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GM To Build Electric Pickup Truck At Detroit-Hamtramck To Satisfy UAW?

The unallocated Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly plant might not be sold. It could become the site form GM’s electric pickup truck production. According to ClickOnDetroit, the all-electric pickup truck is still on the table (originally reported in September) in negotiations between General Motors and the United Automobile Workers (UAW). GM is expected to offer a $9 billion… Continue reading GM To Build Electric Pickup Truck At Detroit-Hamtramck To Satisfy UAW?

Kinetik 07 Debuts As A Caterham-Based Electric Track Toy

A hardcore two-seater that’s also road-legal. Caterham’s only all-electric product may be a cool electric bicycle revealed in 2014 but Bulgaria’s Kinetik Automotive is using a chassis developed by the British outfit to build the country’s first zero-emission sports car. Revealed yesterday at a special event for potential investors, customers, and media representatives in Sofia,… Continue reading Kinetik 07 Debuts As A Caterham-Based Electric Track Toy

The EV Revolution Part 5: Electric Cars, Environment & Future Of Oil

If tomorrow everyone in the U.S. switched to an EV, we’d instantly cut our nation’s CO2 emissions by more than a third. My wife loves driving the Tesla Model 3, not for all the selfish reasons I like to drive it (it is fast and quite the iPad on wheels) but because she feels she… Continue reading The EV Revolution Part 5: Electric Cars, Environment & Future Of Oil

If Navigation Apps Don’t Alleviate Congestion—Could City-Wide Traffic Software Help?

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Hacking Cars to Trigger Gridlock

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Dyson EV’s demise, Mirai’s radical remake, Audi’s plug-in hybrids: The Week in Reverse

Which automaker partnered with Boeing for a personal luxury aircraft?

What brand priced its Tesla Model 3 rival for Europe?

This is our look back at the Week In Reverse—right here at Green Car Reports—for the week ending October 11, 2019.

One of the much-discussed pieces of news of the week came from the UK, and a well-funded long-shot project aiming to make an high-efficiency electric car. Dyson said that its electric-car program is done—although it will continue work on some of the ancillary tech, including solid-state batteries.

Patent drawing for Dyson electric car due in 2021

Several important pieces of news came from Toyota. It revealed that the next-generation version of its Mirai hydrogen fuel-cell car is a sport sedan. Although the radical remake is officially called a concept car, the future is suddenly looking much better for that model, as well as the Prius. Toyota also confirmed that a 2021 RAV4 plug-in hybrid is on the way—although it will be some time before we get range and mpg. And its luxury brand, Lexus, teased the design of a production-bound electric city car, set to bow at the Tokyo show.

A new Honda Fit hybrid has been confirmed for a Tokyo show debut and is a critical model for Europe—although chances are slim that the model will arrive in the U.S.

Porsche Boeing premium urban air mobility vehicle

Porsche and Boeing are involved in a premium personal aircraft project—not a shared air taxi, but something aiming for private ownership.

Volkswagen is hoping its owners see the light—with a new light-based communications feature in its ID 3 urban electric car. We would presume it’s also headed to the other ID models that are U.S.-bound.

Volvo announced that it’s merging engine development into a new joint venture with parent Geely—so it can focus efforts on EV development. And as we eagerly await the introduction of the Volvo brand’s first fully electric model next week, pricing was detailed for the related Polestar 2—including its Performance Pack version—in several of its European launch markets.

Polestar 2

In the issues and policy department, U.S. commute times reached a new high in 2018, a cloud that hangs over us even as vehicles continue to get cleaner and more efficient. And Denmark and the UK were among the nations looking to tighten the timeline for phasing out internal combustion engines.

India is very much seen as an emerging (and important) market for EVs, with some challenges. Tata will be targeting its own domestic market with a vehicle called the Tata Nexon EV. This model could be seen as a serious rival to models coming from both European automakers, Japan, and China.

Volta free DC fast charging

The charging-network news keeps flowing, as infrastructure takes form in Europe and North America. Volta readied its ad-supported free DC fast charging network in the U.S. and announced its first station starting later this month. The energy company Repsol claimed the highest power passenger-vehicle DC fast-charging station in Europe. And Electrify Canada announced that it’s pushing ahead this year with more than 20 fast-charging stations—enabled for a future-leaning 350 kw—at Canadian Tire locations across the country.

We learned that Tesla has quietly acquired the Canadian battery maker Hibar. Could it mean the automaker is setting up to make its own proprietary cells?

At the start of the week we rounded up a list of the most important electric cars for 2020.

2020 Audi Q5 plug-in hybrid (Euro-spec) – first drive, October 2019

Back on Monday and Tuesday, we also brought you two sets of first drive impressions on Audi’s upcoming plug-in hybrid vehicles—in the Q5 crossover and the A8 flagship sedan—to see how they fit into a lineup that’s rapidly going electric.

And as you head out this weekend to go watch the game, you might remember some news we reported at the start of the week: that Anheuser-Busch and Frito-Lay are expanding plans—in California—to deliver their beer and snacks with electric trucks.

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Consumer Reports Calls Tesla Smart Summon “A Science Experiment”

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Published on October 12th, 2019 |

by Steve Hanley

Consumer Reports Calls Tesla Smart Summon “A Science Experiment”

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October 12th, 2019 by Steve Hanley

It is fair to say the rollout of Tesla’s Smart Summon feature has not been an unqualified success. Reports have filtered in over the days since the feature was installed via an over the air update of Teslas lurching through parking lots like zombies, getting lost, and struggling to achieve their mission, which is to unpark themselves and drive slowly to wherever the smartphone is that controls them. A few fender benders have been reported as well, but without any clear evidence they were caused by Smart Summon.

Smart Summon is supposed to be a step forward on the road to fully self-driving cars, but if that is so, it seems to some onlookers there is still a long way to go. As the Chinese proverb suggests, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with but a single step.”

Consumer Reports, which always seems to have a love/hate affair with Tesla automobiles, has tested Smart Summon at its facility in Connecticut. It’s fair to say the new technology was weighed in the balance and found wanting.

Jake Fisher, CR’s senior director of auto testing, says consumers are not getting technology that has been fully tested and ready to meet their expectations. He suggests Tesla owners are little more than unpaid beta testers who are volunteering to help Tesla fine tune the Smart Summon technology — even though they are paying $6,000 up front for the autonomous Full Self Driving package. (Not many Tesla owners with Full Self Driving are complaining, while thousands or tens of thousands seem to be thrilled about the opportunity.)

“What consumers are really getting is the chance to participate in a kind of science experiment,” Fisher says. “This is a work in progress.” Ouch!

Consumer Reports says it attempted to contact Tesla several times but never got a response from the company.

“CR’s experience with the system shows that Smart Summon can exit a parking space, turn and start moving toward the vehicle owner, and negotiate around stationary objects. It also can detect and stop for pedestrians and slow down if it senses cross traffic.

“But we found that the system works only intermittently, depending on the car’s reading of the surroundings. The system is designed to work only in private parking lots, but sometimes it seemed confused about where it was. In one case, the system worked in one section of a private lot, but in another part of the lot it mistakenly detected that it was on a public road and shut itself down. At various times, our Model 3 would suddenly stop for no obvious reason.

“When it did work, the Model 3 appeared to move cautiously, which could be a positive from a safety perspective. But it also meant the vehicle took a long time to reach its driver. The Model 3 also didn’t always stay on its side of the lane in the parking lots.”

The vehicles sometimes drove in the middle of two traffic lanes or wandered left and right like a drunk or distracted driver. One car drove the wrong way in a one-way traffic lane, requiring the tester to run to the car and move it manually so traffic could begin flowing again.

“Under the right circumstances, our Model 3, with Smart Summon activated, would slowly and successfully make its way to the person summoning it with a smartphone — and in those cases, the car was indeed controlling itself, steering, braking, and making decisions about its route. But the person operating the app still has the responsibility to monitor the car and keep it out of trouble,” says Consumer Reports.

The system requires the operator to continuously hold down a button on the smartphone, a fail-safe procedure recommended by CR. If the button is released, the car will bring itself to a full stop to await further instructions.

Tesla Warnings Are Confusing
The testing service says Tesla’s warnings about using the feature in a controlled setting are confusing. The company says to use Smart Summon only in “private” parking lots, but many consumers consider shopping centers parking lots to be public areas, which raises the question of where exactly it can be used.

“Tesla once again is promising ‘full self-driving’ but delivering far less, and now we’re seeing collisions,” says Ethan Douglas, a senior policy analyst at Consumer Reports in Washington, D.C. “Tesla should stop beta testing its cars on the general public by pushing out experimental features before they’re ready.”

NHTSA told Consumer Reports in a comment that it is aware of the safety concerns related to Smart Summon. It says it has ongoing contact with the company and will continue to gather information. Consumers are encouraged to report any concerns to NHTSA online.

Beta Testing
CleanTechnica is often accused of being a Tesla fanboy site. It is true that we publish a lot of stories about Tesla, most of them favorable. But Tesla has a habit of putting new software in the hands of customers and gathering feedback from their experiences to improve it. That process began when the company began installing the “Hardware 1” self-driving suite of sensors 3 years ago, or even earlier when Autopilot came out 5 years ago.

It continued before the Model 3 was released to the general public when the company delivered early production cars to employees with the understanding that they would uncover any defects and report them when they came to work the next day. What better way to address customer complaints than at the factory where the cars were built?

The argument is that the early release testers are volunteers. The flaw in that argument is that the cars involved in the beta testing are driving on public streets (or parking lots) in the presence of other drivers who are not volunteers and who have no idea beta testing is taking place around them.

It’s like taking a group photograph with the consent of the person in the middle without getting consent from the others. It raises a number of privacy and legal issues that Tesla seems (to some of us) to ignore, claiming its interest in providing cutting-edge technology supersedes such mundane concerns. Regulators may not see things quite the same way.

About the Author

Steve Hanley Steve writes about the interface between technology and sustainability from his home in Rhode Island and anywhere else the Singularity may lead him. His motto is, “Life is not measured by how many breaths we take but by the number of moments that take our breath away!” You can follow him on Google + and on Twitter.

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Tesla Has Succeeded In Creating The Essential Mobile Man Cave

No other car even comes close to offering features like Tesla offers. Tesla, the Silicon Valley company mostly known for innovation related to self-driving tech and vehicle electrification just evolved into something far bigger in the past month. A lifestyle? Well, kind of. With the latest v10 software update, Elon Musk and company have created the ultimate mobile man cave. More On… Continue reading Tesla Has Succeeded In Creating The Essential Mobile Man Cave

Thursday Morning Auto News, Oct 10, 2019

Nissan says European operations unsustainable with no-deal Brexit tariffs – Reuters: Nissan’s European operations, which include plants in Britain and Spain, will not be sustainable if Britain’s departure from the European Union leads to 10% tariffs on vehicles, the firm’s European Chairman Gianluca de Ficchy told reporters on Thursday.
Indicted FCA manager circulated press release about prior diesel emissions settlement – Freep: Experts say Fiat Chrysler could face more trouble because of emails that were shared among those connected to diesel emissions cheating.
BYD NEV sales volume up 34 pct in Jan-Sept – Xinhua | English.news.cn – Xinhuanet: BYD NEV sales volume up 34 pct in Jan-Sept
GM Factory Hands Making 40% Less Than Their Co-Workers Are Fed Up – Bloomberg: GM Factory Hands Making 40% Less Than Their Co-Workers Are Fed Up
Nissan to start building new Juke car at UK plant as Brexit looms – Reuters: Nissan said it will begin making the next-generation Juke vehicle at Britain’s biggest car plant on Monday, just over two weeks before a possible no-deal Brexit which the industry has warned could bring production to a halt.
BMW bets on doubling of luxury car sales to boost margins – Reuters: To lower development costs for electric and driverless cars, BMW will pursue alliances, such as a plan to make a low-cost electric car with Chinese …
BMW to Boost Sales of Gas-Guzzling SUVs to Cover Electric Shift – Bloomberg: BMW to Boost Sales of Gas-Guzzling SUVs to Cover Electric Shift

GM’s Q3 China sales slip 18% – Automotive News: The drop marks the fifth straight quarterly decline for GM in China as U.S. automakers continue to lose market share while Japanese and German automakers gain ground in the largest light-vehicle market.
Uber’s UK VAT liability confirmed – FT: Earlier this week Uber London Ltd filed its full accounts up until December 2018 at Companies House. The big news wasn’t that the division made a …
NASA boss to tour SpaceX factory after feud over capsule delays – Reuters: SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk opened up his private rocket factory to the top official of NASA on Thursday for a tour and progress report on the company’s long-delayed Crew Dragon astronaut capsule.
Nissan cuts role of former Ghosn aide – Nikkei:
Italdesign names Audi veteran as design chief – Automotive News: Italdesign has appointed veteran Audi executive Carsten Monnerjan as head of design. Monnerjan succeeds Filippo Perini who joined Hyundai’s …
Volvo embeds Android on its new EV – Automotive News: Volvo embeds Android on its new EV
GM’s Q3 China vehicle sales down 17.5%, as U.S. automakers cede ground – Reuters: General Motors Co’s July to September vehicle sales in China fell 17.5%, as the U.S. automaker was hurt by a slowing economy amid the Sino-U.S. trade war and by heightened competition in its key mid-priced SUV segment.
The Radical Manifesto Embraced by Google Workers and Uber Drivers – New York Times: Just before 20,000 Google employees left their desks last fall to protest the company’s handling of sexual harassment, a debate broke out among the …
Automakers, suppliers, tech companies form AV computing consortium – Automotive News: GM has invested heavily in autonomous vehicle development, especially through its Cruise unit. Toyota has also started to form alliances for …
Strengthening Renault-Nissan alliance is crucial: French minister – Reuters: Strengthening the alliance between car makers Renault and Nissan is crucial, said French junior economy minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher on Thursday, amid signs of a possible management shake-up at Renault.
Nissan Plans Shareholders’ Meeting to Vote In New Top Management – Bloomberg: Nissan Motor Co. is considering holding an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting early next year following the recent adoption of a new management …
New Volkswagen Golf design shown in official sketches – Autocar: Volkswagen Golf Mk8 sketch Eighth iteration of popular hatchback will be unveiled later
Champagne! Fur! Caviar! How St. Moritz’s Snow Polo Lures the Jet Set – Bloomberg: Photographers hoping to score a celebrity shot mill around on the edge of the runway, where a vintage Rolls-Royce and a racing-green Porsche …

Subaru recalls some Forester vehicles due to airbag issue

Owners will be notified of the recall starting on November 29. Subaru is recalling more than 350,000 Forester vehicles with heated seats because an electrical connection in the front passenger seat may loosen and deactivate the airbag even though the seat is occupied. Subaru said the recall includes Forester vehicles from 2015 to 2018. The… Continue reading Subaru recalls some Forester vehicles due to airbag issue