AD #3687 - AM Radio Mandate Will Cost Automakers Billions; Hyundai to Build e-VTOLs In U.S.; Cruise Recalls 950 Vehicles

This is Ouderline Daily. The show's dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.

Bad news continues for GM's autonomous unit Cruise. The company, along with

the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, announced its recalling nine hundred and fifty of its driverless vehicles across the US, and it could recall more. That's because

the collision detection subsystem of its automated software may not respond properly after a crash.

Cruz says it has deployed an over the air update to fix the issue for its supervised test vehicles, and it says all of its driverless vehicles will be repaired before they go back into service. This is just the latest in

a string of bad news for Cruise. Last month, the California DMV suspended

its driverless permits in the state after one of its vehicles was involved in an accident with a pedestrian, and that accident is also being investigated by NISA.

Renault and Nissan have officially completed their new alliance deal, which will make them more equal partners. Renault cut its stake in Nissan from forty three percent to

fifteen percent by transferring twenty eight percent of Nissan shares into a French trust.

Nissan was previously unhappy with their partnership because Renault had more power even though Nissan is the bigger company, so earlier this year, the two companies agreed to a deal to change that structure. Renault agreed to cut it shares in Nissan

and also give Nissan full voting rights for the first time, while Nissan agreed to invest six hundred and sixty million dollars into Renault's eve and software division called Ampere. And in other Renault news, it's giving its employees some skin in

the game. For the second year in a row, it handed out free

shares in the company. Later this month, over ninety five thousand workers will

get eight free Renault shares. It also offered additional shares to purchase at a

thirty percent discount, which attracted over thirty eight thousand employees. In total,

they invested over thirty three million euros in the share purchase program, and when everything is all added up, they'll control five and a quarter percent of Renault shares and by the end of the decade, Renault would like to increase that to ten percent. Renault says that shows the commitment of its employees and their

confidence in the company's strategic direction. I say it also gets you some fresh

investors and employees who are less likely to complain about moves that the company makes that benefit shareholders, which is something we heard a lot about during the recent UAW strikes. But Renault also runs the risk of ticking off a lot of

workers if its strategic direction doesn't pan out. As we've reported, there's a

big battle in the US US over keeping AM radio in new vehicles. At

least seven automakers don't offer AM and their evs because they say electromagnetic interference from EV motors distorts AM signals. However, lawmakers say that AM radio needs to

remain in vehicles because of its reliability during emergency situations, so they've introduced bipartisan bills in Congress to mandate AM radios in all new vehicles. Automakers oppose the

legislation, and a new study from the Center for Automotive Research says it will be costly if AM is mandated. The report, which was done in partnership

with the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, says it could cost up the three point eight billion dollars through twenty thirty to prevent AM signals from being disrupted in evs.

One automaker estimated shielding costs of thirty five to fifty dollars and filtering costs of fifteen to twenty dollars per vehicle. That's why automakers want to ditch AM

and offer digital or satellite services instead. The tagin automotive technologies, we combine

world class composite materials expertise with cutting edge designs because frankly, there are better ways to lightweight vehicles, so lighten up with taging automotive technologies. The formula

EVE Better Mobility, GM and Stlantis invested in a company that's developing magnets without any rare earth minerals like the recent electric motor revealed by Renault and the supplier Valao for future EVS, which is also rare earth free. They're trying to

reduce their dependence on foreign sources, mainly China for critical EV materials. It

also helps that they can cut costs and reduce their carbon footprints by going to rare earth free magnets. But unlike the electric motor from Renault and Valeo,

which ditch permanent magnets in favor of a wound hairpin design. Neuron Magnets,

the company that GM and Stilant is invested in, is developing permanent magnets with quote automotive grade power and no rare earth instead. Its clean earth magnet technology

is based on iron nitride, which is more affordable and abundant than rare earth materials. The investment in Neuron Magnets will help it scale up its production and

commercial operations. And speaking of EV component production, Audi announced that it started

making electric motors for its new PPE architecture, which is a big deal because the models that come from that platform are the ones that have been delayed several times due to its software issues. Models like the all electric Porscha ma Con

and Audi Q six Etron. We're supposed to have launched at the end of

twenty twenty one, but now they won't enter production until the end of the year, and there's still no word on what software system they'll be running.

Audi says once its emotor site in Hungary reaches series production, it will build up to two thousand units a day with three shifts. The Hondai Group is

serious about launching an EV tall or electric vertical and takeoff landing aircraft service in the United States. In an interview with Bloomberg, the CEO of Supernal,

Hondai's air Mobility division, set its planning to build a manufacturing facility in the US to produce flying taxis. Supernal will unveil a prototype at CES in January,

and the company says it will be capable of flying one hundred and twenty miles an hour, holding up the four passengers in a pilot Test flights are planned for December of twenty twenty four, and it's aiming to launch its service in the US in twenty twenty eight, followed by Europe. Shortly after that,

Honda provided a few more details about its new E clutch for manual transmission motorcycles, which makes it so riders don't have to use the clutch lever on the handlebars. When a gear is selected, two motors inside an actuator unit

operate the clutch, and the system will also control ignition, timing and fuel injection to make the gear shift as smooth as possible. Riders can even adjust

how hard they have to hit the pedal to shift gears, and they can still use the standard clutch lever if they want to, which disengages the E clutch for a few seconds, or they can shut off the system completely.

Honda is already launching models available with the new E clutch, and it says the system only weighs two kilograms or four point four pounds, and the clutch and transmission hardware are not any different from other motorcycles, so there's a lot of potential applications. Toyota teased that it's going to reveal the Crown Suv for

North America on November fourteenth. I originally thought this was going to be a

US version of the Crown Sport, which Toyota is taking orders for right now in Japan, but the Crown Suv clearly has different tail lights, so this could end up being the true SUV of the Crown lineup what Toyota has previously called the Crown Estate. But obviously we'll know more soon and we'll be right

here to report on it. That brings us to the end of today's show.

Thanks for making Autoline a part of your day. Auto Line Daily is

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AD #3687 - AM Radio Mandate Will Cost Automakers Billions; Hyundai to Build e-VTOLs In U.S.; Cruise Recalls 950 Vehicles

Audi Etron

Toyota Crown

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