There Auto Be A Law

The Consumer Electronics Show delights us with the absurd, the dangerous and the potentially good. IIHS shows damage from crash tests at higher speeds and school buses might go the EV route. Plus Fred explains simulations. This weeks links: https://www.autoblog.com/2024/01/09/mercedes-amgs-mbux-sound-drive-and-will-i-am-let-you-compose-a-song-by-driving/ https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/9/24031529/...

Hey Listeners, This week we join the fray and pile on Tesla. The Washington Post, Consumer Reports and even Tech Crunch point out how Tesla's autopilot and full self driving is pricey garbage. Plus Fred does a deep dive into his New Years Resolution for the automotive industry. This weeks links: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/12/31/tesla-autopilot-recall-test/?itid=ap_geoffreya.fow...

It's the end of the year. Drive safe and is Waymo safer than a human? Probably not but thanks for sharing the data. Tesla has another recall and continues to blame it's customers when their car breaks. The Blazer EV might be a lemon, Fred dives further into the ARC airbag problem and we discuss some recalls. This weeks links: https://waymo-blog.blogspot.com/2023/12/waymo-significantly-outperforms....

Tesla dominates the auto safety world this week and on this podcast that is a bad thing. First Tesla recalls almost every car they've ever produced. Then their lawyers cause the Tesla flock to cry by admitting that AutoPilot and Full Self Driving are nothing more than corporate puffery (at $12,000 that's gotta hurt) and finally an insurance study shows that Tesla drivers are more likely to get int...

This week we are joined by Dr. Jeffrey Wishart. He's got over 20 years experience in the advanced transportation space and is author of the book, " Fundamentals of Connected and Automated Vehicles ". If you want to learn more about things like V2X, level 2, 3 and 4 autonomous driving systems this is the episode for you. Plus in listener mail Michael dispels the myth that we are funded by big auto...

Takata is back in the news for another round of defects. Anthony learns that seatbelts are regulated and tend not to fail but airbags are not regulated and hence why we keep hearing about defects. Senator Markey asks car companies to explain why they are collecting so much data and what they are doing with it. California is making diagnostic ports on EVs standardized which is good but they are sti...

Cars keep getting heavier and heavier and the laws of physics stay the same. This week the CyberTruck is finally, maybe, let loose on the world. This is another ginormous vehicle that weighs too much and it doesn't care. Anthony learns, again, that most cars are never crash tested, used car dealers can sell cars with known recalls, GM Cruise gets one more nail in it's coffin and Fred reads us stor...

Fred is off this week but Michael and I push on. Did you know that driving on Thanksgiving is more dangerous than driving on the mad shopping day of Black Friday? The NTSB suggests that NHTSA make ISA a thing. Gotta love those acronyms. Basically one safety regulator is asking a different safety regulator to put in a system to alert drivers that they are going to fast. Speaking of NHTSA for 50 yea...

This week Michael and Anthony claim to be visited by the deep state (or just happen to be around helicopters) and Fred has his voice replaced by an AI (head cold). Could it be GM? Nah, they are too busy putting a lawyer in charge of their GM Cruise division. Anyone got the over/under on whether their CEO Kyle will make it to the end of year? Lucky for him American corporations tend let people fail...

GM Cruise is on a death watch. They no longer have non-driverless cars, they've recalled all of their cars so that they don't drag humans caught underneath them and they stopped production of their contender for worlds ugliest car, the Cruise Origin. To date this has only cost GM a few billion dollars. How much more will they burn? Another Cybertruck is spotted in the wild, more reports of Tesla's...

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/