Uber is closing its only service center in the Twin Cities, Minnesota, as part of its plan to withdraw from the metro area due to a pay dispute with the Minneapolis City Council. The closure will leave drivers without a local location for in-person assistance with document renewals, vehicle approvals, and issue resolution. The company also reaffirms its intention to cease operations at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on May 1, coinciding with the implementation of new regulations.
Tesla has been accused of exaggerating the range estimates for its electric vehicles (EVs) for years, leading to an influx of service requests from concerned owners. A Reuters investigation revealed that the directive to use algorithms to provide inflated range numbers came from CEO Elon Musk. To handle the increase in service requests, Tesla created a "diversion team" to deal with owners complaining of lower ranges than expected, with the goal of canceling appointments and saving the company money. While Tesla has faced fines in South Korea for falsely advertising range estimates, it has so far avoided fines in the US. The US Environmental Protection Agency has required Tesla to reduce its range estimates by an average of 3% since the 2020 model year.
