Lyft's app is now more useful for taking care of your own car, not just hailing a ride in someone else's. You now have access to a trio of maintenance and parking features in the US through a dedicated app section. You can ask for 24/7 roadside assistance through Agero, including tow trucks. SpotHero now helps you reserve parking. And if you need a repair or tune-up, you can soon book car maintenance at Goodyear Auto centers.
Not surprisingly, Lyft is offering some incentives to Pink subscribers. A membership covers four roadside help "events" per year, and Goodyear's services are 15 percent off. Most of the features are available nationwide, although you can't get roadside help in Nevada. Parking services are only available in 30 cities, including Chicago, Denver, New York City and San Francisco, although Lyft says more regions are "coming soon."
It's not hard to see the strategy behind these additions. On top of boosting Pink subscriptions, this could keep you in Lyft's ecosystem even if you have no need for ride hailing, bikes or scooters. The company can help you through "all phases" of your life, as fleet head Jody Kelman explains. Still, you might not mind if you're willing to trade flexibility in providers for the convenience of booking all your car services in a single app.
This might also represent slight competitive advantage over main rival Uber, whose app still revolves around on-demand rides. In theory, you might stick to Lyft simply because it addresses more of your transportation needs.
Lyft and Motional have announced plans to launch a driverless ride-hailing service in Los Angeles using Ioniq 5 EV Level 4 robotaxis. Los Angeles will be the second city serviced by the two companies, which started offering public rides in Las Vegas earlier this year.
Motional, a joint venture between Hyundai and Aptiv, has been testing autonomous vehicles without safety drivers for exactly two years. As with the Las Vegas service, the Ioniq 5 vehicles will be integrated into Lyft's Los Angeles network. When the car arrives, you can unlock the doors using the Lyft app, and each vehicle has a dedicated passenger display that can be used to contact a remote agent at any time.
"Los Angeles was the second city Lyft launched back in 2013 and it’s only fitting that it will be the second AV market we launch with our partner, Motional," said Lyft CEO Logan Green in a statement. "Los Angeles is the second most populated city in the U.S. and represents a huge market opportunity for AV adoption," added Motional CEO Karl Iagnemma.
Motional says it has given 100,000-plus rides in Las Vegas with Lyft and received over 95 percent five-star ratings. The company recently signed a 10-year agreement with Uber as well, saying its vehicles will be "strategically deployed" in cities around the US and that it will start offering passenger rides later this year.
Apart from Motional, only Alphabet division Waymo and GM's Cruise are offering true driverless services at a reasonably large scale. The Waymo One service is operating in Phoenix and San Francisco, while Cruise rides are currently limited to San Francisco. Both operate only in specific areas of cities and some vehicles still use safety riders.
Toyota has unveiled the latest Prius at an event on the eve of the 2022 Los Angeles Auto Show, and it says the model is the most fuel-efficient entry in the lineup to date. The company designed the 2023 Prius, which will come in LE, XLE and Limited grades, with a low center of gravity, a wider stance and a lower driving position. Its roofline is 2 inches lower than its predecessor's, and it is one inch wider at the rear. Toyota was clearly going for a more sporty, modern look, aided by the larger wheels in the XLE and Limited variants.
Of course, the new Prius comes with performance improvements, as well. It uses Toyota's 5th generation hybrid powertrain and a new lithium-ion battery, which offers a 15 percent increase in output compared to the lineup's old nickel metal battery technology. That means the company was able to develop a smaller and lighter battery for the vehicle without compromising its performance. But since Prius is still a hybrid and doesn't solely rely on electricity for power, Toyota has also equipped it with a bigger two-liter gas engine.
The automaker says the Front-Wheel Drive variants have a 194 horsepower output and can go from 0 to 60 mph within 7.2 seconds, faster than the outgoing FWD vehicles' 9.8 seconds. The All-Wheel Drive models have a 196 horsepower output and the capability to accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in 7 seconds. All models have three drive modes: Eco, which enhances fuel economy, and Power and Sport modes, which increase throttle responsiveness.
Other features include half a dozen USB-C ports and the Toyota Audio Multimedia system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility. Toyota's Connected Service Drive Connect also gives owners access to an intelligent assistant that can follow voice activated commands and cloud navigation, which can download the latest available map, traffic and routing information from the cloud. And in case drivers are truly having a tough time finding the way to their next destination, they can also use the Destination Assist feature to talk to a live agent any time of day
For driver assistance, the vehicle has Blind Spot Monitor with Rear Cross Traffic Alert, as well as Front and Rear Parking Assist with Automatic Braking on all variants. The Limited version has a Panoramic View Monitor that provides a live rotating 360-degree view around the vehicle and a hands-free system that can help drivers with parallel parking or backing into a parking space.
In addition, the 2023 Prius will come with the latest version of Toyota's Safety Sense generation, which enables a pre-collision system with pedestrian detection, lane departure alert with steering assist and cruise control. A new addition to the feature and to Prius as a whole is proactive driving assist that enables gentle braking into curves or when it senses a vehicle, pedestrian or cyclist ahead of the vehicle.
Toyota has yet to reveal the pricing and availability of the 2023 Prius, but it promises to make another announcement with those details before the year ends.
Genesis has unveiled the X Convertible concept, showing off its design chops with an EV that builds on the previous Genesis X and X Speedium Coupe vehicles. It shares the architecture and electric powertrain with those cars, but uses a folding hardtop roof and is meant to evoke "design purity" and uses what Genesis calls an "anti-wedge parabolic" design.
Gone are the extra bulgy fenders and aggressive front end, replaced by a more subtle design and cleaner, longer lines. That length is further accentuated by the short front overhang that gives it a protruding nose. The triangular headlights from the X Speedium are carried over, as are the double taillights. The hardtop roof has an integrated moonroof, offering drivers a view of the stars even when it's closed up.
Genesis
The interior is very similar to the previous two concepts, with the dashboard screen curving across and down toward the right armrest. It uses recyclable wool fabrics and leather seats, with the interior Giwa Navy and Dancheong Orange colors "inspired in part by traditional Korean roof architecture," according to Genesis.
We still don't know anything about the battery or drivetrain. It would make sense, though, to use the E-GMP platform found in Hyundai's Ioniq 5 and the Kia EV6. Genesis could then dial up the power and battery size so that range and performance would meet the expectations of luxury car buyers.
Genesis
Genesis says the X Convertible is a "beacon for the brand" that will presumably inspire future designs. It'll likely never be built in this form, but the company wants to show buyers what's possible. "We have to utilize this opportunity to inject more adrenaline in the brand," it told TechCrunch. "If somebody believes that electric vehicles cannot be sexy, Genesis will demonstrate the exact opposite."
Lucid had more to show today than its less expensive Air models. The auto startup has finally teased its second EV, the long-in-the-making Gravity SUV. The vehicle will share the swooping visual language of the Air while offering up to three rows of seating that can accommodate seven people. It should also have a next-gen version of Lucid's touchscreen-heavy cockpit, and purportedly offer more range than "any other EV" outside of the Air.
The company cautions that the Gravity design and specifications aren't final. What Lucid is showing now is largely what you'd expect, however — it's a big people-hauler with perks like a panoramic roof. As with Tesla's Model X, the three-row configuration doesn't leave much room in the back for either passengers or cargo. The rear space is "flexible," according to Lucid, so you might not be stuck if you need to carry a large load.
Lucid Motors
You will be waiting a while to buy the SUV. Reservations for the Gravity open in early 2023, and it won't reach the US or Canada until 2024. Customers outside those countries will have to be more patient, and the firm hasn't disclosed pricing. It's safe to presume the EV will be expensive, though, when even the 'entry' Air starts at $87,400. This is more for customers who would otherwise consider a Model X, Mercedes EQS SUV or Polestar 3.
The Gravity could be Lucid's most important EV to date, whatever it costs. The Air may be fast, but its sedan form factor limits its appeal in an increasingly SUV-centric market. The new model could help Lucid reach a wider audience, even if the clientele will still be limited to wealthy buyers willing to take a chance on a young brand.
Hybrid cars aren't just valuable for their fuel efficiency, apparently. Consumer Reports has published annual reliability survey data indicating that hybrids are generally more reliable than their gas-only equivalents. Hybrid cars were the most reliable among vehicle types, with their SUV siblings ranking third. Certain models were stand-outs, including the Ford Maverick pickup, Lexus NX luxury SUV and Toyota Corolla sedan — they all had above-average reliability on top of major fuel savings.
That trustworthiness doesn't always extend to other electrified cars. The publication found that plug-in hybrids aren't as reliable. Toyota's Prius Prime and RAV4 Prime are less reliable than their conventional hybrid versions, and the Chrysler Pacifica hybrid was one of the most unreliable vehicles in the survey. EVs continue to struggle, too. While there are some exceptions, such as the "outstanding" reliability of the Kia EV6, the category is still plagued with glitches — and not just Tesla's build quality issues. Ford's Mustang-Mach-E dipped to below average due to its electronics flaws. Only four out of 11 models with enough survey data had average or better reliability.
A straightforward hybrid isn't always the best choice, either. Consumer Reports warns that BMW, Mercedes, Ram and others offer "mild" hybrids that don't offer much in the way of fuel savings, and are sometimes focused more on adding power. These vehicles weren't included in the hybrid reliability rankings.
The greater reliability of hybrids isn't a total surprise. While they offer improved fuel economy, they're ultimately based on familiar model lines using well-established combustion engine technology. EVs are more likely to be brand new models based on young electric motor systems and don't have years of refinement.
Automakers will have to improve their safety tech if they want to stay in Consumer Reports' good graces, whatever powertrain they're using. As of November, the outlet will penalize models that don't include pedestrian-aware automatic emergency braking as a standard feature. CR will also stop handing out bonus points to vehicles that only have blind spot warnings (they'll need rear cross traffic warnings as well) and forward collision alerts. This will theoretically push car creators to strengthen their default safety packages and potentially save lives.
The Lucid Air is a fantastic first car from a new automaker. It’s also a very expensive EV out of the reach of most people. The company has promised less expensive versions of the Air and today those vehicles are finally being unveiled.
During the Los Angeles auto show, Lucid took the wraps off the Lucid Air Pure and Touring. The two vehicles might not hit 60 in under two seconds, but these are likely the trim levels that will dominate the automaker’s sales.
The Pure is the first and only Air to come in under $100,000 starting at a still pricey $87,400. It’s best to remember that the Air is still a luxury vehicle. While it won’t hit 500 miles between charges, it has an EPA target of 410 miles and can charge at 250kW on a compatible DC fast charger.
The Touring is slightly more expensive at $107,400 and can drive for an EPA estimated range of 425 miles.
While the Pure wasn’t quite ready for testing, we were able to get behind the wheel of the Touring for a quick jaunt around the Lucid headquarters. Watch the video below for the full story.
When it comes to charging your EV in the US, Canada and Mexico, the only two connector types available aren't cross-compatible. Tesla has its J1772 connector, which in the company's defense was developed when Tesla was still the only EV game in town. Everybody else uses the current North American standard, the Combined Charging System (CCS). Tesla apparently hopes to upend that dynamic, announcing Friday that it is "opening our EV connector design to the world."
Tesla is releasing its specs and production designs for the J1772 connector, which it is rebranding as the North American Charging Standard (NACS), in hopes that charging networks like Electrify America and Chargepoint will incorporate the company's hardware in their stations. The NACS contains "no moving parts, is half the size, and twice as powerful," as the alternative, Tesla argues.
The company presses that these networks should adopt its technology because, "NACS vehicles outnumber CCS two-to-one, and Tesla's Supercharging network has 60 percent more NACS posts than all the CCS-equipped networks combined." I mean, sure, but that's kind of ignoring that those numbers are a direct result of the multi-year lead that Tesla held over its competition in coming to market, a capitalization lead that is rapidly shrinking as the industry's marquee brands like GM, Honda and Audi pivot to electrification and Chinese makers like BYD dominate the EV space in Asia's largest market.
Tesla claims that "network operators already have plans in motion to incorporate NACS at their chargers," without specifying which networks are doing so and at what scale. The company "looks forward to future electric vehicles incorporating the NACS design and charging at Tesla’s North American Supercharging and Destination Charging networks."
We can only speculate as to why Tesla has decided that right now — even as Elon Musk sinks faster than Artax into the quicksands of Twitter ownership — is the best tiime to open up their standard to the rest of the industry. Tesla, and now Twitter too, does not employ a public-facing PR team, so your guess is as good as any blue check's.
The first headlights to adorn automobiles weren’t all that much better than squinting real hard and hoping any cows in the road had the good sense to move out of your way. The dim light cast by early kerosene oil and acetylene gas lamps made most travel after dark a fool’s errand.
Today, of course, the latest generation of headlights work much like modern televisions with tightly packed arrays of pixelated lights blinking at up to 5,000 times a second, allowing drivers to essentially use high and low beams at the same time. Until very recently, however, cutting-edge features like that weren’t allowed on vehicles sold in the US due to an NHTSA regulation set in the 1960s. But thanks to a multi-year lobbying effort on the part of Toyota, those regulations changed this last February — now America’s roadways are about to become a bit brighter and a whole lot safer.
How headlights evolved from open flames to laser pixels
Following the short-lived idea of using open flames to light the way, the first electric headlights appeared on the 1912 Cadillac Model 30 and, by the next decade, were quickly becoming mandatory equipment across the nation. The first split-intensity headlights offering separate low and high beams were produced in 1915 but wouldn’t be included in a vehicle’s OEM design until in 1924 and the floor-mounted switch that controlled them wouldn’t be invented until three years after that — a full decade of having to get out of the car just to turn your lights on and blink between brightnesses!
The advent of sealed beam headlights with filaments for both low and high beams in 1954, and its widespread adoption by 1957, proved a massive technological leap. With low beams for dusk and evening driving, and high beams for late night travel on otherwise unlit roads, these new headlights would drastically extend the hours of day a car could safely be on the road.
The first halogen light, which would itself quickly become a global standard, debuted in 1962. But halogens at that time were about as popular in the US as the metric system — we still preferred tungsten incandescents. That changed with the passage of the Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966 and the formation of the National Highway Transportation Authority (the NHTSA) in 1968, which took the existing hodge-podge of state-level vehicular regulations and federalized them, as well as the formal adoption that year of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 108, which dictated that all headlights be constructed of sealed beams.
kampee patisena via Getty Images
By the 1970s, halogen bulbs, with their increased brightness and efficiency compared to tungsten incandescents, became the industry standard. The ‘80s, in turn, saw US regulations expand to allow for replaceable-bulb headlamps, which the European market had already been enjoying for a number of years. The ability to swap out a bulb rather than an entire headlight unit, combined with recent material advances that saw lamp lenses constructed out of plastic instead of glass, drastically reduced the cost of making and operating headlights. And by the ‘90s, halogens had themselves fallen to the wayside in favor of modern xenon and LED lighting technologies. The 21st century has seen further advances to not just the lighting technology itself — hello halo and laser headlights! — but also the control systems that direct the beams.
Due to differences in their relative transportation regulations, the rate of technological adoption has diverged between US drivers and their European counterparts — often with the Americans lagging behind. As with replaceable bulbs in the ‘50s and glare reduction efforts in the ‘30s, Europe has shown itself far more willing to innovate and readily implement recent headlight advances, in part to restrictions imposed by FMVSS 108. Because Standard 108 defined headlights as only having high or low beams — and legally requiring they remain separate — it tacitly excluded all of the technical advances that followed, specifically adaptive driving beam (ADB) headlight systems as found in Audi’s matrix LEDs, Lexus’ Blade Scan LEDs or Ford’s Adaptive Front Lighting System, none of which you will currently find operable Stateside.
Those and similar ADB systems have been available in the Europe, Canada and Japan since the technology's debut in 2004 (though, technically, the 1967 Citroen DS did also feature headlights that swivel in sync with the steering). It would be more than a decade — not until Toyota’s monumental 2015 petition — before the NHTSA would even consider allowing their use in the North American market. In fact, it took another three years beyond that for the agency’s bureaucratic skullduggery to wrap up and it wasn’t until February of this year — a year and a half ahead of schedule because they had to satisfy a requirement set forth in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill — that the NHTSA amended the regulation.
“NHTSA prioritizes the safety of everyone on our nation’s roads, whether they are inside or outside a vehicle. New technologies can help advance that mission,” Dr. Steven Cliff, NHTSA’s Deputy Administrator, said in a February press release. “NHTSA is issuing this final rule to help improve safety and protect vulnerable road users.”
“Adaptive driving beam headlight systems, or ADB, use automatic headlight beam switching technology to shine less light on occupied areas of the road and more light on unoccupied areas,” the NHTSA further explained. “The adaptive beam is particularly useful for distance illumination of pedestrians, animals, and objects without reducing the visibility of drivers in other vehicles.”
How Adaptive Driving Beams bend light around rain
Broadly, ADB are headlights that actively adapt to the prevailing weather conditions such as redirecting light around falling rain and snow, extending them ahead of turns or dimming the high beams towards oncoming vehicles only. These systems often leverage the same forward-facing cameras used by the adaptive cruise control system and can be programmed to not just illuminate the road ahead but display prescient navigation information as well.
Audi outside of the US, for example, offers Digital matrix LED headlights — LEDs arrayed in a grid pattern and granularly controlled by a central processor called a DMD (digital micromirror device). They operate much like the digital projection technology they’re based on.
”At its heart is a small chip containing one million micromirrors, each of whose edge length measures just a few hundredths of a millimeter,” Audi’s Lighting page explains. ”With the help of electrostatic fields, each individual micromirror can be tilted up to 5,000 times per second. Depending on the setting, the LED light is either directed via the lenses onto the road or is absorbed in order to mask out areas of the light beam.”
Those masked areas are where the light isn’t bouncing off falling water or glaring into the eyes of other drivers. What’s more, the system will project “dynamic leaving- and coming-home animations” onto nearby surfaces, as a treat. More practically, the system can angle the beams to illuminate farther into turns.
Similarly, the HD Matrix LED system found on later model year A8s, under specific circumstances, will dim the vehicle’s high beams without any human intervention. When the headlights are set to Automatic, the vehicle is going over 18 mph outside of urban areas (as dictated by the navigation system), and the front camera sees an another vehicle, the headlights will darken and dim individual LEDs in 64 stages — roughly several million potential patterns — to “mask out other vehicles while continuing to fully illuminate the zones between and adjacent to them.”
Ford’s high-resolution Adaptive Front Lighting System, which debuted in Europe this past August, offers similar capabilities. The company notes that roughly 40 percent of accidents occur on UK roads after sundown. Glancing down at bright infotainment displays while on dark roads can temporarily blind drivers, so Ford’s headlights will project speed limits, navigation cues and road hazard warnings onto the road itself. What’s more, the beams can “bend” around corners and penetrate fog, rain and other inclement weather conditions.
“What started as playing around with a projector light and a blank wall could take lighting technologies to a whole new level,” Ford engineer Lars Junker said in a press release. “There’s the potential now to do so much more than simply illuminate the road ahead, to help reduce the stress involved in driving at night. The driver could get essential information without ever needing to take their eyes off the road.”
Mercedes’ Digital Light system, on the other hand, uses a unique light module consisting of three LEDs mounted in each headlamp. Their light is reflected by a thumbnail-sized array of some 1.3 million micromirrors, each of which is controlled via an onboard graphics processor to precisely bend and attenuate the beams. According to Mercedes, that fidelity enables its Highbeam Assist to function two magnitudes more precisely in excluding oncoming traffic than conventional 84-pixel arrays.
At the other end of the spectrum, Lexus’ Blade Scan high-definition headlights, which debuted in Asian markets in 2019, only utilize 24 LEDs per headlight. Rather than an array of micromirrors, Lexus uses a pair of rapidly-rotating mirrors to direct their light through the lens and onto the road. Per the company, this allows the system to aim with 0.7 degrees of accuracy and detect pedestrians at the roadside up to 184 feet away.
Unfortunately, for as cool as these capabilities are and as technically legal as they are, American drivers still have a short wait before they come stateside. That's because the NHTSA must now devise a set of testing requirements by which to measure and regulate adaptive headlights under the revised standard. In the short term, it means we’ll likely see more new vehicles equipped with ADB-capable-but-disabled hardware that can be activated over-the-air later on, once the regulations have firmed up.
“While adaptive headlights have been approved, the testing requirements for approval put forth by NHTSA is still under discussion,” an Audi representative told Engadget. “Because of this, [I’m] afraid we are still not able to offer the matrix functionality in the US at this time and continue to work with regulators to bring this safety relevant function to market.”
Kia has unveiled pricing for the 2023 EV6, and it's decidedly more expensive than before — although you might not mind depending on what you were looking for. The new electric crossover starts at $49,795 when you include the $1,295 destination fee, or $7,100 more than the entry 2022 model. You do get more in the bargain, though. The automaker has dropped the cut-down Light trim with 232 miles of range and now starts with the Wind RWD variant, which delivers a claimed 310 miles. That could put the EV6 out of reach for some buyers, but is also an acknowledgment that Light ultimately existed to upsell customers to pricier versions.
Wind now costs $1,000 more than it did last year. You may not have much need to spend extra, at least, when that configuration includes a power liftgate, vehicle-to-device power ports, Meridian audio and ventilated leather seats. You also have the option of a tech package previously limited to the Wind AWD with blind spot and surround views, parking collision avoidance and a remote start parking aid.
Other trims mainly provide added performance and intelligence. The $52,400 Wind AWD adds its namesake 320HP dual motor system with 282 miles of range. Spend $52,700 on the GT-Line RWD ($57,400 for AWD) and you'll get extras like navigation-based smart cruise control, more advanced highway driving assists and lane following help. And it's now clear just how much you'll pay for the range-topping EV6 GT — the performance-oriented car starts at $61,400 with a 576HP motor system, electronically-guided suspension, a limited-slip rear differential, higher-end brakes and 21-inch wheels mated to Goodyear Eagle F1 tires. Kia claims the GT can reach 60MPH in 3.4 seconds, so this is your pick if you want to shame sports cars at the local drag strip (and don't mind the reduced 206-mile range).
You still have the Ioniq 5 if you want Hyundai's latest EV tech in a (slightly) more affordable package. The Niro EV is an option, too. However, it's evident the automaker is repositioning the EV6 as a more premium machine.
