Trump Threatens Canada ‘Ruination’ on Autos
Trump believes Canada is ripping off the U.S. and if a deal can’t be reached, he’ll apply a 20 percent tariff on cars. “In some countries, including Canada, a tax on cars would be the ruination of the country. That’s how big it is. The ruination of the country,” he said. “NAFTA has been the worst trade deal ever.”
“We are engaged in an exercise to try to save the best of NAFTA and that’s kind of unfortunate, but everybody knows what we are facing in the White House these days,” said John Manley, president of the Business Council of Canada and a former federal cabinet minister.
Read the article at The Detroit News.
Work More, Commute Longer Distances, or Take a Nap
The Volvo 360c commuter pod concept is described as "an autonomous driving, fully functional, connected, comfortable, mobile office space."
A key benefit is that it will allow workers to commute farther, as they will be "less reliant on proximity to cities."
The electric driverless pod is designed to explore the possibilities of Level 5 autonomy—the highest tier, which requires no input whatsoever from a driver other than entering a destination. Volvo proposes a means of communication via lights, sounds, and moving elements, which they hope all automakers can agree on in order to create a single industry standard.
Read the article at Car and Driver.
Waymo’s Robotaxi Service Will Soon be Ready for Daily Driving Duties
Google’s Self-Driving Car Project, Waymo, is months from launching a paid robotaxi service.
Expanding a Waymo-branded ride service to multiple cities in the U.S. and abroad is its next evolution. Doing that in an efficient, safe way means scaling up everything.
“At a high level, there are maybe three things that have to come together. You have to build maps and maintain them, in order to scale and deploy this technology. You have to build and design self-driving hardware, lasers, radars, cameras, computers, and then you have to build and be able to deploy the full software stack,” Waymo CTO Dmitri Dolgov said. “In all of the three main pillars of our system, we’re at a point where we are industrializing the whole thing.”
Read the article at Forbes.
Volkswagen Predicts a Diesel ‘Renaissance’
Despite being the face of the “Dieselgate” scandal, reportedly Volkswagen foresees a diesel “renaissance” in the near future. First, automakers must convince the world that diesel cars and trucks aren't as dirty as people once believed.
"Diesel will see a renaissance in the not-too-distant future because people who drove diesels will realize that it was a very comfortable drive concept," said Matthias Mueller, Volkswagen's newest CEO, "Once the knowledge that diesels are eco-friendly firms up in people's minds, then for me there's no reason not to buy one."
The announcement comes as a bit of a surprise, especially given Volkswagen's increasing investment in electrification and the looming promises of banning fossil-fuel powered vehicles in some European countries within the next two decades.
Read the article at The Drive.
NAFA Foundation Announces Mobility Revolution White Paper Disclosing Fast-Moving Changes for Fleets
The Mobility Revolution: A Primer for Fleet Managers
Please be sure to reserve the one-hour block of time from 12 noon to 1 p.m. (Eastern Time) on Thursday, September 27, for a free webinar that could change your entire perspective on the future of fleet management.
Everyone who registers for the webinar will receive the detailed whitepaper upon which the webinar is based. The whitepaper provides greater details and insight and will be an invaluable tool and reference source as you begin your mobility journey. The whitepaper is provided compliments of the NAFA Foundation.
