In this Jan. 16, 2019, file photo, Cruise AV, General Motors autonomous electric Bolt EV is displayed in Detroit.Paul Sancya / AP If GM has its way, it will be setting loose onto the roads of North America up to 2,500 driverless taxis a year. The vehicles would be requested by users with smartphones, and then commanded with touch screens inside once it arrives. What they wouldn’t be able to do, however, is be driven by a human in the traditional manner. But despite requests to put out its first fleet of publicly available self-drivers sans manual controls this year, a GM executive in charge of the autonomous division says the upcoming fourth-gen Cruise AV will “most likely” feature manual controls, meaning a human could grab the literal wheel, step on the pedals and pilot the vehicle using traditional methods if need be. The comments first highlighted by Automotive News suggest that, due to the U.S. government’s hesitation to hand out exemptions for vehicles that don’t meet the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards’ idea of a safe vehicle, GM’s upcoming initial wave of public-serving, self-driving cars will include such manual controls. Until we have exemptions, which we filed a petition for, and/or law changes, we probably wouldn’t go forward with Gen 4, Doug Parks, GM vice president of autonomous and electric vehicle programs, said during a recent conference in California. But we think it’s really something we’ve got to talk about, we’ve got to work on. The third-generation Cruise AV, which is currently being tested in San Francisco, includes manual controls as well as “safety driver” there to take over for the autonomous system should an issue arise. Would you feel comfortable in a self-driving car with no steering wheel or pedals? Or would you prefer to know that an actual foot on an actual brake could still bring the vehicle to a halt?
Origin: GM’s first public autonomous cars will probably have manual controls
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Mexican tariffs will probably impact car costs in Canada
2019 Honda FitHandout / Honda Rhetoric south of the border about tariffs on Mexican imports continues apace. Current plans call for a five-per-cent tariff to be slapped on all goods entering America from Mexico, including cars and trucks. Furthermore, top brass say they want to increase the levy by a further five per cent each month, topping out at 25 per cent in October. What does this have to do with us in Canada? Plenty, according to the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association. They represent Honda, Toyota, Mazda, Nissan, Subaru and Mitsu, plus the luxury brands of those automakers. And they warn that small cars like the Fit and Yaris could be affected by the tariffs. According to a spokesperson for the association, in a conversation with Automotive News Canada, tariffs can impact Mexican-made cars heading to Canada a couple of different ways. In one case, vehicles could be shipped to Japanese subsidiaries in the U.S. and then re-sold to Japanese automakers in Canada. Otherwise, they’d be shipped through America into our country directly. Either way they get here, one thing’s easy to understand: the tariff cost will almost surely be passed on to consumers. While it’s likely the tariff will be applied to some other calculated number rather than the final MSRP, it could still make for an unpleasant price hike. Adding 25 per cent to the sticker of a base Honda Fit, for example, would add about $4,000 to its $15,590 asking price. A good many light trucks are also assembled in Mexico, vehicles which bear a much higher cost than the Fit. Tacking a 25 per cent surcharge onto a $50,000 pickup jacks the sticker to $62,500. Again, we know these tariffs, should they come into effect, will likely not go right on top of the MSRP. Still, these examples make the stark point that many vehicles could become a heckuva lot more expensive – and that car buying activity will probably stall – until cooler heads
Origin: Mexican tariffs will probably impact car costs in Canada
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