He Invented The EV Skateboard. Now What's He Up To? - AAH 682
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ก.ย. 2024
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Larry Burns was the head of R&D at General Motors when he created the AUTOnomy concept car with its skateboard chassis. Larry and his team did a brilliant job of integrating the propulsion, suspension, braking and steering into the chassis, and the skateboard was born. He also led groundbreaking work in autonomy and fuel cells. Now we get to hear his latest ideas of where the auto industry needs to go.
PANEL:
Larry Burns, Adviser, Author, Speaker
Frank Markus, Motor Trend
Gary Vasilash, shinymetalboxes.net
John McElroy, Autoline.tv
INSTAGRAM: / autolinenetwork
TWITTER: / autoline
FACEBOOK: / autolinenetwork
WEBSITE: www.autoline.tv
Quite possibly the smartest, best mannered, and easiest to follow in long logical explanations with so many good source reference and such great depth of knowledge.
How did this guy talk for 10 minutes about autonomy and managed to say Mary Barra, GM, and Waymo….. but not say Tesla 😂
10 minutes? He went on forever.
@@lighthousesaunders7242 Mary is the leader of the EV industry. Joe Biden said so.
He is saying as “part or the future” what Elon said 10 years ago. Literally
Great video. Larry was ahead of his time. I recall seeing the skateboard at the NAICS. Amazed you covered these topics without mentioning the Elonphant in the room. Surely that was by design.
I'm using that, it's good... "Elonphant." That kills me
Owns 2 gas engine cars without autonomous, doesn’t mention the EV industry leader, high praises for Toyota’s hydrogen push, LiDAR & radar endorsement, remote control over neural networks/AI …. Hmmm 🤔
GM Super cruise is rudimentary. Tesla Version 12 is what will work. Stop shilling for GM
Excellent show! I’d love to spend an evening asking this guy questions and just listening to the answers. Try to get him back on more often!
This was my favorite After-Hours show to date. I was memorized for the entire show. Bring him back!
This one had me listening for the full hour, great guests this time! This will hold me over until next Thursday.
How hard he worked to not recognize that Tesla is already most of what he's hoping for and scheming of.
56:07 so why did GM stop producing the Volt?
Money and/or priorities. Cost to build Volt, as it was, either left too little margin for GMs business plan or the internal push to full electrification moved Volt aside for Bolt. Could Volt have been redesigned/improved to be lower cost using improved tech and materials?? The path GM took was full electrification instead.
It was a considered choice they made. Hindsight will never be worse than 20/20.
@@daves1646 "You did it, Mary!" Snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Bought crappy batteries from LG and killed the electric car the second time. Then when sales started upward, killed the Bolt. Big bonus for you.
@@jamesvandamme7786 Hindsight will always be 20/20. It doesn’t excuse poor judgement. It just shows the short-term profit ethic of management and marketing in 2019. Unfortunately (for GM), it looks like hasn’t changed, AND they decide LATE AGAIN to restart doing what they should have never stopped.
Now, will they redesign Volt before bringing it back? Oh, I know, they’ll put an Ultium chassis under it. That will make it GRATE.
Excellent interview, very impressive - Larry is brilliant, optimistic, and makes things understandable even for us smaller brained folks. Gave me some new ideas/issues to think about and how we go about solving them. Was pretty much in agreement until his hydrogen spiel.. I need more credible info to be convinced - my take is the difficult nature of hydrogen in all phases (production,storage,distribution,operation) will ultimately doom it for any kind of widely used terrestrial transportation or stored energy solutions. Happy to be shown otherwise though.
Brilliant people need to think dumb. They think like they are solving their own problems. How are they solving it for low income people in impoverished countries that they have never visited?
It certainly seemed more viable at the time the concept was created however now it would be 100% electric, and perhaps it should. To me this is the direction GM should be moving towards... Universal electric skateboard platforms with snap on customizable and interchangeable bodies... Much like the slightly older but just as cool GM Ultralite from the 1990's was designed to use plug and play powertrains that could be swapped in minutes between electric, gasoline, propane, diesel, natural gas, hydrogen, etc.
But waiting for Amazon to deliver me a hydrogen cartridge vs me plugging in at home? It's a no brainer... Electric all the way even if it's by 110 trickle charge over night... Or god forbid, installing a 220 L2 charger like an extra dryer or stove.. Not that big a deal!
@@stickynorth GM seems unable to incorporate the ground breaking stuff they've developed over the years until someone else makes it mainstream... it's an aversion to taking risks. The problem with a multi-drivetrain solution is you can't optimize for a specific type so potentially lose a lot of efficiency. This seems like the antithesis of first principles thinking.
@@stickynorth he was at GM. Hydrogen fuel cell work for last two decades. Then they tell their dealers thst hydrogen is the future. So, he is on that bandwagon. He isn’t too far off from the nutty future musk tries to sell us.
Great show. First time I watched the whole thing without hitting the pause button. Waited for mentions of drones, Tesla, and Aptera.
Did the book Atuonomy givve credit to Tony Seba and his in-depth RethinkX analysis on autonomy???
The electric grid needs improvement for sure. It hasn’t kept up with the needs of technology. At the same time home solar is really picking up as well as home batteries. These take a significant load off of the grid and actually stabilize it.
To me the this is a lot like bottled water. We are constantly told to buy water that we can get from our taps for almost free.
58:00 So Larry is proposing that we create hydrogen using electricity and have it delivered by Amazon to have decentralized power?
There's electricity in every garage and streetlight, it does not get any more decentralized than that. Oh, and it costs 10 times less per mile.
Hydrogen has no place in cars.
CATL made a skateboard called the CILC that they will sell to automakers, starting this year with Neta.
This guy is smarter than I am Tesla Muskegon, Michigan, June 15th weekend. The Highlander would be honored to meet this gentleman.😊
Really interesting discussion and well chosen guest.
Yes “the narrative on Electric cars has definitely changed” … because the competition against Tesla, wasn’t and still isn’t coming. That’s because EVs need the unique Ecosystem that only Tesla, like Apple, has. Any OEM that doesn’t license FSD and 48V from Tesla because “its not invented here” is in for a rude awakening. Within a few years it will be too late because it would take about four years to implement. Vs 10 years if they try for themselves.
48V has been talked about for years but nobody had the chutzpah to just go do it.
People didn’t walk away from 60 mph crashes 60-70 years ago, now a Tesla can go over a 300’ cliff and everyone survives.
Who is he?
I'm Amazed❤😊
How about Aptera wheel motors :-)
Hydrogen is dead for personal transport. Why would I want Amazon to delivery me a fuel source (not an energy source) when I already have solar and an electric grid (actual energy source) attached to my home/apartment/workplace?
I don't think they've miniaturized hydrogen electrolyzers yet.
The questions is not the cost of improving the electrical grid, its the cost of hydrogen and using new tech to get it into a cartridge. Don't forget we are probably past the point of meeting the needed CO2 levels, so if we go this route we are probably jsut going to have to deal with high temperatures. I do agree if we could get all non CO2 producing products to market we could make it, but we are well past the point and should have started when he has his initial ideas back in 2002.
If it takes twice the electricity to make H2, batteries will always use less energy and will be cheaper. Maybe they can build a pipeline to the sun.
Coming up with a basic idea that any normal person can think of , such as a skateboard platfrom, a tooth brush , or a bin for garbage, can hardly be considered as an invention. Too many patent-trolls were given credits that were not deserved.
What happens when people are blasted by hundreds of auto radar systems that are aging and putting out harsh radiation ? Pregnant women and children must wear lead suits to be outside? We don’t understand the dangers of technology. Look at our health declining and cancer rising these days. 😢❤
I always thought the GM Hywire/Sequel concept platform was one of the best ideas GM never put into production along with the Lean Machine and the Ultralite... Now? All three would probably be electrified and built by any number of automakers... Or least one would hope! Plus let's face it, almost everyone but ESPECIALLY Tesla has implement most of these concepts... Drive by wire, skateboard chassis with multiple bodies on the same platform, etc. 100% genius!
He works for the competition making radars
👍
Government's role in eliminating large vehicles is not, necessarily, to tax mass and speed. CAFE becomes meaningless with a shift to EVs. Fuel taxes decrease with a shift to EVs. Road maintenance and construction must still be funded, so government must raise revenue based on the two factors causing damage, weight and mileage. A VMT tax (x cents per mile/ km) times a number based on vehicle axle weight (q.v. Fourth Power Law) will do wonders. Curb and GVWR are both published, so an annual odometer check is all that's required.
Kentucky recently passed legislation to add more tax to EV charging and increase the registration cost on EVs.
@@bobbybishop5662 Since c. 80% of EV charging is done at home, and perhaps another 10% at work or unmetered destination chargers, Kentucky hopes to do a 1:1 replacement of lost tax revenues with 10% of the contributions. It's unworkable.
@@martshearer498 I thought it was weird it was Kentucky , not exactly a hot bed for EVs.
Skateboard similarity maybe at first glance but more like a brick design.
Just call pete gruberand say the highlander😊
Literally never mentioned Tesla.
I saw John’s face thinking about bringing Tesla up a few times but knew better not to get into it and just let it go.
It’s fascinating. Let’s see, who has the best selling car in the world that happens to be electric, the lowest cost and most profitable electric, with the most advanced ADAS system based on video AI (that’s not geo fenced), unboxed vehicle build process, best connected OTA software based car, etc, etc. And literally never mentioned Tesla that proved out all his 30!year old concepts. But GM was mentioned several times and they literally haven’t successfully commercialized any of it. It’s actually delusional.
GM and former GM folks hate Tesla more than most because they took GMs EV idea and made it profitable. The EV1 from GM was ahead of its time and GM killed it.
Yea, they must have talked before the show and said "no T word". I read his book on Audible... it was OK... There are a lot of people trying to protect the old guard with talks of hybrids and hydrogen still, and its super sad they dont see what's coming.
Exactly. "If I bend down while I talk to you I can just manage to talk right under the belly of the Tesla elephant in the room."
Unreal.
@@TheLastMoccasin well done for reading his book. Listening to his Tesla avoiding conversation makes me certain I couldn't finish any of his books.
@@lighthousesaunders7242 Now I need to go back and see if he was like that in the book haha! He might actually be increasing his avoidance over time.
Amazing that Tesla wasn't brought up once. They're the gorilla in the room.
It’s amazing that he is describing what Tesla is doing now, as if it’s something that’s going to be done in the future and no one is mentioning that.
😂😂 I was thinking the same thing
"In the future...After you arrive you can then use your ADAS as a security system" 😂 You mean Sentry Mode?
A system that determines when the auto should stop using vision, not lidar... 😂
How hard he worked to not recognize how Tesla is already most of what he's hoping and scheming of.
However, he did mention Mary. Apparently she is leading the way!@@lighthousesaunders7242
He lost me at H\hydrogen for consumer vehicles. Really? Not...
Whenever someone starts talking about hydrogen, it really brings into question their science literacy. How can someone be competent enough to design a car, and then think hydrogen has a meaningful future in the automotive industry.
@@ultrastoat3298
Many of them talk about hydrogen and fuel cells because they are wedded to the fossil fuels industry. Much of the debate that goes on does not involve honest brokers. It involves people trying desperately trying to prop up the fossil fuels industry. Example 1 - hybrids.
@@moebees3060 absolutely. Any hydrogen economy will only be even fathomable via continued fossil fuel extraction and burning. The economics of blue hydrogen will never match that of traditional ways of extracting hydrogen from methane steam reformation. In generally I don’t even mention this fact because even this can’t compete with the economics of BEV.
The wealthy don’t care if fuel cost 5 times more and dream hydrogen as it creates water when used ❤😂 .. But also batteries were once too pricey. Can the costs come down for hydrogen ? Yes it’s less efficient now but what if SOMEHOW it could be cheaper and lighter than super cheap batteries, as a hydrogen system doesn’t need huge weighty batteries. Is it scientifically impossible? Changes came to batteries, why not to ‘fool cells’ ? Some unknown breakthrough is impossible ? Yes right now with our technology as it is hydrogen is a waste of time and $ for most used, but so were batteries before Tesla proved them useful.
We so like to think in linear terms. Well technically doesn't do that; we've seen, on average, 15 years wiping things linear off the consumer mapping ie landlines to cell phones, cameras to...cellular phones as examples. Electric cars (2012) started the transition of which we are speaking. I believe Futurist Tony Seba on history of Disruptions
burns makes the case for hydrogen about as well as it can be made. Still not well enough IMO.
The problem that they don't want to discuss is the fact that hydrogen prefers to violently explode, instead of just burning like gasoline and diesel do.
@@mikedx2706 It's hard to discuss that issue without the experience of a lot of serious accidents, which we're fortunate not to have too many of. Comparing hydrogen to gasoline, one can be worse in some ways, not as bad in others. Hydrogen tends to go off with a big, quick bang, whereas gasoline can spread out along a flat surface, which then all catches fire. Hydrogen, being very light, rises quickly. That can be good or bad, depending on what you have above. It's the kind of thing that can be debated endlessly.
It may find a niche. Vehicles that need fast refueling to keep them on the road, planes, trains, buses. The economics are not good vs. putting the same electricity in a battery. Nuclear H2 production might work, someday.
But driving a car on a trip, you can fast charge in the time it takes to take a whiz if there's enough chargers. We also need apartment and curbside urban charging.
@@jamesvandamme7786 In a few years, I think we'll look back and wonder what all that fuss was about charging. You will find it hard to swing your arm around without hitting a charger. But for now, yes, it is kind of a mess.
@@ronaldgarrison8478 - Except for Superchargers. It will help once all the automakers dump the awful CCS (and related CCS broken chargers and poor networks) and go with NACS. That will get going mostly in 2025. Right now Tesla is the only comfortably usable EV for travel.
This guy is really fix on GM, he haven’t even mentioned Tesla…I know he’s an old GM engineer…WOW Larry
He didn't mention Ford Stellaris Nissan Honda bmw Mercedes either. We own a Model 3 and it's performed above and beyond our expectations. In spite of this we need additional brands and visions. Tesla has received tons of free marketing,I don't think they're concerned about folks that don't worship their company. Musk's original vision lined up nicely with this guy's vision.
That electrolysis hydrogen generator at Amazon will require three times as much energy from the grid than homeowners plugging their EV’s in and charging them overnight.
Did you hear what he said? They would generate it beside Solar Farms.
@@michaeloreilly657 Then compress it and throw away the heat, then ship it and store it. Nope.
One of the best after-hour show ever. Thank you.
His teleprompter has only 3 large words -
DON'T MENTION TESLA..
Hilarious how you're dancing around Tesla FSD
OK, I think I've figured it out. GM lives in an alternative universe where Tesla doesn't exist.
And, automotive reporters can only visit GM's universe if they agree not to mention the word Tesla.
UAW, Detroit, oil industry and Democrats all hate Tesla.
This is why GM are so far behind
Inflation is responsible for something approaching 20% of the increased cost of new cars. Comparing numbers from 20 or 25 years ago is irrelevant unless the effects of inflation are added to them to get to today's relative dollar value.
Why ruin a good story with facts? 😊
The rest of the increase is the OEMs refusing to build cheap no frills cars. The Chinese-Mexicans will own that market soon.
Yep. Inflation for a $20,000 car in 1994 would cost > $40,000 today.
Larry is smart and looks to the future but a future I don't want to live in for the most part. More government regulation and taxing or controlling top speed and mass. No vehicle ownership and autonomy instead of driving. It sounds more dystopian than utopian.
Where is the energy going to come from to make hydrogen much bigger electrical grids than going to almost all electric cars maybe 3X for hydrogen?
Solar, which could be going more directly to use as electricity, even with the use of batteries
White hydrogen. Oil companies can drill for it and distribute it. It is completely sustainable.
Hydrogen will never happen... It will be relegated to large industrial equipment, where logistics make more sense and minimal infrastructure will be needed.
There are few remaining hydrogen fill-up stations left. Most have closed.
By comparison, at least 20 EV fast charging stations with an avg of 10-12 ports are installed worldwide every single day.
The number of home, hotel, shopping mall, apartment building and other level 2 chargers every single day must be in the thousands, making all of these places refueling stations.
@@hoffinger More fossil fuel?
John, this is one of the most realistic speakers I've ever heard.
Pardon my ignorance; prices from 2000 need to be multiplied by 1.7 to account for inflation since then! 70%!!!!
We shouldn't let logic and facts stand in the way of a great story 😂
It would be interesting to hear a discussion between Larry and Elon and Sandy Munro. I'm sure they would have lots to talk about. Good show.
What an amazing visionary this guy is. Thanks so much for bringing him to us.
GM's got so little to show their ads don't even show their current cars. They show a 20-40yr old pickup and try to play on the nostalgia of their brand. It is sad.
I loved the show, Larry is really a forward thinking Individual. The hydrogen battery & Graphene is brilliant. We will not see it in my lifetime though there may come a day. I want a BEV like yesterday and put a reservation in for one that is very light, though not in production as yet.
I realize one section of Larry's discussion was centered on the tipping point principles. He did state transportation is only 15% of the overall climate change issue and others need to step forward. We just need to stay focused on the tipping point for climate change or there is no going back.
The Detroit 3 didn’t advertise because it only makes people buy Teslas.
Ride sharing is another reason we will never see peak auto numbers again. Autonomous driving will also reduce it.
Maybe we'll see ads at Super Bowl LX, if any of the Big 3 have decent EVs to sell. Or maybe they learned from Elon that you don't need to advertise. Or have dealers.
Tesla is already advertising .
Great show with a man that always has a vision looking into the future! Curious what he thinks about the Aptera.
Rural America would benefit the most from EV. We're in a Cleveland suburb. Went electric five years ago, would never go back. Wake-up to as many miles as you choose. Precondition car in closed garage. No oil brake transmission exhaust issues. Quiet comfortable easy.
I am 100% sure we will get to level 5, will it be another 10 years after level 4? That I don't know. Should u take a car in a snowstorm, generally not, but emergencies etc will occur and without question AI will drive through it better than a human in the future. Great discussion, thanks guys🎉🎉🎉
I have been watching your videos from the Uk for almost the entire history of the show. I think that this was the BEST and most thought provoking episode and I loved Larry’s first thinking principles….. what a refreshing approach with nothing sacrosanct and lots of thinking about for the future. Great show John and Gary!
agree to most of his takes with the exception of hydrogen fuel cells - first principles thinking would eliminate that as an option for light duty vehicles given the efficiencies and advantages of current battery tech. The pods concept sounds amazing but requires a societal shift in thinking which as he mentioned takes a lot of time. I'm guessing a few folks over at Tesla may have read one or more of his books.. their automatic driving vision and robotaxi seems to align quite well.
I too was impressed with the way Larry spoke of vehicle weight, cost and complexity. But when they got to the hydrogen discussion, first principles thinking went out the window and he started talking nonsense.
He said that the grid can't support EVs and we will need hydrogen, forgetting that it takes 3 times more electricity to make the hydrogen in the first place.
Pity the gentleman is so uninformed about the environmental cost of EVs and Hybrids. Studies show that hybrid owners are running their cars off the gas motor, not driving off the battery. Regarding his comment about the grid, EV owners charge their cars when the electricity demand is at its lowest, and draw no more than an electric range or electric heat pump providing heat for the home.
John Lithgow has officially lost his mind.
Another great video! I wonder how much money that GM could have saved if they started to mount the seats to the skateboard and then put a body on top of it? If they can produce a car with 15 less labor hours per car, what will the price drop be?
At 11:00 no mention of Aptera hub motors?
it’s always the old guys who have lived their lives trying to stop the younger adults from living theirs because now they want thing to slow down
We're at peak auto because of the coming FSD
Can Autoline dig up more fossils to listen to? Bob Lutz would be fun.
You might learn something if you listen youngster.
Apparently, he didn’t have much impact or influence while at GM. None of this made it to their product line approaching significance.
So, plug in Hybrid cause…Tesla hasn't built enough Super Chargers? Waiting until everything is perfect to make a move doesn’t sound like a winning strategy. Also, Why doesn’t anyone address the fact that all the products OEM’s have made suck? If it doesn’t Suck people will by it.
Hybrids make little sense. The worst of both worlds.
Larry says we need light weight, energy efficient, low cost vehicles, simpler designs, and he likes the idea of in wheel motors. Basically he's describing an Aptera.
Tesla is about to make your dream come true.
@@ultrastoat3298I love Tesla, but their repair costs are a problem. Aptera is thinking outside the box with its carbon fiber body, solar panels, and I especially love their right to repair mentality. Their entire focus is to be as energy efficient as absolutely possible. For commuting to work I'd never have to charge an Aptera, plus it just looks amazing and futuristic!
@@kevinmitchell3168 repair costs? What do you mean? Like repairing it after you crash it?
@@ultrastoat3298 Tesla has adopted the Apple repair philosophy. You break it, you're getting screwed.
@@ultrastoat3298Yes. Body repairs are expensive.
Women view Big cars is safe. It's that simple. The Highlander😊
Old folks like ease of egress of SUVs, and seeing the road ahead.
Holy s***, he's smarter than I am.
I enjoyed Larry's Autonomy book back in 2018. Might be worth cracking it open to see how it plays in today's world.
This program isn't doing so well with fact checking
For example?
You guys should talk about aptera
The reason so much interest is spent on metro areas because that is where many of the people in the suburbs work and dealing with traffic snarls. While working on line could help with traffic but now we are learning the down sides of not having employees at the work place. The biggest problem with income is the loss of jobs from automation. I helped automate 100 good office jobs out of existence and down graded 60 more to lower pay and benefits but a college degree was still required for a $16 an hour. The lack of Employment with good pay and benefits is going to have a major impact on what people can spend on transportation.
I agree with the need for a change on taxing vehicles based on weight and speed. Both of those add wear and tear to roads.
NOT peak auto price. Autos today, adjusted for inflation, are 30% less expensive than in 1957.
At what price point today ?
1957 average car prices: ~$2,000. Inflation-adjusted 2024 car ($48,000) to 1957 = $4,300. So today's cars are 2x price what they were in 1957.
@@AutolineDetroit Nice slam dunk. 🤣
I will turn 60 this year and I have driven small, efficient cars most of my adult life. My understanding is that the single largest factor in safety is mass. After witnessing a horrific multi-car pileup on I-95 south of DC I snapped and bought a Ford Expedition. Now I can tow, transport grandkids, etc. The vehicle is ridiculous compared to my grandfather's Ford Country Squire, but large wagons were regulated out of existence. Kinetic energy is already taxed in as much as fuel costs money. If you want to tax mass, then the implication is that only those that pay can have the safest vehicles. I don't see that as a politically tenable position. And the further you push in that direction, the greater the need to separate freight vehicles from passenger vehicles (not going to happen). Autonomy is definitely part of the answer.
Missing from the discussion: ADD drones to delivery. In China, SF uses drones for small package delivery in low density rural areas. On the input side, package in a size/weight range comparable with short haul delivery drones are pre-identified/sorted, then, after shipment to local centers the drone packages are delivered while large/heavy go by truck or e-scooter. bonus is that, since the drones are parked for a significant period each day, they return to base & dock, while solar PV panels generate the power to recharge the base-station (which charges the drones).
No matter how convenient you make hydrogen it's still the old "sell you some kind of fuel" trick. Consumers know about consumables after printer ink, frig water filters, etc. The cost is ALWAYS more than expected and in some cases just finding it when you need it is difficult. Electricity is used for all other things and made in great quantity and available almost everywhere humans go. Hell, you can even make electricity in many different ways. I don't see a day when consumers can make and contain their own hydrogen.
@baskinsmichael
0 seconds ago
What a delusional rambler this guy is. He thinks the future is small shared autonomous vehicles? What he is forgetting is American culture is about convenience, and Americans will not want to be stranded in their suburban homes without access to an immediate vehicle. And no one will
feel safe in a smart car when huge trucks are on the road. Truly a confused guy.
Waymo is still relying on human intervention to handle difficult left turns.... there's a risk that they're behind the technology curve... Tesla's FSD version 12 seems to be doing a good job handling these challenging events autonomously. Interesting that the word "Tesla" was never mentioned in this presentation....
LOL, seems like a nice chap with his pod cars, country club and Amazon addiction. But seriously, radar is a dead technology. Vision is the future. Hydrogen is also one of the most inefficient ways to store energy. H2 will never be used for passenger vehicles due to its cost and complexity.
Interesting discussion, I wonder if part of the problem with the rise of SUVs is that the market focused more and more narrowly on the people who were buying vehicles and created a feedback loop. As the population of people who could afford a vehicle fell, the automakers focused more and more on that smaller segment. As cars got bigger, more practical but less pragmatic, and more expensive, more people get pushed out of the market. Before, they would be shunted to used cars, but increasingly, it does seem Larry is correct that people can skip car ownership entirely and be just fine.
If I had 4 of those Corner Modules I'd mount them to a recently felled redwood, hollowed-out into a 15-passenger Luxury Canoe. I'd name it The African Queen.
Holy crap! I’ve spent the last five years contemplating a solar powered snail, RV autonomous see the world during your entire lifetime not have any country borders. When he said, why does our house have to be fixed. Oh my gosh I’ve been saying this forever. But nobody shares that because everybody’s so stuck in their ways about the American dream and all that sort of stuff nobody wants to actually travel all their lives, or have the ability to do that. But that is an amazing thing to hear him say.
“Tax mass” this guys idea is crazy, not thinking through what downstream consequences that has. You would be incentivizing people to have small families, or else a 7 person family gets penalized for driving a suburban even though they fill it efficiently and need that size of vehicle? Thats the last thing we need, we need people to have larger families and more kids
Fantastic show, watched every minute, but these guys seem to be living under a rock. Try driving around Vancouver and count how many one wheels and electric skate boards are in rush hour traffic. It’s growing everyday!
Hydrogen over Amazon...seriously! Hydrogen by itself is useless because of no motors can sustain hydrogen directly yet. Pumps and other parts are not strong enough to keep up with hydrogen alone like gas cars are doing. Need to be converted to an electric conversion mechanism. So bottom line, we using hydrogen and convert them to electric it the batteries are doing it for much less cost and complexity.
Autonomy won't differentiate between urban, suburban and country. It'll completely solve metropolitan areas and do quite well for countrry as it scales.
Excellent disscusion keep it up.
I can tell you a sub 25K utility style vehicle with some smart tech features but mostly just access to it being for domestic life, work and recreation but most of all it has got to still be small yet not so small it is useless for multi-modal types of activities etc.
Hydrogen technology is a waste of resources as you still need to extract the hydrogen in a clean efficient way, need to transport and store it then need to safely put into a vehicle. Better batteries with more charging infrastructure is the way to go. It’s super easy to transport electricity.
C mon guys… we were using pan chassis on our slot cars in the 1960s skate board is a late comer
Personally what Urban North America needs now are city/kei cars... Aka tiny, lightweight urban runabouts with 50-55 mph top speeds or perhaps a wee higher with proper engineering upgrades..
I'm 5' 10" and drive a Smart Fortwo... For most trips you don't need anything more than that and it's a fun car to drive around the city in. I just wish Mercedes invested more into it and believe more in the program overall. Alas...
I'd also personally try out a Microlino, Renault Twinzy, Citroen Ami, Fiat 500, Mini Cooper or heck even a Wuling Mini if the price was right and it was safe enough.. Personally I am of the mind that driving a "slightly unsafe" car gives you reason not to take the car for granted or Paul Walker (RIP) your way around town with too much power and too little foresight..
As for rural America? Something similar but more durable... I.e. the Vinfast VF3 which to me is an electric Lada Niva in all the best ways... Growing in rural Alberta I always wanted a Niva and they were for a time quite popular. Just a basic rugged runabout with utilitarian features and classic good looks...
🙄🤦
This guy should be working at Tesla, possibly on the board!
He could add nothing there. He lives in denial of what they're achieving.
He's at least 5 years behind Tesla.
@@lighthousesaunders7242 I figure once he gets intimately familiar with Tesla, he would update his views. With the proper attitude, he would have much to offer.
@@nigelcharles511 his viewpoint totally beats the 15 years behind viewpoint, just about every other Automotive Executive from GM, including Mary, her head in the sand Barra!
Genius! Big picture guy much needed voice today. Thanks
Great show. Such an engaging conversation, the passion just gets me.
About small cars - why haven’t Smart type cars become more popular? Small cars small profits! About small moving houses - here in Australia where I live a lot of people live on the road towing a caravan & taking jobs where they find them.🇦🇺📷😎🤗
Gas Smart cars gave the same mileage and cost near the same as compacts. And they're death traps.
It is so refreshing to see senior auto executivespeaking so clearly about the futurethe Highlander.😊
Who is this guy? He's not former x military. Who is this guy😮😊
Fuel cells .... no no not worth it unless vastly improved... sooo pricey
Your best guest ever. He gets it. I wish I was living in the world he envisions.
If you need a personal reference call. Pete Gruber in A 35:46 rizona and tell beep beep.