What We’re Reading

• Car Tech at CES 2023 Is All About Streaming, Gaming, Autonomous Driving (PCMag, January 7, 2023)

  Although still titled the “Consumer Electronics Show,” attendees at this year’s event (January 5-8, 2023 in Las Vegas) may have thought they had wandered into a car show instead, with “25% more floor space allocated to automotive brands, and the tech inside their cars, this year than in 2022.” This article provides a roundup of details and images of the “coolest car technology from the show,” including:

  • Sony and Honda’s joint EV venture, AFEELA, which will start deliveries in 2026 and will incorporate self-driving technology from Qualcomm and Sony’s gaming platform. Among other notable features, perhaps targeting an American audience, the AFEELA will be able to “display the score of a live sports game on the outside of the car for tailgating.

  • Puegeot’s Inception EV Concept, a futuristic looking vehicle with sharp angles and cutting edge technology at every turn..

  • Qualcomm’s Digital Chassis Concept, which will include a “new chip that combines digital cockpit tech ... with autonomous driving” and which the tech company hopes will bring autonomous driving to the masses.

  • VW’s ID.7 EV, which is expected to compete with the Tesla Model 3.

  • BMW’s “talking” car, the I Vision Dee—with the “DEE” standing for “Digital Emotional Experience.”

  • The RAM 1500 Electric Pickup Truck, which is slated for production next year and will feature a “massive” cabin and a “Shadow Mode” that will allow the car to autonomously follow the driver while performing work outside.

  • Multiple fully autonomous vehicle concepts from startups and traditional OEMs alike.

• Mercedes Is The First Automaker to Offer Level 3 Self-Driving In The US (Inside EVs, January 9, 2023)

  Mercedes-Benz appears to be following through on commitments it made last year, announcing at CES 2023 that it has become the first automaker to earn regulatory approval to operate a Level 3 autonomous driving system in the United States, with Nevada recently approving the use of Mercedes’s Drive Pilot system on its public roads. The German automaker also announced that it expects California to grant regulatory approval for Drive Pilot in the near future.

  Level 3 automation is the lowest level SAE designates as automated driving. At Level 3, the system can in theory operate without driver monitoring in certain situations, but still requires the driver to remain attentive and ready to assume control at any time when prompted. By comparison, GM’s Super Cruise and Tesla’s Autopilot are Level 2 systems, providing advanced driver assistance but still requiring constant driver monitoring. 

  By remaining focused on Level 3 approvals, Mercedes appears to be bucking recent trends toward advanced Level 2 or ultimately Level 4 technology. Mercedes is attempting to address the Level 3 dilemma of allowing the driver to relax and disengage from driving while still being ready to spring back into action at a moment’s notice by limiting the use of Drive Pilot to highways where traffic density is high, i.e. in traffic jams. While that may not quite be full autonomy, it should at least allow the driver to answer emails, watch a movie, text, or simply take their complete focus off the road during their commute.

  In addition to Drive Pilot, Mercedes announced that its Automatic Lane Change (SLC), which can automatically initiate a lane change and overtake slower vehicles while cruise control is engaged, will also be rolled out in North America later this year. Per the report, the new system will be available on the Mercedes S-Class and the all-electric EQS.

• The government has questions about Elon Musk’s Full Self-Driving tweet (The Verge, January 8, 2023)

  Elon Musk is raising eyebrows again—this time from within NHTSA—over the substance of a tweet. On December 31, Whole Mars Catalog tweeted that “users with more than 10,000 miles on FSD Beta should be given the option to turn off the steering wheel nag.” (The article explains that, by “steering wheel nag,” the tweet referred to Tesla’s “hands on wheel” driver monitoring system.) Musk responded, “agreed, update coming in Jan.”

  Regulators took notice. Although the scope of the investigation is unclear, NHTSA has confirmed that it “reached out to Tesla to gather information.” Read more from Reuters here.