AD #2338 – Japan Needs AV Trucks for Driver Shortage, New Toyota Avalon Details, Tesla Model 3’s Advanced Electronics

On today’s show… Japan needs autonomous trucks to offset a shrinking population… Toyota shows off its new Avalon sedan… and the electronics in Tesla’s Model 3 look like they could have come out of an F-35 fighter plane. All that and more coming right up on Autoline Daily.

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

AV TRUCKS NEEDED FOR DRIVER SHORTAGE
Japan’s population is shrinking. In fact, it’s dropping by about a million people every five years. And that is creating a labor shortage. By 2027 Japan is expected to have a shortage of 240,000 truck drivers. That’s why the Japanese subsidiary of Volvo Trucks says it’s going to come out with a lineup of autonomous trucks. UD Trucks says they will be in commercial use by 2020. And it’s not just Japan. There already is a critical shortage of truck drivers in the United States and Europe.

AV SALES TO SOAR
And that’s one reason why Ward’s Intelligence is forecasting that there will be 10 million autonomous vehicles sold every year by 2030. It says Level 4 commercial trucks represents one of the best near-term business cases for AVs. It predicts the U.S. will lead the adoption of autonomous technology, followed by Europe. But it says China will take the lead around 2027, accounting for 40% of the global market.

MOTORSPORTS UPDATE
In motorsports news over the weekend, the IndyCar race at Barbour was rained out and they’re running it today. Kyle Bush took the win in his Toyota at the NASCAR race in Richmond. And Brittany Force won the Top Fuel category at the NHRA’s Spring Nationals.

Still to come, we’ll show you the highlights of Toyota’s new Avalon.

GM KOREA SAFE, FOR NOW
GM Korea narrowly avoided bankruptcy, for now. The labor union that represents workers in GM’s Korean plants agreed to wage cuts and layoffs. But now the rank and file have to vote on whether they agree or not. GM has threatened to walk away from the South Korean market unless it can make its operations there profitable. And seeing how many markets GM has dropped out of in the past couple of years, that is a very credible threat.

TOYOTA’S NEW AVALON
We got our first look at the new Toyota Avalon at the Detroit auto show, but now we’re learning what’s under its skin. A new 3.5L V6 produces 301-horsepower and there’s also a 2.5L 4-cylinder engine that gets paired with Toyota’s new hybrid system, which combined makes 215-horsepower. The hybrid is paired to a CVT, while the V6 is matched with an 8-speed automatic. As a result of moving to the automaker’s New Global Architecture, the Nickel-Metal Hydride battery pack in the hybrid now sits under the back seat, rather than the trunk, which increases room in the rear. Speaking of the interior, there’s a 7-inch display screen for the driver, an optional 10-inch head-up display and a 9-inch touchscreen with Toyota’s Entune 3.0 Audio system. The new Avalon is built in Kentucky and goes on sale in May with a starting price of about $36,400, including destination charges.

Coming up next, the electronics in Tesla’s Model 3 look like they could have come out of an F-35.

TESLA’S ADVANCED MODEL 3 ELECTRONICS
On last week’s Autoline After Hours, we were joined by Sandy Munro, who’s company just tore down a Tesla Model 3 to learn about its engineering secrets. Sandy is very critical of its build quality and mechanics. But he praised its electronics. In the following clip he shares why the Automatic Drive module is so impressive.

(Clip from AAH #417 with Sandy Munro can only be viewed in the video version of today’s show.)

For a deeper dive into Munro & Associates teardown of the Tesla Model 3, you can watch that entire discussion on our website Autoline.tv or on our YouTube channel. And our guest on this week’s After Hours will be Rich Haas, the CEO of Mahindra North America, who will bring one of their Roxor off-road vehicles that sure looks like a scale model Jeep.

But that’s it for today, thanks for watching and please join us again tomorrow.