You won't need a Jeep to try Fire TV in your car. Amazon has revealed Fire TV is coming to more vehicles this year, including 2022 Ford Explorer and Lincoln Navigator SUVs. More of Stellantis' cars will also have the feature, too, including the Chrysler Pacifica and Jeep Grand Cherokee. The company didn't provide timelines for when the interface would be available.
Fire TV in cars is, effectively, a small-scale version of what you might be used to at home: passengers can watch videos, run apps and use Alexa, just with an interface optimized for seatback screens. You can save some content for offline access if you're driving through areas where internet access is spotty. The version currently in the Jeep Wagoneer includes a remote that also controls some car functions, but it's not clear if that will carry over to Ford vehicles.
Amazon clearly sees in-car Fire TV as a way to keep users in its ecosystem when they're away from home. However, it should still be helpful for entertaining kids on long trips, or simply for catching up on shows while you're in the passenger seat.
We all knew this was coming. During its CES 2022 keynote address on Wednesday, GM CEO Mary Barra officially unveiled the new 2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV, GM's second fully electric model built on the Ultium battery platform.
The fully-electric full size pickup will be available in two versions when it arrives late next year; the RST First Edition and a WT model designed for fleet usage. Both will offer an estimated 400-mile range, putting it on par with Tesla's Long-Range Plus Model S, as well as 10.2kW of offboard power to run anything from corded power tools to home accessories in the event of a power outage. The Silverado will also incorporate four-wheel steering and a multiflex tailgate that can accomodate cargo up to nearly 11 feet in length. On the interior, drivers will enjoy a fixed glass roof and a 17-inch LCD infotainment system. Additional features will be installed via OTA updates. Pricing and EPA range estimates have not yet been disclosed.
The Silverado joins the Hummer EV in GM's burgeoning electric vehicle lineup and will be made at the same Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant, GM's Factory ZERO, when production ramps up in 2023. They'll soon be joined by the Chevrolet Equinox EV SUV (with a starting price around $30,000) and a Chevy Blazer EV, both of which become available at some point in 2023.
Electrified pickups and SUVs may be all the rage but there's apparently still plenty of room in the EV market for more battery-powered autos and crossovers. At CES 2022 on Wednesday, Chrysler revealed its first fully electric vehicle concept, the Airflow.
“The Chrysler Airflow Concept represents the future direction of the Chrysler brand, providing a peek at the dynamic design, advanced technologies and seamless connectivity that will characterize the full-electric portfolio we plan to reach by 2028,” Chris Feuell, Chrysler CEO, said in a press statement.
Stellantis
Being a concept vehicle, the Airflow has most every bell and whistle Chrysler could include such as an in-vehicle camera for in-vehicle video conference calls as well as the company's new E/E (electrical/electronic) and software platforms, STLA Brain, STLA SmartCockpit, and STLA AutoDrive. STLA Brain serves as the vehicle's central controller, allowing it to receive OTA updates. SmartCockpit, on the other hand, runs the Airflow's infotainment system, providing navigation and voice control, as well as an on-board app store, for both the driver and passengers. Autodrive will reportedly offer Level 3 self-driving features with the capability for further feature improvements via the those OTA updates.
The Airflow concept is equipped with dual 150kW motors, giving the crossover AWD capabilities and a Chrysler-estimated 350 - 400 mile range. Exterior design details include full-width LED tail lights and 22-inch rims, while the leather-bound interior boasts individual climate control options, separate dash-mounted touchscreens for the driver and front passenger (as well as seat-back mounted screens for both rear passengers), and ambient lighting that shifts based on the passengers’ preferences and what's playing on the the central displays.
Stellantis
Being but a concept vehicle, the Airflow that arrives in 2025 could — and likely will — look and perform a bit differently from what was announced today. Looking at you, promises of level 3 autonomy.
Hot on the (w)heels of our October test drive with BMW's iX, the luxury automaker has unveiled a more powerful — but equally-electrified — performance edition of the EV flagship at CES 2022 in Las Vegas, the new 2023 iX M60. Building on more than 50 years of design development with the automaker's prestigious M line, the iX M60 (along with the upcoming i4 M50) mark BMW's first forays into high-performance electric vehicles.
BMW
In addition to sporting 610 horsepower, the all-wheel drive iX M60 will offer 811 ft-lbs of torque, which translates into a 3.6 second 0-60 (not bad for a vehicle weighing 6,900 pounds), a top speed of 155 mph, and an estimated 280 mile range using the standard 21-inch wheels. It's dual synchronous motors are current-energized, meaning that their rotational speed is based on the amount of electrical energy applied — rather than relying on permanent magnets to generate the magnetic field turns the wheels. According to BMW, this improves both the vehicle's overall power density and its peak power output while eliminating the need for rare earth elements in the motors' construction.
Its battery pack has a usable capacity of 106 kWh (111.5 kWh total). A full charge (0-100 percent capacity) on an 11W AC plug will take around 10.5 hours to complete (or a whopping 33 hours at 3.7 kW). Charging up to 80 percent on a DC fast charger will take 97 minutes at 50 kW, 40 minutes at 120 kW or just 35 minutes if you're lucky enough to find a charging station outfitted with it a 250kW port (note that the M60's 369V architecture limits its DC charging rate to 195 kW even if you do get lucky with an ultrafast station).
BMW
Outwardly, the M60 is quite similar to the iX. It measures 195 x 77 x 65 inches and incorporates an aluminum space frame and carbon cage with carbon fiber reinforced plastic in the roof, side and rear. But if you look closer, you'll notice M60-exclusive blue brake calipers and optional 22-inch rims. Of the eight available exterior colors, Titanium Bronze is only available on the M60, as are the optional Titanium Bronze wheels.
BMW
On the interior, M60 drivers will have their pick of five seat color options (either using SensaTec material or perforated leather) as well as the regular set of features, gadgets and ADAS systems we've come to expect on luxury vehicles. That includes a Bowers & Wilkins Diamond surround sound system, a panoramic "Sky Lounge" LED roof, adaptive LED headlights and myriad driver and traffic monitoring sensors, and something called BMW Natural Interaction, which allows you to control the infotainment system with verbal commands and hand gestures.
Pricing for the M60 will start at $106,095 when the orders begin this June. BMW's keynote is scheduled for 11am PT on Wednesday, January 5th so stay tuned for more breaking news about the iX M60 and the rest of BMW's CES lineup.
Qualcomm believes it can widen the field for semi-autonomous driving features, and it's launching a new platform to make that happen. The company has unveiled a Snapdragon Ride Vision platform that combines a 4-nanometer system-on-chip with Arriver's computer vision software to give automakers an "open, scalable and modular" way to build Level 2 driver assists and Level 3 partial autonomy into their cars.
Snapdragon Ride Vision can help cars detect road geometry, pedestrians and other cars using 8MP wide-angle cameras. It can also handle driver monitoring (to keep your hands or eyes focused on driving) and perception for near-field parking cameras. More importantly, the system is flexible — car designers can customize it to fit new vehicles and update features over the air.
The platform won't be ready for vehicle production until 2024. That's a long time to wait, particularly when Intel's Mobileye and NVIDIA are teasing chips capable of full self-driving. Still, Qualcomm might have an edge simply by making automated driving features more accessible. Snapdragon Ride Vision works with "virtually all" car price ranges and categories, Qualcomm said — this could be key to semi-autonomy in cars where the tech was previously impractical.
Follow all of the latest news from CES 2022 right here!
Self-driving car technology is currently limited to test programs and specialized vehicles, but Mobileye thinks it can play a key role in making driverless vehicles you can actually buy. The Intel-owned company has unveiled an EyeQ Ultra system-on-chip designed with consumer self-driving cars in mind. The SoC can juggle all the computing needs of Level 4 autonomy (full self-driving in most conditions), but it's reportedly the world's "leanest" such chip — car brands won't need to use more complex, power-hungry parts that could hike costs or hurt battery life.
The EyeQ Ultra is built on a more efficient 5-nanometer process, but the architecture is the key. Mobileye's design revolves around four task-specific accelerators tied to extra CPU cores, graphics cores and image processors. The result can process input from cameras, LiDAR, radar and the car's central computing system while handling 'just' 176 trillion operations per second. For context, NVIDIA's Drive Atlan is expected to manage 1,000 trillion operations.
Mobileye, an Intel company
You'll have to wait a while to see the chip in action. Mobileye doesn't expect the first working EyeQ Ultra chips until late 2023, and you won't see full production until 2025. That's roughly in sync with numerous automakers' self-driving vehicle plans, however, and could help the company fight NVIDIA's offering. It's not clear that you'll get to 'drive' a Level 4 car in three years, but that's no longer as far-fetched a concept as it once seemed.
Follow all of the latest news from CES 2022 right here!
Despite Tesla's ambitious claims of its vehicles' Full Self-Driving capabilities, today's autonomous navigation technology generally tops out at Level 2. More advanced self-driving systems are in development but likely still years away from being safe and cost-effective enough for everyday use. Seoul Robotics, however, has developed a mesh network that reportedly imparts Level 5 autonomy to vehicle fleets, if only for the "last mile."
The company's Level 5 Control Tower system sidesteps some technical challenges of self-driving technology by embedding sensors in the surrounding infrastructure — traffic lights, nearby buildings, freeway overpasses, etc — rather than on the vehicles themselves. Instead of each vehicle looking out for itself and responding autonomously to surrounding traffic, the Level 5 Control Tower uses its meshed sensor network to collect data on the overall traffic situation and automate vehicles in the area accordingly, using V2X communications and 4/5G radios.
Seoul Robotics
“Ultimately, these systems will be deployed in additional public and business settings, powering aspects of our everyday lives, such as autonomously navigated parking and public transit," HanBin Lee, CEO of Seoul Robotics, said in a prepared statement Tuesday. Eventually the technology could find its way to a number of commercial applications from vehicle distribution centers to car rental lots.
BMW is currently trialling the system to manage fleet logistics at its manufacturing facility in Munich. That system utilizes Seoul Robotics' SENSR software and a network of hundreds of LiDAR sensors embedded around the facility to autonomously move newly-constructed vehicles across the factory floor. Because the system has vantage points from virtually every angle, rather than the half dozen or so sensors on the vehicle itself, Control Tower can easily guide individual vehicles around blind spots and through cross traffic — even while simultaneously "driving" hundreds of other automotive drones.
Ford is making new efforts to double production capacity of the F-150 Lightning electric pickup to 150,000 vehicles per year, the company announced. That follows news from December that it capped pre-orders at 200,000 units, with CEO Jim Farley saying "we are completely oversubscribed with our battery electric vehicles." In addition, the company will start inviting the first group of reservation holders to place orders for the F-150 Lightning starting on Thursday, January 6th.
To boost production, Ford said it created a small task force of employees from "manufacturing, purchasing, strategy, product development, and capacity planning" to find ways to accelerate production. It's also working with key suppliers "to find ways to increase capacity of electric vehicle parts, including battery cells, battery trays and electric drive systems," the company said in a press release.
The company noted that the F-150 Lightning is now in the the final pre-build phase before moving into mass production for retail and commercial customers, with deliveries starting this spring. The aim is to test production vehicles over a million miles or so in real-world customer conditions.
Ford
On the order side, Ford said it's using a wave-by-wave reservation process, asking pre-order holders to watch for an invitation via email or check their Ford.com account. The automaker indicated that later pre-order holders might have to wait for vehicles from the following model year. (Ford also noted that over 75 percent of reservation holders were new to the brand.)
Deliveries of the 2022 F-150 Lightning pickup will begin in spring of 2022 with a starting MSRP of $39,974 before any available tax incentives. However, some reports indicate that some dealers may be dinging customers up to $30,000 extra to be among the first to receive their vehicles.
Ford recently announced that it would triple production of the Mustang Mach-E to reach 200,000 units per year by 2023, with plans to have the "global capacity to produce 600,000 BEVs annually." To do that, it's building what it calls its "most advanced, most efficient auto production facility in its 118-year history in Tennessee," along with three battery plants built in collaboration with SK Innovation. All of that represents a total $11.4 billion investment with 11,000 new jobs created.
The F-150 Lightning is eligible for a full $7,500 US BEV tax credit as of today (along with any state subsidies), but Ford is expected to hit its 200,000 vehicle eligibility limit later this year. At that point, the credit will gradually be phased out unless new legislation is passed that would change the rules.
Tesla's sales success in 2021 continued right to the very end of the year. The company has revealed that it delivered 936,172 electric cars in 2021, about 308,600 of them in the fourth quarter. While that isn't the magic 1 million figure the company might have hoped for, it's close — and nearly double the 499,550 Tesla handed to customers in 2020.
The year gone by wasn't stellar for the Model S and Model X. Deliveries of those higher-end vehicles dropped by more than half in 2021, from 57,039 cars to 24,964. That wasn't a complete shock, though, as many customers wanted to (or had to) wait for S and X revamps that weren't slated to ship until spring, including the high-performance Plaid variants.
The delivery numbers are significant given chip shortages that have plagued the automotive industry and even led Tesla to ship some cars without USB ports. The company is also poised to keep growing between the planned Cybertruck launch in 2022 and new factories in the Austin and the Berlin areas.
This trajectory isn't guaranteed, however. Tesla had a mixed 2021 that included product delays (including the Cybertruck and Semi), gradual price hikes and a string of recalls, including one in December that targeted half a million vehicles with camera and trunk flaws. There are concerns Tesla's growing reputation for build quality issues could weigh the company down. That's also excluding competitive threats — Tesla will have to fend off Ford's F-150 Lightning, the Cadillac Lyriq, the Mercedes EQA and other EVs from big-name rivals. Elon Musk's outfit is in a good position given its existing performance, but the market could change quickly.
Every car is the result of a long development process in which automakers build many pre-production vehicles that never see the light of day. Rather than scrapping one of its Ioniq 5 test vehicles entirely, Hyundai repurposed the car's parts to make an air purifier.
According to a YouTube video description, the model "went through numerous tests to ensure our safety." The video notes that, over the course of a year, the vehicle was used to test the likes of the Acoustic Vehicle Alerting System, pass-by noise regulation and wind tunnel noise.
The video shows Hyundai engineers stripping the Ioniq 5 to its bones, then designing a completely different product using the components. Among other parts, they used the cooling fan, door panels, LED tail lamp, infotainment unit and, of course, the filter unit. The engineers put a 20-inch alloy wheel on the top of the case (so the purifier is probably pretty large), while the car's emblem adds some professional branding.
Although many car parts are already recyclable, including batteries, this is a neat experiment. It suggests there are other sustainable ways to repurpose a car that's otherwise outlived its usefulness. Meanwhile, Hyundai started deliveries of the Ioniq 5 in the US this month.
