One of the hardest things to figure out is something called “unprotected left turns,” or left turns when navigating oncoming traffic.

A McKinsey & Co. report states the industry has currently invested over $100bn in R&D for self-driving technology.

“You’d be hard-pressed to find another industry that’s invested so many dollars in R&D and that has delivered so little,” Anthony Levandowski says in an interview. “Forget about profits—what’s the combined revenue of all the robo-taxi, robo-truck, robo-whatever companies? Is it a million dollars? Maybe. I think it’s more like zero.”

“[C]ars and trucks climbed from an average of 3,200 pounds (1,451 kilos) to 4,200 pounds over the last four decades, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.”

Currently, less than 1% of vehicles on US roads are EVs, but with aggressive sales targets, it will be harder for transporters to meet highway weight requirements.

“‘The truth is we will not be able to move as many electric vehicles under the current weight limit. That could mean more trucks on the road, delays in orders and increased costs,’ said Sarah Amico, executive chairman of Jack Cooper, among the largest car haulers in North America.”

Transporters are asking for an additional 10% weight limit, giving them the ability to carry the same number of vehicles, if they are all EVs

Largest private investment in NY history, up to 100B to build a mega complex in Syracuse’s northern suburbs

Micron would build up to four separate semiconductor fabrication plants in phases at the 1,300-acre site off Route 31, Micron President and CEO Sanjay Mehrotra told syracuse.com

It will be the 8th largest site in the US. 

The US accounts for less than 12% of global chip production

Twitter shares jumped 12.7% to $47.93 before trading was halted for the second time, while Tesla shares rose by about 2.4%.

Deal is supposed to close at the originally agreed upon $54.20 price

Twitter employees, caught by surprise in the middle of meetings on Tuesday, expressed disbelief in tweets. "I am sitting on 2023 company wide strategy readouts and I guess we are going to collectively ignore what's going on," wrote Rumman Chowdhury, Twitter's director of machine learning ethics, transparency and accountability.

Take away: Anyone want to guess what impact brand has on value?

“Dan’s proven track record of building and maintaining top-talent culture at Salesforce is truly impressive and unique in any size of engineering organization,” said Andy Park, CEO and Founder of CarNow. “His experience combined with our organizational growth tees up an exciting next chapter at CarNow as a technology leader.”

Jemiolo led the team responsible for integrating Slack into Salesforce following the acquisition

Take away: We are seeing more and more enterprise tech enter and be connected to auto, both the tech and the people.

Matter is a protocol to connect compatible devices and systems with one another. Smart home devices should be secure, reliable, and seamless to use. And with Matter, they are.

Layman's terms: the smart home industry just agreed on a data centricity

The first rollout also includes Matter controllers and bridges. These are devices that already connect and communicate with other devices in the smart home ecosystem.

Take away: Sounds a bit familiar with what auto data sources are trying to figure out. Maybe another industry we can look to for guidance.

More stores opened last year than closed for the first time since 1995 and analysts at Morgan Stanley expect the trend to continue even in the face of a looming recession

This is a result of a major pull back in new retail space construction due to the digital revolution, now the table is leveling

Brookfield Property Group, one of the biggest mall owners, said that spending at its 132 U.S. malls is 31% above pre-pandemic levels

The U.S. now has nearly 22 square feet of retail real estate per person, more than any other country and more than double the per-capita square footage of France and the U.K.—and nearly eight times China’s rate

This is a hugely profitable segment. According to Automotive News, “Ford Motor Co. says it gets more revenue from Super Duty sales alone than Southwest Airlines, Marriott International and many other Fortune 500 companies generate.”

Ford, Chevy, and Dodge all have new technology rolling out in their biggest baddest trucks over the next year with everything from more powerful engines,  built-in 5G for over the air updates, and back up cameras that work with the tailgate down

These are the true “work trucks” which are used in construction, mining, emergency and utility work and there isn’t much interest in EV technology due to demanding conditions and reliability for such heavy use

During a media reveal of their new Super Duty line at Churchill Downs, Ford CEO Jim Farley said, "If you're pulling 10,000 pounds, an electric truck is not the right solution. And 95 percent of our customers tow more than 10,000 pounds… This is a really important segment for our country and it will probably go hydrogen fuel cell before it goes pure electric."

Revenue of $8.1 billion was up 2% over YoY but below the analyst estimate of $8.5 billion. Earnings per share were $0.79, down from $1.72 a year ago.

CarMax shares down 49% year to date

CEO William Nash said, "Macro factors, including vehicle affordability that stem from persistent and broad inflation, climbing interest rates, and low consumer confidence, all led to a marketwide decline in used auto sales." 

"Obviously, consumers are having to make decisions ... I just think they are prioritizing their spend a little differently," Chief Executive Officer William Nash told analysts

Carmax has gained market share over competitors such as Carvana

Shares of GM and Ford were down about 5% in morning trade, while AutoNation Inc , Lithia & Driveway and Group 1 Automotive fell between 7% and 10%.

A new Cheetah Digital survey across  5,404 consumers across Australia, France, Japan, Spain, U.K., Ireland and the U.S. ”finds targeted ads and personalized emails make consumers feel “creepy,” but more so with Boomers than younger generations. In comparison to a 2021 survey, more members of younger generations also found such mark

After a broad study of data from the last year, Toyota said that Dealers selling vehicles over MSRP have doubled their profits, but lost market share

Dealers who sold at or under MSRP have TRIPLED profits and gained 16% market share collectively

Akido Toyoda also made it very clear that the company will not be pursuing any future that doesn’t involve their Dealer network as the primary method of selling and servicing of their vehicles which was met by a rousing round of applause from Dealers

In a press conference following the meetings, Mr. Toyoda said not only is California’s goal of 100% EVs by 2035 not realistic, but added that meeting the 50% mark by 2030 would be ‘very difficult.’ 

Electric vehicles “are just going to take longer than the media would like us to believe,” Toyoda told the dealers during their meeting. He vowed to offer the “widest possible” array of powertrains to propel cars cleanly. “That’s our strategy and we’re sticking to it."

68% EV or Hybrids by 2030. By 2035 only allows 20% to be plug in Hybrids

Hochul said in a statement that she has directed a state environmental agency to propose and finalize rules adopting California's plan setting yearly rising zero-emission vehicle rules starting in 2026 that phases out gasoline-only new car sales by 2035.

There will be a public hearing before rules are finalized

Consumer Sentiment had been improving until last week

Fastest and largest increases in interest rates since 1981 resulting in affordability crisis

Dealer sentiment is down after remaining steady most of the year citing declining profits and increased pressure to lower prices

Used cars showing relative strength

Wholesale to retail gap is increasing

Inventory on ground increasing quickly among 35k+ vehicles

Used monthly payments +42% from Sept $387 to $551 with $567 projected by Dec

Kia, Honda, Toyota continue to have extremely tight supplies

Puts Porsche’s valuation very close to the total market cap of VW Group which owns VW, Audi, and several other brands

The funding will provide a boost to the company’s electrification plans and proves the brands loyal following with such a strong showing in overall challenging market conditions

Yielding $1.77B in cash, Harley Davidson has retained 74% ownership in the brand

LiveWire currently produces 2 motorcycles at a starting price of $16,999

As designed, the 125-pound, battery-powered, human-size robot will move with the aid of 40 mechanical actuators, including 12 in its hands for "human-level" functioning. It'll lift 150 pounds and perceive the world using eight cameras. Tesla's design showed it using the same computer that controls Tesla's cars.

Tesla will also be featuring updates to its FSD capabilities and live streaming the entire event on its YouTube page

Walmart Land and Walmart’s Universe of Play are the retailer’s first attempts to connect visitors with virtual merchandise (AKA verch) that have real life matches on walmart.com and in the chain’s stores.

While no real money will be changing hands, users can earn coins to exchange for toys and other items, have a dance challenge, and engage in a Stranger Things trivia experience.  Look out for the overhead blimp that randomly drops toys.

NFT Trading volume is way down YoY. Bloomberg first reported on data hosted on Dune Analytics that showed trading volume for NFTs has gone from $17 billion to just $466 million from Januar

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Most other Auto Dealers are heeding evacuation warnings as they prepare for potential power outages and property damage.

Clearing drains, moving inventory to high ground, preparing large backup generators to reopen stores in the event of power outages

First major hurricane since 1912. Then the population was 130k, today it’s over 3.2M

Over 2M people on evacuation orders

Tampa Airport is fully closed

Disney is closed

Brian Kramer is at the Ritz

Participants who already own an EV, EV intenders and younger buyers are more likely to prefer purchasing directly from an automaker. However, a majority of each group still prefers buying from a dealership

The 2022 EVForward Dealer DeepDive is conducted as a part of advisory firm Escalent, works to capture the attitudes, behaviors and opinions of the next generation of EV buyers.

Shoppers overwhelmingly want a combination of an online and in-person sales process

On-line features must included good information about the vehicle, options to arrange financing and scheduling a test drive

Regarding service, “"People are much more comfortable taking their vehicle to a dealer than they are, for instance, having a mobile service unit coming out and doing it in their driveway or garage," said K.C. Boyce, Escalent's vice president of powertrain innovation and energy transformation

‘Most people don’t realize that Tesla runs its own vertically-integrated, nationwide online used car retailer. It’s as big as some publicly traded used car retailers you’ve definitely heard of, despite no Super Bowl commercials or wacky waving inflatable arm flailing tube men.’

More attention was drawn to this from a recent job post by Manager of Used Cars, Alex Liebl for an Associate manager for the Used Car Quality team

You can visit Tesla’s Used Car Ordering page FAQ page to browse inventory, view the NF prices, warranty, shipping cost, and estimated delivery dates, and you can also get a price on your trade

145 point inspection and used car warranty 1 yr/10k miles in addition to any remaining balance on new car warranty

All photos are stock, no condition reports other than accident verification

Will take place in Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas in 2023 and will feature players in a variety of skills challenges (both football and not) culminating in a flag football game on Feb 5th

Peyton Mannings, Omaha Productions will be partnering with the league on the event and Manning will play a role in coaching the flag football event

The NFL

Danish fund AkademikerPension, which manages around $19 billion on behalf of academic institutions and school employees, has battled with Toyota for almost two years over what it sees as the auto maker’s opposition to measures promoting EV adoption… saying EV skepticism was “jeopardizing Toyota’s valuable brand to the detriment of shareholder interests.”

Akido Toyoda, Toyota’s chief, is a prominent voice of caution about EVs and questioned whether the vehicles are as environmentally friendly as advertised and expressed doubt that consumers really want them

Although the company isn’t talking openly about it, sources confirmed with the Wall Street Journal that it is a lack of Ford’s iconic blue oval badges and nameplates which specify the models which are causing a large portion of the holdup

The company has considered options such as 3D printing the badges only to hold back over quality concerns

The shortage is linked Tribar Manufacturing, a company in the Detroit suburb of Wixom who has a large a-list of auto manufacturer clients and had a recent high-profile shutdown over concerns that they released high amounts of toxic chemicals into local waterways

Last week we reported Walmart’s rolling out of its “no concerns” return options starting on October 1st. Now…

In an announcement, Target said they are kicking off its holiday season push with its biggest ever “Deal Days” promotion from Thurs, October 6 to October 8 where the retailer will offer “hundreds of thousands of incredible deals” and will price match everything they offer through December 24

Target announced weeks ago that it would be hiring 100k seasonal workers to stock shelves, pick online orders, and keep the stores in order throughout the season. 

Target currently fulfills 95% of all its online orders. 

Long time product and purchasing chier, Hau Thai-Tang, was a part of the announcement as CFO John Lawler will oversee a remake of Ford’s global supply chain operations until a replacement is found

Doug Field, who was chief advanced technology and embedded systems officer, becomes chief advanced product development and technology officer. In addition to his current duties overseeing EVs and software, he'll now be in charge of design and vehicle hardware engineering.

From outside the industry, former VP and Global head of software at HP, Roz Ho will be Ford’s Chief Connected Vehicle Software officer

Rob Bedicheck who comes from a background including Apple and Intel will be the Executive Director of Platform Architecture 

Ford CEO Jim Farley said "Developing and scaling the next generation of electric and software-defined vehicles requires a different focus and mix of talent from the accomplished Ford team and many exciting new colleagues joining our company."

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration stated that the recalled vehicles’ window automatic reversal system did not meet the standards of federal motor vehicle safety.

The NHTSA said a closing window without the proper automatic reversing system may exert excessive force by pinching a driver or passenger before retracting

Tesla quickly corrected the issue via an over the air software update

CEO Elon Musk tweeted, "The terminology is outdated & inaccurate. This is a tiny over-the-air software update. To the best of our knowledge, there have been no injuries," he said.

These include an extended return window for early shoppers. Purchases from Oct 1 will be eligible for return through January 31st 2023

Walmart+ customers will enjoy both curbside returns to compliment curbside pick up AND the company will even pick up returns at customers homes. 

Walmart also announced they will be adding 40k seasonal and full time jobs