Trade News

LAS VEGAS — As sensor technology underpins the auto industry's push to produce more self-driving vehicles in the coming years, innovation will become a key differentiator among the many players.

While the industry faces hurdles, including global economic headwinds, rising borrowing rates, mergers, bankruptcies and shutdowns, it remains one of the main features at the sprawling CES technology show, filling much of Las Vegas Convention Center's west wing.

Here are some of the more notable sensors at 2023 CES.

Lights, camera, action!

Executives from Nodar, a Boston area startup developing long-range, high-resolution, real-time 3D camera-based software, said the company's technology can speed up the adoption of Level 3 autonomous driving. The industry considers Level 3 driving as vehicles that mostly drive themselves but still require a human driver present.

Nodar is competing with lidar companies and stereo visual systems from Bosch and Contin…

LAS VEGAS — As automakers prepare to bring more electric models to market, the infrastructure to support them will continue to develop.

That was evident from all of the companies that specialize in charging infrastructure and batteries that were demonstrating new capabilities at CES meant to increase consumers' adoption of battery-electric vehicles.

Charging infrastructure so far has come from multiple companies with varying business models. But there is not a lot of consistency yet among the different models, said Stephanie Brinley, associate director, auto intelligence for S&P Global Mobility.

"We don't really have a solid set of standards yet, and that's one of the things that needs to evolve," she said.

CES gives companies a chance to highlight their new products for potential customers, Brinley said. Here is a sampling of some of the electrification technology on display at the show.

Texas Instruments showed automotive battery ce…

WASHINGTON — While an end-of-year attempt to pass legislation on LIFO tax relief ultimately stalled in the House, dealers affected by record-low levels of new-vehicle supply are still hopeful a bill will pass this year.

The Senate last month unanimously passed a bill — known as the Supply Chain Disruptions Relief Act — that would have provided relief to dealerships that use the "last in, first out" inventory accounting method and have struggled to maintain inventory levels because of the global semiconductor shortage. The House adjourned at year end without voting on the bill.

Under a new Congress — with Republicans now controlling the House and Democrats holding a slim majority in the Senate — the bill must be reintroduced.

"I'm disappointed that, after the Senate passed it, the House did not take the bill up before the Congress ended," Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said in a statement to Automotive News. "This legislation has broad…

LAS VEGAS — Stellantis on Thursday delivered an expansive vision of its future at CES that includes its push into the electric pickup market, innovative uses of autonomous technology for off-roading Jeeps and establishment of an independent unit that'll grow its "data as a service" business.

Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares also mentioned how the automaker is looking to the skies through its partnership with Archer Aviation to build electric aircraft, a mode of travel that he sees as having potential to offer freedom of mobility for people in urban settings.

Tavares said during his keynote address that Stellantis is becoming a "mobility tech company" and that it wants to improve how people move, socialize and entertain themselves. He said the company is massive in scale, but has the soul of a startup.

Tavares' lofty address sought to explain the automaker's place in the world.

"The need to innovate for our future is greater than ever. Companies must…

SHANGHAI - Tesla cut electric vehicle prices in China for the second time in less than three months on Friday, stoking expectations for a wider price war for battery-powered vehicles in the world's largest auto market where demand has weakened.

Tesla also cut prices on its best-selling Model Y and Model 3 EVs in Japan, South Korea and Australia.

The coordinated cuts were part of an effort to help stoke demand for Tesla's output at its Shanghai factory, the company's single largest production hub, according to a person with direct knowledge of the plan.

It was also the first major move by the electric vehicle maker since Tesla appointed its lead executive for China and Asia, Tom Zhu, who has been based in Shanghai, to oversee global output and deliveries.

Tesla shares slid in premarket trading after the price cuts.

Established automakers have long turned to incentives in the face of weaker demand to control inventory, but, until late last y…

LAS VEGAS -- Chinese electric-vehicle brand Zeekr aims to double sales in 2023 to about 140,000 vehicles and plans to expand sales in Europe, CEO Andy An told Reuters.

Zeekr, a brand created by Chinese automaker Geely, sold 72,000 vehicles in 2022, mostly in China.

Its 001 model, priced at about 300,000 yuan ($43,600), competes with Tesla’s Model Y crossover and other luxury models in the increasingly competitive Chinese market.

Tesla has cut prices and trimmed production in China as it faces intensifying competition from Chinese brands such as Zeekr. Tesla sales in December fell to the lowest level in five months.

A second Zeekr model, the 009, will go into production this month.

Zeekr sees opportunity for growth in Europe, An said in an interview at the CES 2023 annual technology conference in Las Vegas.

Later this year, Zeekr plans to begin selling vehicles in the market with assisted driving systems engineered with Mobileye, he a…

PARIS -- Stellantis is establishing a new business unit to help expand its data services business, part of its plans to generate at least 20 billion euros ($21.1 billion) from software-related activities by 2030.

The new unit, called Mobilisights, will license data to a wide range of customers including rival carmakers, drawing on Stellantis' connected vehicles, which are expected to total 34 million by 2030, up from about 12 million now.

Sanjiv Ghate, Mobilisights CEO, told reporters on Thursday during the CES show in Las Vegas that the business could help to reduce accidents by for example relaying information about road hazards, and also allow insurance products to be better tailored to individual drivers. Such data could be licensed to other automakers.

Setting up a separate unit should make it easier to establish partnerships, added Ghate, who joined Stellantis last year from digital mapping company Here and is based in the San Francisco area.…

<!--*/ */ /*-->*/ Mapmaker Ushr adds Nissan to customer list

Mapmaking technology company Ushr Inc. has compiled high-definition map data on more than 500,000 miles of roads in the United States.

Those maps enable key driver-assist features. Perhaps most notably, the company's map data underpins Cadillac's Super Cruise hands-free driving feature.

Now a second global automaker will utilize those maps. Nissan said Thursday it has been collaborating with the Livonia, Mich.-based mapmaker for a long time, and the two companies revealed that Nissan's ProPilot Assist 2.0 driver-assist system will use Ushr's maps.

That system made its U.S. debut on the 2023 Nissan Ariya, which reached dealerships in late 2022.

Unlike other mapmakers, Ushr says its roots in civil engineering and survey work allow it to differentiate its product from competitors. Using lidar sensors, the company collects information that allows cars to discern their locatio…

LAS VEGAS — Automakers are racing to wallpaper the dashboard with high-definition infotainment displays.

BMW Group boss Oliver Zipse thinks it's a mistake and believes the trend will be short-lived.

"Driver distraction is the main source of accidents — it's not fast driving," Zipse said at a media briefing at CES 2023.

Zipse said he is "absolutely convinced" that center console-based screens that require drivers to look away from the road will soon be history.

"In 10 years, that is gone," Zipse said. "Probably the regulator will not allow it."

BMW is planning for Zipse's prediction to pan out.

At CES, the automaker teased head-up display technology that projects information across the windshield.

Current head-up displays project a small field of view. Expanding the field of view can create a more immersive experience and deliver critical driving information in the driver's natural line of sight, allowing them to keep their ey…

LAS VEGAS — Ram gave the industry a glimpse of what to expect in 2024 with the unveiling of the 1500 Revolution BEV Concept on Thursday during CES.

Ram is looking to raise the bar in the electric pickup market with features such as an automated charger and the ability to follow a walking driver like a loyal dog.

The truck brand is joining the EV pickup fray later than rivals when the electric 1500 arrives next year, but Stellantis says it has been using the time to gauge the competition and is working to surpass them in metrics such as range, towing, payload and charge time.

Ram CEO Mike Koval said designers were told to dream big and push boundaries. Koval wanted the team to "think of everything, so we can deliver a truck unlike anything."

Koval said the influence of the Revolution will be evident in the production model of the electric 1500 that will be shown "in the next couple of months."

"It's a visionary road map of where we're taki…

St. Louis dealer Frank Bommarito died Monday at 88.

Bommarito, who founded Bommarito Automotive Group more than 50 years ago and expanded it across the St. Louis region, died peacefully in his home in Naples, Fla., surrounded by his family, KMOV4 reported. A post on the dealership group's website confirmed his death.

Bommarito got his start in automotive retailing in 1952 when he went to work at a local Pontiac dealership as a porter, according to a company history on the group's website and an obituary posted online. After returning from two years of active duty in the Navy during the Korean War, Bommarito worked in car sales, eventually becoming a sales manager at another Pontiac dealership.

The company credits Bommarito's success in motivating and managing personnel as the reason General Motors in 1971 awarded him an Oldsmobile franchise in Ellisville, Mo. That Oldsmobile store marked the beginning of what would become a large dealership group.

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TOKYO -- Toyota President Akio Toyoda has tested positive for COVID-19 and will be absent from a series of New Year events to be held by Japanese business lobbies on Thursday, a company spokesperson said.

Toyoda had been due at events in Tokyo hosted by Japan's top trade organizations where business and political leaders including Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will be in attendance.

The spokesperson said Toyoda gets tested regularly for COVID and declined to comment on his symptoms.