On a bi-weekly basis, CAR welcomes our audience to decompress with our President and CEO, Carla Bailo, as she covers and shares her thoughts on the latest Hot Topics happening in the automotive industry. While the biweekly newsletter primarily covers four topics, this feature story previews two of the topics covered on January 21, 2022. If you would like access to the full newsletter for better insights into critical industry issues you and your organization are facing, sign up for our mailing list here.

HOT TOPICS 1/17/2022 – 1/21/2022

Driver Assistance Systems Safety

• Insurance Institute: Advanced driving assistance systems don’t equal self-driving tech
• Driver Monitoring Systems by Ford and GM Are Only Ones to Earn Points in CR’s Tests
• California is ‘revisiting’ Tesla’s Full Self-Driving beta in light of ‘dangerous’ videos
• A Tesla on autopilot killed two people in Gardena. Is the driver guilty of manslaughter?
• Robot trucks raising self-driving safety stakes

Carla’s thoughts:

In my view, this diligence to measure and validate ADAS systems is needed. We have proliferated systems throughout the industry with different names and operating modes. This proliferation has caused customer confusion and concern – so much anxiety that customers often turn off the systems meant to keep them safe.

As we move towards “quasi self-driving” modes, there is even less clarity in terms of requirements. Should this lack of clarity continue, the customer will lose faith, which sets the entire industry back in time in terms of deployment. The industry needs to work with NHTSA, IIHS, and more to agree on the system standards required to certify these systems and products.

CAR will be holding a webinar with AAA, IIHS, and Consumers Reports to address this topic on Wednesday, February 16^th from 1 – 2 EST. Register in advance HERE >>>

Autonomous Technology Investments & Partnerships

• Autonomous vehicle startup Optimus Ride acquired by Magna
• Mercedes Signs On To Use Luminar Lidar In Its Luxury Cars, Invests In Laser Sensor Maker
• Autonomous driving start-up Wayve bags $200 million from Microsoft, Virgin and Baillie Gifford
• Toyota Ventures backs seed extension into Agtonomy, turning tractors into autonomous vehicles
• Waymo and J.B. Hunt expand autonomous trucking partnership
• Phantom Auto Scores Millions To Produce, Sell Remote-Operated Forklifts

Carla’s thoughts:

As automakers continue to work toward autonomous vehicles, it has become readily apparent that many elements are needed to “technically” make these systems feasible. This knowledge doesn’t exist in today’s automaker workforce, and partnerships are required to gain this expertise.

Beyond just cars, the focus has shifted to autonomous trucks and delivery services. The supply chain shortage will continue to be plagued until we can deploy autonomy, drones, robots, and more to support the burgeoning need for products demanded by the consumer. The articles above demonstrate the need for trucking partnerships and forklifts. BUT, at CES, we observed robots doing much more in the commercial goods space from inventory, stocking, clearing snow, working in hospitals, and countless others. As we are faced with a worker shortage in so many areas and flat population growth, we need some “mechanical” help with “artificial intelligence” to “get the job done.”

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