Trade News

WASHINGTON -- Two U.S. senators are working on legislation that would allow automakers to deploy tens of thousands of self-driving vehicles on U.S. roads, a significant reform that could help speed the commercial use of automated vehicles.

Sens. Gary Peters, a Democrat, and John Thune, a Republican, have circulated a draft amendment seen by Reuters that would grant NHTSA the power to initially exempt 15,000 self-driving vehicles per manufacturer from safety standards written with human drivers in mind. The figure would rise to 80,000 within three years.

The pair hope to win Senate Commerce Committee approval for their amendment on Wednesday when the panel takes up a bill to provide $100 billion in funding for science and technology research and development over concerns about maintaining U.S. competitiveness with China.

The amendment would also allow self-driving companies to disable human driving controls in vehicles when in full self-driving mode.

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Virginia dealer Dan Banister has expanded into a new state and added a new brand with his latest acquisition.

Banister acquired Sheehy Ford of Marlow Heights in Maryland on April 13. Terms were not disclosed. The store has been renamed Banister Ford of Marlow Heights.

The Ford store is the third dealership for Banister Automotive. The group also owns Banister Nissan of Chesapeake and Banister Nissan of Norfolk, both located in southeastern Virginia.

Banister said he first met Ford Motor Co. representatives more than 12 years ago through his involvement in the National Association of Minority Automobile Dealers.

"Ever since, we've been trying to find the right opportunity for me," he said.

When the Maryland Ford store became available, those reps contacted Banister about a purchase, he said.

"When they brought this one to me — I mean, I know the area, I've operated dealerships in this area — I thought it was a perfect opportunity to…

Consumer Reports engineers said they “easily tricked” a Tesla Inc. vehicle to drive via its Autopilot feature without anyone in the driver’s seat, just days after a fatal crash in Texas where police said they found no one behind the steering wheel of a Tesla car.

In a test conducted this week, test drivers took several trips on a closed half-mile track in a Tesla Model Y, the nonprofit research organization said in a statement Thursday. The vehicle -- with Autopilot technology engaged -- was able to steer itself along painted lines but at no time displayed a warning that the driver’s seat was empty. The engineer who conducted the test placed a small weighted chain on the steering wheel to simulate the weight of a driver’s hand.

“In our evaluation, the system not only failed to make sure the driver was paying attention, but it also couldn’t tell if there was a driver there at all,” said Jake Fisher, Consumer Reports’ senior director of auto testing. Fisher was a…

A pandemic that led more Americans to give digital shopping a try would certainly benefit online used-vehicle retailer Carvana, right?

The reality is more nuanced than that, as CEO Ernie Garcia illustrated during this week's installment of Automotive News' Congress Conversations.

Garcia said there was an acceleration in behavioral shifts underway before dealers pivoted to digital retail the past 11 months.

"But I think in many ways the visibility and the awareness of those shifts changed more than the behavior themselves changed," he said. "There's such an awareness now in automotive of digital retail."

For Carvana, however, that did not equate to a boom in sales — relatively speaking. The company was more than doubling its sales annually until 2020 when it grew at a much slower rate, Garcia noted.

"From our perspective, we likely would have grown faster if it weren't for the pandemic last year," he said.

The retailer's net sales wer…

<!--*/ */ /*-->*/ Motional vehicles to see with a bird's-eye view in Vegas this spring

Driverless vehicle company Motional and artificial intelligence startup Derq will partner on a pilot in Las Vegas this spring to give Motional's vehicles a bird's-eye view.

Motional, based in Boston, is the year-old, $4 billion autonomous-driving joint venture of supplier Aptiv and Hyundai. Derq is a vehicle-to-everything spinoff from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is based out of Dubai and Detroit. The companies will work together to identify challenging situations that could come in the way of Motional's vehicles.

Along with using data from their sensors to navigate their surroundings, Motional vehicles can receive data transmitted wirelessly from the road infrastructure using Dedicated Short Range Communications.

The companies said Tuesday that Derq's AI technology supplies self-driving cars with even more information about their …

Cheryl Miller, who left the CEO post at AutoNation Inc. last summer following a medical leave of absence, has resigned as CFO of JM Family Enterprises after just a few months on the job. The change was effective Wednesday.

Miller, 48, started Jan. 4 in the role with JM Family, a diversified automotive-focused conglomerate in Deerfield Beach, Fla. She previously worked for JM Family, starting in 2004 as an assistant treasurer, and later was promoted to vice president and treasurer.

In a statement provided by JM Family on Thursday, Miller said: "In order to spend more time with family and on other future endeavors, I will be taking on a consulting role with JM Family through the end of the year. I look forward to continuing to work with the talented JM team as they pursue important initiatives and adapt to the continued evolution of the automotive industry."

JM Family CEO Brent Burns in a statement wished Miller "all the best in her future endeavors" and s…

Tesla Inc.’s acting general counsel has left the electric-car maker for Luminar Technologies Inc., a laser-sensor startup that went public via reverse merger last year.

Alan Prescott, who has been with Tesla for four years and became its top legal executive in December 2019, will be Luminar’s chief legal officer, the company said in a statement. Prior to joining Tesla in 2017, Prescott was the senior counsel for the self-driving unit of Uber Technologies Inc.

Luminar, led by 26-year-old billionaire Austin Russell, has been recruiting top executives from the tech and automotive industries as it ramps up manufacturing of its laser sensors for mass production. Laser sensors, known as lidar, allow cars to “see” their surroundings, and are considered a critical component of enabling more advanced self-driving features.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk is an outlier in the self-driving community because he’s developing a system using cameras and radar, but no lidar. Read more

Volkswagen has announced pricing for its new 2022 Taos subcompact crossover, with the base model starting at $2,250 less than the base model of the similarly sized Tiguan.

The German brand said the base model front-wheel-drive Taos will start at $24,190 including delivery when it arrives in U.S. dealerships in June and will be available in three trim levels with all-wheel drive optional for each. A fully loaded Taos SEL will be priced at over $35,000.

The Taos is part of a brand strategy to double up in popular crossover segments, as it did last year when it introduced the two-row Atlas Cross Sport to accompany its three-row Atlas.

DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. on Wednesday informed workers that it is extending downtime at key North American plants — including at one of two sites that build the top-selling F-150 pickup — between one and two weeks because of the ongoing chip shortage.

In a memo to employees obtained by Automotive News and confirmed with the company, Ford said the Chicago and Flat Rock, Mich., plants as well as both the F-150 and Transit van sides of its Kansas City, Mo., plant will be down the weeks of May 3 and 10.

Flat Rock, which builds the Mustang, and Chicago Assembly, which builds the Explorer and Lincoln Aviator crossovers, have been idled since the week of April 12. Kansas City has been idled since the week of April 19.

Oakville Assembly in Canada, where workers build the Ford Edge and Lincoln Nautilus crossovers, will be down the week of May 3. It also has been idled since April 12.

Additionally, Ford said production at its Ohio Assembly Plant will be lim…

An oft-told story of 2020 was how the pandemic brought back into focus the importance of fixed operations at franchised dealerships. The pandemic forced states to temporarily close businesses, including auto sales departments across the country. But service departments were considered essential and remained open, bringing in money to keep dealerships afloat until restrictions eased later in the year.

Ian Grace, senior director of partner performance at automotiveMastermind, thinks the crisis that hits the industry in 2021 will be a lack of vehicle inventory.

Blame microchip shortages and other supply chain issues that are pinching production. And that could result in a sort of dealership déjà vu.

"It's causing many [dealers] to kind of go back to that 2020 view of the importance of the service drive," Grace says.

In addition to more repair and warranty work, Grace says the service drive could help the dealership bottom line by being "a source of i…