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By David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said on Thursday that it is opening an investigation into 2.88 million Tesla vehicles equipped with its Full Self-Driving system over more than 50 reports of traffic-safety violations and a series of crashes. The auto safety agency said FSD – an assistance system that requires drivers to pay attention and intervene if needed – has "induced vehicle behavior that violated traffic safety laws."  The agency said it has reports of Tesla vehicles using FSD driving through red traffic lights and driving against the proper direction of travel during a lane change. RECALL COULD FOLLOW IF NHTSA FINDS SAFETY RISKS In total, NHTSA is reviewing 58 reports of issues involving traffic safety violations when using FSD, including 14 crashes and 23 injuries. The new investigation comes amid growing scrutiny of Tesla's advanced driver assistance system from Congress and weeks after a new NHTSA administrator was confirmed. Tesla, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment, issued a software update to FSD this week. NHTSA said it has six reports in which a Tesla vehicle, operating with FSD engaged, "approached an intersection with a red traffic signal, continued to travel into the intersection against the red light and was subsequently involved in a crash with other motor vehicles in the intersection." NHTSA said four crashes resulted in one or more injuries. The investigation – a preliminary evaluation – is the first step before the agency could seek a recall of the vehicles if it believes they pose an unreasonable risk to safety. Tesla shares fell 2.1% in early trading on the investigation first reported by Reuters. A driver in Houston in 2024 told NHTSA that FSD "is not recognizing traffic signals. This results in the vehicle proceeding through red lights, and stopping at green lights." The complaint added: "Tesla doesn't want to fix it, or even acknowledge the problem, even though they've done a test drive with me and seen the issue with their own eyes." NHTSA also said it will review FSD behavior when approaching railroad crossings. Last month, Democratic Senators Ed Markey and Richard Blumenthal cited a growing number of reported near-collisions in urging the agency to investigate. Tesla's FSD, which is more advanced than its Autopilot system, has been under investigation by NHTSA for a year. In October 2024, the agency began an inquiry into 2.4 million Tesla vehicles equipped with FSD after four reported collisions in conditions of reduced roadway visibility, such as sun glare, fog or airborne dust, including a 2023 fatal crash. Tesla says FSD "will drive you almost anywhere with your active supervision, requiring minimal intervention" but does not make the car self-driving. Oliver Carsten, a professor of transport safety at the University of Leeds, said the NHTSA investigation into Tesla "should serve as a wake-up call for Europe. We are seeing an increasing number of systems on the market that blur the line between assistance and automation." Tesla's other automated vehicle features have also drawn agency scrutiny. In January, NHTSA opened an investigation into 2.6 million Tesla vehicles over reports of crashes involving a feature that lets users move their cars remotely. NHTSA is also reviewing Tesla's deployment of self-driving robotaxis in Austin, Texas, launched in June. (Reporting by David Shepardson. Editing by Sharon Singleton and Mark Potter)

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(Reuters) -Latin American e-commerce firm MercadoLibre will test the waters for online pharmaceutical sales in Brazil through its newly acquired drugstore, its local head said on Thursday, a first step in entering the country's multi-billion-dollar online medicine market. Uruguay-based MercadoLibre, Latin America's largest company by market cap, already sells medicines online in Mexico, Argentina, Chile and Colombia, but not in Brazil, the firm's largest market. In a call with journalists, executive Fernando Yunes confirmed recent media reports that MercadoLibre had acquired a physical drugstore in Brazil, a requirement under local law for companies selling pharmaceuticals. Yunes said the company does not intend to build a nationwide drugstore chain. Another executive added that the goal is to allow small and medium-sized drugstores to sell in MercadoLibre's e-commerce platform in Brazil, and not to compete directly with pharmaceutical companies. "The pharmaceutical sector is the only one in Brazil that we do not operate in. It's a sector where we see potential for improvement in access," Yunes said. "We want to be a marketplace, we want drugstores selling on MercadoLibre." Next steps will depend on how its first drugstore performs, executives said. MercadoLibre is also talking with Brazilian authorities to update the country's regulation for the pharmaceutical sector, which creates operational challenges, Yunes noted. "Brazilian law was created a long time ago. We believe it needs to be modernized. This will allow pharmacies to have greater access to customers," he added. (Reporting by Michael Susin; Writing by Fernando Cardoso; Editing by Kylie Madry and Natalia Siniawski)

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NAIROBI (Reuters) -The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa has launched a digital payments system to cut transaction costs by allowing businesses to settle deals in local currencies, it said on Thursday. COMESA, which has 21 member states including Egypt, Kenya and Ethiopia, joins efforts by the African continent to push for local currency payments systems to cut trade costs by eliminating the need to convert local currencies into hard currencies, mostly U.S. dollars, for cross-border payments. The new platform, known as the Digital Retail Payments Platform, is starting off with trials between Malawi and Zambia, COMESA said in a statement. It is being rolled out in partnership with two digital financial services providers and a foreign exchange provider, the bloc said without naming the partners. "For the first time, cross-border trade within COMESA can be settled directly in local currencies," said Kenya's trade minister Lee Kinyanjui. "This is a game-changer." The initiative seeks to assist medium, small and micro enterprises, who account for 80% of business and 60% of employment in member states, but have to deal with "cumbersome, insecure and expensive" cross-border payments systems, he said. "We are demonstrating how traders can exchange value seamlessly without relying on scarce foreign currency," he said. The payments platform will aim to keep costs under 3% of the value of the transaction, the minister said. Kenya's President William Ruto, who took over the chairmanship of COMESA from his Burundian counterpart, called for increased integration to boost trade. Kenya has increased its shareholding in regional trade finance banks TDB and Afreximbank, by $100 million and $50 million respectively, Ruto said, as a sign of its commitment to deepening trade integration. "One of the most viable pathways for Africa, and for regional economic blocs like COMESA, is to strengthen our home-grown multilateral financial institutions," he said. (Reporting by Duncan Miriri;Editing by Alison Williams)

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NAIROBI (Reuters) -The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa has launched a digital payments system to cut transaction costs by allowing businesses to settle deals in local currencies, it said on Thursday. COMESA, which has 21 member states including Egypt, Kenya and Ethiopia, joins efforts by the African continent to push for local currency payments systems to cut trade costs by eliminating the need to convert local currencies into hard currencies, mostly U.S. dollars, for cross-border payments. The new platform, known as the Digital Retail Payments Platform, is starting off with trials between Malawi and Zambia, COMESA said in a statement. It is being rolled out in partnership with two digital financial services providers and a foreign exchange provider, the bloc said without naming the partners. "For the first time, cross-border trade within COMESA can be settled directly in local currencies," said Kenya's trade minister Lee Kinyanjui. "This is a game-changer." The initiative seeks to assist medium, small and micro enterprises, who account for 80% of business and 60% of employment in member states, but have to deal with "cumbersome, insecure and expensive" cross-border payments systems, he said. "We are demonstrating how traders can exchange value seamlessly without relying on scarce foreign currency," he said. The payments platform will aim to keep costs under 3% of the value of the transaction, the minister said. Kenya's President William Ruto, who took over the chairmanship of COMESA from his Burundian counterpart, called for increased integration to boost trade. Kenya has increased its shareholding in regional trade finance banks TDB and Afreximbank, by $100 million and $50 million respectively, Ruto said, as a sign of its commitment to deepening trade integration. "One of the most viable pathways for Africa, and for regional economic blocs like COMESA, is to strengthen our home-grown multilateral financial institutions," he said. (Reporting by Duncan Miriri;Editing by Alison Williams)

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By Danilo Masoni MILAN (Reuters) -A return of fund inflows into renewable energy stocks is helping to breath new life into these companies' shares, powering their strongest quarterly rise since the sustainability boom early this decade. After two years of bearish sentiment and relentless redemptions that made the sector a short-sellers' hotspot, a fundamental shift in the U.S. power demand outlook and greater policy certainty are luring investors back. U.S. President Donald Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill" and the subsequent move to direct the U.S. Treasury to restrict tax credit rules have hit the renewables industry. But money managers say the outcome was not as bad as many feared, and offers enough certainty for investors to engage and companies to resume projects. "Valuations were so disconnected from the fundamentals that even confirmation of negative news became a positive catalyst, said BlackRock portfolio manager Alastair Bishop. "It allowed investors to start focusing on the fundamentals." With the outlook improving, Bishop said outflows from BlackRock's active clean-energy strategies had slowed. Robeco portfolio manager Roman Boner said flows into the company's Smart Energy strategy had recently turned positive after sustained outflows. Lipper data shows alternative energy funds had their first net monthly inflow in June, after 25 straight months of outflows totalling around $24 billion. Investors pulled out money again in July before inflows returned in August and neared $800 million in September, the largest since April 2022. Quarterly data from Morningstar shows outflows from Clean Energy/Tech have shrunk to their lowest since the last recorded inflow in Q2 2023. These green shoots coincide with double-digit gains in clean energy indices, ETFs, and a surge in individual stocks across the sector — from producers to infrastructure plays. Bloom Energy is a prime example, teaming up with Oracle to deploy fuel cells at data centres. Its shares have rallied 300% in four months to become the biggest weight in the iShares Clean Energy ETF, a jump some investors view as over-exuberant. The Federal Reserve's dovish tone has also helped. Capital-intensive renewable projects benefit from lower borrowing costs, though rates remain well above the ultra-low levels seen during ESG's heyday. PRIVATE EQUITY MOVES IN LOOKING FOR VALUE Private equity is also moving in, ignoring political noise to focus on long-term value. Global Infrastructure Partners is reportedly in talks to buy AES, potentially one of the largest deals involving a Wall Street power company. The MSCI Global Alternative Energy Index has halved since its January 2021 peak, but rose 17% in the three months to September — its strongest quarter since end-2020 and more than double the broader market's gain. The rally, from a record-low base, has extended into October and is not purely U.S.-centric First Solar, a U.S. solar bellwether, climbed about 33% over this period. Portuguese renewable energy company EDP Renovaveis rose 18%. SHIFT IN MARKET FROM SUBSIDIES-DRIVEN TO DEMAND-LED Driving the rally is rising electricity demand from Big Tech's rapid AI data centre build-outs, electrification of transport and industry, and the upgrading of grid infrastructure to handle new loads. U.S. power consumption, stagnant for over a decade, is forecast to grow sharply. With gas turbines in short supply and nuclear years away, solar-plus-storage is emerging as the only scalable short-term solution. "Data centres need electricity in two to three years. People will just add as much renewables as they can. It's not only the cheapest source, but also the fastest to build," said Boner. These trends show renewable energy is morphing from a sector driven by policy and subsidies, to one shaped primarily by market forces, where strong demand requires all forms of energy. "Every electron counts," Boner added. Cumulative new U.S. power generation demand is seen at 450 gigawatts by 2030, based on data presented by renewables developer NextEra. Of that, only 75 GW is projected from gas-fired plants, around 40 GW from deferred coal retirements, and limited nuclear contributions. Jonathan Waghorn, who manages both sustainable and fossil fuel funds at Guinness Asset Management, sees renewable earnings picking up, noting electricity demand forecasts have surged eightfold in just a few years. "That's starting to get earnings momentum into the companies, especially those with AI, data centre, and grid-building exposure. The industry has just started to get going again, and the market is reacting." Waghorn's fund holds stocks involved in electrifying the energy mix like Eaton and Legrand. He also likes European names like cable maker Prysmian and grid services company Spie. Bishop expects earnings upgrades, typically supportive of price performance, and sees room for valuations to rise. At 14.6 times forward earnings, MSCI's Alternative Energy Index trades at a 40% discount to world stocks, vs a 10-year average premium of 7.4%, based on LSEG data, illustrating how the sector is currently valued well below the broader market despite historically commanding a premium. There are still risks – including higher-for-longer interest rates, policy reversals, and speculative retail excitement in unprofitable areas like new-generation nuclear – but some managers say unwinding bearish bets could help sustain the rally. "There are still shorts to be squeezed out of the renewable space," said Luca Moro, CIO at SpesX, an energy transition fund. (Reporting by Danilo Masoni. Editing by Jane Merriman)

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By Raphael Satter WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Google said on Thursday that there were likely to be more than 100 companies affected by an ambitious hacking campaign that targeted Oracle's suite of business products, an early assessment that could portend wide-ranging damage. Google, a unit of Alphabet, said in a statement that "mass amounts of customer data" were stolen in an operation it said may have begun as early as three months ago. "This level of investment suggests the threat actor(s) responsible for the initial intrusion likely dedicated significant resources to pre-attack research," the email said. Google, which has a vast cybersecurity practice alongside its better known search, email and video offerings, noted in a blog post that the group believed to be at the center of the intrusions, CL0P, has a long history of wide-ranging compromises against third party software or service providers. In a separate statement to Reuters, Google analyst Austin Larsen said that "we are aware of dozens of victims, but we expect there are many more. Based on the scale of previous CL0P campaigns, it is likely there are over a hundred." Google said the hackers targeted Oracle's E-Business Suite of applications, which Oracle clients use to manage customers, suppliers, manufacturing, logistics, and other business processes. Oracle did not immediately return an email seeking comment. Previously, the company had confirmed that there was extortion activity aimed at its clients. CL0P did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. Previously, the hacker group said it would soon be clear that Oracle had "bugged up their core product." (Reporting by Raphael Satter; Editing by David Gregorio, Kirsten Donovan)

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By Deborah Mary Sophia (Reuters) -Serve Robotics said on Thursday it is partnering with DoorDash to deploy its sidewalk robots to fulfill orders on the food delivery platform, in a move to capture more customers and expand its reach beyond Uber Eats. Shares of the San Francisco-based robotics firm surged more than 25% in mid-day trading, hitting their highest level in eight months. The company said customers ordering via DoorDash from select stores and restaurants in Los Angeles may have their orders delivered by a Serve robot, adding that it plans to expand its DoorDash deliveries across the U.S. Companies have increasingly been adopting automation for last-mile deliveries to reduce labor costs and speed up service times amid strong demand. The tie-up with DoorDash, the top food delivery platform in the country, will help Serve increase the volume of orders available for its robots by tapping into merchants and customers who use DoorDash instead of Uber's food delivery app. So far, Serve has deployed its robots for deliveries solely on Uber Eats, which it partnered with in 2021. "This partnership enables us to go to cities where DoorDash is the dominant player. Now that we have such a significant fleet size, there's a very sizeable supply that we can provide to companies… and we're looking for more demand, so that every minute of every day, the robots have access to more jobs," Serve co-founder and CEO Ali Kashani said in an interview. The tie-up with DoorDash will boost Serve's revenues once it scales up to a level matching the Uber Eats partnership, he added. Serve currently operates in cities including Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago and Atlanta through Uber Eats and has completed over 100,000 deliveries from more than 2,500 restaurants. The partnership comes days after DoorDash unveiled its in-house delivery robot, Dot, which can navigate bike lanes, roads and sidewalks. DoorDash has also partnered with Alphabet's Wing for drone deliveries. (Reporting by Deborah Sophia in Bengaluru; Editing by Shreya Biswas)

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(Corrects to remove reference to Nvidia being a lead investor in the funding round in paragraph 2) (Reuters) -Reflection AI, a startup backed by Nvidia, said on Thursday it has raised $2 billion in a new funding round that values the company at $8 billion, as investor interest in artificial intelligence remains unabated. The funding round saw participation from prominent investors, including former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, Citi and Donald Trump Jr.-backed private equity firm 1789 Capital, as well as existing investors Lightspeed and Sequoia. Founded in 2024 by former DeepMind researchers Misha Laskin and Ioannis Antonoglou, Reflection develops tools that automate software development, a fast-growing use case for AI. The investment comes as the AI sector continues to attract significant interest from venture capital firms and investors. Global venture funding in the third quarter of 2025 rose 38% from a year earlier to $97 billion, with around 46% of the total invested in AI firms. Reflection's new valuation marks a sharp step up from its previous round, when it raised $130 million at a $545 million valuation, according to PitchBook data. The company's peers in the AI market include OpenAI and China's DeepSeek, among others.   (Reporting by Pritam Biswas in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid)

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By Giulio Piovaccari MARANELLO, Italy (Reuters) -Ferrari has unveiled the technology which will power its hotly-anticipated first electric car, the Elettrica, as the 78-year-old luxury Italian sportscar maker looks to add battery power to its hybrid and petrol-engine models. In a closely-guarded event at its Maranello headquarters, a Ferrari-red cover was pulled back on a stage to reveal the Elettrica's production-ready chassis: a car base, with battery pack and electric motor, though with no wheels or outer shell. The completed car, which Ferrari is expected to present next year at a global premiere, will have a top speed of 310 kilometres per hour (193 miles) – slightly slower than most of its engined models and a range of at least 530 km. The four-door, four-plus seat car will have a specially-designed sound system to amplify actual vibrations from its powertrain to create a distinctly electric Ferrari sound, rather than just faking engine noise. The unveiling of the inner workings of Ferrari's maiden electric car marks a milestone for the auto industry that is grappling more widely with a shift from the internal combustion engine to the electric battery. "Today… is an historic day for us. We all have goosebumps," said CEO Benedetto Vigna, who said the electric car would complement, not replace, the company's existing models. "The EV is an addition, not a transition." FERRARI NEEDS AN EV FOR NEXT GENERATION OF RICH KIDS Like other high-performance brands, Ferrari has been cautious about electrification. Reuters reported in June that it had delayed a second EV model until 2028 because of a lack of demand. Rival Lamborghini, part of Volkswagen, has delayed its first EV until 2029, saying the market is not ready. Luxury automaker Porsche forged ahead with EVs, but has been caught between a crowded Chinese market and Western buyers who still want Porsche's loud combustion engines. Delays to its EV roll-out have hit parent Volkswagen. Ferrari is aiming to have 20% of its model line-up fully-electric by 2030, its long-term business plan unveiled on Thursday shows. That is below the 40% target it set for 2030 in its business plan three years ago. Ferrari is under less pressure than mainstream automakers to go electric ahead of a 2035 European Union ban on new fossil-fuel car sales, as it can sell combustion-engine models running on higher-cost synthetic e-fuels its customers can afford.  But wealthy younger buyers are keen to go electric.     "If you think about the next generation of kids, to remain relevant, maybe Ferrari needs an electric line-up that represents the pinnacle of its type," former Aston Martin CEO Andy Palmer told Reuters. FERRARI NEEDS "AN EV THAT IS MORE THAN AN EV" The Ferrari Elettrica, expected to cost at least 500,000 euros ($580,400), Reuters reported last year, comes almost two decades after the first hybrid technology appeared in its Formula One cars in 2009. Ferrari began selling hybrid models in 2019. The Elettrica's chassis and body will be made from 75% recycled aluminium and the battery is fully integrated into the floor to help lower its centre of gravity, which will help with performance and speed. It will have a fast-charging battery.   Industry experts said the challenge for brands like Ferrari was how to create something more than just a high-spec version of a premium EV, which already has instant acceleration. The upcoming Tesla Roadster, for example, is advertised with a top speed of more than 250 mph. Ferrari's cars, which start with a price tag of more than 200,000 euros, need to offer more. "If Ferrari is going to be successful, it has to bring to the market an EV that is more than an EV," Palmer said. "(It) is not offering you acceleration, it's not offering you top speeds because you can buy that in a 30,000 euro BYD." Phil Dunne, a managing director at consultancy Grant Thornton Stax, said demand was yet to catch up, but Ferrari's strength would be offering its large base of wealthy consumers the same experience and feeling its combustion-engine models do today. "If their customers want to be environmentally friendly today, they can have a Tesla, they can have some other EV," Dunne said. "Teslas can give you an amazing feeling of power, but it doesn't feel anything like a Ferrari." ($1 = 0.8615 euros) (Reporting by Giulio Piovaccari in Maranello; Editing by Nick Carey, Adam Jourdan and Jane Merriman)

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(Reuters) -Latin American e-commerce firm MercadoLibre will test the waters for online pharmaceutical sales through its newly acquired drugstore in Brazil, the company's local head said on Thursday, a first step in entering the country's multi-billion-dollar online medicine market. In a call with journalists, executive Fernando Lunes added the firm is also talking with Brazilian authorities to update the country's regulation for the pharmaceutical sector, which, according to him, creates operational challenges. (Reporting by Michael Susin; Writing by Fernando Cardoso; Editing by Kylie Madry)

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