What We’re Reading
April 20, 2022
Judgment Day: GM Patents Self-Driving Car That Teaches You How To Drive (Motortrend, April 18, 2022)
A right of passage for many teenagers and their parents may become a thing of the past if GM’s new technology gains traction. With what the author calls “a rather obvious application for a computer that knows how to drive,” GM has patented an “instructor-less self-driving car for student driver training.” GM’s concept would have the vehicle compare its recommended actions with the trainee’s actual driving decisions, and provide a score based on the comparison. Potential benefits of automated training vehicles include minimizing human trainer biases, scheduling flexibility, and cost savings.
Presumably, GM’s automated training vehicles will be programmed to follow the rules of the road to a “T,” unlike certain vehicles in the story we profiled last week.
Tesla Boombox Violation Leads to Recall of 600K Vehicles (GovTech, April 18, 2022)
NHTSA’s recent recall affects nearly 600,00 2020-22 Models Y, X, and S and 2017-22 Model 3 vehicles, and will be resolved through a software update. The recall is meant to address concerns that Tesla’s boombox feature, which allows a driver to play sounds through an external speaker even while driving, may interfere with or drown out pedestrian warning system sounds in violation of federal standards. This is the eighth recall Tesla has had to address via software update this year.
The Rise of Brand-New, Second-Hand Electric Vehicles (Ars Technica, April 16, 2022)
Like many things, the pandemic and global supply chain shortages have turned the car market upside down! Instead of depreciating as they typically do, used car values are increasing. This phenomenon is particularly acute in the EV market, where “used cars seem to be getting newer.” According to the article, while the majority of used EVs for sale last year were four to five years old, “just under a third” of used EVs for sale today are three years old” and “ninety percent of used EV cars are in the process of being purchased, compared to forty-five percent just over a month ago.”
In fact, Tesla also made news within the past week when it announced it would no longer allow consumers to buy vehicles out of their leases.