AD #2580 – Ford Invests in Rivian, Waymo Picks Facility in Detroit, LED Headlamps Increasing CO2

This is Autoline Daily reporting on the global automotive industry.

FORD INVESTS IN RIVIAN
And we start out with a big announcement from Ford today. It’s investing $500 million in electric startup Rivian and the two will develop an all-new BEV for Ford using Rivian’s skateboard platform. This is in addition to Ford’s existing plans to develop a portfolio of battery electric vehicles, including an all-electric Mustang-like crossover and an electric F-150. Remember GM and Rivian failed to ink a deal because GM wanted exclusive use of the platform. Rivian on the other hand said it wanted to license its technology to multiple automakers and it looks like it’s doing just that.

NHTSA INVESTIGATES EVEN MORE AIRBAGS
We have another investigation involving airbags but this time it doesn’t involve Takata. NHTSA announced that it’s looking into a possible defect in 12.3 million airbags made by ZF-TRW that could prevent them from deploying in a crash. NHTSA began a preliminary investigation last year involving Hyundai and Kia vehicles but it’s now expanded the probe to include vehicles made by FCA, Toyota, Honda and Mitsubishi from 2010 to 2019.

LUCID MOTORS NAMES NEW CEO
Electric car startup Lucid Motors has a new leader. The company announced that it named its Chief Technology Officer, Peter Rawlinson, as its new CEO. He replaces Sam Weng, a co-founder of the company. Before joining Lucid in 2013, Rawlinson was the Chief Engineer of the Tesla Model S and also an engineer at Lotus and Jaguar.

HYUNDAI NAMES LOASBY HEAD OF STYLING GROUP
And speaking of management changes, Hyundai announced that its director of design in China, Simon Loasby, has been promoted to Head of Hyundai Styling Group at its design center in Korea. He will be responsible for the design strategy and direction of Hyundai models worldwide and will report to SangYup Lee, the head of Hyundai’s Design Center and Luc Donckerwolke, the Chief Design Officer of the Hyundai Group.

CSP TO SUPPLY JIANGLING WITH COMPOSITE TRUCK BEDS
At the Detroit auto show we learned that Continental Structural Plastics or CSP is the supplier making the new carbon fiber composite bed for the GMC Sierra. And now the technology is making its way to China. CSP is supplying Jiangling Motors a composite box for the Yuhu 3 and Yuhu 5 pickup trucks. It’s said to be 30% lighter than a steel bed. And if you’re wondering about pickup trucks in China. The country is now the second biggest pickup truck market in the world.

WAYMO PICKS FACILITY IN DETROIT
Earlier this year, Waymo announced plans to open a facility in the Detroit area to assemble its autonomous vehicles. And now we know where it will be located. Google’s self-driving unit will repurpose an old American Axle plant in the city of Detroit to install its self-driving hardware and software into Chrysler Pacifica’s and Jaguar I-Pace’s. It’s investing $14 million to retool the plant and will hire between 100 and 400 workers. And it’s working with the supplier Magna to run the facility. Waymo also received an $8 million grant from the state of Michigan. It will be the first factory that’s 100% dedicated to assembling Level 4 autonomous vehicles.

FAA APPROVES 1ST AIR CARRIER CERTIFICATION
And speaking of Google, its sister unit, Wing Aviation, just won approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to start delivering packages in Virginia later this year with drones. It’s the first company to get U.S. air carrier certification.

Don’t forget about Autoline After Hours tomorrow. We’ve got Robert Bollinger, CEO of Bollinger Motors coming in the studio at 3PM eastern time to talk all about his electric off-road machine.

TESLA UPGRADES MODEL S AND X
Thanks to a new, more efficient motor design, Tesla’s are faster than ever with even more range. The automaker switched to a permanent magnet reluctance motor at the front of both the Model S and X, similar to the standard Model 3. Depending on the model, they get anywhere from 16- to 35-miles more of range. That puts the Model S Long Range up to an impressive 370-miles on a charge. Several versions of the vehicles are also nearly half a second faster 0 to 60 MPH. Tesla is bringing back the Standard Range Model S and X as well. The S starts at $78,000 with 285-miles of range and the X does 250-miles and starts at $83,000.

LED HEADLAMPS INCREASING CO2
When LED headlamps first came out automakers were thrilled. LEDs consume far less energy than halogen lamps and last longer. The first LED headlamps only used 16 watts each for the low beam and high beam, compared to halogen lamps that use 60 to 65 watts. Automakers figured they could save 2 to 3 grams per kilometer of CO2, which is critically important in Europe with its tight CO2 regulations. But then designers on luxury cars decided to go with complex matrix LED lamps, and all the savings went out the window. One lighting expert, Rainer Neumann, writing in Driving Vision News, points out that these complex LED headlamps use 100 watts each and weigh 10 kilograms. Instead of reducing CO2 they are actually increasing it.

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