There Auto Be A Law

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 years they've not delivered on a seat back safety standard that would prevent passengers in the back seat from getting crushed by the front seats.We bid adieu to tech-bro Kyle Vogt formerly of GM Cruise as he got to resign instead of being fired. We'll miss his hubris.Listeners let us know if you've ever had to speed in an emergency.This weeks links:https://www.concordmonitor.com/newcm/2023/11/thanksgiving-black-friday-accidents-52940030.phphttps://www.ntsb.gov/news/press-releases/Pages/NR20231114.aspxhttps://www.fastcompany.com/90985257/you-shouldnt-be-driving-over-100-mph-and-your-car-shouldnt-let-youhttps://www.wuft.org/news/2023/11/17/new-road-safety-report-shows-reduced-pedestrian-fatalities-using-speed-detection-systems/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nhtsa-misses-new-safety-regulation-deadline/https://www.autoevolution.com/news/tesla-prepares-to-turn-the-heated-front-seats-and-wipers-into-paid-features-224519.htmlhttps://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/19/technology/cruise-ceo-kyle-vogt-quits.htmlhttps://www.vice.com/en/article/wxjbx5/cruise-exec-omitted-pedestrian-dragging-in-summary-of-self-driving-car-incident-to-california-dmv-email-showshttps://www.wsj.com/business/autos/gm-cruise-driverless-car-vogt-a47d63a2https://sfstandard.com/2023/11/21/cruise-san-francisco-crash-lobbyist-gavin-newsom/https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/11/12/auto-glass-florida-insurance/https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2023/RCLRPT-23V751-4249.PDF

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 upwards.Did you know that anti-lock brakes are not required on motorcycles? And that lots of people don't want the ability for their car to be remotely disabled. What if they are drunk? Would it be good or bad to prevent a car from starting if their driver were impaired?The Tesla whistleblower is dealing with retaliation for telling Elon that his factory is unsafe, Fred nerds out on road lane width, we discuss the dumbness of the Ram Charger EV and a couple of recalls.This weeks links:https://techcrunch.com/2023/11/14/gm-inserts-exec-at-cruise-as-safety-review-expands-manual-self-driving-paused/https://theintercept.com/2023/11/06/cruise-self-driving-cars-children/https://www.iihs.org/news/detail/large-pickups-offer-strong-side-protection-but-falter-in-back-seat-safetyhttps://www.iihs.org/news/detail/its-past-time-to-require-abs-on-all-motorcycles-iihs-hldi-petition-argueshttps://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/editorial-why-are-people-worried-about-automotive-kill-switch-mandates/ar-AA1jyyx2https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/10/business/tesla-whistleblower-elon-musk.htmlhttps://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/nov/11/bmw-subaru-and-porsche-drivers-more-likely-to-cause-a-crash-study-findshttps://techcrunch.com/2023/11/06/the-2025-ram-ramcharger-is-an-electric-truck-that-gets-its-ev-juice-from-a-gas-powered-generator/https://narrowlanes.americanhealth.jhu.edu/https://arstechnica.com/cars/2023/11/rivian-apologizes-to-customers-after-infotainment-bricking-ota-update/https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2023/RCLRPT-23V743-2081.PDF

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 ADAS systems being more hazard than help, Mercedes issues a recall for 8 cars and listener mail has Fred do some math on the cost of ownership of an EV vs an ICE vs a Hybrid car.This weeks links:https://www.nhtsa.gov/press-releases/consumer-alert-steering-wheel-decorative-emblem-decalshttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38145062https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/03/technology/cruise-general-motors-self-driving-cars.htmlhttps://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2023/RMISC-23E086-4326.pdfhttps://www.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/britain-says-automakers-will-be-liable-for-selfdriving-crashes-not-owners-432SI-3225348https://insideevs.com/news/694929/tesla-cybertruck-matte-black-impressions/https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/nov/07/super-fog-new-orleans-car-crasheshttps://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/news/here-s-why-tesla-s-autopilot-isn-t-the-best-adas-currently/ar-AA1cIf9Ghttps://futurism.com/the-byte/tesla-full-self-driving-helpless-cameras-fog-up-cold-weatherhttps://newsroom.aaa.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/YDC-Brochure_2023-FINAL-8.30.23-.pdfhttps://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2023-11-03/toyota-is-not-advising-people-to-park-recalled-rav4-suvs-outdoors-despite-reports-of-engine-fireshttps://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/inv/2019/INCLA-PE19012-12269.pdfhttps://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2023/RCLRPT-23V733-6826.PDF

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. Toyota has been slow to move into the EV market and now they are having an, "I told you so" moment as EV's are not selling as well as expected. At the same time Toyota is putting a fake clutch and shifter into their EV because one good idea deserves to be followed up by one dumb idea? We dig into how safety inspections need to be updated for ADAS and self driving vehicles. And how exactly is a self driving car with no pedals or steering wheel going to get itself to an inspection station? Plus recall roundup.This weeks links:https://apnews.com/article/cruise-robotaxi-suspends-operations-gm-73f27ef959afe1e201e61f0fd31802d5https://safeautonomy.blogspot.com/2023/10/a-snapshot-of-cruise-crash-reporting.htmlhttps://arstechnica.com/cars/2023/10/honda-cancels-plan-for-cheap-electric-vehicles-ending-collaboration-with-gm/https://www.carscoops.com/2023/10/toyota-chairman-says-people-are-finally-seeing-reality-of-evs/https://www.businessinsider.com/auto-executives-coming-clean-evs-arent-working-2023-10https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/23939076/norway-electric-vehicle-cars-evs-tesla-oslohttps://www.wsj.com/articles/the-app-storebut-for-carsmay-not-be-far-off-df82503https://arstechnica.com/cars/2023/10/toyota-has-built-an-ev-with-a-fake-transmission-and-weve-driven-it/https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2023/RCLRPT-23V718-8025.PDFhttps://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2023/RCLRPT-23V719-7656.PDFhttps://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2023/RCLRPT-23V708-4418.PDFhttps://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2023/RCLRPT-23V704-6233.PDF

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 thing. A "super fog" causes a 168 car pile up, Colorado adds a vehicle weight fee, Fred invents a new number 5 and recall roundup.This weeks links:https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/10/24/cruise-robotaxis-california-suspended/https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/2023/10/24/superfog-louisiana-highway-crashes-marsh/e8dc0152-726b-11ee-936d-7a16ee667359_story.htmlhttps://www.theverge.com/2023/10/23/23928563/tesla-doj-ev-range-exaggerate-investigationhttps://arstechnica.com/cars/2023/10/elon-musk-talks-tesla-we-dug-our-own-grave-with-the-cybertruck/https://usa.streetsblog.org/2023/10/18/colorados-vehicle-weight-fee-could-tame-megacar-crisis-and-protect-vulnerable-road-usershttps://www.nhtsa.gov/recalls?nhtsaId=23V696000https://www.nhtsa.gov/recalls?nhtsaId=23V692000https://www.nhtsa.gov/recalls?nhtsaId=23V686000https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2023/RCLRPT-23V700-2183.PDF

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 Cruise for being as good as a bad human driver when it comes to pedestrians, Hawaii cuts down on catalytic convertor theft, Fred explains what a minimal risk condition is and hopefully the autonomous vehicle industry can establish a standard for one and we discuss some recalls of Fords and Tesla's.This weeks links:https://jalopnik.com/update-to-gm-s-cruise-robotaxis-will-try-to-stop-them-f-1850925703https://getcruise.com/news/blog/2023/how-were-improving-emergency-vehicle-and-first-responder-interactions/https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/inv/2023/INOA-PE23018-11587.pdfhttps://www.autoevolution.com/news/kia-patches-the-kia-boyz-patch-updated-upgrade-now-available-222794.htmlhttps://jalopnik.com/hawaii-figured-out-how-to-stop-catalytic-theft-why-has-1850929873https://www.businessinsider.com/zipcar-fined-renting-recalled-ford-transits-nhtsa-2023-10https://jalopnik.com/people-are-souring-on-self-driving-cars-1850899836?trk=feed_main-feed-card_feed-article-contenthttps://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/54/02/2d5919914cfe9549e79721b12e66/j3016-202104.pdfhttps://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2023/RCLRPT-23V675-3320.PDFhttps://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2023/RCLRPT-23V679-9146.PDF

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 might get to cram into a mini-car with Michael. Thanks for listening.This weeks links:https://ecss.nl/standard/ecss-e-st-33-11c-rev-1-explosive-subsystems-and-devices/https://discerningcyclist.com/hovding-3-inflatable-airbag-cycling-helmet/https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/10/23911190/waymo-robotaxi-san-francisco-customers-waitlisthttps://www.wsj.com/business/autos/gm-vehicles-affected-air-bag-inflators-e7614a7ehttps://www.fastcompany.com/90908929/its-time-for-a-nationwide-ban-of-right-on-redhttps://www.cnn.com/2023/10/09/travel/luvly-flat-pack-microcars-climate-hnk-spc-intlhttps://www.cnn.com/videos/entertainment/2023/10/05/rat-on-hood-moos-cprog-orig-bdk.cnnhttps://urnow.richmond.edu/features/article/-/21734/driving-rats-redux-new-cars-new-capabilities-and-a-netflix-appearance.htmhttps://statescoop.com/connecticut-dot-drunk-driving-sensors/https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2023/RCLRPT-23V665-6318.PDFhttps://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/inv/2023/INOA-PE23017-10785.pdfhttps://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/inv/2023/INOA-EA23002-10790.pdfhttps://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/inv/2023/INOA-PE23016-10756.pdf

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 not allow his Cruise robots to be exempted from federal safety guidelines, Hyundai/Kia's are still being stolen, some good news on traffic fatalities and some bad news on pedestrian fatalities, plus Fred tries to clear up confusion around GPS.This weeks links:https://www.autosafety.org/support-us/https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/10/03/cruise-self-driving-car-san-francisco/https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/3/23901233/cruise-crash-hit-run-pedestrian-injury-sf-robotaxihttps://downloads.regulations.gov/NHTSA-2022-0067-0088/attachment_1.pdfhttps://www.nhtsa.gov/press-releases/2023-Q2-traffic-fatality-estimateshttps://arstechnica.com/cars/2023/09/mercedes-benzs-level-3-autonomous-driving-system-takes-over-in-heavy-traffic/https://6abc.com/schuylkill-expressway-philadelphia-state-police-multi-car-crash/13853115/https://www.koat.com/article/stolen-car-driver-in-custody-after-fatal-crash/45401168https://abcnews.go.com/US/5-killed-illinois-tanker-truck-crash-apparently-died/story?id=103655257https://www.nhtsa.gov/recalls?nhtsaId=23V654000

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/pkaq9z/us-cities-have-a-staggering-problem-of-kia-and-hyundai-thefts-this-data-shows-ithttps://apnews.com/article/police-vehicle-chase-pursuit-deaths-policy-ed2fe37280cec57e4377491348cc661dhttps://www.msn.com/en-ca/money/topstories/carmakers-will-not-immediately-comply-with-massachusetts-data-repair-law/ar-AA1h7vSMhttps://sfist.com/2023/09/21/cruise-ceo-says-sf-should-be-rolling-out-the-red-carpet-for-robotaxis-threatens-to-maybe-leave-town/https://techcrunch.com/2023/09/20/cruise-ceo-says-winter-version-of-origin-av-is-two-years-away/https://electrek.co/2023/09/22/cruise-robotaxis-created-a-traffic-jam-in-austin-heres-what-went-wrong/https://news.bloomberglaw.com/in-house-counsel/newsom-vetoes-bill-to-require-drivers-in-autonomous-truckshttps://www.autosafety.org/urge-gov-newsome-to-protect-ca/https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/sep/20/google-maps-collapsed-bridge-negligence-lawsuithttps://www.nhtsa.gov/recalls?nhtsaId=23V639000https://www.nhtsa.gov/recalls?nhtsaId=23V634000https://www.nhtsa.gov/recalls?nhtsaId=23V626000https://www.nhtsa.gov/recalls?nhtsaId=23V623000

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/working_papers/w9524/w9524.pdfhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/business/interactive/2023/electric-vehicles-forced-labor-china/https://www.shu.ac.uk/helena-kennedy-centre-international-justice/research-and-projects/all-projects/driving-forcehttps://www.shuforcedlabour.org/drivingforce/sankey/https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB316https://electrek.co/2023/09/15/musk-wanted-to-use-tesla-cameras-to-spy-on-drivers-and-win-autopilot-lawsuits/https://abc7chicago.com/kila-kia-software-update-engine-failure-optima/13796776/https://www.nhtsa.gov/recalls?nhtsaId=23V628000https://www.iihs.org/news/detail/minivans-dont-make-the-grade-when-it-comes-to-rear-seat-safetyhttps://www.autosafety.org/lemon-laws/https://radiolab.org/podcast/driverless-dilemma