There Auto Be A Law

Time to pour some out for the poor folks at GM Cruise as they take time to reflect on how they can better earn the public's trust. We suggest not dragging people under your car and lying about it to regulators. On the plus side lying to NHTSA will hopefully make NHTSA a little more proactive in their investigations into this company. Might make the GM Cruise investors a little more proactive too....

To celebrate Fred and Anthony's birthday the California DMV has banned GM Cruise self driving cars. The moral of the story? Don't listen to tech bro nonsense AND don't lie to the DMV. Turns out the GM Cruise that ran over a woman dragged her too but GM Cruise forgot to mention that part. The DOJ is getting all up in Tesla's business. Turns out lying to consumers about their EV range is not a good...

GM Cruise is the gift that keeps on giving to this podcast. Cruise and their CEO Kyle have repeatedly claimed that their cars are so much safer than humans. How much safer you ask? Well their new software will recognize a firehose. My 3 year old nephew can do the same thing but the DMV won't let him drive a car. Also in this episode Michael gives Anthony some driving advice, NHTSA investigates Cru...

This week we dig deeper into the ARC automotive airbag situation. Fred breaks down the math from the ARC spokesperson, Michael discusses the lack of any safety standards for airbags and Anthony says with a pair of pliers he can disable his airbag. We dig into the history of "right on red", Connecticut installs drunk driver detectors in cars, Waymo expands, rats on the bonnet and if you donate you...

Why not have a five foot comfort alligator? GM funds Kyle's $2 billion a year comfort corporation. Speaking of Kyle this week one of his Cruise vehicle ran over a lady and parked on her leg but he still thinks any criticisms of his company are sensationalistic and if we keep doing it he's going to take his ball and go home. The Teamsters are asking NHTSA to send him to his room without dessert and...

What's it called when you're talking about how the Tik Tok generation is stealing Hyundai/Kia's and at the same someone parks a stolen Hyundai right outside your window? I don't know either but it happened. Plus we cover rules around police chases, right to repair, more tech-bro nonsense from Kyle, how does mapping software work and some recalls. This weeks links: https://www.vice.com/en/article/p...

If you've bought a car in the last few years odds are that it's made with slave labor. How's that for a show opener? Gulp. Plus Elon Musk blames his customers and not his crummy cars, Michael digs into some bills presented to a guy named Gavin, Fred digs into the morality, programmed and not, of self driving cars and we discuss one recall. This weeks links: https://www.nber.org/system/files/workin...

The House had a hearing on Self Driving Semi's and 3 out of 4 panelists thought it was a really swell idea and could you please write laws that make it best for our bottom lines? GM Cruise tries Nashville and claims that NHTSA has approved it's ugly car without controls, Mozilla finds out that your car is getting every bit of your intimate details, a school bus safety bill final moves ahead, Fred...

Do you like to pretend that your car can drive itself? Well... you might be a Tesla owner or the CEO of GM Cruise. Either way please let us know where you might be so we can avoid you. NHTSA applies a special order to Telsa, AV's are trained on pictures of white men, ARC doesn't want to recall their air bag inflators, Cruise blocks an ambulance, recalls and the Tao of Fred. This weeks links: https...

Listeners, We really don't like to pick on the Elon. It's boring BUT he makes it really easy. This week we explain that the Cyber Truck will never have... well anything he claims, GM Cruise expands their Fire Truck smashers to Raleigh, IIHS tests backseat safety and makes simple suggests to make motorcycles safer (wear a dang helmet), Fred goes back into Radar and Lidar and some recalls (what's wi...

Kyle from Cruise keeps telling everyone that humans are terrible drivers and that his computer cars will save humanity. In the past week his robot taxis have stopped working because they weren't in cell phone range, crashed into a fire truck and drove into wet cement. Can someone look up Kyle's DMV record? If these are driving better than him he must be the worst driver. That and more plus Fred ex...

Did you know that those 5 star safety crash tests do not apply to women drivers? NHTSA bases these crash tests on an "average" male and ignores women that have a different skeletal structure and physiology. But don't worry NHTSA is still researching the issue... of whether women drive? No idea why they are wasting time on this as better crash test dummy technology exists that could make cars safer...

Self deluded self driving car CEOs continue to claim the safety of their vehicles. Still cannot provide any shred of data to back their claims up. Now the San Francisco Police and Fire Departments are saying they need these AV's off the road as they are a hazard to emergency first responders. Plus Telsa is still a problem and Hyundai Kia have some issues. This weeks links: https://www.wsj.com/arti...

Ever tried to get a service appointment for your Tesla? Learn how Tesla has an entire department dedicated to making sure you don't get one. Why's that? Turns out their customer are getting upset about Tesla claiming a much larger battery range they on offer. Waymo kills off it's trucking division, California wants privacy laws around your the data your car collects, NHTSA proposed better fuel eco...

The wheels on corporate lobbying go round and round, round and round. 'Congress holds a hearing on how removing safety legislation on autonomous vehicles is the only way to ensure that our children won't become Communists. Or something like that. Plus Fred explains what those black things your car sits on are. https://www.autosafety.org/av-fan-fictions/

Full EV's or hybrids? That's the question we start of this week with. NHTSA and Congress are starting to, maybe, kinda, sorta work on outdated legislation and rules around self driving cars, Kyle from GM Cruise releases an ad that would have him be failed by Fred's 8th grade teacher and a couple of recalls. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/14/opinion/electric-vehicles-toyota-hybrids.html https://ww...

Californian's! July 13th is the day to make your voice heard on autonomous vehicles. Your state wants them everywhere but the local people don't want 'em. And AV's don't understand traffic cones. New cars are really expensive to repair, Toyota claims it is far ahead in solid state batteries, Telsa still Tesla'ing and Tau of Fred delves into cyber security and your car. This weeks links: https://ww...

This episode is all of the AV Bill of Rights edited into one episode. https://www.autosafety.org/av-bill-of-rights/ Minimum Requirements for Autonomous Vehicle SafetyThe Autonomous Vehicle Consumer Bill of Rights uniquely provides high level design requirements necessary to assure that the AV design will provide adequate security, privacy, and operational safety consumers deserve and demand.

What's torque? Listen and you can find out. And it's not safe to be a pedestrian, San Francisco is maybe pushing back against robo-taxis, NHTSA proposes that heavy trucks should use AEB and Recall Roundup. This weeks links: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2023/06/pedestrian-deaths-rose-in-2022-some-states-more-dangerous-than-others/ https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2023/06/23/report-provides-more-reasons-...

Voters in Massachusetts voted for "Right to Repair" but NHTSA says no, Mercedes gets approval for level 3 driving and every Tesla Semi is recalled. Related Links https://arstechnica.com/cars/2023/06/feds-tell-automakers-not-to-comply-with-mass-right-to-repair-law/ https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/subaru-buyers-take-a-hit-in-mass-right-to-repair-fight/ar-AA1cC1od https://www.nhtsa.gov/site...

Hey Listeners,Thank you for listening. Without you we'd be talking to ourselves. This week we touch on the I-95 fire, Toyota wasting engineering time on stalling EV's, GM Cruise still blocking emergency responders, the dumbness of the Telsa Cybertruck, the NHTSA OIG report, Fred discusses congestion pricing and Recall Roundup. Related Links https://www.eenews.net/articles/needed-car-experts-to-fen...

For our 50th episode we take a deep dive into Automatic Emergency Braking and NHTSA's proposed rule to make it required for all cars. We like that idea. Can they propose a rule for no angry drivers? Plus, Fred channels Mr. Bean and discusses more about the environmental details of electric cars and how we get power. In Recall Roundup we learn that Tesla's need steering wheels. Who knew? Links http...

Is height-ism a thing? Fred thinks it. Tesla opens their superchargers to Ford, NHTSA tells them to stop with the videogames, a whistleblower explains the lies around Tesla Full Self Driving (still not a thing), Fred explains synthetic oil, quizzes the non-scientists and shares his Woodstock 1969 experience. Put on your seatbelts cause this is a fun one. https://www.theverge.com/2023/5/23/23733547...

NHTSA updates their new car assessment program to take pedestrians into account. Fred explains why simulations are not enough to make Autonomous Vehicles road worthy. Nearly half of all vehicle passengers killed on U.S. roads in 2021 were not wearing a seat belt. An update on the Hyundai/Kia/TikTok car theft problem. GM thinks a massive EV Escalade is a good idea. French Canadians are charging ext...

Hi,This week we try out some new transcription software. Part of what it does is summarize an episode. How's this take away: Donate to help patent Fred's therapy for his traumatic brain injury caused by a bumper car. If this is the future, we've got nothing to worry about. But you should still donate: https://www.autosafety.org/support-us/ Topics covered: ARC Airbag recall. https://www.wsj.com/art...