San Francisco balks at Cruise settlement offer (San Francisco Examiner February 29, 2024)

Cruise’s attempt to settle the ongoing investigation of its purported failure to fully disclose information regarding an October pedestrian dragging incident to the California Public Utilities Commission is meeting resistance from the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency. “San Francisco does not support approval of the proposed settlement as submitted,” said city attorney David Chiu in a letter to CPUC. “In most, if not all cases, complete and accurate video (and audio) offers the best and most easily accessible information about a crash involving a driverless AV. Any settlement agreement should address the standards for making complete and accurate video and audio available to the Commission,” Chiu added.

At a hearing on Feb. 6, Cruise offered to pay sanctions of $112,000 and to voluntarily make several “new data reporting enhancements” to the commission as part of its proposed settlement offer to resolve the investigation. Thus, it appears Cruise is now agreeing to automatically submit data to CPCU whenever there is any AV accident, not just when requested.  This no doubt will result in the submission of substantially more data to CPCU going forward. Others likely will follow suit.

Bill to help build electric vehicle infrastructure in rural areas moves along (Royal Examiner, March 4, 2024)

In an effort to expand its charging network to distressed rural areas, state legislators in Virginia recently introduced House Bill 107, which would create a state fund to help subsidize the cost of public electric charging stations. The bill would give public charging station developers funds for up to 70% of the non-utility costs to build charging stations. This attempt to expand the EV charging network aligns with Virginia’s Clean Car Act, which will begin banning the sale of gas-powered vehicles in 2035. 

So, will the House pass the bill? According to the opinion of the author, “[t]he House will likely reject House Bill 107’s amendment because that will send the bill to conference, a relatively regular practice in the legislature where a select group of lawmakers meets in private to work out differences between any bills. Otherwise, if the bill remains as is, the re-enactment clause effectively kills it because it means the bill will have to come back for approval next year before it becomes law.”  We’ll be watching Virginia to see if the House approves or if Bill 107 gets pushed back another year.

US to probe national safety risks of Chinese cars (Just Auto, March 4, 2024)

The White House announced that the Secretary of Commerce will be opening an investigation into connected vehicles that are imported from China that may be collecting “sensitive data” about United States citizens, and whether these vehicles are a national security threat.

In response, China foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning stated, “China’s door has been open to global auto companies, including US auto companies who fully shared in dividends of China’s big market.”  She further told the United States to “respect the laws of market economy and the principles of fair competition.”

Currently, there are few Chinese imported vehicles in the United States, and EV maker BYD continues to focus on Europe and Asia for its largest markets. Europe is “bracing for a Chinese export offensive” as BYD continues to dominate the EV market, recently announcing is cheapest electric vehicle, the BYD Seagull EV, starting at under $10,000.

EV battery giants BYD, CATL form Chinese powerhouse to build solid-state batteries (Electrek, February 12, 2024)

Who will win the race to commercialize all-solid-state EV batteries?  China, if they have anything to say about it.  Several leading Chinese automakers and battery manufacturers are joining forces to commercialize solid-state batteries, which could revolutionize the EV market.  The government led, China All-Solid-State Battery Collaborative Innovation Platform (CASIP), was formed last month and includes academia and industry leaders like BYD, Contemporary Amperex Technology, and NIO.  BYD and CATL already make up over 50% of the global EV battery market and are used by Tesla, BMW, Toyota, Kia, Ford, and other leading EV makers.  China sees this new alliance as a way of ensuring they will become an “automotive powerhouse.”

Waymo recalls and update robotaxi software after two cars crashed into the same towed truck (Tech Crunch, February 13, 2024)

Self-driving vehicles continue to face ongoing scrutiny with the latest news of Waymo issuing its very first recall after two of the carmaker’s robotaxis crashed into a towed pickup truck in Arizona this past December. According to Waymo, the pickup truck was improperly towed, “angled across a center turn lane and a traffic lane,” which resulted in the robotaxis being unable to correctly predict the motion of the vehicle.  While the crashes were considered “minor” with no injuries,according to Mauricio Peña, Waymo’s chief safety officer, the company has developed and tested a software update that was deployed to its entire fleet by January 12.

“This voluntary recall reflects how seriously we take our responsibility to safely deploy our technology and to transparently communicate with the public,” Peña wrote in a blog post.

AV restrictions bill reintroduced in California (Trucking Dive, February 13, 2024)

The ongoing battle between labor and autonomous tech in California witnessed another salvo last week when California legislators reintroduced a bill seeking to give state legislators more oversight over the AV sector.  Specifically, the bill aims to shift the responsibility for keeping safety operators onboard autonomous heavy-duty trucks to politicians, rather than state regulators. The proposed law is aligned with another Teamsters-supported bill, which seeks to require the passage of local ordinances before autonomous vehicles are allowed to operate.  “California must implement real AV safety standards and ensure local municipalities have a say in AV deployment,” said Peter Finn, president of Teamsters Joint Council 7.

Tesla finally releases FSD v12, its last hope for self-driving (Electrek, January 22, 2024)

In what many industry insiders consider to be a last-ditch effort to finally deliver on its highly scrutinized fully self-driving platform, Tesla has finally started releasing its FSD Beta v12 update to customers. The new software update is expected to utilize the highly teased and purportedly revolutionary neural net-powered controls.  According to Tesla, this means the new end-to-end neural nets will be powered by AI, like its vision system, rather than traditionally engineered coding. 

Although little is known of the original testing of the software since it was limited to Tesla’s internal fleet, proponents are optimistic that Tesla will finally deliver on its long overdue self-driving promises.

Tesla’s new compact crossover is reportedly coming in 2025, but will it cost $25,000? (The Verge,  January 24, 2024)

As Tesla continues to compete with Chinese automaker BYD, the automaker is reportedly planning to release a new model with a $25,000 price tag. BYD, who overtook Tesla in the last quarter of 2023 as the top EV automaker in the world, has grown rapidly, largely due to its affordable electric vehicles.

Elon Musk has teased a more affordable Tesla model several times over the years, but Tesla has struggled to lower its prices, even increasing the price of the Cybertruck to $60,990 from its initially announced price of $39,900. 

The new Tesla model, nicknamed “Redwood,” is expected to be a compact crossover with a 2025 production year. Tesla is apparently planning to produce 10,000 vehicles per week. Only time will tell if this new model will be enough for Tesla to take back the throne as the top EV carmaker in the world, or if BYD will continue its global growth, especially as the Chinese carmaker is planning to introduce more premium vehicles to compete with Tesla’s existing models.

Teslas crash more than gas-powered cars. Here’s why (CNN, January 18, 2024)

Relying upon insurance claim data from owners who transitioned from ICE vehicles to EVs, insurance analyst at LexisNexis Risk Solutions found that the frequency of accidents for the new EV owners increased by 14.3%, with the highest frequency rates occurring in the first year of EV transition. Interestingly the research also revealed similar trends in China, which suggests the issue is not solely a “Tesla problem.”

Given that crash frequency appears to have an inverse relationship to the length of EV ownership, the findings suggests that unfamiliarity has something to do with the increased accident ratio, said Xiaohui Lu, head of EV research at LexisNexis Risk Solutions. According to Lu, perhaps the best explanation for this is the higher acceleration capabilities of EVs combined with their large, dense battery packs that add more weight to the vehicle. “Most drivers are trained in driving [internal combustion] vehicles and they’re applying the habitual amount of pressure on the driving pedal but the behavior is very different, particularly in low-speed zones,” said Lu.

CES 2024: 5 car trends we’re expecting to see (Mashable, December 31, 2023)

As CES had evolved over the past few years into a key platform for automakers to showcase new technology, here are five trends that are expected to garner headlines at the upcoming annual event in Las Vegas January 9-12.

1.      A continued focus on new EV technology with a deemphasis on automation due to growing pessimism surrounding the near- term commercial viability of consumer AVs.

2.      Emphasis on real-world technologies that should be available on current or new vehicle models.

3.      The debut of Honda’s widely anticipated new “global EV series models and several key technologies that illustrate the significant transformation Honda is currently undergoing.”

4.      The unveiling of Hyundai’s e-Corner Driving System that enables all four wheels to turn up to 90 degrees, allowing the vehicle to drive in virtually any direction.

5.      Automakers are expected to downplay the significance of AI in safety critical applications, while showcasing the still unproven technology in lower-stakes applications such as vehicle personalization.

Tesla overtaken by China’s BYD as world’s biggest EV maker (Financial Times, January 2, 2024)

The Chinese automaker BYD has officially overtaken Tesla as the world’s best-selling EV maker, reporting record sales of 526,000 in the fourth quarter, with Tesla trailing behind with 484,000. While Musk has dismissed the Chinese automaker in the past, he now calls BYD “highly competitive.”

“For any doubters left in the west,” says Tu Le, founder of Sino Auto Insights, “ I hope this is the final data point that points to BYD’s strength and, as importantly, how ‘China EV Inc’ has bullied its way on to the global stage.”

Two Pittsburgh startups are in a race to build driverless trucks for the military (Pittsburgh Post Gazette, December 27, 2023)

Although autonomous technology startups have faced significant recent headwinds, two Pittsburgh-based companies are aggressively pursuing solutions to aid the U.S. military in automating combat vehicles. Neya Systems and Carnegie Robotics were recently granted a rather short window to design and deliver a driverless system that could be deployed in army convoys, which would allow the slow-moving vehicles to operate without exposing human soldiers to life-threatening attacks.

“It is a challenging timeline for the amount of work we need to get done. But we’re not starting from ground zero,” said Eric Soderberg, program manager for Carnegie Robotics. “The short timeline is especially challenging because the Army wants a fully deployable solution that could be built into multiple combat vehicles,” Mr. Soderberg added.

“It’s a big stepping stone for us,” Nya Systems division manager Kurt Bruck said of the contract. “It shows that we’re experts in this field, and we’re ready to take the next step into larger vehicles.” “We’re very excited to be part of programs that save lives,” Mr. Bruck added. “All of these trucks are currently driven by multiple soldiers. This removes the soldiers. It protects them.”