On today’s show… what does FCA really have up its sleeve to announce at CES? GM is starting a competition to develop engineers with autonomous experience and Nissan restores an iconic race car. All that and more coming right up on Autoline Daily.

This is Autoline Daily the show for enthusiasts of the automotive industry.

WHAT’S UP FCA’S CES SLEEVE?
Fiat-Chrysler stirred up something of a firestorm in Detroit when it announced it will not be holding any press conferences at the Detroit Auto Show next month. It will make a big announcement at CES instead. Bloomberg reports that FCA will unveil an all electric Pacifica. But we think there’s more to it than that. Here’s our Autoline insight. Stuffing a bunch of batteries into a Pacifica is not the kind of news that would dominate the media coverage at CES. But if FCA were to show off the first autonomous vehicle in the world using Google’s technology, well that would grab the top headlines. So that’s what we expect to see at CES, an autonomous Pacifica with Google inside. And maybe it will even be electric.

GM & SAE CHALLENGE COLLEGE STUDENTS ON AUTONOMY
Speaking of autonomy, the automotive industry desperately needs engineers who can work on the technology. So General Motors and the Society of Automotive Engineers are teaming up to help attract more students to the field. They’re creating the AutoDrive Challenge, a 3-year autonomous vehicle competition where college students have to develop and operate an SAE Level 4 autonomous vehicle. GM will provide each teams with a Bolt EV. By the end of the third year, the vehicle has to navigate an urban driving course in its autonomous mode. It’s a great idea. Competition improves the breed.

Coming up next… Nissan makes a great Barn Find and is bringing a classic desert race car back to life.

INCENTIVES DRIVE DOWN USED CAR PRICES
Car dealers in the U.S. will sell just over 17 million new vehicles this year, but franchised and independent dealers will sell 30 million used ones. Manheim, the giant auction house, says the prices of used cars fell 3% compared to a year ago. Part of the reason is that there are more used cars in the market. Another reason is that automakers ramped up their incentives on new cars last month and if you discount the prices of new cars, used cars have to follow suit. Even so, used car prices are following the new car market. Prices of small and mid-size passenger cars fell the most, while pickups were running strong.

NISSAN RESTORES ICONIC RALLY CAR
Every once and awhile a great find turns up when least expected. This was the case for Nissan and an iconic vehicle that completed the grueling Paris-Dakar rally way back in 1987. Technicians from the Nissan European Technical Center spotted pictures the Nissan Patrol Fanta Limon rally car on an internet forum, which had been wasting away in a museum in Spain for the last 27 years. Time had not been kind to the vehicle. The engine was in bad condition and would not start. Many of its parts were corroded. The front axle was also damaged. But the worst was the electronics, which had been chewed apart by rats. Realizing the 30th anniversary of the vehicle was approaching, an 8-person team set out to bring the rally car back to life. They searched all over Europe looking for parts, even asking Nissan dealerships to check their warehouses for old stock. And in November the team finished their restoration, taking the vehicle back to where it belonged, in the sand dunes of the Saharan desert. Part of what made the Nissan Patrol Fanta Limon rally car so special is that it was the first diesel vehicle to finish in the race’s top 10. Today, all the top vehicles in the race are diesel.

Coming up next, Audi expands its on Demand service for airline travelers in Munich.

AUDI EXPANDS ON DEMAND SERVICE
We keep saying it but it’s true. It seems like everyday there is another automaker expanding its mobility services and now Audi is the latest. The company just launched its Audi on Demand service at the Munich airport. Users are able to book a specific Audi model via an app and then pick it up at the terminal once they arrive. They can use the car as long as they want and are charged on an hourly basis with no mileage cap. Audi first launched the service last year in San Francisco, and no doubt we’ll be hearing of this being offered in other cities in the months to come.

OTA UPDATES FOR COMMERCIAL VEHICLES
We’re all familiar with getting over the air updates for our phone or computer but a company called Movimento has developed similar technology for commercial vehicles. It teamed up with a company called Pana-Pacific, which supplies infotainment and communication systems for commercial trucks. Its SmartDisplay system can control the radio, Wi-Fi, internet, entertainment, camera inputs, Bluetooth and vehicle data. And now it can be remotely updated whenever needed. There are already 19,000 trucks using the SmartDisplay and 13,000 new systems will be added annually.

Don’t forget to join us on Thursday for Autoline After Hours. We’ll be taking a deep dive into the Chrysler Pacifica plug-in. Also joining us for that show are Jean Jennings, from JeanKnowsCars; Anton Wahlman, from Seeking Alpha; and Alisa Priddle, from Motor Trend.

And that wraps up today’s report. Thanks for watching and please join us again tomorrow.