcement discretion to no longer pursue" criminal charges of the Clean Air Act based on allegations of tampering with the software associated with emissions control devices.

The memo comes just a few months after Trump pardoned Tony Lake, a Wyoming-based diesel mechanic who served several months in federal prison for conspiring to violate the Clean Air Act by disabling emissions-control devices in a number of diesel trucks. It came after a Wyoming Senate Republican alleged the case represented an example of the Biden administration "weaponizing" prosecution.

Blanche's order could potentially impact more than a dozen pending criminal cases across the country targeting companies and individuals who allegedly sold after-market emissions defeat devices, as well as more than 20 ongoing investigations, according to two sources familiar with the matter and court filings.

Several of the pending criminal cases, including two in different districts in Pennsylvania, were indicted in 2025 during the first year of Mr. Trump's second term in office, court filings show.

The Clean Air Act requires the EPA to regulate air pollution levels generated by vehicles.

In order to comply with those rules, auto manufacturers are required to install emissions control systems to reduce the level of pollutants, such as including nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide.

It is unlawful to tamper with those systems, but there's a robust black market for after-market emissions defeat devices because deleting or tuning them can help boost horsepower and improve mileage.

A study done in 2020 by the EPA found that in the last decade, emissions controls had been removed from about 550,000 diesel pickup trucks, and that led to the emissions of 570,000 tons of excess nitrogen oxides. 

Ya know, I really just don't get it. What is the point of rolling coal anyway? It's not going to make your wife love you, or your boss respect you, or your father finally feel proud of you. Plus, it makes your own truck dirty and smelly and wastes expensive fuel. Is it just about owning the libs? It can't be, right? Maybe it is that simple.

In the end, all it really does is slowly kill the planet and make everybody's day a bit worse, but that's sort of the underlying mantra of this administration, isn't it?

Tesla has started offering public robotaxi rides without safety monitors in Austin, Texas, and it's just five years after CEO Elon Musk predicted there would be over a million self-driving Tesla taxis on the road. Honestly, in terms of Musk's promises, this one isn't too far off. In December, Musk said that his robotaxis hit the streets without safety drivers in a testing phase.

 Still, Tesla and its limited service lag well behind Zoox and Waymo. Back in July, Musk said that Tesla robotaxis would serve about half the U.S. population by the end of 2025. You can see how that went. From Automotive News:

"Robotaxi rides without any safety monitors are now publicly available in Austin," Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla's vice president of Autopilot software, said on X. "Starting with a few unsupervised vehicles mixed in with the broader robotaxi fleet with safety monitors, and the ratio will increase over time."

Ethan McKanna, an Austin university student who developed an online robotaxi tracker, wrote on X that the driverless Teslas appear limited to south Austin and "likely 2–3 cars right now."

McKanna's online tracker estimated Tesla had 51 vehicles in Austin as of Jan. 22, compared with about 100 for Waymo, which operates fully autonomous vehicles on the Uber network.

Tesla has not disclosed publicly the number of robotaxis it operates in Austin or the number that no longer have safety monitors.

[...]

"Just started Tesla robotaxi drives in Austin with no safety monitor in the car," Musk said Jan. 22 on X. He linked to a video showing a rider seated in the back of an autonomous Tesla Model Y, with no one in the driver's seat or front passenger seat.

Tesla first launched its robtaxi pilot program in June of 2025 in Austin. Since then, it has launched a ride-hailing service with human drivers in the San Francisco Bay Area, you know, like Uber and Lyft. It's also dealt with numerous crashes and other safety incidents, and it cannot trademark the word "robotaxi." All is going well in Musk's world.

Thankfully, Volkswagen is continuing the trend of giving its electric vehicles real names. The ID 4 electric crossover will be renamed the ID Tiguan, which isn't great, but it's definitely an improvement. The new name will be adopted once the crossover gets a facelift later this year, making it the second VW EV to get a real name. It follows in the footsteps of the ID Polo, which was introduced in September of last year. From Automotive News:

By reviving familiar model names, the automaker aims to give its electric lineup more emotional resonance with customers.

[...]

Production of the ID Tiguan in Emden will continue through the end of 2031, according to IG Metall, though a successor model has yet to be decided.

The SUV is also built in Zwickau, Germany, where production is scheduled to wind down. All future ID Tiguan vehicles will be produced in Emden.

The updated ID Tiguan is expected to look a lot more like the internal-combustion-powered Tiguan in both design and market positioning, which makes sense to me. It's a trend we're seeing more and more across the automotive landscape from brands like Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi, as well.

Elon Musk, maker of bold predictions, is making another bold prediction. He says Tesla is likely to win regulatory approval in Europe and China for use of its Full Self-Driving driver assistance system as early as next month. It would be an important achievement for a company desperately looking to boost slowing vehicle sales.  From Reuters:

While regulatory progress on FSD and early robotaxi deployments point to momentum in Tesla's AI ambitions, the technology remains nascent relative to a valuation that far outstrips those of many technology and automotive companies.

"We hope to get Supervised Full Self-Driving approval in Europe, hopefully next month, and then maybe a similar timing for China," Musk said.

Tesla has been seeking approval for the ‌system in Europe, where tougher vehicle safety rules and a fragmented regulatory framework have slowed deployment compared with the U.S.

Dutch ​vehicle authority RDW said in November it expected to decide on FSD in February. Tesla had said once it secures approval in the Netherlands, other EU countries can recognize the exemption and allow a rollout ahead of a formal EU approval.

In China, the smart features similar to FSD remain restricted to ‍a limited number of vehicles as the U.S. automaker had to halt the software update deliveries last March, citing the need for additional regulatory approval.

Tesla made a long-awaited update to its autopilot software in China last February. But some owners expressed disappointment that the system for which they paid more than $9,000 came with operational restrictions.

Musk made the announcement while speaking to the Deep State he so outwardly hates at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

History.com

Do you realize how bad your politics have to be for them to overshadow an accomplishment like flying over the Atlantic Ocean by yourself in 1927? Well, Charles Lindbergh managed to do just that. It's some truly impressive, I must say. Anyway, if you want to learn more about Lindbergh and his Nazi sympathies, head over to History.com.

I know my fiancée loves me, but I also know she will always love Harry Styles more. It just is what it is, and I've gotta support her in that. That's why I had to sign up for, like, five different pre-sale things for his 30-night Madison Square Garden residency. This means something, man.