China has introduced new regulations, starting in 2027, requiring all car doors to open manually from both sides. Electric door handles can malfunction in a crash or battery failure.

That’s according to data from automotive analyst JATO Dynamics, which finds that the big winner has been Volkswagen. Last year, its EVs outsold those from Tesla for the first time as sales of VW’s electric offering grew by 56 percent while Tesla’s shrank by 27 percent.

Top executives at Tesla and Waymo made the case for the safety of their driverless vehicles before a Senate committee, insisting their driving systems are safer than human drivers, despite recent incidents.