AD #2370 – BMW Makes 1st Racing Headlamp, GM & Honda Developing Batteries, Daimler Unveils Two Electric Trucks

On today’s show… GM and Honda are joining forces to develop electric car batteries… Daimler unveils two new electric trucks… and BMW uses 3D printing to develop special headlamps for its race cars. All that and more coming right up on Autoline Daily.

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

HYUNDAI SHOWS WILD SUV CONCEPT
Hyundai is hinting at its future design direction with the HDC-2 Grandmaster SUV Concept it unveiled at the Busan auto show in South Korea. As you can see, the wild front end styling flaunts a massive grille with a pattern that reminds us of lizard scales. The massive grille is flanked by large air curtains that have a thick LED strip on the side. It’s a bit difficult to see the rest of the vehicle, but the side profile does look a bit Audi-like.

DETAILS OF HYUNDAI’S N BRAND
Hyundai also says its performance N Brand will include High Performance N models, N Line Vehicles with new design and performance elements and N Option, which are customized parts by N that will be available for the entire Hyundai line-up.

CADILLAC EXPANDS SUPER CRUISE
Cadillac is expanding Super Cruise to its entire lineup. Beginning in 2020, every Cadillac will be available with its hands-free highway experience, and by 2023, Cadillac will offer V2X communications in an unnamed, but “high-volume crossover.” Eventually, V2X will be available in all its vehicles. V2X allows cars to communicate electronically with other cars and infrastructure. It could make it almost impossible for cars to crash into each other and that could make this one of the most important safety developments of all time.

Speaking of which, don’t forget to join us for Autoline After Hours later this afternoon. We’ll have Jason Ditman, the chief engineer of Super Cruise on the show. Stephanie Brinley from IHS will also be joining us. So join Gary Vasilash and me for a front row seat on how things actually get done in the automotive industry.

Could Cruise Automation already be worth $11 billion? That’s coming up next.

WHY EVERYONE IS GETTING INTO MOBILITY SERVICES
We sat up and paid attention when Softbank, the giant Japanese conglomerate, invested $2.25 billion in Cruise Automation, which is owned by General Motors. Softbank got 19.7% of Cruise. All of you who watch Shark Tank on TV know that gives Cruise a market cap of $11.4 billion. Keep in mind that GM has a market cap of $62 billion. But Cruise is a start-up that hasn’t even started providing services yet. Imagine being worth $11 billion before you even open your store. And that tells you why automakers, suppliers, tech companies and investors are so keen to get into mobility services. It could turn into a goldmine of opportunity.

BMW DEVELOPS RACING HEADLIGHTS
Even though it has an extensive racing history, BMW has never developed a set of headlights specifically for a race car. Until now. Together with Osram, it came up with a high-power LED unit that will be used on the M8 GTE race car at Le Mans. Not only do they feature the latest diode technology, but the internal cooling elements and headlight housing are 3D printed. The lights are set to full brightness all the time to light up as much of the track as possible. There’s even an auxiliary headlight to help light up the corners. But when the car comes onto pit lane, the lights are linked to the speed limiter and will dim so as not to blind the pit crew. If you’re wondering about the rear lights, they come right from the production version of the 8 Series Coupe.

Coming up next, GM and Honda are joining forces to develop EV batteries.

FCA DETAILS ITS PATH TO AUTONOMY
FCA is demonstrating it will not be left behind with autonomous cars. FCA is going to use the supplier Aptiv for Level 1 and Level 2 autonomy, which includes adaptive cruise control and systems similar to Cadillac’s Super Cruise. FCA is partnering with BMW for Level 3, where a car will automatically change lanes on the highway and the driver does not even have to watch the road. And FCA is partnering with Waymo for Level 4 and 5 autonomy. In fact, FCA is going to sell autonomous Chrysler Pacificas to retail customers sometime in the next decade.

GM & HONDA DEVELOPING EV BATTERIES
Here’s an interesting development. General Motors and Honda are joining forces to develop the next generation of batteries for electric cars. Not many details were released. All we know is that it will use advanced chemistry cells with higher energy density and faster charging. GM will make the battery modules and Honda will buy them, mainly for the North American market.

DAIMLER INTRODUCES 2 NEW ELECTRIC TRUCKS
The move to electric trucks just took a major step forward. Daimler is the largest truck manufacturer in the world and it just announced two new electric trucks for Freightliner, which is the brand it uses in North America. The eCascadia is for heavy-duty and long-distance jobs with a range up to 250 miles; the second, the “eM2 106” is a medium segment truck with a range up to 230 miles. The German truck maker will also consolidate its electric drivetrain know-how into a new unit called the “E-Mobility Group.” Freightliner plans to hand over 30 electric trucks to customers later this year.

And that wraps up today’s show, thanks for watching and please join us again tomorrow.