This Week in EV: Self Driving
We kick off this week on a bit of a tangent, self driving calls. Waymo is the leader when it comes to self driving calls operating a self driving ride hailing service in 4 US cities is doing a voluntary software recall of its robotaxi fleet after two of its cars crashed in the same towed pickup truck in Arizona. It's the first recall for Waymo who are well ahead of rival such as Cruise who have had to suspend operations following a crash in October. Read more
We’ve seen a pull back on self driving cars and The Verge has done an excellent write up on the state of self driving cars and the many missed deadlines. I remember being at a conference in 2016 when a speaker from Bosch confidently spoke about self-driving fleets being on the road in 2021-2022. There are some self-driving cars out there like those operated by Waymo but they are in geo ring fenced locations and also restricted during certain weather conditions. The article is a longer read but well worth it if you have even a passing interest in self driving cars. Read more
Back to our regularly scheduled programming and Chevy has announced the Equinox EV, a mid sized EV will have a starting price of $34,995 with a 319 mile range. The car is targeting the same segment as the likes of the Tesla Model Y and the VW ID 4 but at a lower price point. When you take into account the federal tax credit the Equinox will start at under $30,000. Read more
The previously announced North American charging network joint venture between Mercedes-Benz, BMW, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Kia and Stellantis has a name, Ionna. It’s also been announced that Ionna will have both NACS and CCS connectors and will offer a few facilities to customers including restrooms, food services and shops. Read more
Stellantis has announced that it will be following every other OEM in North America and ditching CCS for NACS. It also means now that every company backing the Ionna network will be on NACS. Stellantis will start rolling out to select models in 2025 but no word yet on whether those cars will be able to access Tesla superchargers. Read more
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