The Trump administration’s proposal to cap federal fuel economy rules at 35 mpg, instead of the original level 
around 50 mpg by 2025, has set off opposition from state governors and other leading stakeholders. California and 18 other states promised yesterday to fight Trump’s proposal to weaken fuel efficiency and emissions standards — and California will use every legal tool to fight back. Gov. Jerry Brown pledged to, “fight this stupidity in every conceivable way possible.”
“This is a huge setback for the industry, especially suppliers that create two thirds of all U.S. auto-related jobs. Automotive suppliers are making billion-dollars bets in high-efficiency vehicle technology. Today’s announcement is likely to provoke a long battle in the courts and create a tremendous amount of uncertainty. Meanwhile, suppliers in other countries will be racing ahead to help the rest of the world meet their obligations under the global climate accord,” said John Boesel, CEO of CALSTART.
Plug In America will be joining a lawsuit to defend the electric vehicle from the “devastating effects this proposal will have — not just on the EV market, but on clean air, national security, public health and the global climate.”
Center for Automotive Research (CAR) Management Briefing Seminars, held July 30-Aug. 2 at Traverse City, Mich.
Trade delegates from Canada and Mexico made the case for their countries not being enemies of the state. Stalled out North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) negotiations, newly imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum, and the Trump administration’s investigation into whether auto imports are a threat to U.S. security, have backed Canada and Mexico into a corner and derailed the NAFTA alliance.
Nissan is in a collaboration with NASA to develop what is billed as the “world’s safest traffic control system,” to get autonomous vehicles through busy intersections where humans and vehicles confusingly mix, or through pop-up construction zones where how to proceed may be unclear. Nissan has been emphasizing the human element. Informing Nissan’s traffic-control system is NASA’s Mars Control center and the U.S. Federal Aviation Admin. air-traffic control system.
Auto supplier Continental has been using the CAR seminars to showcase its latest biometrics technology, which lets drivers unlock and start their car with their face, fingerprint or voice commands — just like the newest cellphone. Continental’s tech is meant to provide an extra layer of safety for drivers and passengers. For example, someone would need to scan their fingerprint on a particular button or speak a password through a voice recognition system to start the car, even when they have a working key.
Toyota showed off the latest version of its hydrogen-fuel-cell-powered Class 8 commercial test truck. It’s an improved version of Toyota’s first Project Portal vehicle which began operation in April 2017 and has logged 10,000 miles (16,000 km) of real-world testing.
Oregon protects itself against a lawsuit attempting to block clean vehicle incentives:
The Oregon supreme court ruled against a lawsuit filed by AAA Oregon/Idaho and the Oregon Trucking Association that challenged the state’s proposed funding mechanism for the electric vehicle (EV) rebate program. The state supreme court’s rulig againt the lawsuit allows the Clean Vehicle Rebate Program to move forward. The program offers two rebates — a rebate of up to $2,500 for the purchase or lease of any new electric or plug-in hybrid car with a base MSRP of $50,000 or less. The second rebate provides up to $2,500 to lower-income drivers and can be combined to provide $5,000 towards a new vehicle, or applied to a used electric car.
