AD #2385 – Waymo Wants Partner for Europe, Musk Has Words for Doubters, Volvo & FedEx Test Autonomous Platooning

On today’s show… Waymo wants some automaker to sell it a bunch of cars in Europe… Ford hits its goal of reducing CO2 emissions 8 years early… and Volvo and FedEx are testing platoons of autonomous trucks. All that and more coming right up on Autoline Daily.

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

MUSK HAS STRONG WORDS FOR DOUBTERS
Will Tesla reach its goal of building 5,000 Model 3’s this week? The bulls say yes, the bears say no. But Elon Musk says anyone who doubts they can reach their goal is “in for a rude awakening.” And in a sign that it may be on the right track, Tesla says it will open up orders for all Model 3 reservation holders in, “the coming days.” The EV maker is also dropping the price on the Performance and Dual Motor versions of the Model 3. A loaded model of the original Performance cost $78,000. Now a slightly decontented version will cost $64,000 or $72,000 with Autopilot. A Dual Motor version will also be $1,000 less than before. But that makes us wonder, are we ever going to see a $35,000 Model 3?

WAYMO WANTS “LARGE NUMBER” OF CARS FOR EUROPE
Waymo is buying 62,000 Chrysler Pacifica’s and 20,000 Jaguar I-Pace’s to convert into autonomous cars. But all of them will only be used in the United States. Now, Waymo’s CEO, John Krafcik says the company needs “a large number” of cars for Europe. But he won’t say how many cars or which automakers he’s talking to. Krafcik also revealed that they won’t use the Waymo name in Europe because it’s not well known and will instead partner with a European car brand.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-waymo-europe/waymo-needs-large-number-of-cars-for-european-robo-taxis-ceo-idUSKBN1JO0KO

Volvo and FedEx just brought autonomous trucks one step closer to reality and that’s coming up next.

VOLVO & FEDEX TEST AUTONOMOUS PLATOONING
Volvo and FedEx are teaming up to help semi trucks save fuel and increase safety via autonomous platooning. During testing in North Carolina, three digitally-connected trucks have been driving together in a convoy. Only the lead truck has a driver, the other two simply follow: braking, turning and accelerating in sync with the lead truck. Volvo hopes that data collected during its North Carolina testing will help it persuade the federal government and other states to allow autonomous platoon testing.

FCA REVEALS MOBILITY SERVICES STRATEGY
Fiat-Chrysler revealed part of its strategy of how it’s going to play a role in Transportation As A Service, or TaaS, for short. FCA sees 6 different business opportunities including manufacturing autonomous components, high-def mapping, manufacturing vehicles, financing and insuring those vehicles, operating fleets of autonomous cars, and offering mobility services. But FCA believes that automakers and their captive finance arms will only play in two of those businesses: building cars with AV technology integrated into them, and then financing and selling insurance for those cars. Other OEMS, like General Motors and Ford, are looking to play a role in more of those business opportunities. But this is the first time we’ve heard that FCA plans to play any role at all in this emerging field.

Coming up next, Ford says it is way ahead of its target for slashing CO2 emissions.

Don’t forget to join us for Autoline After Hours this afternoon. We’ll take a deep dive into the development of the all-new volkswagen Jetta because we’ll have Daniel Shapiro, the Product Manager for the Jetta on the show. Also joining us is Mike Austin from Hagerty insurance. So join John and Gary for some of the best insights of what’s going on in the automotive industry.

FORD WAY EARLY ON CO2 TARGETS
In 2010, Ford set a goal of reducing its CO2 emissions from its factories by 30 percent per vehicle by 2025. But the company just announced it already met that goal. Ford says it reduced emissions by 3.4 million metric tons between 2010 and 2017 by making several changes to its plants and manufacturing processes. That includes installing LED lights and eliminating the need for a drying oven for the paint process in some factories. Ford’s sustainability plans for the future include using renewable energy and electrification.

JUNE GETS BOOST FROM EXTRA SELLING DAYS
Next week, automakers in the US market will report their sales for June. Ward’s forecasts that 1.5 million vehicles will be sold, up 3% from a year ago. And the SAAR will go back to 17 million units. But there is a caveat. There is one extra selling day and one extra weekend this June compared to last year. So when you adjust for that, Ward’s predicts that sales will be down 0.7% on a daily selling rate basis. We’re going to study those numbers when they come out to see if passenger car sales are still falling as fast as they were.

A programming note here. Autoline will be off all next week as the entire crew takes a well deserved summer break, but we’ll be back on July 9th. And that’s it for today, thanks for watching and please join us again tomorrow.