AD #2599 – USPS Tests Autonomous Truck, GM Introduces All-New Electrical Architecture, R.I.P. Niki Lauda
May 21st, 2019 at 11:38am
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Runtime: 6:51
0:07 Tesla’s Stock Takes a Hit
0:40 U.S. Postal Service Tests Autonomous Truck
1:33 FMCSA Considers Teens for Trucking Industry
2:43 Slow Truck Roll Out Clouds GM’s Competitiveness
3:29 GM Introduces All-New Electrical Architecture
5:10 Citroen Helps Cure Motion Sickness
5:43 R.I.P. Niki Lauda
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This is Autoline Daily reporting on the global automotive industry.
TESLA’S STOCK TAKES A HIT
Yikes! Tesla stock is going from bad to worse. In January the stock was trading at $347 a share. Now it’s barely hovering around $200. And Morgan Stanley says in a worst case scenario the stock could drop to only $10. It all has to do with weak sales. Morgan Stanley says there just isn’t enough demand for electric cars right now. And that could be an ominous sign for all the other car companies rushing to come out with electric cars.
U.S. POSTAL SERVICE TESTS SELF-DRIVING TRUCK
The United States Postal Service is kicking off a test today, to deliver mail with self-driving trucks. It teamed up with TuSimple, a startup based in San Diego, which has equipped autonomous technology into a Peterbilt semi-truck. The truck will deliver letters and packages between two facilities in Phoenix and Dallas and will make five round trips over a two-week period. A safety driver will be behind the wheel to take over if necessary. Once, the trial is over it will decide if it wants to continue working with TuSimple. The Postal Service spends $4 billion a year on highway trucking with outside contractors. So, if it can switch to autonomous trucks making long-haul deliveries, it could save boatloads of money, since you won’t have to pay drivers and the trucks can operate around the clock.
FMCSA CONSIDERS ALLOWING TEENS IN TRUCKS
And speaking of trucking, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is proposing a pilot program to allow drivers between 18 and 20 years old, to operate commercial motor vehicles in interstate commerce. Currently, you have to be 21 to get a license. This would be an expansion of a program from last year that allowed 18 to 20 year olds with military service to drive commercial vehicles interstate. The trucking industry is facing a shortage of drivers and this proposal is aimed at helping the problem. However, not everyone is on board. The Teamsters released a statement saying that there’s safety risks with allowing teenagers to drive trailers long distance. It says poor working conditions and low wages should be addressed if the trucking industry wants to attract more drivers.
SLOW TRUCK ROLLOUT CLOUDS GM’S COMPETITIVENESS
GM was lambasted for falling behind the Ram pickup in sales and not putting a big screen on the Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra, which are both legitimate criticisms. But GM is staggering the launch of those trucks and a lot more is yet to come. It launched last year with the crew cab versions and the double cabs are just now in showrooms. This quarter come the regular cab and commercial sales, next quarter come the all new heavy duty pickups. So GM really won’t have its full lineup of pickups available until the end of this year. That’s when we’ll know how it stacks up against the competition. Because right now it’s kind of fighting with one hand tied behind its back.
GM INTRODUCES ALL-NEW ELECTRICAL ARCHITECTURE
And speaking of GM, it has introduced an all-new electrical architecture for its vehicles. It’s capable of managing up to 4.5 terabytes of data processing power per hour, which is 5-times more than the current system. And provides more rapid communications within the vehicle and to outside sources thanks to faster Ethernet connections. The new architecture allows for features like an electric drive system, Super Cruise and other safety systems to all run at the same time. It also allows for over-the-air or OTA updates and is better protected from cybersecurity attacks. The new electronic architecture will go into production later this year and should be in most of GM’s global lineup by 2023. Some experts believe the rollout of new electrical architectures that allow OTAs have been delayed by dealers that are afraid of how it could squeeze their margins. Because you don’t need to take your car in for service, the main source of income for dealers, if it updates in your driveway.
We’ve got a great Autoline After Hours this week for all you gear heads. Our special guest is Carl Widmann, the head of Ford’s performance division, who will also be bringing a Mustang GT350 to the studio with him. So if you have any questions about that muscle car or any other of Ford’s performance vehicles, send them our way to viewermail@autoline.tv. That’s this Thursday at 3PM eastern time.
CITROEN HELPS CURE MOTION SICKNESS
Do you remember these anti-motion sickness glasses from Citroen? They’re said to reduce motion sickness by giving your eye an horizon to look at. I remember some people scoffed at the glasses and their $115 price tag when we reported on them nearly a year ago. But it turns out the glasses, called Seetroens, were so popular, it sold 15,000 in just a few months, that the automaker is now coming out with a limited-edition pair. They cost 99 euro and orders are open now.
R.I.P. NIKI LAUDA
And we end on sad note. Formula One lost a legend yesterday. Niki Lauda died at the age of 70. The Austrian is considered by some to be one of the greatest Formula One drivers of all time. He is a 3-time champion and is the only driver to win championships with both Ferrari and McLaren. Lauda might be best known for a crash at the German Grand Prix in 1976 that nearly took his life after suffering severe burns and inhaling toxic fumes. A priest was even brought to his hospital bedside. But Lauda recovered, raced in the Italian Grand Prix just 6-weeks later and only narrowly lost the championship that season to James Hunt.
But that’s it for today, thanks for watching and please join us again tomorrow.
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Comments (28)
May 21st, 2019 at 12:16 pm
Kind of funny that the story following the postal service use of self driving trucks is a story about trying to get more drivers by lowering the age to 18. I don’t see a problem with lowering the age as long as they get the proper training. When I turned 18 I got my CLD and was driving for a construction company. I drove strait trucks hauling sand and gravel and tractor trailers with a lowboy haulng a 50 ton crane around town.
May 21st, 2019 at 12:31 pm
Extremely poor decision on GMs part to delay OTA capabilities to protect the dealer network. Someone felt rather than offering their customers the very best technology and convenience of getting updates in their driveway that forcing them to go to the dealership was the best decision? Keep thinking that way GM and FCA will outsell more than just your truck.
May 21st, 2019 at 1:22 pm
Institutional investors are running away from unstable Tesla. Looks like even some personal supporters have let go. Tesla will get a bump when they start local deliveries in China.
Teamsters are simply protecting their members.
Post office should be driving EVs for local deliveries.
May 21st, 2019 at 1:39 pm
3 So Tesla had something like 500k reservations for the model 3 even before it was available. I wonder how many of those orders are filled. I found it very odd that 3 months ago they said you could take delivery within weeks of placing a order. Tells me they never had that many pre-orders or people have reconsidered. I also wonder how many new orders are still coming in? Many here have said that EVs although very cool and fun to drive still have their limitations that will prevent a large portion of society from buying them. Maybe we have reached the peak and sales are going to hold or even decline on EVs. That would be detrimental to Tesla.
May 21st, 2019 at 1:48 pm
4 Or maybe not. Half the states don’t even allow Tesla to sell their cars there, including mine, they have to drive 3 hrs to Cleveland to get one. Fortunately, unlike Ford and GM and FCA, Tesla is a 100% american company whose cars are desirable all over the world, and with the Tesla 3 already breaking sales records in Europe and soon to be made in the biggest (twice the size of the US) EV market of them all, CHina, I would not worry about Wall Steet not buying it as they bought GM and Chrysler in 2008 and lost ALL their $.
Still, I remember Bob Wilson, at the time he bought his Tesla 3, he said he also bought Tesla shares at $300 or more. This got to hurt now.
Yet, if Shares keep dropping, Musk with his 23 bill net worth, a good part of which should not be in Tesla shares, can buy it back for a song and take it private and have full control over it.
May 21st, 2019 at 1:49 pm
As regular cabs are only about 10% of the truck market and staggered launches of 3/4-ton (and more) models is common practice, I’d say GM is battling with one pinky finger tied to a ring finger.
I know several Silverado lessees. Every one of them say they will purchase their present vehicle or switch to Ford/Ram as they despise the styling of the new truck. The Sierra styling isn’t as bad
May 21st, 2019 at 1:54 pm
6 does any of the several lessees you know actually need a pickup?
As for the styling, the new Silverado looks a lot like the one from the 90s, I remember a colleague who got one back then, white on maroon, it looked good then, but for 2020 buyers want something that looks much newer than that. And yes, he did need it, he lives in a farm.
May 21st, 2019 at 1:54 pm
I think AAH can safely assume Carl has survived Ford’s “Passover” tragedy this week.
May 21st, 2019 at 2:00 pm
Regarding professional drivers, I read there is a severe shortage of them, but if freight transportation in the US was rational, using trains intensively and not having 18-wheelers transport low value cargo coast-to-coast, there would actually be a surplus of them and we would not need to use inexperienced teens driving these lethal weapons that slow everybody else down when they try to go uphill.
May 21st, 2019 at 2:04 pm
3 EV mail trucks would be good for a lot of applications, but just using hybrids would probably triple the mpg in delivery routes where they stop every 100 feet. I’ve read that the Grumman trucks weight about 2700 pounds, less than a Prius, and get ~10 mpg when used on routes with lots of stops. With a Prius powertrain, they would be quicker, and should get at least 30 mpg at the low speeds they are running, where the drag of the big box wouldn’t come into play much.
May 21st, 2019 at 2:07 pm
10 This is a no-brainer, I have been bitching about this for decades, and it shows the incompetence of the bureaucrats that run the US Post Office.
May 21st, 2019 at 2:09 pm
10 2700 is their weight empty, but with all these heavy papers in the mail?
May 21st, 2019 at 2:13 pm
4,5 As I’ve mentioned before, the market for EVs in the US would increase a lot, if charging were available for people who live in high density housing, and in major urban areas. I’d be one of those people. If I spent more of the year in Indiana, where I’d have a place to charge a car, I’d be in the market now. Still, maybe I should check out used Leaves. They can be pretty cheap, and would have enough range for most of my driving when up north.
May 21st, 2019 at 2:17 pm
11 Yeah, that’s true, but even loaded up with Amazon packages, they probably rarely weigh over 4000 or so, about the same as Prius with its maximum rated load. Any replacement mail truck would weigh a lot more than the current ones, though, to be more crashworthy.
May 21st, 2019 at 2:28 pm
They need to test the trucks in the north where the weather is bad And then see how those semi’s drive by themselves. Just can’t see how they could handle ice and snow.
May 21st, 2019 at 2:30 pm
Regarding yesterday’s topic on seat belt accoutrements, this one from Chevy (that makes a lot more sense, at least for teen drivers). This one gleaned from GM Authority: Buckle to Drive feature which requires the seatbelt to be buckled for the vehicle to be shifted out of Park; this feature only function when in teen driving mode.
And one more from GM Authority: the reveal delay of the C-8 Corvette may have been due to the announcement in today’s Autoline in reference to the All new electrical architecture in GM vehicles. This one was conjecture on their part though (but seems it could be true)
May 21st, 2019 at 3:13 pm
Read a new Z4 vs Supra comparison today. The Supra was ugly to me, but the surprise was that the Z4 had a ‘Fiat Spyder’ look to it from some angles. (a red car, from the front, when the car was in the shade). Anyone else see some ‘Fiat-titude’ there?
May 21st, 2019 at 3:53 pm
15 I still remember all the hate with the seat belt interlock in the ’70s. It wouldn’t let the engine crank until the belt was fastened. My ’74 Duster had it. I always use seat belts, and did then, but I wired around the interlock switch because I didn’t trust it.
May 21st, 2019 at 4:17 pm
4 Guess time will tell.
17 Yeah I’m not a big fan of all the extra safety features. Having to press the brake on an automatic to start the engine isn’t needed. I cannot put my truck into gear with the door open, which I know sounds like a reasonable safety feature until your hooking up a trailer or say putting a boat in the water on a launch and might be in and out of the truck while moving it a couple feet and not always closing the door completely. Very frustrating.
May 21st, 2019 at 4:53 pm
17,18 The seatbelt lockout is only funtional when in “teen” mode so isn’t too intrusive. I’m not in favor of too many ‘nanny’ features either but when you have a teenager that you want to get into the habit of buckling up, this might create some muscle memory.
May 21st, 2019 at 5:04 pm
19 Yep, being able to turn it on and off is good. It wouldn’t affect my habits; I always fasten the belt before driving off, but it is another thing that could keep the car from going, if something went wrong.
May 21st, 2019 at 7:39 pm
I’d rather own TSLA stock than be a Ford employee.
May 21st, 2019 at 9:40 pm
It would be fun to be a Ford employee right now.
May 21st, 2019 at 9:53 pm
That’s wouldn’t be fun..
May 22nd, 2019 at 10:26 am
22 Better question would be; Would you rather be a Tesla employee or a Ford employee? Which probably depends on seniority if at Ford.
May 22nd, 2019 at 11:05 am
22, 25 since your first half is “I’d rather own TSLA stock” its second half, for most people, would not be to be an employee of any company, but to own another stock, or, much better, a mutual fund in an industry you perceive undervalued, or, probably best of all, an index mutual fund. Owning any one stock carries unnecessary risk, which is greatly reduced by buying the fund. I doubt there is any fund investing in BEVs or even BEVs and hybrids, though.
May 22nd, 2019 at 3:23 pm
The line, “Some experts believe the rollout of new electrical architectures that allow OTAs have been delayed by dealers that are afraid of how it could squeeze their margins,” is a load of conjecture or crap. Dealers hate how the numerous recalls clog their service departments. They don’t make money doing them and the customers hate the inconvenience. Owners will return to the dealership for actual maintenance and service work. This “expert opinion” doesn’t hold water and Autoline should refrain from publishing such vague references. From the comments above, it seems that a number of viewers took this as fact rather than a minority opinion.
May 23rd, 2019 at 5:57 pm
With Tesla’s stock dropping, I wonder, if it should drop low enough, if GM or Toyota would
consider either buy the Automotive portion of the company, or a controlling interest and take over Automotive operations?