AD #2882 – Jeep Gladiator Impressions; Q2 Production Capacity Plunges; Ford Tests Dog-Like Robots to Scan Plants

This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.

ALCOHOL DETECTION SYSTEMS CAN SAVE THOUSANDS OF LIVES
Drunk driving is a big problem in the U.S. Alcohol has been a factor in 30% of roadway deaths every year for the past decade. And each year, police arrest around 1 million people for driving drunk. But if vehicles were equipped with alcohol detection systems, it would greatly reduce the number of traffic deaths, according to a new study from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. It found that the systems could prevent more than a quarter of road fatalities and save around 9,000 lives a year. Alcohol detection systems prevent a car from starting if it detects the driver is over the legal limit. While the technology is available now and there’s bills in both the U.S. House and Senate to mandate the system in new vehicles, it would still take a long time before its commonplace. IIHS researchers say that even if all new vehicles were required to have alcohol detection systems this year, it would take 12 years before the systems were common enough to save around 4,500 lives a year, half of their potential.

AUDI DEVELOPING BIDIRECTIONAL CHARGING TECHNOLOGY
As the number of electric vehicles increase, the potential to use them as mobile energy storage units also rises. That’s why Audi is researching bidirectional charging technology for electric vehicles. The battery of the electric car not only is charged via a wall box at home, it can also supply energy back to the house. If the owner has a solar panel system, the car can supply electricity to the building when the system is not providing power or during peak price phases. And in combination with a home storage unit, the car can kick power into the home, if the power supply fails. By using this method, Audi says that the battery of an e-tron could supply a home with energy for around one week independently.

PRODUCTION CAPACITY PLUNGES IN Q2
Here’s a good rule of thumb for you to know about the auto industry. Assembly plants generally reach their break-even point when they hit 80% of capacity utilization. In other words, until they make 80% of what the plant is capable of making, all they’re doing is covering the cost of operations. But once they go over 80% they become profitable. When they’re over 90% they’re making really good money. And when they go over 100% with overtime, they become money machines. Just to give you an idea of how much the U.S. auto industry was hit by the pandemic, Wards reports that in the second quarter a year ago it was running at 94% capacity. In the second quarter this year it ran at only 31%. And so when automakers report their second quarter earnings, it’s going to be a bloodbath. 

FORD TESTS DOG-LIKE ROBOTS TO SCAN PLANTS
After an automotive manufacturing plant is designed and built, it’s likely to go through a number of small changes. Over time those changes can affect the layout of the factory, but in many cases, they’re not documented. So, Ford is taking a unique approach to digitally scan one of its transmission plants. The pilot program will see two dog-like robots, equipped with 5 cameras map out the plant floor. Those digital scans will then be used when Ford is ready to retool the plant. The robots can move up to 3 MPH and have roughly two hours of battery life, which would allow them to scan an entire plant in about a week, twice as fast as the old way. That old way also cost about $300,000 per facility. If the pilot works, Ford says it could scan all its plants for a fraction of the cost. Currently the robots need to be programmed with a route and require a handler, but in the future, they could roam wherever they want, like a normal dog. 

RIVIAN TO START DELIVERING VEHICLES NEXT YEAR
We’ve got an update on Rivian. The company revealed in a Twitter post that the pilot production line is now running at its plant in Normal, IL and that it expects deliveries of the R1T electric truck to start in June of next year, while the R1S SUV will follow in August. 

HYUNDAI DEVELOPS NEW AIR CONDITIONING TECHNOLOGY
With cleanliness a big concern for everyone right now, the Hyundai Group has developed new air conditioning technologies that aim to maintain clean air in its vehicles. You ever notice how your vehicle drips water after turning on the A/C system? That’s just condensation that builds up in the system, but in some cases that moisture can turn into mold. So, the Hyundai Group’s new unit has a feature, called After-Blow, that blows air through the system for 10 minutes after the vehicle is shut off to dry up any remaining condensation. A Multi-Air mode reroutes air through the driver and passenger seats as well as the vents, which keeps wind volume the same, but reduces direct contact. And lastly, a Fine Dust Indicator measures the amount of ultrafine particles inside the vehicle and puts a display on the dash of the current level. If a certain level is reached, the system will automatically switch to recirculation mode and kick on the A/C to reduce humidity. No word when we’ll see this yet. The Hyundai Group only says it will be introduced on upcoming new models.

JEEP GLADIATOR MOJAVE IMPRESSIONS
We recently had a Jeep Gladiator in the Autoline Garage. And even though this is one of the most capable off-road vehicles that you can buy, it can even be enjoyable just for tooling around town. But if you do a lot of highway driving, this is not the car for you. Let me explain.

The Gladiator, along with its kissing cousin, the Jeep Wrangler, will get you in and out of off-road situations that look impossibly impassible. As long as there’s an opening as wide as the Gladiator, you can probably get through it. Don’t worry if the path ahead looks too steep, just lock the diffs and start crawling. In fact, don’t worry if you don’t even see a path. These Jeeps can get through just about anything.

Of course, most of us can’t go off-roading every day. Even so, the Gladiator can be a pleasure to take for running errands, visiting friends, or just going for a ride. The top opens easily. Just undo a couple of latches and flip the whole thing back. But because it’s so big, you’ll have to get out and stand in the rear door footwell to fold it all the way down. Don’t worry, it only takes a moment to do, and the same goes for putting it back up again.

With the top down, you get a great open-air feeling. And then you can take it a step further by taking the doors off and dropping the windshield down. That takes more work, but it’s truly exhilarating when driving around with everything open to the great outdoors.

Or at least that’s true when driving at lower speeds on country lanes. When you’re on the highway, even when the Gladiator is all buttoned up, it’s noisy and rough. The suspension is perfect for bouncing over boulders, but it transmits every bump, ripple and heave on the highway. This is not the vehicle you want for your everyday commuter.

The Gladiator we test drove, with the Mojave trim line and the 3.6 liter V6, starts at just under $44,000. But it was loaded up with enough options to push the price to almost $61,000. 

But here’s the most amazing thing about the Gladiator. Here we live in a world of an economic crisis brought on by a pandemic. The auto industry has taken it on the chin. Car sales have collapsed and factories are struggling to maintain production. So how has this affected sales of the Gladiator? Why not at all. Ward’s reports that sales are up 380% this year. Now that’s partly because production was only starting to ramp up a year ago. But it’s impressive to see how much demand there is for something like this, and it explains why Ford is so keen to get the Bronco into this segment.

But that wraps up today’s report, thank you for watching.