Car and Driver Blog

It's a great deal because BMW has issued a stop sale and recall on all i3s https://blog.caranddriver.com/bmw-issues-stop-sale-order-and-recall-of… They failed a NHTSA crash test and don't yet have a fix.

What is difficult for lidar are the following: * not-reflective / dark surfaces, i.e. http://www.thedrive.com/tech/9293/luminar-says-its-lidar-tech-will-hel… has 10 percent reflectivity at 50 meters. As stated in the article Luminar is able to do the same at 200 meters, but violating eye safety standards. We might introduce paint restrictions - http://blog.caranddriver.com/why-better-paint-coatings-are-critical-fo… - but it's not really acceptable to paint everything I think. :-) * fog and dust particles (already known since lidar use for aerial imaging). * interference with other cars not so much (much worse with radar). I don't know if soft/hard objects are so easy to recognize for lidar though! That's pretty challenging!

The biggest problem for city drivers (I'm in San Francisco) is we only need a car that goes about 45 mph, but we can only buy vehicles (electric or ICE) that are designed for 70-80 mph. They tend to weigh over 3,000 lbs, and a Tesla weighs near 5,000 lbs. The best we can do right now are "Neighborhood Electric Vehicles", limited in the US to a top speed of only 25mph. Scoot rents one, a Twizy: http://blog.caranddriver.com/in-a-twizy-nissan-renting-electric-renaul… They're fun to drive, but VERY rough and crude. Perhaps we need a class of lightweight vehicles with a top speed just barely insufficient for freeway use? For pedestrian and bike safety, I'd think we need to keep vehicle mass and velocity as low as practical.

I also read about Bosch's involvement but this story was based on a report by the Bild am Sonntag newspaper which is not trustworthy. [1] is an English language source that relays this report. The gist of the story was that Bosch supplied the software for R&D purposes and Volkswagen engineers decided to put it into production cars too. However, this was later rejected by Bosch who claim that writing additional code is required by the car manufacturer to get the emissions test detection feature [2]. [1] http://blog.caranddriver.com/report-bosch-warned-vw-about-diesel-emiss… [2] http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/07/volkswagen-emissions-softwar…

This article is somewhat better, it is at least more measured: http://blog.caranddriver.com/goodyears-concept-tires-shift-shapes-and-… There are places in a car where you need resistance, tires are one of them. Trying to make that resistance electrical in nature isn't completely nuts, but I think it is hard to predict how worthwhile it is in each case. (brakes are the obvious one, harvesting that energy is already a pretty big win for vehicles, the article I link mentions harvesting energy from shocks) The Car and Driver article also mentions piezoelectric materials in the tires, which at least sounds more sensible than just harvesting heat.

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Your argument is pretty thin. I would imagine the best way to alleviate your concerns would be to require aggressive recycling programs for an EV. Long-term, the sale of these cars is allowing the EV market to mature. Already the price of the batteries has gone way down. The nextgen EVs coming out this year and next with 200+ miles of range were only made possible by this "unsustainable" consumer good. Maybe my 2012 EV with 75 miles of range is already in a land-fill somewhere. But a car like a Tesla S keeps its value surprisingly well and should last for quite a while. The Chevy Bolt is a compelling car that someone could own for a decade. Your main complaint is that the cars are evolving so fast that there are better options available every time your lease is up. Big deal! I think the battery is the most hazardous component. It's also the most valuable from a recycling perspective. Firstgen EVs are not popular in the aftermarket: http://blog.caranddriver.com/tesla-aside-resale-values-for-electric-ca… Battery recycling is an emerging market as well: http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1093810_electric-car-batteries-wha…

When you put one window down, crack the other window a little bit. https://blog.caranddriver.com/explained-that-weird-throbbing-when-you-…

> "I'm the most excited about self driving buses." Agreed. Self-driving cars may be a sham "solution" to American's transportation woes....however self-driving busses should be considered as a very practical mass transit alternative to rail since the road infrastructure is already built. I've heard they are testing this out in Las Vegas: https://blog.caranddriver.com/letting-it-ride-las-vegas-puts-u-s-s-fir…

I think it's a tariff on commercial vehicles in general. Which Ford worked around by shipping over "passenger cars" and then tearing out the extra seats in the US, turning them into vans http://blog.caranddriver.com/feds-watching-fords-run-around-on-chicken…

This happens with cargo vans in the US, which are imported as passenger vans before being converted, to avoid a 25% tarrif on the import of cargo vans. http://blog.caranddriver.com/feds-watching-fords-run-around-on-chicken… However I'd challenge that this is a market failure - this is an example of the failure of a rules-based approach to regulation. In countries which take a principles-based approach to regulation then the substance of the transation is considered as well as the form. So this kind of nit-picking to circumnavigate the rules wouldn't have been allowed.

My reply has been downvoted to oblivion. Let me try again. 1. Tesla autopilot has a disengage rate of 182 in 550 miles. This cannot be safe in anyway for any kind of driving http://blog.caranddriver.com/in-the-self-driving-race-waymo-looks-to-b… 2. Apart from the fatalities there have been many other accidents with Tesla https://arstechnica.com/cars/2016/05/another-driver-says-teslas-autopi… http://grist.org/business-technology/whats-the-point-of-self-driving-c… 3. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/apr/03/the-customer-is-alw… 4. Check YouTube for any number of autopilot crashes

Ha! Why in the world did I type that? A good car to see the progression of weight is a that hasn't changed market segment like a Porsche 911. Car&Driver did this up through 2011: http://blog.caranddriver.com/porsche-911-generations-the-legend-grows/

They have to be a lot more efficient to haul around all the extraneous shit that people have demanded be put into cars over the years. Of course it's always extreme in "Top of the Line" products like this Bentley (http://blog.caranddriver.com/it-takes-a-lot-of-wiring-to-keep-a-modern… but the trickle-down effect is inevitable. Happened with air bags, IIRC. Look how many companies are adding variations of "Auto Pilot" or driver assists. Basically we painted ourselves into a corner. Technology and Distractions have an inverse relationship with Driver Attention and Performance. People don't like hearing that, but I don't like having to honk at people weaving into my lane because they're on their phone at 70 MPH.

Granted, your mileage will vary depending on your actual driving patterns and weather, but the LA Times got 240 miles on a single charge, and could have driven farther: http://www.latimes.com/business/autos/la-fi-hy-bolt-ev-drive-20160912-… Car and Driver got 238 miles with range to spare: http://blog.caranddriver.com/how-i-drove-238-miles-in-the-chevy-bolt-e…

Cost of these autonomous vehicles, the very early ones, will be six figures GM paid a billion dollars for those Cruise clowns. If they build 10,000 self-driving cars, that alone is $100K per car. Meanwhile, Volvo is quietly putting 100 customers in self-driving cars.[1] They're still way ahead on marketing, too.[2] Volvo and Google/Waymo are the only self-driving car makers I'd trust right now. They're the only ones who take the safety issues seriously. All the other ones testing in California have crappy disconnect statistics. (Uber refuses to test in California because they'd have to report their numbers, but reports of their bad driving indicate their system isn't very good.) [1] http://blog.caranddriver.com/meet-the-first-real-family-slated-to-get-… [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDB6fFflTVA

Some Volvo press on that: http://blog.caranddriver.com/meet-the-first-real-family-slated-to-get-…

Looks like the Toyota Supra may be coming back: http://blog.caranddriver.com/supra-man-toyota-trademarks-iconic-sports…

I highly doubt this is still the case considering auto manufacturers far behind the curve on this tech [1] are doing things like recognizing stop signs and reading speed limit signs using on-board cameras. Lane keeping also uses onboard sensors. As far as I know, the most important thing high-resolution maps are needed for is decision-making for things more than a few hundred feet ahead (ex. when to get in the right lane to exit or turn). It also helps with driving in adverse conditions where it's difficult to use normal sensors to see road markings. There are plenty of players working on this, though, so I don't think it's a huge obstacle. For example, [2]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traffic_sign_recognition [2] http://blog.caranddriver.com/how-high-definition-maps-are-plotting-the…

> Did Tesla got a similar letter? Did Mercedes? Did Volvo? They have the same systems in place in production vehicles. Mercedes even advertised their vehicles as autonomous. http://blog.caranddriver.com/mercedes-benz-pulls-e-class-ad-over-auton… > Here are three dashcam videos of Teslas crashing on autopilot. Glad you had the opportunity to bash Tesla.

Yes, I did read it. That's how people talk about products these days (unfortunately). But we didn't talk about it that much in case of tank-proof audi: http://blog.caranddriver.com/now-you-can-spec-your-audi-a8-to-literall… Or cases that can literally survive a bowling ball: http://www.yourtechreport.com/2011/04/16/protect-your-ipad-from-an-8lb… You're not expected to test either one of those claims. They're just there for comparison of what the product is theoretically capable of. (or going the other way, one could complain that anything below 200mph is not ludicrous)

Car manufacturers are some of the last people I trust to be doing software updates. The recent Takata airbag recall is an example of the ensuing fecal tornado from large recalls: http://blog.caranddriver.com/massive-takata-airbag-recall-everything-y… In some cases, people are having to wait months to get new airbags because they just don't have them in stock. In the computer case, would you want to keep driving until they can get you scheduled for a software update? Remember that many cars can't update critical software OTA.

The timing chain and the camshaft seems really inefficient; I'm looking forward to when camless designs become more mainstream. Koenigsegg (among others, I assume) has been working on this tech [0][1]. 0: http://blog.caranddriver.com/koenigseggs-camshaft-less-engine-explaine… 1: https://youtu.be/Bch5B23_pu0

Depends -- If a model has a bunch of body styles and only the most popular is tested, then the manufacturer can skimp on the designs or constructions of the versions that don't get tested. Ford did this with the 2015 Ford F-150: http://blog.caranddriver.com/iihs-2015-ford-f-150-crash-tests-reveal-d… """[…] the SuperCrew’s body cage remained “largely intact” with a “low risk of injuries,” the group said. The smaller F-150 SuperCab pickup (pictured at top) scored “marginal” due to “significant intrusion” of the passenger cabin, as the dashboard and steering wheel came “dangerously close” to the dummy’s chest. Since the A-pillars buckled and other body components “seriously compromised the driver’s survival space,” the IIHS rated this F-150’s structure as “poor,” which is below “marginal” and the group’s worst rating."""

Mustangs got more expensive, but that's only one data point :) http://blog.caranddriver.com/are-cars-getting-less-affordable-or-does-… Heavily salted states certainly have an easier time justifying no emissions testing. You start out with a "known good" (regulated by the EPA) and count on cars to expire quickly. Compare to California, which thanks to gentle climate still has a huge fleet of 1980's cars on the road.

Why can't it be the car manufacturers who are at fault? http://blog.caranddriver.com/volvo-will-take-responsibility-if-its-sel…

I was surprised to find that the Autopilot feature is a paid $2500 upgrade, according to one source.[0] I'm not surprised that Tesla is charging for the upgrade, but that in all the press and enthusiast coverage of Tesla, I don't recall it being mentioned before. [0] http://blog.caranddriver.com/elon-take-the-wheel-we-test-teslas-new-au…

In other news Apple just hired Doug Betts, former FCA 'quality' boss http://blog.caranddriver.com/fiat-chrysler-quality-chief-resigns-one-d… http://www.autonews.com/article/20141028/OEM02/141029851/betts-leaves-… http://www.techtimes.com/articles/70582/20150721/apple-hires-fiat-chry… because nothing screams quality like a 'decided to leave one day after yet another drop in Consumer Report rankings' and 1.4m car recall!

Neat! It looks like "e-diesel" may not be price competitive yet, but hopefully it goes somewhere. "Audi and Sunfire claim that the process to make e-diesel is 70 percent efficient. They estimate that once production is ramped up, the cost to consumers in Europe would be comparable to traditional diesel, at 1.00 to 1.50 euro per liter (approximately $4.00 to $6.00 per gallon)." http://blog.caranddriver.com/powering-your-car-with-water-audi-realize…

There have been tests using a Valeo electric supercharger to augment the existing traditional exhaust-driven turbocharger on a Ford Focus. The firm Ricardo was able to increase gas mileage from 39 to 59mpg in European test cycles. It doesn't really result in an increase in real-world performance, since it doesn't help the top end of the power curve, but gives a big jump to stop-and-go performance. http://blog.caranddriver.com/blowing-your-way-to-savings-how-electric-…