Bay Area city, tech hub, fourth-largest in the region
Two college-age women from Fremont were swept from Panther Beach’s keyhole by sneaker waves in Santa Cruz County. One died at the scene; the other died days later in hospital. Rescue crews performed multiple water rescues along a one-mile stretch amid dangerous surf and rising tides.
Automakers have pulled several electric models from the U.S. market even as quarterly EV sales have risen. Q2 2026 U.S. consumer EV purchases have reached 247,226 vehicles, a sequential rise driven by higher fuel prices, new low-cost entrants and state rebates. Manufacturers and startups are responding with cheaper models, but many legacy brands have cancelled or delayed U.S. EV projects.
Agility Robotics has opened a 60,000-square-foot engineering and training facility in Fremont to scale Digit humanoid deployments in manufacturing and logistics, while Tesla and others push similar humanoid programs.
Tesla’s robotaxi rollout has expanded slowly, with only a handful of cities covered and miles driven remaining well below optimistic targets. Executives say regulatory differences city-by-city are hampering scale, while investors remain cautious about capex and unit economics.
Tesla has escalated its capital expenditure, with second-quarter capex at $5.8 billion and projected annual capex above $25 billion as it expands robotaxi, Optimus, and semiconductor initiatives. Revenue rises, while operating margin declines amid aggressive investments.