What We’re Reading
Tesla’s price war is starting to backfire (Business Insider, March 14, 2023)
Tesla has been making news since the beginning of the year by repeatedly slashing prices, including as recently as last week with Models S and X price cuts. Initially, these lower prices sparked demand and triggered a price war in the industry for certain EV and luxury gas-powered brands. Now analysts are saying the strategy has likely run its course and is possibly even backfiring, based on market activity in China where the price cuts were first introduced.
According to Morgan Stanley’s Adam Jonas, “[u]nlike earlier cuts that triggered a strong demand-response, this round has not seen follow-through as consumers wait for further cuts." Jonas predicts that “prolonged price competition will likely aggravate consumer hesitancy to place orders” and a price war “would urge consumers to stay sidelined” waiting for further discounts.
GM’s Ultra Cruise Engineer Deftly Jabs At Tesla And Full Self-Driving (CarScoops, March 11, 2023)
Cadillac continues to tease its upcoming flagship EV, the Celestiq, which is expected to go to market in 2024 with a price tag of $300,000. Among its many exciting features, the Celestiq will debut Ultra Cruise ADAS technology, described as “a step above GM’s already impressive Super Cruise technology.”
Speaking about that technology this past week, chief engineer Jason Ditman took the opportunity to highlight safety above all else, not-so-subtly distinguishing GM’s testing approach from Telsa’s “beta” system. “Ditman promised that testing, which isn’t done on public roads, would be done before [the system is] available to drivers.” The hardware underlying GM’s system also is distinguishable from Telsa’s, with GM relying on cameras, lidar, radar, and a system of 20 sensors “to enable Ultra Cruise.”
IIHS: Technology shouldn’t completely replace drivers (Repairer Driven News, March 9, 2023)
In potentially concerning news for the AV industry, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has cautioned that the use of partially and fully autonomous vehicles incorporating current technology could actually make roads more dangerous. Following a theme voiced by numerous industry experts, IIHS’s president David Harkey stated during a Capitol Hill briefing last week that, while current ADAS offer significant safety benefits, he doesn’t believe fully self-driving technologies have sufficiently advanced to warrant wide-scale adoption.
“We firmly believe in technology for vehicle safety and the potential it has to reduce the tragic toll on our roadways, but I want to be clear about where we see the greatest benefits for vehicle safety technology,” Harkey told legislators in prepared remarks. “We believe it is critical for the driver to remain engaged in the driving task at all times and always be responsible for all actions of the vehicle. We do not believe in the promise of technology to completely replace drivers and for the vehicle to assume all responsibility for vehicle operations.”
Notwithstanding these warnings, automakers such as Stellantis, Mercedes-Benz, General Motors and, of course, Tesla are still moving full steam ahead with ambitious implementation of self-driving technologies into their vehicles.
Harkey’s comments are consistent with an IIHS study last October, which further reinforced the widely held belief that drivers improperly perceive partially autonomous vehicles as fully self-driving, thereby lulling drivers into complacency and highly dangerous non-driving activities such as eating or using smart phones while behind the wheel.
“These systems can control the vehicle’s speed and steering. But they’re not now and may never be able to handle every situation that arises, so the driver must remain focused and ready to take over at all times,” Harkey said. “Unfortunately, human nature and the designs themselves make that extremely difficult.”