Stellantis Concept Eliminates Turbo Lag; Tesla Pushes to Keep FSD Data Secret - Autoline Daily 4351

Kind: captions Language: en This is Autoline Daily, the [music] show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry. Tesla is pressuring regulators in Europe to keep safety data from supervised full self-driving Tesla secret, and so far they're going along with its request. Back in April, the Netherlands Vehicle Authority, or RDW, approved Tesla's FSD system, and now it's pushing for widespread adoption across the EU. However, the RDW is refusing to make public why it concluded FSD is safe and how it conducted the tests. Reuters reports that email correspondents between RDW and Tesla showed that Tesla pressed to keep the info secret, saying it would violate its trade secrets. However, safety advocates say the RDW is withholding too much information, potentially at the expense of public safety. The EU could vote as soon as November to approve FSD, which would require a yes vote from 55% of members who need to make up at least 65% of the EU's population. Speaking of Tesla, it and SpaceX announced plans to invest $16.8 billion to build what it calls Terraab, an AI semiconductor factory in Texas. It will produce advanced logic and memory chips for Tesla's Optimus robots and Cyber Cab as well as high-owered chips for SpaceX's data centers. Volkswagen CEO Oliver Bluma is getting push back from the company's board which is mostly pro labor over his plan to close plants and cut jobs in Germany. However, he has the full backing of VW's largest shareholder. Porsche SE, which is controlled by the Porsche Pak family and owns about 32% of VW and 12% of Porsche, says the VW group should consider quote every option to help turn the automaker around, including Bluma's plan to close four plants and cut a 100,000 jobs in Germany. However, that proposal was shot down by labor representatives on the company's supervisory board last month. Bluma is now pursuing a new plan to cut production in Europe by 500,000 units a year, trim management and administrative positions, as well as reduce the number of models and variants it offers. But it's understandable why Porsche SE is pushing hard for VW to act quickly. It posted a $2.6 6 billion net loss in the first half, primarily because it relies on dividend payments from the VW group. And just to underscore how much the German auto industry is struggling, a new study shows that the debt burden for German suppliers is outpacing its competitors in the rest of Europe and China. A financial analysis from strategy and which is part of price waterhouse coopers found that average interest expenses at Germany's major suppliers increased to 102% of operating earnings in 2025 which is the fourth year in a row it's gone up. The German companies also have lower average equity ratios than their competitors which is putting even more financial stress on them. And over the past six years, Chinese competitors have reduced overhead and manufacturing costs as a share of revenue, while German suppliers overhead costs have worsened. At CSP, we work with OEM engineers [music] across the country on their journeys to lighter, safer, and more eco-friendly vehicles. Learn more at thecsp.com. At the end of June, we ran a report about how BMW, Ferrari, and Stellantis have all started replacing copper wiring with aluminum. And we said Tesla was the first automaker that we were aware of to use high voltage aluminum wiring. But Craig Vanbatenberg, a longtime viewer who built a career around hybrid and EV training, points out that the 2004 to 2009 Gen 2 Toyota Prius used aluminum wires from the high voltage battery to the inverter. The process to make the wires was developed by the supplier, Yazaki, and Craig even provided us with an example. It features an aluminum core, but instead of a solid piece, it's a cluster of individual wires. However, those wires are much thicker than normal. That's wrapped in a rubber coating. Then there's a thin wrapping of copper wiring. And finally, the outer orange coating. Interestingly, the copper section doesn't go all the way to the end of the connector where the aluminum wire is electrically welded to a steel-like fastener. Tesla has expanded the use of high voltage aluminum wiring much further, but Toyota and Yazaki paved the way. As we pointed out before, aluminum wiring is cheaper, lighter, and is easier to put into vehicles than copper. Stellantis developed a concept to help eliminate turbo lag. Turbos are powered by exhaust gases coming out of the engine, but it takes time before that force from the exhaust is enough for the turbo to create boost. That time is called turbo lag. So, Stalantis created eBoost air. The setup is mounted in line with the air intake system. And when the driver tries to accelerate, but the turbos haven't spooled up enough yet, air is redirected around the throttle body to an ecompressor, which rapidly builds up boost pressure to spin the turbines. The company paired the technology with a prototype version of its high output 3 L six-cylinder hurricane engine, but it didn't report on any performance improvements or any plans to put this into production. China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology revealed several new models coming into the market through regulatory filings and two caught our eye. One is the new smart number two which we just reported about this week for launching a unique marketing campaign. The iconic two-seater is making a comeback for the Mercedes Glyowned brand and will now ride on a new electric compact architecture. The other vehicle is the first pure electric model to come from Volkswagen's new ID era series. The ID Era 5X features level two plus hands-free driving capability and comes with an LFP battery pack that powers a 155 kW or 28 horsepower electric motor. But most interesting to us is the styling. We think the designers blended the look of a station wagon and SUV like we really haven't seen before. But that brings us to the end of today's show. Thanks for making autoline a part of your day and I hope that you have a great weekend. [music] Autoline Daily is brought to you by CSP, the composits solution partner, Intrepid Control Systems, overthe-air engineering, boost your game, and thanks to the following YouTube and Patreon members. >> [music] >> At Intrepid, we produce network hardware and software solutions, enabling vehicle manufacturers to innovate and design the next generation of modern mobility. Delivering scalable next generation solutions requires thorough testing and validation of vehicle platforms. 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