Fans are furious with a NASCAR proposal to adopt electric race cars in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series. Get all the latest auto industry news in the Executive Briefing.
Today’s headlines:
+ Amazon is expanding its Amazon Autos platform to six vehicle brands, allowing consumers to purchase new vehicles online while dealerships handle final delivery. More at CBT News.
+ Rental companies are reporting a noticeable increase in demand for electric vehicles as gasoline prices climb, according to data from Hertz and peer-to-peer platform Turo. More at Yahoo! Autos.
+ Honda announced it will exit the South Korean auto market at the end of this year due to sluggish sales, after annual volume fell from 12,000 cars in 2008 to 2,000 in 2025. More at Japan Today.
+ French automaker Renault reports that first-quarter sales rose 7.3 percent from a year earlier, well above expectations, due to increased sales to partners Nissan and Geely. More at World Auto Forum.
+ The FIA, Formula 1, the teams, and power unit manufacturers have agreed a number of tweaks to the 2026 regulations to allow drivers to push harder in qualifying. More at Racer.
+ Morgan has revealed the Supersport 400, a 402 hp high-performance version of the Supersport that is the storied British sports car maker’s most powerful vehicle ever. More at Car and Driver.
+ General Motors is reportedly tapping the brakes on its next generation of full-size electric trucks, delaying development of updated versions of its EV pickups and SUVs. More at Autoweek
+ A 2017 Dodge Viper GTC ACR-Extreme with 44 miles on the odometer sold for $532,999 on duPont Registry Live, setting an online auction record for Dodge Vipers. More at The Drive.
+ According to a report from Bloomberg, 20 percent of all Tesla Cybertrucks are registered under non-Tesla companies controlled by Elon Musk, inflating the sales figures. More at Motor Trend.
+ Public response was immediate and highly negative to a tentative proposal by NASCAR to adopt electric vehicles in the second-tier O’Reilly Auto Parts Series in the future. More at Autoblog.
Photo courtesy of NASCAR.
Review the previous MCG Executive Briefing from April 17 here.
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NOTICE OF DANGER!
No known autonomous vehicle system being tested on public roads performs a human‑style emergency manuever to avoid any child who enters the roadway! All current systems brake and hold lane. NO autonomous public test vehicle is allowed to steer around a child who suddenly darts into the street.
Not Waymo.
Not Cruise.
Not Tesla.
Not DriveOhio.
Not TRC.
Not any research prototype.
Not any academic system.
AVs CANNOT IMPROVISE like humans. A human can see the child, see the gap, predict the movement, improvise a dodge in a split second. NO known AV system performs a human‑style emergency manuever to avoid a child who suddenly enters the roadway.
Self drivers must detect, classify, compute trajectories, evaluate collision risk, check lane boundaries, check surrounding vehicles, communicate with HQ to confirm legality then brake and hold lane. Hit the child like a figgin’ roadkill deer even if the stopping distance is calculated to be beyond the child, catagorized as just another hazard, like a kindergarten trolley dilema.
Self drivers will not be able to safely conduct “emergency” obstacle “manuevers” i.e. emergency single/double lane change, etc. until the 2040’s or later according to Google and Microsoft A.I. estimates.
Or never if A.I. hallucination is not 1000% solved and all bad actors change their ways, or eliminated…
The ODOT in Ohio and the Ohio State Highway Patrol both instruct human drivers to brake and hold lane when a deer enters the roadway. Autonomous vehicles follow the same rule. It is confirmed that no known AV system being tested on public roads in Ohio performs a human‑style emergency manuever, commonly known as a swerve.
For your information, any “modern traffic calming” design, “safety” modification or roundabout that assumes evasive manuevering is possible by humans (or AVs) is patently unsafe and non-compliant without a legitimate documented CE, peer reviewed and closely analyzed under the FHWA NEPA Assignment MOU with Ohio.
As previously posted, conveniently no FHWA/FRA NEPA Assignment has a mandate nor any mechanism in place for reliable federal enforcement other than annual audits.
https://www.10tv.com/article/news/local/columbus-semi-driver-deadly-interstate-71-crash-delaware-county-fraud-investigation-ohio-dps/530-ca03514c-a19a-4bd4-a085-d9ad4c759c8d
From 30,000 feet, all “fake safety” programs/projects created by loopholes prioritize corporate/govt expansion over any genuine public protection. Then blame the driver and exploit the public when the magic doesn’t work again.
Loopholing FHWA NEPA Assignment to sabotage/surprise/confuse/make safer human drivers with “modern countermeasures” while loopholing pinkie-swear “honor system” public road testing of the internet using cable boxes to replace the same human drivers (with NHTSA and NTSB apparently providing free R&D), is already the biggest dog and pony show in American history…
The fans of NASCAR also put the Goody’s Dash series out of business because it ran four and six cylinder engines and they were unhappy with how the cars sounded. They love their V8 motors. Maybe next, NASCAR should try having the truck series run diesels.
Mayhaps some of your readers would be find the content on selfdrivenews.com or insideautonomousvehicles.com more to their current interests.