On today’s show… big truck sales could indicate big things for car sales… what will it take for people to trust autonomous cars?… and Bentley uses a unique manufacturing technique to form body panels on the new Continental GT. All that and more coming right up on Autoline Daily.
This is Autoline Daily the show for enthusiasts of the automotive industry.
KEEP ON TRUCKIN’
Sales of big trucks continued to rebound last month in the American market. Wards Auto reports that medium and heavy-duty trucks posted close to a 10% gain in August, the third straight month the segment has boosted sales. The big Class 8 trucks posted a 1.6% increase. And Class 4 through 7 were up a strong 17%. However, due to poor sales in the first half of 2017, year-to-date sales are still down a little over 3% compared to 2016. As we’ve said many times before, sales of medium and heavy-duty trucks are a leading indicator for the rest of the auto industry. So if they continue to post gains, this could be a sign that light duty sales will start to turn around in another 6 months or so.
TESLA DELAYS ELECTRIC SEMI INTRO
And in other semi-truck news, Tesla is delaying the introduction of its all-electric heavy-duty truck. The company originally planned to reveal the truck this month but CEO Elon Musk tweeted that Tesla will now unveil it towards the end of October instead.
INTERACTING WITH AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES
Ford may have taken a page out of a prankster’s toolbook by dressing a driver as a car seat, but it had little to do about pulling a Fast One over on someone. The automaker and Virginia Tech are studying a test method for communicating what an autonomous vehicle is intending to do with pedestrians and other motorists. To keep things simple, they didn’t use an autonomous vehicle, but rather a Transit van fitted with cameras and a driver in a seat suit. Not only were they able to get real-world reactions to a self-driving car on public roads, but also to see how people reacted to their light bar, which communicates if the vehicle is yielding, in active autonomous driving mode or about to go. They settled on a light bar as a way to communicate because light signals for turning and braking are already standardized and widely understood.
And speaking of autonomous vehicles, the public still has a lot of trust issues with the technology. And we’ll take a look into that right this.
TRUSTING AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES
Even though autonomous vehicles have the potential to dramatically reduce traffic accidents, most of the public still doesn’t trust the technology. Recently on Autoline This Week, we were joined by Melissa Cefkin from Nissan Research and she talked about the trust issue with self-driving cars.
(Clip from ATW #2128 can only be viewed in the video version of today’s show.)
You can watch that entire show right now on Autoline.tv or look for it on our YouTube channel.
A programming note here. There is no new Autoline After Hours today, because the crew is travelling back from the Frankfurt auto show. After Hours will resume on September 21st.
Coming up next, Bentley used a unique manufacturing process to help create the new Continental GT.
FORMING THE NEW CONTINENTAL GT
The new Bentley Continental GT is a beautiful, shapely vehicle. And as J.P. Gregory, Head of Exterior Design at Bentley told us at the Frankfurt auto show, it was the expanded use of a unique manufacturing process that enabled the designers the freedom to create the GT’s form.
(Clip from Bentley Continental GT Frankfurt interview can only be viewed in the video version of today’s show.)
If you’ve never heard of Super Forming, it’s a process where an aluminum panel is heated to 500 degrees Celsius, then it’s pushed into a mold with air pressure, rather than a second piece of a mold, stamping it into shape. This allows for very tight radii and depth of form, which can be seen in the panels J.P. was talking about.
And you can check out all of our coverage of the Frankfurt auto show right now. Just look for it in the On the Road section of our website or find it on our YouTube channel. I think they’re all worth watching, but I would also recommend the one about the Continental GT’s interior as well.
But that’s it for today, thanks for watching and please join us again tomorrow.
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Comments (21)
September 14th, 2017 at 11:54 am
I think some of the ‘trust’ issues in regards to autonomous vehicles stem from the Tesla ‘autopilot’ accidents.It was a misleading name from the start,and I think people equate that to all AV’s. Just a thought.
September 14th, 2017 at 12:08 pm
The lines on the Bentley remind me of a 67 Mustang fastback.
September 14th, 2017 at 12:13 pm
Self driving trust issues will always be a problem because people like sensationalized news. They could reduce road fatalities by 90% but the first time someone is hit by a driverless car the media will spew doom and gloom. It’s no different than air travel which has a far superior record in comparison to driving yet when a plane crashes its huge news. Maybe because 200 people die at one time, even though about 3000 die on roads worldwide per day.
Elevators used to be manually operated and are automated. Detroit’s people mover is a driverless train. I don’t think gaining trust will be as difficult as maintaining it after the first major hack or failure of the system and lots of people die. It will happen and yet still be safer than manually driving.
September 14th, 2017 at 12:15 pm
Trust issues, for sure. I own a 2017 Prius Prime that has Lane Departure Warning with Steering Assist. The Steering Assist doesn’t work as it does in every other Toyota, as a matter of fact it really doesn’t assist at all. It allows you to go across lanes instead of doing what every other Toyota model does keeping you in your travel lane. The Toyota dealer service manager has admitted that this is a problem, but Toyota denies it even exists. I have driven a few Prius to see if it was only my car but it is a problem in Prius in general.
I think it’s time to file a class action suit against Toyota for this pretty dangerous safety problem.
I can see why people don’t trust autonomous cars.
September 14th, 2017 at 12:34 pm
4 My Prius non-prime has lane departure warning, but no steering assist, just beeping. Do all Primes have steering assist, or are they supposed to have it?
September 14th, 2017 at 12:44 pm
We don’t yet have autonomous cars, so how relevent is a survey on their trust? File this in the “it’s Thursday, my boss wants news, so let’s do a survey.” Well, it fills space, which is what it’s all about with ‘news’ on the internet.
Let’s think about the next useless survey: Will you be comfortable taking your flying car through a hurricane? What fuel economy will you require before buying a flying car? You could go on forever.
Personally, I want my car to wash, dress and feed me on the way to work, and I would trust it implicitly, of course. All for $500 extra, of course.
September 14th, 2017 at 1:11 pm
Here is what is happening to some of the VW diesels. They are hitting the road in southern Indiana.
http://autoweek.com/article/vw-diesel-scandal/unsurprisingly-audis-and-vws-were-stolen-silverdome-parking-lot?utm_source=DailyDrive20170914&utm_medium=enewsletter&utm_term=image-center&utm_content=body&utm_campaign=awdailydrive
September 14th, 2017 at 1:15 pm
While I welcome some of the collision avoidance technology, it will be hard to “trust” an autonomous car when I can’t trust my PC (which has been evolving for almost 40 years now and should be a mature technology) to start reliably, not freeze up or do other random stuff. And if a companies and like Equifax, government agencies and other “secure” websites seem to be hacked at will, I’m positive I want my hands on the wheel. We still have airline pilots for a reason in spite of all the redundant safety systems.
September 14th, 2017 at 1:34 pm
The voice of the woman at the auto show is probably the most “grating sounding” of any spokesperson in memory. They need a better ‘professional voice”.
September 14th, 2017 at 2:25 pm
I think the only people truly perplexed by peoples lack of trust with/of fully autonomous cars comes from people who simply can’t imagine why people wouldn’t trust them. And the bulk of those folk are the naturally curious (who will always be game for trying something new), and the data-driven crowd (who will trust anything that has been “proven” on paper to work).
The problem is though, for each naturally curios consumer, you’ve probably got 2 naturally suspicious consumers. And most naturally suspicious people will NOT be won over by facts and figures. Not when it comes down to matters of life or limb. They need to know for themselves that it works – not hear about it secondhand or through mortality rate statistics.
It’s called the ‘Doubting Thomas’ syndrome. Or, for the uninitiated, “…until I put my own finger in the nail prints in Jesus’ hands, I WILL NOT believe.”
September 14th, 2017 at 3:01 pm
@10 When it comes to technology trust develops over time. We trust our cruise control, ABS, back up sensors and even our lane departure warnings unless your in a Prius Prime.
Working in a manufacturing environment where robots move fast enough to knock you across the room. They weld, use torches and even Laser cut metal consistently day in and day out. They used to be closed off but are now being used in conjunction with operators in some cases.
Auto Assembly plants have been using driverless tugs and material handling equipment for years. Most of this equipment is heavy-duty and has the ability to severely hurt if not kill someone. Yet workers have gotten used to (trust) walking around and working with autonomous equipment
September 14th, 2017 at 3:29 pm
Completely off-topic here, but over the past 3 days I’ve seen 2 Alfa Romeo Stelvios on the road. One parked, belonging to a fellow parent in my son’s flag football league.
Sean/John, I’m not sure if I recall, but have you guys mentioned this vehicle before? Because it caught me completely off guard. Nice looking little SUV…
September 14th, 2017 at 3:32 pm
I remain skeptical of completely autonomous cars, because of the complexity of dealing with everything that can happen, and all of the different conditions on public roads in real traffic. Almost anything else is much easier to automate, whether airplanes, trains, industrial robots, lawn mowers, etc.
The lane departure warning of my Prius non-Prime works, as it does, it apparently, in WineGeek’s Prime. He was talking about the steering assist not working as expected. Reading about it, it is not supposed to work at speeds below ~40 mph, in “tight turns,” and maybe some other conditions. I’m not sure I’d want steering assist anyway. I usually have the lane departure warning, and auto headlight dimming turned off on my car.
September 14th, 2017 at 3:35 pm
@#2 GA, I don’t seem to see any resemblance it the two cars. Although, both are beautiful designs.
September 14th, 2017 at 4:04 pm
People don’t know it but we all rely on autonomous vehicles every time we fly. In fact most plane crashes happen due to human error, meaning when it’s not in autonomous mode.
I think adoption rate may start slow but it shouldn’t take too long before everyone that can afford it will get it. That is of course when cars don’t have these ugly attachments, perhaps making these cars look decent will be the main challenge.
September 14th, 2017 at 5:55 pm
15 A friend, recently retired from Boeing, worked on “precision flare control” and “profile descent program” aspects of airplane autonomy, 37-39 years ago.
https://www.nasa.gov/centers/langley/news/factsheets/B-737.html
That stuff is very VERY easy, compared to autonomously driving a car on public roads with traffic, pedestrians, dogs, bicycles going the wrong way, snowstorms, etc.
September 14th, 2017 at 10:07 pm
@ FSTFWRD: I didn’t either until they showed the animation of the panels going on and the side view looked like the lines of a 67 mustang fastback.Well,to my eyes.
September 15th, 2017 at 7:01 am
G.A., I saw Mustang rear also; might add Camaro rear as the latest iterations tend to be quite similar. Similar, not copied; plus it looks very good (all three).
September 15th, 2017 at 10:07 am
#8 The hacking possibilities are my concern too. Manufacturers will need to separate/secure the functionality of autonomy and the conductivity from the outside world. I’m not sure that’s possible since they use RF signals from sensors and GPS. If there is anyway in hackers will find it and could ruin the publics trust perception before its ever gets an opportunity to take hold.
September 15th, 2017 at 12:02 pm
2, 18 Whenever I see a Bentley Continental, which is about once a year, it immediately comes off as “special,” and not just because it is a very attractive car. If today’s Camaro or Mustang were as rare as Bentleys, they might strike me the same way, well, until you look at the interior, where the Bentley is in another world from mass market cars.
September 18th, 2017 at 7:25 am
“People don’t know it but we all rely on autonomous vehicles every time we fly. In fact most plane crashes happen due to human error, meaning when it’s not in autonomous mode”
I’d say the fear of autonomous cars is related to the fear of flying: you are giving up control. Everyone knows flying is far safer than driving, but far more people are afraid of flying than driving. Not necessarily rational of course, but certainly true.