This is a tax rule that lets people lower their taxes by deducting the interest they pay on car loans. New rules might help car dealers who use demo cars for customers.
This is technology that allows cars to drive themselves without needing a person to control them. It's getting better and will be used in regular cars soon.
This is a type of technology in cars that helps drivers by making driving easier and safer. It can do things like keep the car in its lane or adjust speed automatically.
This is a system from Ford that lets you drive without holding the steering wheel, but you still have to look at the road. It's a step towards cars that can drive themselves.
These are cars that car dealerships use for customers to test drive or borrow, and they can still be sold as new if they haven't been officially registered.
The Ford F-150 is a big truck that's really popular in America. People love it because it's tough and can do a lot of different jobs, like hauling stuff or towing trailers.
The EV transition is when car companies start making more electric cars instead of gas-powered ones. This change is important for reducing pollution and using cleaner energy.
Argo AI was a company that worked on making self-driving cars. They were trying to help cars drive themselves without people needing to control them, but they are no longer in business.
Autonomous driving means cars can drive themselves without needing a person to control them. Some cars can help with steering and braking, while others can drive completely on their own.
The Fiat Argo is a small car that's good for city driving and getting around easily. It was made mainly for people in South America and has some tech features that were part of a project for self-driving cars.
Over-the-air updates let car companies send new software to your car through the internet, so you don't have to go to a shop to get new features or fixes.
ADAS systems are smart technologies in cars that help drivers stay safe and make driving easier. They can do things like help you stay in your lane or slow down if something is in your way.
Assisted driving systems are technologies in cars that help drivers drive better and safer. They can do things like keep the car in its lane or help with parking.
LiDAR is a technology that helps cars see their surroundings by using lasers to measure distances. It helps in making self-driving cars safer and more accurate.
Term
L4
L4 is a level of self-driving technology where the car can drive itself without needing a human to take over in certain situations. It means the car can handle everything on its own in specific places like city streets or highways.
The Chrysler Pacifica is a family minivan that has a lot of room for kids and their stuff. It's known for being safe and having cool tech features that make driving easier.
The Jaguar I-PACE is a fully electric SUV from Jaguar. It offers a mix of luxury and performance, and it's designed for those looking for an eco-friendly vehicle.
Radar is a technology that helps cars detect objects around them using radio waves. It's used in self-driving cars to help them avoid obstacles and navigate safely.
Autonomous vehicles are cars that can drive themselves without needing a person to control them. They use special technology to understand their surroundings and make decisions.
LIVE
You have data everywhere, but is it working together?
Meet Curator, the automotive industry's first unified intelligence engine.
Curator unifies data from all corners of your dealership to transform marketing, sales, and customer interactions.
See it today at Goobagu.com.
Welcome to Daily Drive for Thursday, January 8th, 2026.
I'm Kellan Walker on the floor of CES in Las Vegas.
Today on the show, Ford announces ill-launch eyes-off hands-free driver assistance in 2028,
starting with a $30,000 EV pickup.
Ford Motor Credit faces a class-action lawsuit from customer service reps alleging unpaid off-the-clock work,
and the IRS sets new rules for auto loan interest deduction with some good news for dealers with demo vehicles.
Plus, former Waymo CEO John Kraftchick says personal vehicles aren't going anywhere,
but they'll benefit from self-driving tech.
I think we together, this big definition of industry, needs to provide a diversity of choice,
compelling options for customers to decide how they want to move around the world.
Let's run through all the news you need to know to keep up in the auto industry.
Ford will launch an eyes-off hands-free driver assistance system in 2028 on its Universal EV platform.
It will start with a mid-size pickup expected around $30,000.
That's a leap from today's BlueCruise, which requires eyes on the road.
Ford's building the tech in-house, cutting costs by 30%,
while putting advanced features in mass-market vehicles, not just premium models.
Doug Field, Ford's chief EV digital and design officer, says affordability has become central to the company's technology strategy.
It's become a part of how we talk, it's become a part of how we focus our technology efforts.
Ford also announced an AI assistant launching in its apps in the first half of this year.
We'll hear more about this story in a minute with our own Michael Martinez.
Meanwhile, Ford Motor Credit is facing a class action lawsuit from customer service representatives.
They say they weren't paid for mandatory off-the-clock work.
The suit claims reps had to boot up computers and log in 15 to 25 minutes before their scheduled shifts
or face disciplinary action for being late.
The complaint alleges violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act and seeks retroactive overtime pay at time and a half.
According to the suit, Ford credit-trained employees to perform these pre-shift activities without clocking in.
The case seeks damages going back three years.
And the IRS just released its rulebook for the new auto loan interest deduction
and there's some good news for dealers with demo vehicles.
Buyers can deduct up to $10,000 in loan interest on new U.S. assembled vehicles through 2028.
Here's the catch.
The vehicle has to be new, but the IRS says that includes dealer demos
as long as you didn't title or register them first.
Every returned vehicle can qualify if the customer brought them back within 30 days.
The IRS is taking public comment through February 2nd, so there's still time to weigh in on the details.
And those are today's headlines.
You can find more details on all those stories at AutoNews.com.
Ford's announcement about eyes-off driving technology put it in direct competition with GM,
which announced similar plans in October for its Cadillac Escalade IQ.
Our own Michael Martinez covers Ford for automotive news.
Mike, welcome back to Daily Drive.
Thanks for having me.
So, Mike, what's significant about Ford's approach here?
They're launching this on a $30,000 truck rather than a premium model like GM is doing with the Escalade IQ.
or any technology on new vehicles, automakers tend to roll it out on the higher-priced models,
on the luxury brands even, because of the price.
And it's a way to absorb some of the price that goes into the software or the hardware involved in that particular feature.
Ford's doing the opposite.
They're going to have it on their $30,000 electric vehicle platform.
It's going to have a underpin and mid-size pickup here first in 2028.
And you could chalk that up to the fact that they're doing everything in-house from the software to the hardware.
Doug Field at Ford said that allows them to reduce costs as much as 30% compared to buying something off the shelf from a supplier.
So, Ford seems to believe it has the costs in check to offer this on its lowest-priced vehicle.
And you could argue it might be a smart move because the volume will be much greater than if we're on a pricey Lincoln or a high-trim F-150 by comparison.
So, they'll be able to get more feedback because more people will be using it and hopefully be able to have a better experience.
Now, how does this fit into Ford's broader strategy under Doug Field,
especially as the company has struggled with its EV transition and spent billions on shifting strategies?
So, you could argue this is another shift in strategy we've seen Ford attempt autonomous or semi-autonomous driving features in the past through Argo AI.
That folded and they sort of walked away from level 3 plus self-driving features for a certain amount of time.
And now they're right back at it, just like you mentioned GM, Tesla and others.
But really, it goes back even before Doug Field joined Ford.
The company was really trying to insource a lot of this work, like I mentioned,
owning that software stack, owning the hardware as well.
And he's been hard at work.
He came from Tesla.
He came from Apple.
So, his expertise isn't just on the vehicle side.
It's on the software side too.
And that's what Ford's trying to use him for.
We've seen advancements and expansions of its BlueCruise self-driving driver assist technology.
Rather, we've seen them expand the use of modems within vehicles that offer over-the-air update capabilities.
So, they've really been trying to build for this for some time now.
Perfect. Mike, thank you so much for joining me.
Thanks, Kel.
You can read all of Mike's reporting on Ford as well as the UAW at AutoNews.com.
Coming up next, former Waymo CEO, John Kraftchick, talks about the future of autonomous driving,
why he says robotaxies won't replace personal car ownership,
and how the technology will make driving safer for everyone.
That's next on Daily Drive.
Your dealership has no shortage of customer information.
But when that data is conflicting, messy, and spread across a multitude of platforms,
it's impossible to activate properly.
As the automotive industry's first unified intelligence engine,
Curator enriches and unifies your customer data across platforms,
like your CRM, your DMS, your website, and even your marketing efforts.
It then injects that information back into your most vital systems
to provide a single view of each customer
and equip your sales team with the information they need to close a deal.
When one of the largest volume Subaru dealers in the country
wanted to tap into its data goldmine, they turned to Curator.
In just four months, Huberger-Suberoo experienced a 55% higher closing ratio
and a return of 15 times their investment.
Want to see it for yourself?
Check out the case study at goobigoo.com slash Curator.
That's G-U-B-A-G-O-O dot com slash Curator.
Welcome back to Daily Drive.
I'm Kellan Walker.
John Kraftchick led Waymo as CEO from 2015 to 2021,
guiding the company through critical years
as it developed and deployed its autonomous driving technology.
He's now an advisor to Rivian
and remains deeply involved in the autonomous vehicle industry.
Here at CES this week,
Kraftchick pushed back against the narrative
that robotaxis will eliminate personal car ownership,
arguing instead that autonomous technology
will give consumers more choices
about how they move through the world.
Our own Lawrence Ilyff spoke with Kraftchick
about the evolution of autonomous driving,
why it's taking longer than expected,
and whether the industry is ready
for the next wave of automation.
Wanted to bounce off your presentation today a little bit.
And one thing is kind of the hype machine stuff.
We are here in Hype Central, right?
Hype Central right here.
I was thinking about it used to be like EV,
well, AVs were all the hype right 10 years ago
and people thought it was going to happen quickly
and it didn't, right?
Like you said, it's hard, you have to be careful.
And then EVs were all the hype maybe three or four years ago
and now that's kind of died out
but it now looks like AVs are coming back
because of AI and stuff.
So I just wondered your perspective on this,
you know, why do you think we go through the hype cycles?
What do you think the hype is now?
And what do you think are the like the really cool things
that are actually going to happen?
Yeah, it is a great, great set of questions.
So in no particular order, there's no doubt, Lonnie,
we're going to see more great ADAS systems,
assisted driving systems like what Rivian's doing
with Universal Hands Free.
We're going to have that across our lineup soon
as we launch the R2.
That'll be available there.
And of course, we're going to go a step further with R2,
with LiDAR.
So our cars already have the radar and more megapixels
than any other car in the planet, right?
But we're adding LiDAR to that too.
So we're going to have safer, more secure assisted driving
that will take us on the road in the direction of L4.
Like that's the endpoint.
I think one of the things the industry has really learned
is I wouldn't say there is hype right now in AV.
I think it's appropriate.
Okay.
We went through the hype cycle and so many companies
crashed and burned and there are now so few left.
Proudly I can say Waymo is one of them, right?
We knew it was going to be a long road.
We knew this was a marathon and not a sprint.
We took our time and we always focused on safety first.
It's the whole reason you're doing this technology
and the cost in the unit economics,
which Waymo's enjoying now are much, much better.
I mean, the company is appropriately profitable
for a big industrial endeavor of this sort, right?
And I think others have looked at Waymo now
and now they have access to a template.
Like, okay, so if we want to do true L4
and we want to do a robot taxi,
then we should take this approach with sensing,
with our stack, with the compute.
We need this level of AI and transformer architecture
to make that happen.
I think a company like Zooks is doing a great job.
You see Zooks all over Las Vegas.
One of my biggest surprises is how good Aisha
and her team have done at Zooks getting these cars
on the streets of Las Vegas.
I was amazed to see them everywhere
and they must be doing well, right?
So it's going to happen.
We're going to see more competitive entries
in the L4 space on U.S. roadways,
but I think it's going to take time
and who's going to be next after Zooks?
I mean, who knows?
I'm not sure.
I mean, there's Neuro, right?
Which has former Waymo people
and they're partnering with Lucid and Uber,
but they're just starting testing now
and they said they're going to do it
by the end of the year.
I mean, should we take some of that
with a grain of salt about
how we're all going to be riding around in robot taxis,
you know?
Not own a personal car, for example.
I mean, you talked about personal car ownership.
Elon Musk says,
no more personal car ownership.
And RJ the other day,
in a conversation I had with him on a podcast
was saying 90x percent
we're still going to drive our own cars.
Where do you?
Yeah, I'm definitely aligned with RJ
on that point for sure.
We share the same view of the world.
You know, I think,
again, the assisted driving systems
are going to get better
and we just need to make sure
that we have appropriate in-cabin monitoring
is something that I mentioned
in my remarks earlier today.
That is so, so important.
We humans are terrible at watching
and surveilling the automation
that's guiding us through the world.
We've seen that.
We saw that back in 2013
at the Google sub-driving car project
where we shut down that project
because we realized the technology was so good
people were checking out
and not keeping their eyes on the road.
I mean, you've been in the industry for so long
and I covered Hyundai when I was in LA
before the one I have now
and the great people, Jose Munoz.
Jose is amazing.
And do you think
we should have less personal car ownership?
Do you think we should depend more on
robots that are doing a better job
or do you think we can bring
the personal car ownership world
to a much safer space?
I think our job in the industry
and here describing industry really broadly
of the OEMs
and then Waymo
which is the only kind of company
like it's not a car company.
It's literally a driver company.
I think we together
this big definition of the industry
needs to provide
a diversity of choice,
compelling options
for customers to decide
how they want to move around the world, right?
And so what I think Waymo
has provided a new option for
if you're in a city
or a community that Waymo serves
I think people are finding increasingly
they don't need two cars in the garage
or if they have three cars
they don't need three anymore
I think you can buy with two.
I bet two they can just get by with one.
I'm hearing this consistently.
I see it in my own community in Santa Monica
where Waymo's drive by all the time
and it's now a way to get kids to school.
Like that is so cool.
Parents no longer have to do that run.
They can actually just put their child in a Waymo
and have the Waymo drive them to school.
That's transformational, right?
So I think as this technology
becomes more accessible
as Waymo's go to more cities
and I hope
as there is more competition for Waymo
with other L4 providers
working at the same or better safety levels
than Waymo.
I don't want less safe than Waymo vehicles
on the street, frankly.
I think that Waymo has set a very clear recipe
and shown what metrics can be achieved
with this technology
and I think that's what city, states
and federal government should look at
and say, okay, that's the new level.
I think we should have more of those alternatives.
I think that's going to give consumers
and folks like you need the opportunity
to maybe decrease the size of our fleet.
But I mean,
and just a car guy,
what do I know?
I'm always going to love a car
or two or three or seven in my driveway, right?
For the weekend drives
and to go out with my wife somewhere
like we're going to want to do that, right?
I remember covering RJ at a tech crunch event
maybe two or three years ago, probably three
and he said, oh, we're not that interested
in autonomous.
We're interested in our other things.
Obviously they were still building a brand and stuff.
And now they're all in on autonomy
and you hear Lucid
and you hear other people GM with Cruz
is going to like blend that in.
Is it because of AI is because it's easier
or because it's possible
whereas maybe before it was impossible?
Why do you think there's such like so much talk of autonomy
or even L3?
I know you're not crazy about it.
Yeah.
But why now?
Is it AI?
Is it the ability of AI to write software?
I think a big part of it is
Waymo has shown the world what's possible.
Okay.
And again, this transformational feeling
that we humans go through on our first Waymo ride
it's magical.
And you see it all the time on social media
like folks enjoying their first Waymo ride
and they're comparing it to a Disney experience
or a spa experience and they can't believe it
and it's magic and suddenly becomes a part of their life.
And so OEMs around the world, executives
and all these companies have experienced that as well
and they're like, Whoa, this is a transformational moment.
I need to be a part of that.
So I think that doesn't necessarily explain
what happened with Rivian.
I think RJ always had the vision that autonomy
was going to be a part of what we were going to do
with the company, right?
I think he's just saying like not we're not focused
on that right now.
Right.
But for the launch now that focus is there
and through incredible cross-pollination
like at Rivian right now leading the autonomy team
you probably met James Filby.
Yeah, who is one of the key leads at Waymo
taking the fourth generation technology
which was on the Pacifica to the fifth generation
much more generalized scalable technology
that you see on the Jaguar IPaces.
James was a big part of that.
So he knew how to do it
and he's taken a lot of that learning and intuition
and good sense and applied it to Rivian now
for a really sophisticated driver assistance system.
Now I don't want to push you too much on this
if you don't want to talk about it.
But Tesla, I mean you've commented
I see your social media feed etc.
I mean this idea that they're just going to flip a switch
and there's going to be millions of cars.
I mean is it just a high machine?
Is it not grounded in reality
or could there be some incredible AI development
that could make it happen?
There's just a personal thing, right?
I've always believed in don't judge me by what I say
judge me by what I achieve and do
and for Tesla it's been ten years of
they've said these things and these things haven't happened
it's been ten years
that's a decade of broken promises.
There should be some accountability for that I believe
and I think the idea that
you know suddenly next week
or two months from now or three months from now
or six months from now it's going to be solved
we would be naive anyone watching the space
would be naive to think that's true.
What are some of the physics behind that though?
Because there are physics behind it.
So one clear first principle about autonomous driving
is you want as much data as possible.
Everyone in the space agrees on this.
More data is better.
Think about the data as the data
that an individual car collects
as it moves around the world.
A Waymo collects an extraordinary amount of data
from its 29 cameras and it's
all of its lidar and radar
like a suite of sensing that's extraordinary
and that data provides such remarkable opportunities
for training and learning and improvement.
Now compare that to a camera only car
could be a Tesla could be any car
but imagine that you know you've just got
a sensor system where you've got a five megapixel
narrow view camera
like our field of view
that gets close to 2020 vision
five megapixel narrow view camera
Florida facing close to 2020 vision
but it only sees straight ahead
and unlike our eyes
you can't move them left right up down
and it's not attached to a neck
like so when people say
well we drive with two eyes in a car
so like surely we can drive
with seven cameras in a car
without a human driving
it's a false analogy
our eyes are miraculous
and they have this double gimbal mount here
and here
that gives it such extraordinary capability
so our vision is so much more capable
than the vision of a car
equipped with seven five megapixel cameras
only one of which is narrow view
and all the others are wide view
so you're dispersing those five megapixels
in a way is such that
the actual vision is more like 2060-2070
the rest of the cameras
in a car like that
wouldn't pass the DMV vision test
That's Daily Drive for today
I'm Kellan Walker
thanks to automotive news executive producer Jake Neer
as well as our own John Irwin, Michael Martinez, Eric Friedman
and John Hutter for their reporting for today's podcast
you can get the latest news on Ford's autonomous driving plans
the future of personal car ownership
and everything happening in the auto industry
at AutoNews.com
come back tomorrow for an excerpt
from our CES livestream this week
diving into the trends and news
from this week in Las Vegas
I've heard some really skeptical voices
who say like there's this incredible hype machine
that in two years your car will drive you around
and you'll be in the back seat
that robots are going to be building everything
some of the people I've talked to says
you know wait a minute
it's gonna take longer
it's going to be a process
we'd love to hear from you
let us know what you think of the show
on the topics we cover today
send us an email at dailydriveatautonews.com
or leave us a voicemail
at 313-444-2774
and if you enjoy the podcast
remember to like, leave a review
and subscribe
so you never miss an episode
About this episode
Ford is set to launch its eyes-off hands-free driver assistance technology in 2028, starting with an affordable $30,000 EV pickup, marking a shift from the typical luxury rollout of such features. Former Waymo CEO John Krafcik discusses the future of autonomous driving, emphasizing that personal vehicles will remain essential despite advancements in robotaxis. He highlights the importance of safety and consumer choice in the evolving landscape of mobility. The episode also touches on Ford's class-action lawsuit and new IRS rules for auto loan interest deductions.
