According to Sawyer Merritt, Ford's F-150 Lightning production will remain paused indefinitely due to an aluminum plant fire, which has also halved output of the highly profitable ICE Ford F-150 (source: Sawyer Merritt via Twitter, fordauthority.com). This disruption highlights the urgent need for automakers to deploy AI-driven supply chain management and predictive analytics to identify risks, optimize alternative sourcing, and mitigate operational downtime. AI solutions can help manufacturers forecast disruptions, automate procurement, and enhance resilience, presenting significant business opportunities for AI vendors targeting the automotive sector.

According to Sawyer Merritt, Tesla owners collectively drove over 14.13 million miles per day using FSD (Supervised) in Q3 2025, marking an all-time high for the autonomous driving feature (source: @SawyerMerritt, Twitter, Oct 23, 2025). The recent release of FSD V14 in Q4 is expected to drive further adoption and set new usage records. This surge highlights accelerated real-world AI deployment in autonomous vehicles, presenting significant business opportunities for automotive AI solutions, data-driven fleet management, and regulatory technology. The exponential growth in FSD (Supervised) mileage signals a rapidly expanding market for self-driving technology, with implications for safety, insurance, and AI-powered mobility services.