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Airbus recently showed off its ExoMars rover to documentarian Tom Scott, even letting him have a go at steering it. The remote control device the aerospace company uses turns out to be a modified Steam Deck. Whether it's the LCD or OLED model, I can't say but it looks like the standard version to me.

During the short documentary, the rover is driven forward via the handheld gaming PC. A 'bumper' press then turns the wheels around 90-degrees, avoiding the need for an awkward turning circle or the possibility of getting stuck on a space rock.

The team at the aerospace company's Stevenage campus in the UK are developing autonomous navigation for the ExoMars rover, using what appears to be custom software running from a Steam Deck to navigate the terrain of their test bed. When the rover finally touches down on the Red Planet, it won't need to be steered via Valve's handheld.

The company is aiming to send a rover called the Rosalind Franklin to Mars in 2030, with the whole project described as "the culmination of more than 20 years’ work," by Airbus Defence and Space UK managing director Kata Escott (via Tom's Hardware). In addition to autonomous navigation, the company is also developing the rover landing platform's mechanical, thermal and propulsion systems.

There'll be no gamer den on that Mars landing platform, but it's still neat that Valve's handheld was a stepping stone on the journey there. And they say videogames can't teach you anything…

Jess has been writing about games for over ten years, spending a significant chunk of that time working on print publications PLAY and Official PlayStation Magazine. When she’s not investigating all things hardware here, she's either constructing a passionate defence of a 7/10 game, daydreaming about her debut novel, or feeling wistful about the last time she chased some nerds around a field with an oversized foam sword.  %!s()

The South Korean automaker is expected to report a 6.5% increase in year-over-year sales from July through September to 511,421 units. That compares with an expected 7.1% decline for Ford over the third quarter to 504,172 new vehicles sold, according to Cox predictions.

The expected leaderboard change would make Hyundai the third best-selling automaker in the U.S. behind General Motors and Toyota Motor.

That change comes as new vehicle sales have been stronger than expected this year. Cox on Thursday raised its 2026 forecast by roughly 2%, to 16.1 million units.

"The automotive market this year has been pretty resilient," Jeremy Robb, Cox chief economist, said Thursday during a media call. "New and used sales are both down year over year, but they're not down really that much."

Hyundai's hot streak

Hyundai, including its luxury Genesis brand and corporate sibling Kia, has been making major inroads in the U.S. this year. Ford, meanwhile, has struggled with production of its crucial F-Series pickup trucks following two supplier fires last year that disrupted production and sales.

Hyundai CEO José Muñoz told CNBC last month that topping Ford in U.S. sales isn't a goal but if it happens, it's because of the company's continued focus on products and execution.

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"We focus on delivering, the best, safe products to the customer with the highest possible quality," Muñoz said, noting the company is No. 3 in sales globally. "And we end up achieving unbelievable goals."

Aside from pickup production troubles, Cox analysts said sales for Ford and its crosstown rival GM are being hindered by a lack of hybrid vehicles — a rapidly growing market in the U.S. amid inflated gas prices.

"If you don't have vehicles to catch [consumers] where they are, then there are other manufacturers that likely would step into the gap," Erin Keating, a Cox executive analyst, said Thursday during a media call.

GM only offers a hybrid version of its Corvette, while Ford's hybrids include its Maverick and F-150 pickup trucks.

Toyota gains on GM

Hybrid leader Toyota Motor also has been narrowing its sales gap with No. 1 sales leader GM. Cox said last quarter that GM could be overtaken by the Japanese automaker this year in annual sales.

GM is expected to report a year-over-year sales decline of 5.2% to 671,706 new vehicles sold during the third quarter, while Toyota is predicted to report a 2.2% gain to 642,707 units. For the year, Toyota is trailing GM by fewer than 121,100 units.

If Toyota can top GM, it would mark the second time Toyota has ever outsold GM in annual U.S. sales. The first time was in 2021 when supply chain disruptions affected vehicle production.

Cox experts noted that fuel prices — at a AAA national average of $4.48 per gallon — are impacting the sales of big trucks and SUVs, which are crucial to sales for the Detroit automakers.

GM, Ford and Chrysler parent Stellantis also have renewed their focus on gas-guzzling V-8 engines in their larger pickups and SUVs amid deregulation of emissions and fuel economy standards by the Trump administration.

"I think that's probably one of the callouts for the domestics is that they have made some interesting decisions around product," Keating said.

Cox expects Stellantis to report a 1.3% decline in U.S. vehicle sales during the third quarter, with total sales for the year expected to be up 2.8% as the automaker orchestrates a companywide turnaround plan.
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"To be a Ballon d'Or contender, it's already a pleasure to be among these players in the race," said Kvaratskhelia, player of the season in the Champions League in 2025-26.

"I feel already that I did something special in the last year, I'm really happy and let's see what's gonna happen."

The 25-year-old added: "I'm happy that I represent Georgia, a small country. Little kids, they know that even if they are from a small country, they can achieve these things."

Northern Ireland, who play Georgia on Friday in the Nations League [live across BBC Sport], remain the smallest country by population to produce a Ballon d'Or winner, with George Best the recipient of the award in 1968.

"What about George Best? I know him, of course," said Kvaratskhelia of the comparison.

"Some people a long time ago told me even when I played it seems like him. I'm not sure because he was one of the best in football history and it [the comparison] is a pleasure and I'm proud."

While Northern Ireland manager Michael O'Neill was not yet born when Best won the Ballon d'Or off the back of a European Cup win with Manchester United, he can appreciate what a global superstar means to a small footballing nation.

"George Best, an iconic figure in world football and obviously we're very privileged that he came from Northern Ireland. In many ways, he puts our country on the map," O'Neill said.

"I think in Georgia, you have that situation now with Kvaratskhelia who I think is a world-class player.

"For me he was probably the best player in the Champions League last season over the whole competition. We obviously have to give him special attention.

"It's the same when you play against any world-class player in any country that you have to be aware that he can win the game in a moment, that he can create so much and he can lift his team as well."

Despite being in the running for such prestigious individual accolades, Kvaratskhelia's national coach Willy Sagnol praised the player's focus on the collective.

The former France defender was a Les Bleus team-mate of Zinedine Zidane, winner of the Ballon d'Or in 1998.

"You were talking about Ballon d'Or. Times maybe change but I think sometimes the past was better where players were playing and waiting to the end to see who would be Ballon d'Or and then be happy to be or disappointed not to be," Sagnol said.

"Too many times in the last weeks, I see players saying 'I'm the best, I'm the best, I'm the best'.

"Khvicha never said that and that's why I'm very proud to be his head coach. He's not just about a fantastic football player, but he's also a fantastic personality who thinks always about the team and not about himself and I'm sure [on Friday] he will show it again." %!s()

However, there is one genuine issue to be taken with both the roadster and hardtop RF variants of the MX-5, and it's the relative lack of color options. Sure, Mazda throws us a sop now and again with unique limited-edition anniversary models in interesting shades, but the standard lineup is borderline boring: black, white, dark blue, silver, and gray. What is this, an Audi configurator? At least Soul Red Crystal Metallic is a tremendously excellent color, but it's doing all the heavy lifting basically solo.

In Japan, a quartet of Mazda dealers have come up with a solution, and perhaps there's a lesson to be learned on this side of the Pacific. It's called the Mazda FSW Ver.2, and it's the sunniest little roadster this side of an original Sunburst Yellow NA Miata.

The official paint code here is A6Y (dubbed Sunflower Yellow in the Japanese market) and a match for Competition Yellow as offered briefly on U.S.-spec third-gen Miatas. Set off with some black aerodynamic accessories, it looks absolutely fantastic on the little ND MX-5, somewhere between a four-wheeled Pikachu and a honeybee with a convertible roof.

Want one? Well, maybe you can get your local vinyl-wrapping expert to color-match it. Even in Japan, getting your hands on this yellow MX-5 is going to be tough. Only six are being built, the added cost is the equivalent of $9400, and would-be buyers have to enter a lottery just to be allowed to purchase one.

In typically Japanese fashion, this MX-5 variant is not just a car, but also part of an event. The first weekend of October will see Mazda's annual Fan Fiesta held at Fuji Speedway, where the “winners” of this car will be announced during the event. That's where the FSW gets its name, by the way, Fuji SpeedWay.

The paint job isn't exactly factory, but it is done in-house. The cars will be painted by Mazda Engineering and Technology, a wholly Mazda-owned subsidiary that builds the company's concept cars. It's located in Hiroshima, and part of the FSW's purchase price is getting a two-day tour of Mazda's HQ, its museum, and the factory where this special MX-5 gets its paint job.

With Hiroshima being a real destination point for Japanese foodies, as well as being ringed with some amazing canyon roads (there's a reason why Mazdas are all pretty fun to drive), the extra expense here seems almost reasonable. It's rare, it's cheerful, and underneath it's one of the best driver's cars out there.

The question is, could some of the volume-selling U.S. Mazda dealers get together and pull off something similar? The FSW Ver.2 at least shows that there's some kind of a market for MX-5s in more vibrant and light-hearted colors, and having a bright-yellow roadster in the showroom might get a few more folks in the door to check out CX-30s and whatnot.

For now, six lucky Japanese folks are going to get the chance to own a properly festive MX-5, and also get to chow down on some excellent okonomiyaki—a Hiroshima specialty. C'mon Mazda USA, why not let your halo sports car play a little here comes the sun?

➡️ Skip the lot. Let Car and Driver help you find your next car.

Brendan McAleer is a freelance writer and photographer based in North Vancouver, B.C., Canada. He grew up splitting his knuckles on British automobiles, came of age in the golden era of Japanese sport-compact performance, and began writing about cars and people in 2008. His particular interest is the intersection between humanity and machinery, whether it is the racing career of Walter Cronkite or Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki's half-century obsession with the Citroën 2CV. He has taught both of his young daughters how to shift a manual transmission and is grateful for the excuse they provide to be perpetually buying Hot Wheels. %!s()

Senior Correspondent covering technology and culture

Don't think Meta made a camera-free version of its AI Ray-Bans just because of the unpleasant fact that people have been calling the camera versions "pervert glasses." Mark Zuckerberg says they've long been in the works.

Meta just added an audio-only pair to its lineup of smart glasses. The new Meta Ray-Ban Audio glasses don't have cameras, but you can use them to listen to music, make phone calls, or talk to your Muse AI agent. The new glasses are more lightweight, come in two styles, and start at $349.

Zuckerberg, in an interview with Joanna Stern, denied that the recent backlash had any effect on the decision to launch the design. Stern asked if the audio-only specs were a response to people who are "uncomfortable with a camera on people's faces or having a camera on my face."

"No. I mean, we have to work on these things. We start working on them like, I mean, you know how this works," he laughed. "It takes a very long time in advance. So if people have a question about something and we start working on something that it's going to take a couple of years to build the thing, the answer is no. I mean, we didn't decide to design this in two months because some people had some questions a couple months ago. This has been a project that's a long way in the works."

It's true that the backlash against the camera glasses has really ramped up in the last few months, especially since the Kylie Jenner version launched in June. And, of course, there's no way they whipped up this product in several weeks' time in response to it.

But there have always been concerns and pushback against the Meta glasses since they launched in 2021. It's not a brand new thing that people are worried about being filmed without their permission or awareness of these glasses.

It's not even a new concern that people might cover or disable the LED light — I taped over the light in my review of the glasses when they first launched; this has been a thing people have been doing since literally day one. (After Stern's reporting about drilling out her light, Meta made it so that the glasses will essentially brick if you tamper with the light.)

Despite Zuckerberg's reasonable statement that the controversy from this summer didn't directly affect the product lineup, it's hard to imagine that these years of ongoing concern had zero factor in the decision to make an audio-only version.

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Katie Notopoulos

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Katie Notopoulos is a senior correspondent at Business Insider who writes about technology, business, and culture. Previously, Katie was a tech reporter at BuzzFeed News and has written for The Atlantic, The New York Times, Fast Company, and MIT Technology Review.

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