Sam Abuelsamid  0:00  
Coming up on episode 206 of wheel bearings, we drive the Toyota Avalon hybrid, the 2021, Cadillac Escalades, the 2022 Mitsubishi Eclipse cross, Robbie Tris up Mercedes Benz level three Drive Pilot, I try out the new version of supercruise on the 2022 GMC Sierra Argo teams up with Lyft to deploy Robo taxis. And we answer some listener questions. All that coming up next. Did you know you can support wheel bearings directly? Head to patreon.com slash wheel bearings, media, and you can become a patron today. Your contributions will help fund the platforms and tools we use to bring the podcast to you. And exclusives improvements are already on the way thanks to your generosity. So if you want to be part of an automotive podcast, like no other head to patreon.com, slash wheel bearings, media

This is Episode 206 of wheel bearings. I'm Sam Abuelsamid. From guidehouse insights.

Nicole Wakelin  1:06  
I am Nicole wakelin from auto by tout.

Roberto Baldwin  1:09  
And I am Roberto Baldwin from any gadget.

Sam Abuelsamid  1:14  
Mr. Baldwin, why don't you begin with what you were driving this week.

Roberto Baldwin  1:19  
So this week, I was driving the Cadillac Escalade, or as the regular people call it, the escalate the 2021 and the four wheel drive. Platinum Cadillac Escalade is a very large, very expensive vehicle, the the version that they dropped off in front of my home was $112,000. Like 112. Yeah, yeah, it's a lot of money for an escalated. And Okay, so let's look, I'm going to, first of all, I'm going to start off with I, when the play was first introduced, I absolutely adored it, and then I drove it, and then I just want to burn it with fire. Because like the first generation and probably the first few generations, as plates were just horrible to drive, it was like driving a trampoline, every bump because they wanted to keep that that escalate, you know that Cadillac float, that doesn't work very well with a large SUV, because they just keep floating for a good quarter of a mile. So every time you're driving down the freeway, and then if you live in, I don't know about the rest of the country. But in the until the California where I was driving it, almost every overpass there's a little bit of a left because we have earthquakes. So everything has to be sort of segmented. And so you just sort of floating along and this vehicle and and it's it's unnerving, to say the least now this, this generation between 21 that was driving is much better. They've The technology was damping technology has, has gotten far better in the I guess over a decade since I drove that first generation Cadillac. This is what I like about the vehicle supercruise I'm a big fan of supercruise. At this, the version I'm driving has supercruise it works well. It's hands free. It did there is a certain corner when after you go over the Bay Bridge, when you're going into the East Bay is actually pretty sharp for a highway. And I had my hands over the wheel because I was like, Oh, I don't know, if we're gonna make this. They did a very good job going around it and you know, I'm still I'm still unsure completely. I don't completely trust any of these systems to 2.5 whatever. So I you know, you're supposed it's supposed to be hands free. So you put your hands in your lap, if we're going to have a straight line. I'm like, okay, I can do that. But when there's corners and stuff, I sort of put my hands up and sort of like them. You know, they're levitating over the wheel,

Nicole Wakelin  3:57  
saying I can't do it. I'm like, okay, no fancy texts gonna work because like, but but if it doesn't my hands like two inches, suddenly I'm like, No, no, okay, it's good. Like,

Sam Abuelsamid  4:07  
I know too much about this technology that I can never trust it.

Nicole Wakelin  4:12  
Right. It should work but if it doesn't,

Roberto Baldwin  4:16  
if it doesn't, this is a bad seat. Like what you're supposed to be taking it up. You know, it's supposed to be paying attention. I'm like, Yeah, yeah, my No. And this is the reason why I'm it so I do like supercruise I like the night vision setup. And I know it's kind of setup for the you know, if you're driving through the woods and there's a deer or whatever, but if you live in an urban environment or deeply, you know, densely populated area like the like Northern California and the Bay Area, you know, you drive along, you know, a lot of people walk around, you know, there's a lot of walking and public transportation here. And there in California, me there's a lot of people on the street and I don't know if I'm supposed to say this. But really, if you're from San Francisco or the Bay Area, the official uniform is just black jeans, a black shirt, a black hoodie and if you know probably if you're a Giants fan a black hat with the orange thing, that's it, that's what you're supposed to wear. Don't tell the tech people because once they find out they're gonna ape it and then everyone who's from San Francisco is gonna come after me and kill me. But so that but that makes it difficult to see people at night and the night vision set up on there where it's you know, in the dash cluster, it shows you essentially, almost like like, like predator heat vision, everything's black except for things that are hot, which are white. That worked really well you know, and and it's someone who is riding down the middle of the street on their bicycle, I was able to determine that they were a bicyclist as opposed to say, a motorcyclist or, you know, a very skinny car I don't know. So I enjoy that technology. It's a comfortable vehicle It's It's just that I feel like I like the Lincoln Navigator more I just think the Lincoln navigators is the link is a better job of doing of basically creating a really nice Cadillac, Cadillac. And it's 100 it's, it's it's really tough to look at that vehicle and think that's $112,000 and, ah, it just doesn't feel it feels like an 85 I know that's still a lot of money. But it feels like an $85,000 car even though it's the Platinum Edition even though it's horrible drive, you know, I've been driving it up and down the freeway I've been using it for too big to do errands I've been taking my wife to and from work with it. And it's not that it's it's a bad car. It just I just feel like there's something missing. You know, it has the you know, that large that large. What is it 6.2 liter V eight engine in there. So it's you know, you have a lot of power, it's 10 speed automatic, I haven't had any problems with the, with the with the drive train or 15 or with everything is there. But it just feels like and it comes together but doesn't come together in a package that feels that like it should be worth that much money. And I feel like it comes together much better with the Lincoln Navigator. And I know people are always curious about what the mpg is the combined mpg on this vehicle is 1614. City 19. Highway. My average was 14.7 miles per gallon. It was Yeah, it that that was it was fine. It was fine. The the the 2021 to calculate platinum, it's it's fine.

Nicole Wakelin  7:58  
To be the thing, like just share the car driving across the screen in the commercial, the 2021 escalate. It was fine.

Roberto Baldwin  8:05  
It was fine. I feel like the tech technology really wowed me. And I think the technology that Cadillac and GM have put in there is great. But I don't know. I it's it's Yeah, yeah. I'm sure Sam's gonna have questions for my, my super boy, I don't like what's the deal?

Sam Abuelsamid  8:27  
No, I mean, I've driven I've driven the escalator the new escalator a couple of times. Now, I had one back in I think January or February, and then I had one in May. Again, you know, once they had launched supercruise on there because I wanted to try out the new the second generation supercruise. And I mostly agree with what you said, I think you know, and I to really like the navigator, you know, as a big full size SUV. That said, You know, I do think that the new the new current generation GM full size SUVs actually do have slightly better driving dynamics than the the navigator and the Ford Expedition. You know, that when, you know, when I had an opportunity to ride in them back to back, you know, over some some rough roads, you know, and uneven pavement, it the GM trucks and granted I didn't actually ride in the the Cadillac, this was what they the Tahoe, suburban when we did this back to back but I mean it's had the same, it's got the same underpinnings and it's got the same suspension setup with the air springs and the magneride dampers. They you actually get you know, less head toss in the GM SUVs than you do in the the Ford in the Lincoln. You know, so the ride is actually a little bit smoother, a little better controlled than it is in the Ford vehicles. But aside from that, you know yeah, I mean I do, I do think that the Lincoln does feel generally a little more luxurious, you know, not that necessarily either one is worth upwards of 100 grand and yeah, the other navigate, you know, that navigator Black Label, you know, is upwards of 100 grand as well. But the navigator does not, at least not currently offer anything like supercruise. And you know, there's there's other things. I mean, that OLED display set up in the cat and the Cadillac does look phenomenal. It looks marvelous. It's gorgeous to look at. Yes,

Roberto Baldwin  10:35  
yeah. Yeah, the technology in that vehicle is is is just amazing. And it's but it's like that technology in that vehicle. And you're right, the ride. This is so much better than what it was. And it is better than the link. But there's something about that link that navigator for some reason that feels more like one cohesive, like, wonderful unit where the Cadillac, here's a great thing. And here's the great thing. And then here's some luxury stuff, and it doesn't. It doesn't match up to my field to my experience and other Cadillacs like other like the sedans. Like every time I get I'm like, Oh, yeah, yeah, this is what I'm talking about. This is you know, you get that. And I don't know if it's, I don't know.

Sam Abuelsamid  11:16  
I wonder how much of that may be due to the fact that you know, in the case of the sedans, those vehicles are unique to Cadillac, yeah, in their current form, the CT four and the CT five. Whereas this, you know, does share an architecture with the Chevrolet and GMC SUVs. So I wonder if there's something there. Although, you know, it's the underpinnings, you know, that the chassis is actually what's really good on this, this generation of those So, who knows? I mean, it is a little odd.

Roberto Baldwin  11:46  
Yeah, it just it Yeah, it's, it's, it's really difficult for me to put my finger on exactly what what I feel like is missing in this vehicle. And if you buy an Escalade, and if you're a fan of the escalate, if you've had one before, you're gonna love this vehicle, don't don't be like, oh, Roberto said it's

Sam Abuelsamid  12:02  
vastly better than any,

Roberto Baldwin  12:04  
it's vastly better than it is. There's there's just sometimes when you get in a vehicle, you just feel like it's missing something, something that sort of brings it all together and and for me, that's what I feel like when I'm when I'm driving to

Nicole Wakelin  12:18  
escalada that certain jenis a quad.

Roberto Baldwin  12:21  
A quad it's, it's it's it's missing a genius, a QA, which I don't even know what that translates to.

Nicole Wakelin  12:28  
I don't know what like it means. Oh, really? I don't know what,

Roberto Baldwin  12:37  
I don't know what. That's so funny. Cuz it sounds so much fancier. What

Nicole Wakelin  12:41  
are you like? Well, that sounds much better. Yeah.

Sam Abuelsamid  12:45  
That's like, you know, people who speak with an English accent sounds so much smarter than us, even though clearly, you know, if you look at who they've got as their prime minister, they're not. They did. More sophisticated. Yeah.

Roberto Baldwin  12:59  
Good times.

Nicole Wakelin  13:02  
Anyway. I like to think it was that SNL skit where he caught or talks about getting stuck in his Escalades in the south in the middle of winter govt seen this, it's like an older SNL skit. And in it, he says, so he's all freaked out because it snows in Atlanta, and he doesn't know where to go. And he takes his he goes to the only self safeplace space he could think of which was the highway in his white Escalade. And he keeps calling it a white Escalade. So every time I see one in my brain, I hear Escalade go Google, it's the funniest. It's hilarious. It's very funny.

Roberto Baldwin  13:41  
I'm googling that you have

Sam Abuelsamid  13:42  
to because it's a very funny sketch from SNL.

Nicole Wakelin  13:45  
It is and I and I see that some point pop up every time there's snow down in Atlanta, somebody has it has it up there puts a screen capture because it's about how they all have no idea what to do in a quarter of an inch of the white stuff. Like Yeah, it's cute, you know, but I hate the heat. So I feel like it's you know, where are you live? But

Sam Abuelsamid  14:04  
yeah, yeah, I mean, well, you certainly know what to do with the white stuff. Nicole?

Nicole Wakelin  14:09  
Do we get enough snow up here? quarter inch is like, Don't even worry about it. I'm still wearing flip flops. That's no big deal.

Sam Abuelsamid  14:17  
Exactly. Alright, so what were you driving was

Nicole Wakelin  14:21  
driving something considerably less fancy, and more affordable. In fact, if I did the math, right, you could buy three of these or one escalate your car? Yeah. So I had the 2020 Mitsubishi Eclipse cross, which is not there at the eclipse of old which was just a car. This is this is their little crossover. I had a very, very brief time because we had our ragtop ramble up here in New England. So we had a great big car shuffle. We drove up the coast up to Maine and had lobster and the cars we drove up or not the cars we drove back. So we had a he had a brief time No, I was really I had to suffer. I had lobster, right on the ocean and blueberry pie. Tough. It was tough. It was one of my harder days at work. I don't know how I made it. So anyway, I drove home in the 2020, Mitsubishi Eclipse cross, I, there's a lot of Mitsubishi. It has a 1.5 liter four cylinder. It's a whopping 152 horsepower for this crossover, and it's the CVT, and it does, it really doesn't like to go, it was a little disconcerting, honestly, getting on the highway, because I would think I have left plenty of room to merge. And suddenly, it's not really, you don't have that off, you have to leave a lot of room or you're gonna find that you're kind of, you're inadvertently cutting it a little closer and sort of cutting people off, you're like, I'll be out of your way in plenty of time. Sorry, there, buddy. I know you're right up my butt now, but I thought I could get this going,

Roberto Baldwin  15:58  
give me another half mile, I'll

Nicole Wakelin  15:59  
make it a half mile, I swear that I will be out of your way. So I'm not real keen on the performance of it. And it's just, but it's $31,000. So it's a really, that's the top trim of this car. So it has that's the Sal and it has power heated seats with leather trims and a panoramic roof and it's got all the fancy you could want all the features are there, it just doesn't have the performance. So as much as I want to say like hate on it for that. I can't really hate on it for that. Because not everybody wants a performance card if you just need an attractive, fully featured crossover that can handle you know your kids that can handle some stuff in the back that has an all wheel drive. If you want it for the snow, then you can get one for 31 grand. Are you going to love driving this if you're someone who likes performance, if you like a really aggressive car that handles well that spirited that's engaging This is not your car, but that really isn't everybody. So for me, it wasn't the best drive because that's not the kind of car I like, but I really do think there's a spot for this I think for the for the family on a budget, you can make this work it's gonna make you feel if you don't mind the driving if you're someone who doesn't care about that performance aspect, which a lot of people really truly don't. This is this is just fine. Like that's kind of it's fine. That's fine.

Roberto Baldwin  17:26  
It's fine Mississippi, I take offense of the fact that they're using the word Eclipse though.

Nicole Wakelin  17:32  
I know a lot of people do they it's they're mad because it's not. It's but it's not the eclipse is the eclipse cross. I mean, do you take offense that it's the Mustang Maki,

Roberto Baldwin  17:41  
I take less offensive that because the Mustang Maki is actually fun to drive even though it's not a Mustang, it's I'm happy to tell you that it's not a Mustang, but it's still fun to drive. Okay, I don't feel like the eclipse is just completely out of left field. Like, don't even bother with the DNA. It's like we had the eclipse, which is a Falcon. And then we made the eclipse across which is a slop. I mean, they're not even in the same like animal.

Sam Abuelsamid  18:08  
grit granted, granted the last couple of generations of Eclipse coupe. were nothing. Yeah, that's true, either. I mean, yeah, really. It was kind of like the first generation. Yeah, the one cool one, and then they got progressively lamer as they were

Nicole Wakelin  18:24  
actually living up to that legacy more than we think because it just continued to get labored.

Sam Abuelsamid  18:28  
It's, it seems, it seems to be right on the trendline that the eclipse was taking, you know, over the course of its, you know, almost what 20 year lifespan

Nicole Wakelin  18:38  
how long it was around

Sam Abuelsamid  18:41  
the eclipse that came out in about 1990.

Roberto Baldwin  18:43  
The Eclipse is the pinnacle, it is the 16 year old varsity quarterback. Oh, and the eclipse cross is 20 years later, and it hasn't been working out

Nicole Wakelin  18:56  
what he's got.

Sam Abuelsamid  19:01  
He's driving an Uber for a little extra capital extra cash delivering grubhub meals.

Nicole Wakelin  19:07  
Nicole got her very last Mitsubishi loan ever.

Roberto Baldwin  19:15  
He's huge. He's a fine. He's not a bad person. It's just this is how things have worked out.

Nicole Wakelin  19:21  
Yeah. Like

Roberto Baldwin  19:23  
there's nothing wrong with Bill a clips. Billy clips is still a good person. It's just that bill clips is not 16 year old Billy clips like varsity star football player. He's you know, recently divorced, the building collapse?

Nicole Wakelin  19:37  
Yeah, I don't think mid 30s I don't think it helped them at all. I mean, I suppose what they were probably trying to capture was the idea that hey, we'll capture some of the spark of the quarterback Eclipse but instead it's like this huge. It would be better if it was something totally different. So you had no preconceived, like yeah, Mitsubishi Eclipse like so that you had no preconceived notions, then you go into this. I mean, wouldn't actually make the car better, but maybe it would make it less like, well, it was kind of like you wouldn't have thought, well, maybe this is like an eclipse in disguise? No, nobody's not. Don't think that

Sam Abuelsamid  20:12  
you want to under promise and over deliver.

Nicole Wakelin  20:14  
Yeah, right, exactly. So maybe if they had changed that up a little bit, you know, maybe there was a better way to do that. But I like it. But like I said, though, as much as I sort I mean, it is not a great car, to drive if you like driving, if you like an engaging drive, if you're someone who's really into that sort of sporty or handling crisper handling that performance. But there are plenty of people out there during driving cars that look at them as nothing more than toasters, you know, they're an appliance, they get the job done. This does get the job done. It has all wheel drive, it's very affordable. And if you want to have it still has nice features, I mean, leather seats, or leather seats or leather seats, it doesn't matter if the car doesn't drive well. So if you're still looking for something that's an affordable family choice, and that the the drive characteristics, the performance is just not a priority for you, then you're going to be perfectly happy with this and you're going to save a ton of money because you're not getting a performance car.

Sam Abuelsamid  21:07  
Has that right? And you know, to affordability if you don't live somewhere where you need all wheel drive. Yeah, you can assume you had the all wheel drive one right? I

Nicole Wakelin  21:17  
did. Yeah.

Sam Abuelsamid  21:19  
Yeah. So you can you can get it for about 25,000

Nicole Wakelin  21:23  
Yeah, if you if you front wheel drive

Sam Abuelsamid  21:25  
front, that's actually probably going to even probably gonna perform a little better because there's going to be a little

Nicole Wakelin  21:30  
late even if you go with the chop trim with that Sal know, what is it the SEO without all wheel drive? Where is it? It is here 20

Sam Abuelsamid  21:40  
under 27.

Nicole Wakelin  21:41  
So it's still under $30,000? You know, it's still coming in relatively cheap in the greens. I mean, that's pretty cheap. When you consider what you're getting. It is a nice, but

Sam Abuelsamid  21:51  
by modern standards, yeah.

Nicole Wakelin  21:53  
Exactly.

Roberto Baldwin  21:55  
All Wheel Drive starts at with like, destination and all that jazz at $27,000 $27,000. You get all wheel drive, and a 1.5 you know, right CVT, but still all wheel drive. Here in the mountains. You need a car you just need to get to the to the grocery store and get to work. You don't care about anything else.

Nicole Wakelin  22:14  
I feel it's like like EDA, like you look for car. You

Sam Abuelsamid  22:17  
could get a Ford Maverick for $20,000. Oh,

Roberto Baldwin  22:19  
yeah. Oh, I

Nicole Wakelin  22:20  
looked at that. I got to see that up close and personal. This week. That was awesome. That looks cooler than this drove so we'll see. better hope for that. I think a lot more cool. excited about that. But yeah, so it's so as you know, is it a car you want to drive? If you really enjoy the driving thing of driving style is your priority? Absolutely not. If you're looking for an affordable crossover that can still be attractive and comfortable inside and you know, does the job of doing what you want to cross over to do? Bingo, this fits the bill.

Sam Abuelsamid  22:57  
Bam. And the reality is that is probably most people

Nicole Wakelin  23:02  
see, that's what we mean like as much as we're all into it. Like Yes, how does it drive? How's the acceleration? How's the handling? How's that transmission? Most people aren't as into that as we are and I think there's plenty of folks would be honestly quite happy with us because they're not looking for that engaging driving experience.

Sam Abuelsamid  23:22  
They want safe, reliable, affordable,

Nicole Wakelin  23:24  
and this checks all those boxes.

Roberto Baldwin  23:28  
Bam. Okay, I'm gonna keep saying BAM throughout the broadcast. Sorry, everyone. apologize in advance.

Sam Abuelsamid  23:37  
Alright, I also had something that was quite fine. Maybe not quite ultra fine. A little more fine. More, more, more fine than than the eclipse cross. I had the the Toyota Avalon hybrid limited. So the Avalon for those who don't recall, is Toyota's big sedan base. It's based on the Camry platform, but it's bigger, as it always has been. And it it's one of the last of the big traditional sedans that you can still buy aside from like the Chrysler 300 and the Dodge Challenger Dodge Charger. This you know, if you you know previously were in the market for something like a Ford Taurus, Chevy Impala. You know, this is one of the last of that breed all those cars there God the Buick lesabre, lacrosse, whatever, you know, they're all they're all history that you can't buy those anymore. But you can still buy the Avalon and you know, if you're not somebody that wants that taller riding position of a crossover, you know you'd like you'd like the car style seating position and you want big room room to stretch out. You know if you're if you're tall person and you need that extra headroom, extra leg room and you've got talk IDs that are going to sit in the back. Lots of room in the back for them. Good size trunking this thing. And this is the the hybrid. It's got Toyotas 2.5 liter, four cylinder hybrid powertrain. So it's the same setup that you will find in the Sienna, the rav4 in the Highlander, although unlike the Sienna, and the, the RAV and I think also the Highlander, this is a front wheel drive only, I don't think there's an all wheel drive, hybrid Avalon. But it's also in the Camry. So basically, you know, if you like camera, but you just want more of that. The Avalon is the car for you.

Roberto Baldwin  25:43  
You want a little more camera,

Sam Abuelsamid  25:44  
it's Yes. I mean, it's you know, and this current generation Avalon, I think is actually a decent looking car. I think it's, it's, you know, maybe a little too much grille. But that, you know, is not just unique to excuse, not unique to Toyota. This is this is, you know, it's a pandemic that's going around among auto designers, they feel like they need more grill. But But, you know, aside from that, you know, I think it's it's a nice shape, but that generally looks good. Excuse me. But the, you know, the interior is really nice. It's very comfortable. The materials are well done. Good fit and finish is typical Toyota fit and finish. There's nothing really to complain about. It's not particularly quick, but I think it's probably quicker than the than the clips cross. The one I had, it's definitely Yeah, it's a it's a nice place to spend time it's got as with all contemporary, Toyota's it's got the full Toyota set Safety Sense p package. So it's got pre the pre collision system with pedestrian detection, full speed, adaptive cruise control, Lane Departure alert, with steering system, Lane Keeping Assist, auto high beams, blind spot monitors, all all the goodies, lots of lots and lots of airbags. Yeah, twice as many airbags as you have seats. Everybody's got at least two to work with. So you know, it's, it's, it's a really good full size sedan, and it's EPA rated at 43 miles per gallon city highway and combined. I think I got about 38 because I was not being particularly efficient in my driving with it. Because I wanted to see you know what it could do. And so I was playing with it a bit it's it's actually a pretty decent handling car. Now it's, you know, on this modern Toyota platform that has decent driving dynamics, so it feels safe and precise. You know, it goes where you point it, you know, I think it will merge with traffic a little more promptly than the Mitsubishi will and it starts it starts off the base x le hybrid starts at 37,000. The limit there's also a mid level x SC which is the slightly more sporty looking one. So you get the the more black trim and the dark gray painted alloy wheels. And then the limited is the luxury version. So all in for this one, including delivery charge came to $46,717 which not inexpensive, quite a bit more than the the new clips cross quite a bit less than the Escalades but you know, it doesn't doesn't carry eight people like an Escalade can and

Roberto Baldwin  28:44  
if you have two of them, you could buy two but maybe strap them together with

Sam Abuelsamid  28:49  
two and actually actually have more even more people. You could have 10 people. Yeah, two Apple ones.

Roberto Baldwin  28:54  
So there's that. take that into account.

Sam Abuelsamid  28:56  
No supercruise Oh, oh yeah, that's true. Yeah. So you know, if you're if if what you want is a big sedan, this is you know, this is the last one you can get pretty much in the US market and it's it's a good one I mean, you won't be disappointed if this is the kind of card that you want

Roberto Baldwin  29:16  
Yeah, I was trying to think of like a big sedan that's left and I'm like no, no Honda Accord no match but no,

Sam Abuelsamid  29:24  
I think he's gone k seven is that still

Roberto Baldwin  29:27  
I think yeah, i

Sam Abuelsamid  29:29  
think i think i think he's here discontinued the case seven

Nicole Wakelin  29:33  
there's just the K five now isn't there?

Sam Abuelsamid  29:37  
Yeah, yes, the case the case sevens, the case sevens gone. You know, so nice. the only the only other big sedans you're gonna find are, you know, the luxury sedans. You know, the, the Mercedes, BMW Audi's, that's it. Everything else is gone. There's nothing left the the Nissan Maxima is smaller than You know, the maximum is actually the same size as an ultimate, just with arguably sportier styling. But you know, it's not it's not any bigger. So this this is it, you know, Honda doesn't have anything in this class. So that's those, those are your choices. So if you want a mainstream big sedan, that's actually covered and, and given given that they have a monopoly on the segment, you know, it's good that they haven't, you know, dropped the ball and, you know, kind of let it go to seed. You know, it's, it's still a very good vehicle. So, alright. News of the Week, dun dun dun. Last time, we talked about something, there was

Nicole Wakelin  30:43  
something I wanted to mention from last week from our views that I totally forgot about. So last week, I had that mini convertible. And we were talking about the roof and you guys were debating whether it was a like a silkscreen little union jack situation happening, or it was woven in, I got an answer. It's actually woven directly into the fabric and there is a maximum number of colors. Do you know what the maximum number of colors they can do on the top of it? inconvertible is a no not even close. Three,

Roberto Baldwin  31:10  
three, okay.

Nicole Wakelin  31:12  
It's because it uses like those old fat like, you know, the old fashioned machines. You see, like, if you went to tour like the, the like, this is what it was in a Colonial Williamsburg or whatever. Yeah, it's like a loom situated where it actually pulls up the different threads. So it pulled like all three, the threads are always there, and it just pulls up the one that it wants. So it can do three different threads. So it's Yeah, that's what I learned. Right. So there's three they

Sam Abuelsamid  31:37  
do they use a Toyota loom.

Nicole Wakelin  31:39  
They did not use a Toyota loom. I don't know I'm sure it's some proprietary thing because they make like every convertible top I asked them, like, Who are your major competitors is like, it's as if you've got a convertible softtop it was made by hearts and like, Oh, okay. Oh, yeah. But so that's what they said. So it's actually it's not they do silkscreen stuff that's like on their vital kind of tops that you can custom order. You could get one that said, like wheel bearings podcast if you wanted to. But otherwise, yeah, right. So now there's your incentive to get a get a convertible and do that to it. But yeah, so they actually are all woven tops. They use different fabric, different threads, and they pull them up so that you can get exactly the pattern you want. They have this funky stuff they didn't want for Gucci. They did want ones for fiap that like says Fiat on it as a special edition. This fancy stuff. sound cool. So did you mention that because it came up last week and I got that question answered.

Roberto Baldwin  32:30  
I liked it. It's weaved in I guess silkscreen looks cool, but it's gonna fade. weaved in like it's all gonna fade at the same rate, because it's all it's all muddy caught died. Right? Those two Yeah, as opposed to like painted or whatever. So

Nicole Wakelin  32:43  
see, you're not gonna have like your your top is really sort of still bright and brilliant. And suddenly the woven bits are starting to look like really faded and yeah,

Unknown Speaker  32:52  
so there you go. Excellent.

Nicole Wakelin  32:54  
Yeah. Okay. Now you can go on to the news. So.

Sam Abuelsamid  32:58  
Okay. Last time, we talked about Roberto driving the Mercedes Benz EQ s in the mountains of Switzerland. And that wasn't the only thing. The only place where you got to drive it or wasn't the only thing you evaluated when you were over in Europe as well as it

Roberto Baldwin  33:14  
That is true. Mercedes took me to that image image diggin it, you know, I had to every time I had to do a video, I had to go up to

Sam Abuelsamid  33:24  
how long it takes to take in the video.

Roberto Baldwin  33:27  
All I had to do is have them say it to me. And then I do the take. And then but if like as soon as I had to, like say something else, and then go back and talk about the imaging and test facility, I would have to walk over to somebody, how do I say it again, and they were just like, Oh my God, this guy's an idiot, I can't believe we left him in our let him in our test facility, or even in our vehicle. I was at the end and test facility. I probably said that wrong in Germany,

Nicole Wakelin  33:50  
watch your video data heroes was actually said,

Roberto Baldwin  33:53  
that might be it. I don't know, go go watch the video. Um, and they let me I guess the word is drive, but sit behind the wheel of Drive Pilot, which is their level three, autonomous system, it's coming to Germany on the S Class initially, and then eventually EQ s before the end of this year. And then the system will be coming to the United States. They really want to bring it over here. It's you know, the United States is a large market, etc, etc. I, it when you're bringing when you're bringing something to Germany, you have one country you have to worry about. And it's one law and one rule and one set of regulations when you bring some of the United States. It's 50 laws and 50 rules and 50 regulations. So I feel like it's going to be tough for them. But at the same time. Yeah, go for it and we're not. So I tried it out and it was impressive. We were on a track and Mercedes explained to me that the reason we had to do on a track is because well we can't create the traffic On the on the, you know, the highway or the expressway, you know, we can't recreate these these scenarios on the road without putting people in danger or you know, we couldn't like what if we go out and there's no traffic and you're just driving around, that's not very helpful. So they recreated traffic, they recreated cars parked, not quite off the road. They recreated an emergency vehicle they had a police vehicle, like pull up behind us. I don't know where they got that. And all in all, the system worked really well by all those vehicles. All the Yeah, yeah, you can when you go to Germany, like you get in the taxi, it's a Mercedes Benz, which which here would seem very fancy, and there's just the car you're getting, getting my gross taxi, it's still a gross taxi, you just have the star on the front of it work. Yeah, it's so they work, it has sort of the same sort of situation as supercruise, where you're seeing you have information that pops up on the like alighted information that pops up on the steering wheel, it tells you when you're in Drive Pilot, and when you're not, you have to first turn on the Advanced driver assistance system and the eight s and then at some point, a little a will pop up on the dash cluster and the little there's two buttons on either side of the on the steering wheel. And when those light up. You push the little you push one of the A's and then it takes over. And Mercedes Benz was very far like the car is now everything that happens is the cars fault. Now,

Sam Abuelsamid  36:32  
not your fault. It's not your responsibility. They are cars. Yeah. legal liability.

Roberto Baldwin  36:37  
Well, I Germany at least. So we'll see how that works. In the United States. We're far more litigious than involve those, you know, very much said that they will take responsibility. But yeah, the car is the cars responsibility. So I first off that is even on a test track, because we're still like following a bunch of cars. It's weird to be behind the wheel of a car and not do anything. And and not watch where you're going. And not it's it's it's really hard not to like want to drive even, you know, even I've used autopilot and supercruise as you know, as I mentioned earlier, you kind of want to put your hand on the wheel, because you don't kind of don't trust the robots. And I was like, well, that's their car who would see what. But yeah, they it's it works really well in their, you know, in their in their little system that they set up. There was no, there were and I think I've been on a lot of these sort of autonomous test vehicle drives, and almost every one of them something is something even if it's small, something happens. There's always a little hiccup, there's always a little something here, there's always a little something there. And there that I didn't have any issue. There were no issues that popped up at all, when I was in the Mercedes. The the system is it. There are some rules. It won't work in the rain at all. If it's raining, know that you can't turn it on. That's why is that? I think because they they are there. I think the concern might be that the the rain might adjust the system, the sensors just enough or there's there's no, there's no backup, you know, the redundancy, like, well, if not all the sensors are working at the same time are working, then we don't want to do it. I think that that it probably comes down to the responsibility aspect of it, where they're like, well, we if we're going to be responsible, we want to make sure it's working in ideal conditions. So they're very forward. They're they're very, they're very, like it doesn't work in the rain. And when we got there, it was kind of sprinkling, so they were trying to rush us through really quickly because there was a bunch of us because they wanted to get us in the vehicle before it rained. And as I was doing my final stand up of the vehicle after my drive, it started sprinkling. And so you know, so I don't know if the other some of the other journalists were able to take a ride with it. But as soon as I got there, like I gotta get this thing because I got to shoot a video. It only up to 60 kilometers per hour, which is about 37 miles per hour. Which it's also sort of geo fence like supercruise you know, it's supposed to be on the freeway or a highway. You can't go You can't be going very fast. So it's essentially a traffic. The level three traffic systems traffic jam

Sam Abuelsamid  39:29  
pilot. Yeah, it's like a trap. These things are being Yes.

Roberto Baldwin  39:32  
Yeah. Which you know, if you commute every day, you're gonna prop unless you you know, even in an Eevee you know, the carpool lanes because there's more and more V's here in the Bay Area. The carpool lanes are starting to get, you know, they're starting to get backed up. And so you're going to be stuck in traffic. That's usually when you're on your way to work. You probably have emails, you probably have texts. You probably have to do some research for that meeting before you get to work. You might have some phone calls. You can do all that without really paying attention. You can't, there isn't another rule, you can't have something that covers the in vehicle monitoring system. So within a dash cluster, there's a camera that watches your face, that makes sure you can't like be reading a newspaper, because it needs to make sure that you're still there, even though you're not responsible, and you don't have to be paying attention. It still needs to see you. So that's, that's interesting. And I think that that also, I'm sure they were, I'm sure they seen a lot of those YouTube videos, whether they're real or fake or whatever, of people driving around in Tesla with autopilot in the backseat, or, you know, sitting in the passenger seat or just just get it, you know, whatever, in sane shenanigans that put themselves and others on the road at risk. I think they probably seen those like, yeah, that's not gonna happen. We're not, you know? Yeah, no, it was I was I was, I was impressed, which is, you know, with these systems, it's tough to be impressed with them. Because, you know, you know, like any, we've all talked about the, you know, where the fallacies are, you know, where the, how things are going to fall apart, or could potentially fall apart while you're in these systems, of course, that I was on a test track. And so I think I really want to be able to test it on an actual road. So maybe before the end of the year, I'll get to go to Germany and try it on an actual vehicle on an actual road doing actual things, and see how it works. And see if I'm still as enthusiastic about it. Again, it's, you know, it's still tough not to pay attention when you're driving. One thing that was weird is that they have a LIDAR sensor that's in the front. And it's to the it's on the driver's side of the star. And on the left of the star on the passenger side of the star, it looks like there's another LIDAR sensor. That's a dummy sensor. It's just there for symmetry. So you have one awesome, we have one that's working. And you have one that just looks it's just there. It's Yeah, it's just symmetry. It is very weird. I don't understand the I think there was, well, we've designed the cars this way. We need the LIDAR, we can't put it in the middle because that, you know, branding. I don't know just put something that looks fake.

Sam Abuelsamid  42:29  
Yeah, we can't we can't put the star off center that has to be front and center.

Nicole Wakelin  42:33  
Absolutely centered and not messed with in any way whatsoever.

Sam Abuelsamid  42:38  
Yeah. And if from from I watched the video and looked at the pictures, and it looks like that sensor is, is probably they haven't said who the supplier is. But it looks like it's a Vallejo scalla LIDAR, which has a fairly narrow vertical field of view. So it kind of has to be where it is, yeah, in the grille there, they can't, they can't put it up on top of the windshield like Volvo's doing with the, they're luminar LIDAR next year, they can't really put it down lower. So it kind of has to be at that height. So they're, you know, they're kind of stuck, you know, as long as they're using that particular sensor. And, you know, that's also when, when Audi introduced the current generation eight, a few years ago, they also announced a traffic jam pilot system using that same LIDAR sensor, and they had it in roughly the same position in the grille. But because the laws hadn't been finalized, yet at that point, they, they never actually implemented. That system. They never, they never released that the software for that system. The constraints, you talked about Robin around the speed and geo fencing and the driver monitor system. That's all because of the the regulation that was finally passed last year, there's a organization called un EC that does harmonized vehicle regulations for all of Europe. And like about three dozen other countries, but 60 countries around the world, they all follow the same, they all use the same set of vehicle regulations. And they pass a regulation for these so called level three systems. And, you know, that specifically says you can't go above 60 kilometers per hour 37 miles an hour, has to be limited to highways has to have a driver monitor system. There's also some tests in there, you know, unlike here, you know, we're electric car companies can just put stuff out on the road, you know, and let their electric customers test it, you know, over there, it actually has to be evaluated first and be approved before the manufacturer can sell it. And there has to be a data logging system that is accessible to to investigators and to service personnel. So you don't have to rely on the manufacturer to tell you If the system was active at the time of a crash, so it's Yeah, I think we're gonna see a bunch more manufacturers launch these kinds of systems over the next couple of years in Europe and elsewhere. BMW was going to have a system like this on the IX, when they were here to try it a couple weeks ago, I talked to them they don't know yet when they're going to launch that one. It's probably not going to be until late next year, the earliest and when on what the Volvo XC 90 replacement that's also going to have a system that's capable of this, but they haven't decided yet when they're gonna enable the level three capability.

Roberto Baldwin  45:40  
Yeah, it's it's a, you know, I would I would rather err on the side of caution with all these systems, then, yeah, yeah, I don't, I don't like the idea of beta testing. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker  45:51  
Removing,

Sam Abuelsamid  45:53  
when you get to these, especially when you get to these systems, where now you're allowing the driver to not Watch the road 100% of the time, you know, with with supercruise, you have to keep your eyes on the road all the time, the driver monitor systems looking for where you're looking. But with this system, you can be looking at the screen, you can be looking down at your phone and texting, as long as your phone's not up in front of your face, you know, blocking the monitor, you can you can be doing all this other stuff, but you do have to remain alert and ready to take over. And the system gives you up to 10 seconds, I think to take over. So that's kind of problematic, because if you're not paying attention to the road, even though you're awake, if you're not watching what's going on, you know, when the system says, whoa, I need your help, you know, it takes some time for you to look around and figure out what the situation is and figuring out what you're coming

Roberto Baldwin  46:49  
in cold and not coming in like prepared like you will supercruise or with like the BMW traffic jam assist that they have where it's hands free, also, but it's you know, it's it's it's regulated to a certain speed, you know, what's going on, you know, why the system's disengaging and telling you to take over with with level three years, like, Oh, my guess this might be what's happening?

Sam Abuelsamid  47:13  
Yeah. Okay, so speaking of supercruise, I got to try out the latest update to supercruise. Last week at the GM Proving Grounds. It's coming next, sometime early in 2022, they are going to have a refreshed version refreshed versions of the GMC Sierra and Chevy Silverado pickups. And this updated version is going to be on there. So this is the next step beyond what you drove in the escalate. And it is using the same hardware. And actually the updates that are going into the pickups will be provided to escalate owners via an over the air update. As soon as it's released for the for the for the pickups, escalate, owners will get it as well. So this will be the first time that GM has done this kind of update this kind of Functional Safety update for one of their vehicles over the year without having to go into a dealer. So the changes now there's there's a few changes a few improvements that the system has one, you now have the ability to use supercruise and go hands free while towing a trailer. which you may or may not think is a good idea.

Nicole Wakelin  48:33  
Have you tried that? You see that?

Sam Abuelsamid  48:36  
Yeah, yeah, we were talking to on a 5000 pound trailer

Nicole Wakelin  48:38  
here. So okay.

Sam Abuelsamid  48:43  
You know, it was only again, it was only on the test track. We didn't get to try it on public roads yet. But yeah, I know, you know, if you ever told a trailer, you know, it can be a challenging situation, especially if you get into crosswind and things like that. And all modern trucks and utilities have trailer sway control, so they can try and detect that. And they'll apply the brakes individually to try and get that settled back down again. But I actually think that this, this may actually be the best application for something like supercruise is when you're towing a trailer. Because you're you actually have more cognitive load when you're pulling a trailer, because you've got to pay attention to what the trailer is doing. And you know, when you're changing lanes and things like that, and if you can reduce some of that workload a little bit by allowing the driver to go hands free, but still paying attention. I think that that actually can can be useful. And as you know, you know, when you put a trailer on the back of a vehicle, your stopping distances are going to be a lot longer, your acceleration is going to be slower. So one of the things one of the things that they've incorporated in here is they put in some algorithms that look at when you're braking you know when you apply the brakes even before you use supercruise It looks at how hard you're hitting the pedal and what actual deceleration you're getting. And similarly, when you're accelerating, you know how how hard you press the gas, and how fast the vehicle is accelerating. And then from that it's working back and estimating how much of a load you're towing. So, you know, if you're telling a 2000 pound trailer, you're not going to have as much impact on your acceleration. If you're tying 5000 or 10,000 pounds, you're gonna have more impact. So the estimate what the trailer what the trailer weight is, from all of that, and then they're compensating in the way that control supercruise. So it will, when you're using supercruise, it will, for example, it will start braking sooner, if it sees the vehicle ahead of you slowing down, it needs to adjust speed, or it will adjust the way it accelerates, things like that. So it does a lot of really clever things in there to compensate for the fact that you've got a trailer on there. Now when you're towing a trailer, you don't get some of the other new features that supercruise is also getting, which is the automatic lane change capability. So if you're not towing a trailer, you now the the Sierra and Silverado and the escalate and several other vehicles will also have the ability to automatically change lanes on the the escalate that you drove Robbie, you can do lane change on demand, if you tap the signal stock, the sensors will look to see if the adjacent lane is clear. And if it is, then it'll it'll actually execute the lane change for you. But you have to initiate it, you have to tell it I want to change lanes and then it'll do it. With this updated version. You also have automatic overtaking. So if you know if your speed is set at 70 miles an hour, and the car in front of you slows down to 65 or 60. The system will look to see if the the adjacent lanes are clear. And it will automatically do the lane change, it'll give you a beep to let you know it's going to do a lane change. And if you if you don't want to change lanes, you can just tap the turn signal stock to cancel it. But if you don't do anything, it will automatically do the lane change speed up past the vehicle in front of you and then move back into the lane. And it It always prioritizes going to the left not the right lane but to the left lane. And then moving back into the right lane after it completes the past and gets clearer the vehicle ahead of you. So it's programmed with proper lane etiquette. It will it will pass on the right if there's no room on the left. But it always prioritizes the left. It's what's crazy about that.

Roberto Baldwin  52:38  
It's It's sad that like I mean, Tesla's system will you know when I when I used it when they still have I used it when he still had to do the stock. But it would say hey, you need to get back over to the right lane. And it's sad that we have the the cars telling us proper lane etiquette, because people are just hanging out in the left lane. Like it's no big deal.

Sam Abuelsamid  53:00  
So supercruise will will go back into the end of the original lane by itself with without any prompting what else Oh, because it can now do the automatic link changes. It also takes care of another problem that supercruise has had since it launched which is if you're driving down a highway and the lane that you're in is coming to an end you had to manually move over into the other lane. Now it knows from the maps from the the high definition maps it uses that oh the lane I'm in is going to end in a mile. I'm going to move over to the other lane. And it does that automatically for you so you don't have to worry about that. So these are all changes that are going to be coming to the Escalades the Cadillac CT for the CT five that have supercruise now it's also being added to the Cadillac XT six and and then also, you know, the Silverado. So all that's coming early next year, the the trucks that we drove, because they're still prototypes, and they they they're not GMC is not ready to fully reveal the all the updates to the 2022 trucks. The interior was all covered up with with with cammo as was the the front and the rear of the truck. But one of the questions that we had today was from from AJ. He asked about whether the 22 Sierra gets the updated infotainment screen. So as I said, we didn't actually get to see the infotainment screen. But you know, the the camera that was on there wasn't quite securely fastened down. So I could actually see a little sliver of it there. And I'm pretty sure that you know because of the fact that they weren't letting us see the interior. I do believe that the Sierra and Silverado are getting the new Android automotive powered infotainment system. When they when they launch early next year. It's going to be launching first on the the Hummer EV and then Coming to the Silverado and Sierra, early in the year. So I'm pretty sure it is getting that new system when it launches. And those are both going to be, you know, late 22 model year launches and so sometime probably in the first quarter is when they're going to go on sale. Cool. See?

Roberto Baldwin  55:21  
I gotta go check the dog. Is that something? I'll be right back? All right.

Nicole Wakelin  55:29  
You know, it was wondering why all the pictures from the event were all this like, totally covered up truck. Like you can like aquitar a decent?

Sam Abuelsamid  55:38  
Yeah, well, they wouldn't let us do anything. Just answer the question was do any photography only provided one photo? Yeah,

Nicole Wakelin  55:45  
everyone. I'm like, Why does everyone have this one crappy photo now? Now I know.

Sam Abuelsamid  55:50  
Yeah. Yeah, we were Milford and they wouldn't let us do any of our own photography. They provided one photo they did provide, you know, some B roll footage that I put in my video.

Nicole Wakelin  56:01  
A lot of video folks at that event too. And they didn't let anyone take any video. That

Sam Abuelsamid  56:07  
Nope. Oh, they they had they had GoPros in the in the trucks and they provided us with the GoPro footage and then some B roll footage. Just cut some of that together.

Roberto Baldwin  56:17  
Okay, so they'd be wrong. Okay. So we didn't get that would have been a waste because they asked me to go and I could and it would have been a waste of my time if I could do video.

Nicole Wakelin  56:26  
What are you printing behind you?

Roberto Baldwin  56:29  
It is the another order. It is Yeah, it was a quarter of Daft Punk helmet. So it's Yeah. So in addition to the large helmets that we're making, I'm making little ones. Okay,

Nicole Wakelin  56:41  
heads and I'm like, What is printing back there? Okay. Okay.

Unknown Speaker  56:44  
Magic. Back on track.

Sam Abuelsamid  56:46  
All right. Okay. Last news item. This week is some news last week from Argo AI, which is the company that is partly owned by Ford, partly on by Volkswagen and partly owned by by the founders, Brian Zalewski, and Pete randr. And now also partly owned by Lyft. Now has a two and a half percent stake in the company. Because Argo is teaming up with Lyft. And they're going to launch Argo powered Ford Escape Robo taxis later this year, in Austin in Miami, on the lift network, so it's gonna be kind of kind of like what if you go to Las Vegas now for the last couple years, if you go to Las Vegas, and use the Lyft app, you have the option to get a ride from one of the self driving vehicles from motional, previously aptiv. Now they're doing the same thing in Miami in Austin, to start with with with Argo. And this will be the first time the public gets to ride in Argo vehicles. And their said their Ford escapes. To start with, it's going to be a few dozen vehicles, they'll gradually expand it over time. And at first, they will also still have safety drivers in them. Eventually, at some point when they're when they feel it's safe enough that they've proven the safety, they will add or they will take out the safety drivers. One of the interesting things about the the partnership with Lyft is that Lyft has agreed to share a bunch of information, a bunch of their data with Argo, which is you know, they've they've shared information previously with motional. And with with waymo, about where people, you know, where people are using, where people are requesting rides, where they're using Lyft, you know, times a day, that sort of thing. But there's some additional data that Lyft is agreed to share with Argo. And that's why are those giving them some equity stake in the company. And that is safety data that they've got about crashes and near misses with their drivers, you know, information that they've collected through the the driver app, the Lyft driver app, using the accelerometers and the phones, so they can they can estimate when the vehicles when the drivers, you know, done an emergency braking situation based on the the amount of deceleration. And they're looking for things like near misses. And looking at where what times of the day, you know, what routes you know, are more likely to to have safety problems. And so our goal is going to be able to use this information as a baseline for checking the safety of their own vehicles to see if their own vehicles are avoiding those kinds of situations. So this will be one of the first times when you have because a lot of the problems a lot of the safety data that's out there is not really very precise. It's not very granular. You know, as far as you know, knowing a whole lot of Information about when you know what the situation was, you know where, where and when things happen. And so this is going to be one of the first times that Argo is going to have this this other data to compare their own vehicles against and that'll help them determine when their vehicles are actually safer than human drivers in the same scenarios. So he'll let you know later this year if you happen to be in Austin or Miami, yeah, try out the Lyft app and see if you can get one of the the Argo vehicles

Roberto Baldwin  1:00:32  
are I was trying to think of upon but I'll stop.

Nicole Wakelin  1:00:37  
He's like, nope, he's got nothing.

Roberto Baldwin  1:00:40  
I got nothing. I really thought I could pull it out. But

Nicole Wakelin  1:00:46  
I liked the idea of them opening up my app, I've always I like to see how these little baby steps are happening to getting all this stuff being something that's in the hands of people in a in a way that's actually going to be something that they can use you know that you don't have to buy some expensive car to deal with it that it's something you can you know, calling for lift. That's pretty cool.

Sam Abuelsamid  1:01:06  
Yeah. So let's, let's do some listener questions. First one is from speedmaster says any other expected entrance to the mini truck scene? Maybe something smaller than Tacoma for example. Nicole you were in Texas for Toyotas toy Palooza. Did you see any hints that they might maybe do something you know, maybe using the Corolla cross platform?

Nicole Wakelin  1:01:34  
There was they were so you know the the line you know, we cannot comment on future product blah, blah, blah. That was pretty firmly in place. I there was nothing. We saw big things. We did not see little things. So yeah, there was nothing that I saw in Toyota. That would make me be able to say like, maybe I think there's something smaller coming.

Roberto Baldwin  1:01:58  
I think GM is gonna keep an eye on board and see how the Ford how the maverick does.

Nicole Wakelin  1:02:04  
is gonna do so well.

Roberto Baldwin  1:02:06  
Yeah, I think everyone's gonna keep like, I think the the Santa Cruz will probably do okay, but I think the Mavericks don't do really well. And I think everyone's gonna keep an eye on them. And then we're gonna bring back mini truck and magazine.

Nicole Wakelin  1:02:17  
Chuck E go mini trucking magazine, any trucking and

Roberto Baldwin  1:02:21  
it wasn't a G it was I N apostrophe. And you have all those wasteland lambs, mini trucks. And so yeah, you get some mini truck word couriers, I

Nicole Wakelin  1:02:31  
will eagerly await the returns on our bodies. Yep. Now, when I said the maverick looked so good. And when they engineer went over everything with us the other day, it was there's a lot of thought that went into that thing. So I think it could do quite well. So I think your chance of mini trucking magazine having enough trucks to talk about coming back is pretty good.

Sam Abuelsamid  1:02:56  
Yeah, I like what you say Robbie, about about GM. You know, they've got all these all these ETS coming? And, you know, I mean, they still haven't shown us most of what most of what's coming. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised. Yeah, I mean, they do have a compact Chevy crossover office, Evie platform, they could easily turn that into a pickup truck to you know, I mean, it would it would make a perfect platform for pickup truck. So I wouldn't be surprised to see GM do one, especially, you know, the way they've talked, you know, so much about how they've compressed their development timeline with vehicles like the Hummer and the Cadillac lyric. You know, they could, they could probably knock something out, you know, maybe by the end of 2023 if not sooner. So yeah, I think I think we will see some some interesting products, especially you know, if as you send a call the maverick takes off, you know, I mean, if both that and the Santa Cruz both kind of flop in the marketplace and don't really get any buyers, then you know, I don't think anybody else is gonna try it.

Nicole Wakelin  1:04:04  
I really don't. I don't know how well the Santa Cruz is gonna do because I haven't like spent as much time with that but I spent a didn't drive it but that the the amount of thought that went into every last thing they did in that Maverick like the way the bed is, it looks like there's just you know, every you know, you can fit of two by four here to create an extra divisions, you have three segments and you can put plywood here to fit, make it like a two level thing. And you can adjust the tailgate here so that it makes a door for that piece of plywood. Like there's a lot of thought that went into that so that people who just need like that little I kind of sort of want to talk but I don't want to truck but I needed to do a little bit more than the average car. It looks like they nailed it. So unless the thing drives terribly. I think I would be shocked if it wasn't a success, honestly. Okay,

Roberto Baldwin  1:04:56  
maybe we'll get the ball hot back. Next one. Hey, you

Sam Abuelsamid  1:04:59  
know Baja, whoo, hey, maybe Subaru can finally get some buyers for it. I

Roberto Baldwin  1:05:04  
did the aftermarket for those thing they kick when it skyrocketed the last few years, because then suddenly, it's like, oh, these are cool. But by then they'd stop making them no one bought them when they're new. Now they all want them used. Whoops.

Sam Abuelsamid  1:05:19  
Alright, next one up from I'm gonna assume this is supposed to be team engineer team anger says why won't automakers provide official technology upgrade process like Tesla does? example, my 2014 Corvette radios garbage and I want to hand money to GM to replace it with a newer version, but they won't. Ah, well, you know, there is the aftermarket. You know, if GM doesn't want to take your money for that, you can, you can put an aftermarket audio system in there. You know, the the problem, the problem is up until now, these these systems have not been designed to be upgraded. Manufacturers did not design there. They didn't take into account that they would ever have to do that. So now, new vehicles are being designed that way. They're being designed with the intention of being upgraded, getting software updates and performance upgrades over their lifespan. So going forward, you will see that but yeah, I mean, if you want to, if you want a new audio system and your 2014 vet do

Nicole Wakelin  1:06:26  
we seem like it was that long ago, but in the tech world, that was the Dark Ages. Like that's a long time. That's a that's too far ago to for them to have thought like, Hey, you know, maybe we can upgrade this, you know, do an OT upgrade or something. You know, it's that was too long ago for that.

Roberto Baldwin  1:06:47  
If you're if you're a type person that likes to do things yourself, I would recommend and I've been recommending these these folks since like the 90s crutchfield. I mean, I used to get the catalog, but like, you just tell them what car you want you have and you tell them the stair you want and like okay, here's the here's the here's the harness, here's the bracket in case you need a new bracket, here's everything you need to put this stereo in your car. And or you can just go to like and and they will

Sam Abuelsamid  1:07:11  
they will tell you exactly which ones fit. Yeah, which ones won't. Exactly, yeah. And they'll tell you all the speakers that will fit in your car. And you know, you know where there's cavities to put a speaker in. So if you want to add more speakers, you know, they'll tell you all that stuff and it Yeah, they're Crutchfield great. I remember getting your catalogs all the time and leafing through them now you can just do it online on the website. have to add that to the to the show notes. Crutchfield Yeah, good old actually. Yeah, I mean even even Best Buy, you know, stocks, surprisingly enough stocks, a lot of that stuff, a lot of those adapter kits, you know, because a lot of newer vehicles they have they have openings that you know, are not necessarily single din or doubled in openings. So the two sizes of you know, standard audio systems, but you can get adapters you know, get bezels that will fit so you can put a standard one in there once you take out the the whatever came from the factory. And you can find a lot of that stuff at at your local Best Buy as well. Or on Amazon as well. All right, next up, calm. mcquinn fairly recent listener who discovered Sam on Laporte, the tech guy show hands on guy who's gone through the pain of learning OBD to and does his own maintenance, but I still find things in every episode that interest me, even when I'm just sitting there, slack jawed going, What the? You don't learn and grow by just taking advice from like minded people. But the discussions of navigation systems frustrate me. I listened while driving so I do miss things. But do these vendor navigation systems include traffic data? After a few years of no commuting, I am now driving 60 miles a day. a wreck on the highway can cost me an hour of time that I don't have to spare. Google Maps, however, will tell me there's a wreck and give me an alternate route. I use it even when I know exactly where I'm going. It's a deal breaker for me. nav wise, I have a friend who refuses to turn on location data for privacy reasons. We met down south for a trip. And he spent four hours getting through a bridge construction logjam that Google routed me around. It only cost me about 20 minutes of bad road driving through rural Kentucky. I'm nobody's poster boy for normalcy. But I really wonder if I'm the only one who values the traffic data that Google Maps provides. Why do you guys use Google Maps or ways or

Roberto Baldwin  1:09:38  
I use? I use Google Maps. And if I know where I'm going, just so I have an ETA of where I'm going to be and I like and and sometimes if I know where I'm going and Google Maps I go this way. I'm like no, Google. No, if you live in

Nicole Wakelin  1:09:54  
bad Google, that is not the best way to go on this. I know where I am. No, I agree with you. I use it Even when I know where I'm going, because it does, especially if there's what I think might be the slimmest chance that I'm like doing, even if it's me saying it's like an hour away, and it's highway driving, if it's at rush hour, and there's an accident, suddenly you're our drivers, two and a half unless someone tells you there's an accident, and then you have 85 different backwards you can take, although I don't know if I want to go on the back roads through rural Kentucky, but I would still, you know, I would still rather have an alternate route, so I tend to use it. But yeah,

Sam Abuelsamid  1:10:29  
those back roads in Kentucky are actually great to drive

Nicole Wakelin  1:10:32  
a cab is like yes, but

Sam Abuelsamid  1:10:33  
that's a certainly want to run out of gas.

Nicole Wakelin  1:10:35  
That's the kicker, right? Talking to backroad in rural Kentucky. Now the Kentucky listeners are like, delete from my playlists, but we love you Kentucky. But yeah, so I use it. I think a lot. I mean, I see a lot of people that do that. I think Google backups gets a lot of use from people who are just trying to keep kind of keep an eye on things to make sure that even a regular route. But especially if I'm going on a road trip, like if I'm really driving, I use that all the time, because I don't know where the heck I'm going. And if there's some log jam, that's gonna add hours to my drive, when I'm already driving six hours, I don't I get stuck in that.

Roberto Baldwin  1:11:10  
There, you can use Google Maps. And I talked to the pollster folks about this as well, where you don't have to sign a you don't have to create an account. Because you know, the pole star uses Android automotive, which has all this Google information that of course, Google has access to this data. But if you're paranoid about privacy, and about Google know where you are, etc, you can use the maps without signing in. So that's nice, you know, you're still being tracked, you're still being tracked. Because you own a phone, you're still being tracked. You know, it's it's, it's it's rather difficult to not be tracked as a human in this day and age. And but if you want if you really, if you're if you really want to at least minimize that just don't create accounts, you know, it's not gonna remember your last, you know, your last addresses or home or any of that stuff. But if you just type in the, you know, I need to go, you know, to this place, and you don't, you don't say in your camp, you're, you're less likely to be say, Oh, hey, this is Phil, from New Haven, and he's going here again, it's, you know, it's just at, you know, it's just data to them. So they'll know someone's doing this, they just won't know exactly.

Nicole Wakelin  1:12:17  
You don't know who it is. Yeah, exactly who you are.

Sam Abuelsamid  1:12:21  
And even, you know, even if you don't sign into anything, just carrying a phone, if nothing else, your cell carrier will know where you are, because your phone has to connect to a cell tower. In order to be your tower. If you turn off all the location data. Yeah, you're the carriers will know where to find you approximately anyway,

Nicole Wakelin  1:12:43  
it goes along. So give it up the idea that there's any privacy unless I decide to live like a hermit like Henry David Thoreau, or one of those guys Walden. Remember that that book, everybody had to read Walden Pond living out there in the middle of nowhere, then they won't know where I am. But even then, I'm probably on Google Maps somewhere. They got me anyway. So

Sam Abuelsamid  1:13:03  
yeah. And I think, you know, part of the question here from Tom was also about the built in nav system. So even if you're not using, you know, Google Maps, or Apple Maps or ways, from your phone, the built in navigation systems, in vehicles, at least, you know, most of them over the last eight to 10 years, actually do have traffic data available it usually, it generally comes through Sirius XM. And so, I think you have to have a Sirius XM account to get that data. But, you know, if you have that, if you have a Sirius XM subscription, then in most cases, you will get traffic data. So even if you're using the embedded navigation, it will give, you know, and I've had this, you know, and many of the cars I've driven and because I usually try to use the, the built in nav, you know, just to see how bad it is compared to Google Maps. And I, you know, I have had it, you know, say, Hey, you know, there's a slowdown ahead, you know, do you want to beat you know, here's an alternate route if you want to take it. So it's not as slick as as what you get with Google Maps or ways, but it is there. So that traffic information is available, but it will cost you extra to get that get that data. So it's it's there. But All right, next up, Rob Johnson. Wondering if you can point me in my sophomore college kid in the right direction. She's a cybersecurity student who's interested in focusing on automotive security. I spent my formative years as an intern at IBM and it was an incredible experience for me. Do the big manufacturers do these kinds of things? It's probably not called inter internships now. envisioning her working for free and in return, getting some experience in the field where she's really interested in and appreciate your comments and suggestions. So first of all, do not take unpaid internships. That's no come. No Come no company, every everybody that gets in interns should be paying their interns. Yeah. If they refuse to pay your intern, your interns go somewhere else. I don't care how, what experience you might be getting. Don't take an unpaid internship. Because that's, you know, that's wrong. companies. Yeah, it is. It is.

Nicole Wakelin  1:15:16  
And they do call them internships. I, my daughter is not in cybersecurity, but she's in software engineering, focused on AI. She has an internship that pays her and how she found it was she went to stuff I mean, she's a year behind. Well, she'll be a sophomore. So I guess maybe about the same age as your kid. She actually did the recruiting stuff that her school does. Her school has a ton of things where they come on campus, and they have hiring days and looking for internships, and she applied for a lot. It was as COVID started. So things were like, yeah, we've got a position. No, we don't, because we've cancelled all our internships, but she had a lot of people reach out to her and even the one she didn't get, I think it was still a great opportunity for her to sort of see what was out there. And you're sort of getting your interviewing skills going by just doing some of these internship things and these application processes, but I would tell your your kid to look on campus and see what kind of recruiting they do. Because my daughter's campus has literally I think three or four different recruiting days during the school year, and she got leads from every single one. And it ended up giving her one that's full time in the summer and part time during the school year right through graduation, and she just finished her freshman year. So I would start by looking and seeing what kind of opportunities that are right on the campus where she goes to school, or he

Roberto Baldwin  1:16:37  
post up post post and post OnStar hack. Every OEM has been built, built up, built up their their infosec teams. There's also you know, there's a bunch of startups, they're looking for infosec startups that are, you know, pen testing a lot of these OEMs. So, you know, check with some of the startups. I've gotten, well, not the last two years, but I've been going to DEF CON for a few years. And they have a car hacking village. Like a whole village, it's like a whole section, it's all about car hacking. And you know, there's a lot of different like things that are going on. So in addition to internship, just sort of go and check out the community and talk to people in the community because they you know, the, you know, the, you know, the, the internship at this OEM might not be as good as the internship at this OEM, you know, even post OnStar I remember talking to different automakers about because I used to be an infosec reporter. So I was doing both at the same time I was doing infosec and cars. So I kept asking infosec questions around that time to automakers, and you could tell the ones that were really taking it seriously. And the ones that were just sort of like lip service, just saying, Oh, yeah, we have a mic. Oh, so are using third parties, the pen test your systems in order, you know, and they're like, oh, we'll have to get back to you on that. Versus like, Oh, yeah, we've been doing that for years. And, you know, it's Yeah, you know, ask the, you know, reach out to the, to the community. But, you know, automakers are, you know, they're probably gonna have internships for you. Again, there's the pentesting companies, the infosec companies, and then a lot of startups that are doing a lot of, you know,

Sam Abuelsamid  1:18:12  
yeah. And yeah, and most most of the automakers now have, you know, internal cybersecurity teams, and, you know, over the last five or six years, you know, they about five years ago, or actually, almost six years ago, now they set up what's known as an auto isec, and information sharing and Analysis Center. And a lot of different industries have these. So there's one for the auto industry, all the major automakers and suppliers are part of this. They share security information about vulnerabilities. So they're, they're all you know, since the OnStar hack and the G pack they've they've all become hyper aware of this and they're, they're all taking it much more seriously now. In fact, the the guys who did the the legendary Jeep hack, Chris valasek, and Charlie Miller, they work for cruise now. They're in charge of cybersecurity at cruise which is gmms autonomous vehicle group. And so as he said, they the automakers, but also the AV companies, companies like Argo, you know, they're looking for for cybersecurity people because especially for a V's it's really critical that you know, their systems be secure. You know, cruise waymo Aurora zooks, you know, they're, they're all looking for people. Most of the startups in this area are actually based in Israel. You know, a lot of lot of guys coming out of the Israeli intelligence service have gotten into this field and several, quite a few of them have the popped up over the last five or six years have actually been acquired by big suppliers like Bosch continental and Magna. So look to those look to those big tier one suppliers as well because they have acquired some of these companies. So They're they're also involved in this stuff companies like aptiv as well. So there's a whole bunch of companies out there. And as Nicole said, you know, work with your school recruiters, you know, they, they know where to find a lot of this stuff. But yeah, go to the websites of these different companies, you know, especially the smaller ones that are the startups. And you know, they usually have a link right on the front page for careers that are almost all hiring people. And jet jets are pretty good. They're looking for people looking at cybersecurity, and you should definitely be able to get a paid internship in this field.

Roberto Baldwin  1:20:36  
Yeah. And they've been talking for years about how there's a lot there's not enough cybersecurity people in the in the world to take on all the jobs. So it's if you if she, if he or she is really into it, then it's it's Yeah. You're gonna do all right. Last one.

Sam Abuelsamid  1:20:54  
Yeah. Yeah, no, it's def definitely a field will you where you will be able to find work for for the foreseeable future. Okay, Adam jordison. family of five. All three kids are pre teenage so no more car seats. Thankfully, we bought a 2012 Chrysler Town and Country in November of 2011. But it only has 60,000 miles on it right. Now. Here's my question. What is the outlook for three ro electric vehicles on dealer lots by the end of 2022? Would a phv be the best option of its plug in hybrid? I'm looking, I'm not going to. I'm not going to go try and purchase a vehicle this year because of the current state of inventory of dealerships and potential for markups. However, I was curious that what the marketplace might look like in 18 months, so yeah, definitely, there will be three row vehicles on the market next year. Electric and plug in hybrid. And actually, you know, if you were in a market right now, only, you might have a hard time getting one, the Chrysler Pacifica plug in hybrid three row, you know, perfect, perfect replacement for your, for your town and country. You know, and it's got 30 to 33 miles of electric driving range. And then you know, when you do a road trip, you just keep right on going. There will be a variety of SUVs crossovers. in that range. Ford has said they're going to have an electric explorer coming, although they haven't given a timeline for that. But I would expect that to probably by 2023. GM has a bunch of stuff coming. There is the Volkswagen ID buzz, the production version of which will be arriving in the US market in 2023. Launching in Europe next year, and then 2023 year after that are in the US. And see what else. Oh, there's the rivian r1 t or r1? s? Yeah, which is three row. That's right. I see maybe a little on the small side for you. And that's going to be pricey. But there Yeah, there will be a lot of choices. By the end of next year. You'll have a bunch of things to choose for. I

Roberto Baldwin  1:23:07  
think you'd be the cool parent and you get the the buzz. The ID buzz. Yeah, I think it's gonna be tough to get one though. When those things come out. I think that things are they people have been champing at the bit for those things ever since they they showed it off. I don't even remember what show but since then everyone's like, when's that coming? I have people who DM me? Just Hey, when's the ID bus coming in? 2023 2022 in Germany, and they're like, okay, okay, I think I can wait and like okay.

Sam Abuelsamid  1:23:40  
Yeah, and you know, if you'd like to if you don't want another minivan, there will be SUV crossover type vehicles as well in that in that segment. So and there, there will be two rows and three row vehicles. So you'll have there there will be something for you to choose from. Oh, there's also a SIM card remember the Fisker ocean? That's,

Nicole Wakelin  1:23:59  
that's no, it says that I believe. I was just googling that and it says Google says they're one of the benefits will be to offer a third row seating option.

Sam Abuelsamid  1:24:09  
So there you go. The Fisker ocean. You can we can support our old friend Rebecca,

Nicole Wakelin  1:24:14  
Rebecca.

Sam Abuelsamid  1:24:16  
Yeah. So yeah, there will definitely be stuff out there for you and elect both electric and plug in hybrid. So with that, I think we're done for this week.

Roberto Baldwin  1:24:27  
That's all she wrote. I still got a few more days was the escalada task and it

Nicole Wakelin  1:24:33  
was pretty you got to Google that. It's hilarious. Let's go out to SNL.

Sam Abuelsamid  1:24:40  
All right. See you all next time. Bye.