The Chevy Volt is Dead; Long Live the Chevy Volt
Back in the 1990s, GM killed the electric car. But in 2011, it brought it back again with the Chevy Volt, selling more than 150,000 units over the past seven years, making it one of the best-selling plug-in hybrids on the market. The Volt perhaps doesn’t get enough credit for its political and technological significance.
Now, the Volt is sentenced to death in March 2019 as part of GM’s massive restructuring that will cut more than 14,000 salaried staff and factory workers and close seven factories worldwide by the end of next year. In addition to the Volt, the company also plans to jettison the Buick LaCrosse, Chevrolet Impala, and Cadillac CT6 sedans. President Trump lashed out at GM over the closures and threatened to impose new car tariffs on imports from China.
Read the article at The Verge.
Pathways to the Future
When we heard that GM plans to launch a fully autonomous, self-driving car in 2019, we were excited! Could an AV fleet be far behind? Not so fast, says editor Andrew Boada in his commentary: 5 Reasons Fleets Won’t Be Buying Autonomous Vehicles Any Time Soon.
Bernie Kavanagh poses a disquieting question in Building the Future of Fleet: Are We There Yet?: “Sure, your vehicles might be autonomous, dutifully following all your rules on fueling, idling and safety without a coffee break. But what if they get hacked?”
Machine learning is the topic of John Wysseier’s Disruptive Leadership column. He asserts, “Competition in the business world will depend more and more on the extent to which companies harness machine learning and the related digital tools of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.”
Janice Sutton
Editor in Chief
Dock411 Recognized Among Most Innovative and Disruptive Companies in Freight
Dock411, a freight technology provider focused on helping shippers increase capacity, was awarded 12th place on the Freight.Tech 100 list which recognizes the most innovative and disruptive companies in freight.
Mark LeGrand, Dock411 Vice President of Sales, said, “After having literally thousands of conversations with individuals at organizations that are challenged with the lack of facility information, Dock411 developed a robust tool that reduces driver downtime, reduces preventable accidents on site and increases revenue.
“It is no coincidence that the solution Dock411 has developed has met the end users’ expectations by listening to their needs. However, it is very humbling to be recognized as a Freight.Tech 25 winner with so many other iconic technology companies.”
Kelley Blue Book’s 2018 Best Resale Value Awards
If you want to get the most car for your money, you have to do more than research your way to a fair price and secure good financing rates. Simply choosing a vehicle that has better resale value than the others on your shopping list is one of the easiest ways to save money when buying a new car.
"Our Best Resale Value Awards are based on what we consider the best research and analysis process in the industry. Our resale value projections take into account current vehicle data, sales data, market conditions for each vehicle, competition within vehicle segments, expectations of the future economy and the combined experience of Kelley Blue Book's team of market and pricing analysts. This is hard-earned data that can save you thousands of dollars, and it's yours for free."
Read the article at KBB.
Drunk Driver Slept While Tesla Appeared to Drive Hwy 101 on Auto-Pilot
When a pair of California Highway Patrol officers pulled alongside a car cruising down Highway 101 in Redwood City before dawn Friday, they reported a shocking sight: a man fast asleep behind the wheel.
The car was a Tesla, the man was a Los Altos planning commissioner, and the ensuing freeway stop turned into a complex, seven-minute operation in which the officers had to communicate with the vehicle’s autopilot system because the driver was unresponsive, according to the CHP.
The arrest of 45-year-old Alexander Samek on suspicion of drunken driving reignited questions about the uses, and potential abuses, of self-driving technology.
Read the article at San Francisco Chronicle.
