AD #2316 – Video of Uber AV Accident Released, Cadillac Gets Exclusive Engine, New Bentley to Have Porsche Bones

On today’s show… Police release video of Uber’s autonomous accident and it doesn’t look good for the company… Cadillac gives its flagship sedan more power… and the new Bentley Flying Spur will share a platform with the Porsche Panamera. All that and more coming right up on Autoline Daily.

This is Autoline Daily the show for enthusiasts of the automotive industry.

VIDEO OF UBER AV ACCIDENT RELEASED
The Tempe Police just released video of the fatal accident involving the self-driving Uber car. In this video from ABC News, it shows the car driving down a dark road and then a pedestrian walking her bike across the road suddenly appears in the headlights. It also shows an interior shot of the driver behind the wheel, who appears to be looking down and then looks up and has a shocked look before the video stops. And while it appears the victim is jaywalking, we feel that Uber’s system should have been able to detect her and avoid the accident.

KIDS’ SIMPLE SOLUTION TO SAVE WATER
Drivers use around 5 gallons or 20 liters of water a year to keep windshields clean. And to help reduce that number, two kids in Germany came up with a way to collect rainwater and use it as washer fluid. Ford engineers heard about the project and helped them build a full-size working model, and the kids won a science competition. Ford also installed the system in an S-Max and says it fills up the reservoir in less than 5 minutes. If every car in Europe had the device it would save nearly 6 billion liters or 1.5 billion gallons of water every year.

FCA CONVERTS VIPER PLANT
Last year, Dodge ended production of the Viper and now its converting the Conner Avenue Assembly Plant to showcase 85 of FCA’s 400 concept and historic vehicles. It will be available for internal use starting later this year and could open to the public in the future. FCA is also auctioning off more than 1,800 Viper items, including signed hoods, prints and posters, to benefit the United Way of Southeastern Michigan. The online auction is already underway and will run to the 13th of April. We’ll put a link in today’s transcript or the description box below, if you want to check out the items and make a bid.

Coming up next, Cadillac is getting an all new V8 that has amazing packaging.

NEW BENTLEY FLYING SPUR COMING SOON
The Bentley Flying Spur is truly one fine motoring car. The current version debuted at the Geneva auto show and Bentley is deep at work on getting its replacement ready. Autoforecast Solutions reports that the new Flying Spur will go into production in August of 2019 at its assembly plant in Crewe, England. Reportedly the new car will be built off Volkswagen AG’s MSB platform, which Porsche developed for the Panamera, and is dedicated to large rear drive and all wheel drive cars. We expect the new Flying Spur to be lighter, more aerodynamic and available with a plug-in option.

CADILLAC CT6 V-SPORT HIGHLIGHTS
Cadillac considers itself a sporty luxury brand, and while its CT6 has an available 400-horsepower twin-turbo V6 engine, it must have felt its flagship sedan deserved more. Now introducing the CT6 V-Sport. It comes with an all-new, Cadillac exclusive 4.2L twin-turbo V8 that produces 550-horsepower and nearly 630 lb-ft of torque. A 500-horsepower version will also be available. Like GM’s supercharged V8, the turbochargers are mounted in the top “V” of the engine. This reduces turbo lag and packaging size. The design also allows the catalytic converters to be mounted in the “V,” which will improve warm up time and efficiency. But unlike GM’s V8s, this is a 90-degree dual overhead cam setup, not a pushrod design. Other highlights of the CT6 V-Sport include a mechanical limited-slip rear differential, unique suspension tuning, Brembo brakes and active exhaust. You’ll also notice some styling updates, which were inspired by the Escala concept and will be rolled out across the CT6 lineup. The CT6 V-Sport will be the first in a series of new Cadillac performance vehicles.

CADILLACS TO GET LUXURY & SPORT TRIMS
And speaking of Cadillac, it also says the 2019 CT6 lineup incorporates Cadillac’s new “Y” trim strategy where each model will have Luxury and Sport trims with distinct personas and features. That’s all the info we have for now, but stay tuned as I’m sure more is to come.

BMW and Nissan both have news about electric cars and that’s coming up next.

LUXURY BRANDS TURNING TO SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES
More and more luxury brands are experimenting with subscription services for cars. The subscription typically offers a monthly payment that includes the car payment, insurance and maintenance and pick up and delivery. So far only luxury brands are experimenting with subscriptions but the list is getting longer. Cadillac, Porsche, Volvo, Lincoln, Mercedes-Benz and soon BMW are all evaluating whether customers are interested in getting a car this way. A subscription is not a cheaper way to get a car, it’s just more convenient, since you only have to deal with one monthly bill.

BMW CONFIRMS FUTURE EVs
BMW’s CEO Harald Kruger just confirmed plans for their next EVs, a battery electric version of the X3 called the iX3, and the i4 which will be based on the iVision Dynamics concept car. In 2021 it will launch the iNext, a competitor to Tesla’s Model 3 that will offer fully autonomous driving and a range of 435 miles. Both the i4 and iNext will be made in Germany.

NISSAN REUSES USED LEAF BATTERIES
Speaking of electric cars, what do you do with the batteries when they degrade to the point they can’t power a car? Nissan plans to use them, along with solar panels, to create street lights in remote places.The lights don’t need any wiring or electrical outlets and are stand-alone units. And they’re powered by batteries from used Leaf EVs But we still wonder, what do you do with these batteries when they no longer work as street lights? So far no one knows how to recycle these batteries in high volume or for a profit.

But that’s it for today, thanks for watching and please join us again tomorrow.