What We’re Reading
The EV revolution hinges on upcoming emissions rule (The Verge, March 19, 2024)
The new timeline in which automakers will need to phase out all gas-powered vehicles for all-electric is expected to be announced this week by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), along with its new vehicle emissions rules. The EPA’s original proposal, announced in April 2023, called for electric vehicles accounting for 67% of all new vehicles by 2032. However, automakers have called this benchmark “unworkable” as EV sales have continued to slow, and OEMs have struggled to produce vehicles at a reasonable price for consumers. The White House is open to a new proposal to delay the electric vehicle timeline.
“I strongly believe that EPA final actions on both cars and trucks will be the single most important climate regulation in the history of the country,” stated former senior executive director of the EPA’s Office of Transportation and Air Quality, Margo Oge. “There may be disagreement, how fast, how much, but in my experience…the country needs to move forward by moving away from fossil fuels.”
US to Investigate Texas Fatal Crash That May Have Involved Ford Partially Automated Driving System (US News & World Report, March 16, 2024)
On February 24th, there was fatal crash on Interstate 10 in San Antonio involving a Ford Mustang Mach-E SUV that collied with a Honda CR-V. The Mach-E crashed into the rear end of the CR-V that was stopped on a lane in the highway with no lights on at approximately 9:50 p.m. The driver of the CR-V was killed. The National Transportation Safety Board is sending a team of investigators to work with local police to examine wreckage, collect information about the crash scene and events leading up the accident. “NTSB is investigating this fatal crash due to its continued interest in advanced driver assistance systems and how vehicle operators interact with these technologies,” the agency statement said. Ford’s active driving assistance system, Blue Cruise, allows drivers to take their hands off the wheel while handling steering, braking and acceleration on highways. Blue Cruise operates on 97% of controlled access highways in the U.S. and Canada.
Tesla Full Self-Driving Beta v12 finally rolls out – get your minds blown (Electrek, March 16, 2024)
Tesla has reportedly started releasing the highly anticipated update to FSD Beta v12 to a wider fleet of FSD customers, which the automaker hopes will be a precursor to level 4 and 5 automated systems. The new update utilizes “end-to-end neural nets” to power its stack, representing a significant departure from traditional coding methods. According to the article, preliminary reviews have been mixed with some customers noting a lack of significant progress in lane selection and map data accuracy. While the introduction of neural nets shows potential, skepticism remains regarding Tesla’s ability to deliver a fully self-driving system anytime soon.