- U.S. Eases Autonomous Car Rules
- VW to Cut Number of Golf Variants
- Honda Unveils Urban EV Concept
- McLaren and Honda Split
- GKN Teams with Panasonic Jaguar Racing
- Benefits of 4-Wheel Steering
On today’s show…the Trump Administration eases rules for autonomous vehicles…Honda reveals a small EV concept…and the benefits of integrating rear steering with other vehicle systems. All that and more coming right up on Autoline Daily.
This is Autoline Daily the show for enthusiasts of the automotive industry.
U.S. EASES AUTONOMOUS CAR RULES
The U.S. Department of Transportation issued new guidelines for self-driving cars. And while the auto industry is happy with the rules, safety advocates are not. Transportation Secretary, Elaine Chao, announced that the Department will allow companies developing autonomous technology to self-police its safety. Previously, automakers voluntarily reported safety assessments to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Now automakers can report safety assessments to the public on a voluntary basis. And companies no longer need federal approval to test autonomous vehicles on public roads. The auto industry and the Trump Administration say these changes are needed to get the technology out faster to help reduce traffic deaths. But safety advocates say the new rules are too hands off and give the industry too much leeway.
VW TO CUT NUMBER OF GOLF VARIANTS
To help pay for its electric vehicle development, Volkswagen will trim the number of variants of its best selling car. Bloomberg reports the company will reduce the number of engines and transmissions offered for the next-generation Golf by almost half. Powertrain combinations with low take rates will either be eliminated or become part of option packages. In addition to saving money, VW says this will allow it to bring vehicles to market faster since they won’t need to test a number of different variants. The company has ambitious EV goals. It wants to sell 1 million electric cars annually by 2025 and is spending over $7 billion to help make it happen.
And speaking of electric cars, we’ll take a look at new model from Honda right after this break.
HONDA UNVEILS URBAN EV CONCEPT
While so many electric concepts have wild, futuristic designs, Honda’s Urban EV Concept is much simpler. The 3-door hatchback rides on a completely new platform, which is smaller than the Jazz supermini. No details were given on battery pack or motor size, but other highlights include a grille that can display messages, rear-hinged coach doors and a giant display screen on the dash that’s linked to Honda’s new personal concierge service. It will learn from the driver’s past decisions to make new choices and recommendations. I really like the styling of the Urban EV and while I don’t normally get too excited about a concept’s design, Honda’s president and CEO says, “a production version of this car will be here in Europe in 2019.”
MCLAREN AND HONDA SPLIT
And speaking of Honda, this should come as little surprise to those that follow Formula One, McLaren is dropping Honda as its engine supplier for the racing series. McLaren was plagued with engine issues all season long and will now look to Renault power for its cars. Honda’s not gone from the sport altogether, the Toro Rosso team announced it will make the switch from Renault to Honda engines starting next season.
GKN TEAMS WITH PANASONIC JAGUAR RACING
While on the subject of racing, supplier GKN, whose electric drive unit we highlighted the other day, will now supply the Panasonic Jaguar Racing team with its driveline expertise for the Formula E racing series.
Coming up next, how integrating rear-steering with other systems is unlocking new benefits.
BENEFITS OF 4-WHEEL STEERING
One of the obvious benefits of 4-wheel steering is a reduced turning radius. About a year ago we showed a system ZF is developing that gives an F-150 a similar size turning radius as a Ford Escape. But the supplier is showing that by integrating 4-wheel steering with other systems even more benefits can be unlocked.
(The 4-wheel steering package can only be viewed in the video version of today’s show.)
That means not only can the system decrease a vehicle’s stopping distance, but in a future where humans may not be behind the wheel, an autonomous vehicle could stop in a straight line on any road surface. So, integrated 4-wheel steering may be needed when that time comes.
A programming note here. Autoline After Hours is off the air this week, since the crew is in Frankfurt covering the auto show. After Hours will resume on September 21st.
But speaking of Frankfurt, be sure to check out our coverage of the event. John is on the floor of the show, talking to the people who helped create the new models. Just head to our website Autoline.tv for the latest coverage or you can find it on our YouTube channel.
But that’s it for today, thanks for watching and please join us again tomorrow.
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Comments (23)
September 13th, 2017 at 12:10 pm
“Self Police” safety, give me a break. We’ve seen how well even with limited supervision such as Dieslegate at VW. Why would we think the manufacturers will all “play by the rules”. We have mandatory testing to be sure drivers can actually drive the car. Some manufacturers may actually feel a social responsibility to be sure the vehicles they produce are safe, but some will “beta test” their autonomous features on unwary consumers. Not the best way to be sure the vehicle is safe for drivers and passengers.
September 13th, 2017 at 12:21 pm
It is getting increasingly scary to ride motorcycles, with a future of unregulated autonomous trucks and cars being beta tested on public roads. Yikes.
September 13th, 2017 at 12:26 pm
I hope McLaren’s switch to Renault will give Alonso another year or two in a competitive car. He is a great driver, and I’d like to see what he can do, again. I would be even batter if Renault can reach parity with Mercedes over the off-season.
Why is Toro Rosso switching to Honda? Do they want to make absolutely sure that the are “second string” to the Red Bull team? OK, I guess Honda could magically come up with competitive power units after years of failure, but I’m not holding my breath.
September 13th, 2017 at 12:33 pm
Honda’s urban EV certainly is clean looking; whether that translates to the real-life rendering will have to be a wait and see. Too often concepts look great but pale when actually built.
September 13th, 2017 at 12:33 pm
What comprises these safety assessments? Is this just an evaluation of safety features? A report of failed safety features? Or the reporting of just collisions? More info please.
Certainly all automakers are aware of the liabilities of a development vehicle on public roads, they have done that for years. Cutting out some unnecessary oversight to speed things up could be a good thing.
September 13th, 2017 at 12:36 pm
Sean I really like the Honda urban EV too I just hope they rethink the dot matrix numbers displayed on that dash.. That’s not futuristic at all and seemed very out of place.
September 13th, 2017 at 12:36 pm
Honda’s got competitive power, i.e., F1 engine; it’s been their reliability that hasn’t been up to snuff. And I think M/B is still one step (though only marginally now) up on all of the competition.
September 13th, 2017 at 1:37 pm
I agree with Sean and Lambo, the Honda EV concept car looks great. A very nice mixture of retro and futuristic styling. Hopefully the production car will retain these good looks, with better readability of the vital car stats on its screens.
September 13th, 2017 at 1:58 pm
Does anyone else see the Honda EV’s resemblance to a restomodded Mk.1 VW Golf?
September 13th, 2017 at 2:09 pm
That Honda EV looks an awful lot like the old CVCC from the mid 70s. My neighbor had a orange one .
McLaren switching to Renault is almost a sideways move. If you don’t have Mercedes or Ferrari power it is a tough hill to climb to get on the podium I think you’ll see Alonzo in Indy Car next year. I’d be real surprised if you don’t. He wants to win now and unless he gets gifted a seat at Mercedes or Ferrari I don’t see that happening in F1.
September 13th, 2017 at 2:19 pm
Reuters wrote:
‘System safeguards’ lacking in Tesla crash on autopilot: NTSB
The chairman of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said on Tuesday “operational limitations” in the Tesla Model S played a “major role” in a May 2016 crash that killed a driver using the vehicle’s semi-autonomous “Autopilot” system.
… In its findings on Tuesday, the NTSB said the self-driving system’s “operational design” was a contributing factor to the 2016 crash because it allows drivers to avoid steering or watching the road for lengthy periods of time that were “inconsistent” with warnings from Tesla.
The system could not reliably detect cross traffic and “did little to constrain the use of autopilot to roadways for which it was designed,” the board said.
September 13th, 2017 at 2:38 pm
9 Red Bull have been a strong “best of the rest” with Renault power. Yeah, Merc is best, and, to a lesser extent, Ferarri, but Renault power is competitive. Of course, anyone, even Honda could improve by next season.
September 13th, 2017 at 4:55 pm
The Honda EV concept to me looked like something VW would concept.
Speaking of VW, cutting Golf variants may seem logical, but there was obviously a reason they offered all of those variants in the past. There is a trade-off when you decrease variants, normally it results in lower sales. And if you now start offering the variants as options as was suggested, that really doesn’t seem to get rid of production complexity or reduce engineering effort or the design cycle.
September 13th, 2017 at 5:58 pm
By the time this adminstration get done there will be no regulations but lots of lawsuits!!!
September 13th, 2017 at 7:50 pm
@ BobD: Yeah it does. Looks like a really cool concept for a new Rabbit GTI.
September 13th, 2017 at 7:58 pm
12 VW is doing their part to make the European market more like the U.S. market, with no powertrain choice. Actually, it won’t be nearly as bad as the U.S. There will still be multiple engines available, gas and diesel, with both manual and automatic transmissions. We Americans could be so lucky.
September 13th, 2017 at 8:01 pm
12, 14 My first thought when seeing the picture was A1 Golf/Rabbit.
September 13th, 2017 at 11:32 pm
Will be fun to see what Autoline After Hours chats about wrt the recent German Euro Car show. Am also wondering if Audi has Dodge Demon envy given their upcoming R8 RWS (rear wheel drive only R8). Seems incredibly dumb for performance (Bugatti and other engineers stated no RWD chassis can properly utilize power over 600 HP), but perhaps image and a German Tire Barbecue’s more important these days?
September 14th, 2017 at 3:55 am
Sean, you need to speak with your captioning crew. “Autoline” came out “Auto lying”
Surely hope they’re wrong!
September 14th, 2017 at 11:15 am
#18 kurt So do the Bugatti engineers feel they need to keep all RWD vehicles below 600hp or move to AWD if over 600?
If I had an Engineer say a RWD chassis cannot properly utilize anything over 600 I would get a new Engineer. When a funny car can successfully put 1500+ hp to the pavement using just RWD then its just a matter of bridging the gap from a race car and a production vehicle.
September 14th, 2017 at 12:06 pm
An F1 weighing about 1400 pounds has 750 hp, and does pretty well with RWD.
September 14th, 2017 at 12:32 pm
Unlike the majority, I didn’t think of the Golf/Rabbit when viewing the Honda concept. Like #10 said, it looks just like the old ’70s Hondas. My first car was a ’77 Civic, my second was a ’78 Civic (I combined them together to get one good Civic). You can click on my name to see the old ’78 version.
September 14th, 2017 at 12:52 pm
I think the Honda EV looks like the South America version of the Chevy Chevette.