News

<!--*/ */ /*-->*/ Level 3 presents a complicated, ‘mushy middle’ in automated driving

An automated driving breakthrough set to reach public roads this year likely will motor into a thicket of legal complications and other hurdles.

Mercedes-Benz plans to sell vehicles equipped with Drive Pilot, a Level 3 automated system and the first of its kind in the marketplace. Such a system can maintain control and responsibility of a car in certain scenarios. However, the human driver must take control upon the system's request.

When active, Drive Pilot allows motorists to shift their attention from traffic, according to Mercedes.

Volvo and Audi tried to offer similar systems years ago, abandoning them after finding they could not untangle the legal, regulatory and safety quandaries that still accompany Level 3 driving.

Level 3 systems are "an engineer's dream and a plaintiff attorney's next yacht," said Bryan Reimer, a research scientist at …

Sonic Automotive Inc., citing lower used-vehicle availability and higher wholesale pricing, has indefinitely suspended operations at eight EchoPark used-only locations and an unspecified number of delivery/buy centers, and it will take a significant second-quarter charge.

The Charlotte, N.C., company said it anticipates a one-time charge from $60 million to $80 million, noting that all but $3 million to $5 million is non-cash.

In a regulatory filing Thursday, Sonic said the charge will include the impairment of fixed assets and right-of-use leased assets from $50 million to $60 million and other items from $10 million to $15 million. Sonic, in the filing, said the majority of the impairment charge "relates to a non-cash impairment of long-lived assets. Sonic's future cash expenditures related to this plan are expected to be between $3 million and $5 million principally related to severance costs."

Sonic, in a late Thursday news release, did not identif…

Used-vehicle auction services company America's Group has acquired a 17-acre auction facility in Las Vegas — its first acquisition since forming in late 2021 — marking its entry into Nevada.

The company said Tuesday that it purchased DAA Las Vegas — a six-lane, full-service auction that opened in 2014 — from McConkey Auction Group. A purchase price was not disclosed.

The acquisition expands the company's market presence to dealers, rental companies and financial institutions in major cities in the West, America's Group CEO Chuck Tapp said Thursday. The company has two auctions in Southern California, though they are smaller — less than 2 acres each, he said.

America's Group formed in December 2021 when vehicle auction and remarketing company XLerate Group acquired America's Auto Auction. The combined company rebranded as America's Group in 2022. Tapp took the CEO reins from Cam Hitchcock at the end of 2022, following the executive's retirement.

"I…

J.D. Power’s Frank Hanley joins the show to talk about the firm’s 2023 Initial Quality Study, which shows new vehicle quality falling to new lows. Ford and SK On land a $9.2 billion federal loan for battery plants. And some promising EV brands are struggling despite a strong U.S. market.

How do I subscribe?

Can't wait to hear the next episode of "Daily Drive"? Subscribe through a podcast app to receive episodes days in advance. If you don't have a podcast app already, here are some options. 

iPhone / iPad

Android

Spotify

The automotive electronics challenge is to survive more than 150,000 miles and 10 years of usage in harsh environments without an excessive rate of failure. The best way to ensure automotive electronics reliability is by taking the Physics of Failure (PoF) approach, which uses science (physics, chemistry, etc.) to capture an understanding of failure mechanisms and evaluates useful life under actual operating conditions. The four key processes in this methodology are design capture, lifecycle characterization, load transformation and durability simulation reliability analysis and risk assessment.

Learn a better approach to designing for reliability using reliability assurance software based on Physics of Failure (PoF).

Hybrid and electric vehicles are outperforming the market and the mechanics who work on these vehicles face more hazards because of the high voltage and frequency.

Are you taking the proper steps to protect your employees as they service EVs and hybrids? We’ll delve into the risks and protections, drawing from OSHA requirements for similar electrical installations, NFPA work practices — specifically NFPA 70E — and experience with capacitors and batteries offered by the Department of Energy.

New-vehicle quality — after hitting the lowest level in more than three decades last year — is getting worse, a J.D. Power survey found.

Technology is more prevalent, which creates more opportunities for problems to arise, and issues are cropping up with basic vehicle functions, such as the ease of opening doors, according to J.D. Power's 2023 U.S. Initial Quality Study. Those factors contributed to a record high number of vehicle problems this year, building on quality issues last year that stemmed from supply chain shortages and remote work, J.D. Power found.

On average, owners reported 192 problems per 100 vehicles industrywide, according to the survey, up from 180 a year earlier and 162 in 2021. The study, conducted from February through May and published Thursday, is based on responses from 93,380 buyers and lessees of new 2023 model-year vehicles.

New-vehicle quality improved at 12 of 33 brands ranked in the study: Dodge, Ram, Alfa Romeo, Porsche…

Kodiak Robotics intends to outfit a fleet of 800 commercial trucks with self-driving systems. The trucks are expected to reach the road in the second half of 2025, the company said Thursday.

Logistics firm Loadsmith will operate the trucks as part of a freight network billed as the first to be exclusively underpinned by self-driving technology.

The partnership will focus on utilizing autonomous-driving on select highways in the southern United States, where industry-friendly laws and regulations largely permit autonomous trucking.

Texas will likely be the starting point, Kodiak Robotics CEO Don Burnette told Automotive News. But details are not yet firm.

"We haven't made a determination or finalized the details of where we'll be operating," he said.

Should their plans come to fruition, it is believed the Loadsmith fleet would be the largest self-driving trucking fleet in operation on public roads in the near term. It is an aggressive but …

Fisker Inc. intends to assemble vehicles in China as early as next year to gain a foothold in the world’s largest electric vehicle market.

The EV maker plans to open a delivery center in China later this year and start sales of its first product, the Ocean full electric crossover, in the first quarter of 2024, the Los Angeles-based EV startup said this month.

“After beginning deliveries in Europe and with first vehicles coming to our U.S. customers on June 23, we are excited to move into the Chinese market later this year,” Chairman and CEO Henrik Fisker said in a statement. 

In a recent visit to China Fisker’s leadership team held talks with officials and business leaders in Shanghai about supply chains, logistics, warehousing and future product development. 

“I believe we can get production up and running in China as early as next year, potentially adding capacity of 70,000 Fisker Oceans annually,” Henrik Fisker noted. 

The…

Buick launched sales of its second Ultium platform-based electric vehicle, the Electra E4, this week in China, as General Motors keeps expanding its lineup of EVs in a key market. 

The electric coupe, available in two- and all-wheel-drive versions, is priced from 189,900 yuan ($26,448) to 259,900 yuan, GM’s China unit said. 

It is 4,818 mm long, 1,912 mm wide and 1,581 mm tall, with a 2,954 mm wheelbase. 

The two-wheel variant, installed with a 65 kWh battery pack, can drive up to 530 kilometers on one charge. A permanent magnet synchronous motor in front generates maximum power of 180 kW and maximum torque of 330 Nm.

The AWD version, fitted with a 79.7 kWh battery pack, has a 620-kilometer range. With an additional induction asynchronous motor in the rear, it delivers maximum power of 211 kW and maximum torque of 465 Nm.

The Buick Electra E4 is produced at SAIC-GM, General Motors’ passenger vehicle joint venture with SAIC Mo…

Listen in as Rosemary Coates and Lisa Dender, Global Leader at IBM, discuss the circular economy and the new REACH regulations. Rosemary Coates, Executive Director of the Reshoring Institute, hosts this episode of The Frictionless Supply Chain.

In this episode, Lisa Dender, Global Lead for Product Chemical Regulations at IBM, discusses forever chemicals in global supply chains and what we are learning about new regulations in the U.S. and the EU. Lisa is a brilliant Stanford Engineering graduate and a long-term supply chain professional. Lisa says, “Supply Chains rule the world.”

This is a continuing discussion regarding PFAS chemicals. These chemicals resist degradation in the environment and accumulate in the body — studies have shown potential adverse human health effects from exposure to some PFAS. New regulations are driving chemical companies to stop producing many of these. Sourcing these products is going to become more difficult and the …

Brookdale Community College in New Jersey and Penske Automotive Group have formed a partnership to establish an automotive technician career program to give students the skills and knowledge to succeed in the service and parts industry.

Brookdale, in Lincroft, N.J., about an hour south of New York City, will offer state-of-the-art facilities and an associate's degree in Applied Science in Automotive Technology designed to develop students' automotive expertise. Graduates of the program will be eligible to be hired by Penske.

The Automotive Technician Career Program will take three years to complete and cost $20,000. Graduates who get a job at a Penske dealership are eligible for tuition reimbursement of up to $13,140, and will receive $2,000 for tools and a $5,000 employment bonus.

Penske has 26 locations in New Jersey, and more than 150 in the U.S.

"As the largest automotive retail company globally, Penske Automotive …