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Waymo picks Detroit factory to build self-driving fleet by mid-2019

SAN FRANCISCO — Alphabet Inc's Waymo said on Tuesday it had chosen a factory in Detroit to mass produce self-driving cars, looking to the historical heart of the auto industry to build the vehicles of the future. The company's chief executive, John Krafcik, said in a blog post that Waymo would partner with American Axle & Manufacturing to lease and repurpose an existing Detroit facility that will be operational by mid-2019. The facility belongs to American Axle, next to the GM Hamtramck facility that is at risk of being shuttered, and is across the Detroit River from Windsor, where the Chrysler Pacificas that Waymo uses are built. Presumably Waymo will do the self-driving fitment of Pacificas at the new facility. Waymo said in January it had chosen Michigan for its first production facility, adding it would receive incentives from the public-private partnership agency, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, and create up to 400 jobs over time exclusively related to self-driving. Krafcik said in his blog post Tuesday that it's the "perfect facility," with up to 200,000 square feet to expand into. He said Waymo will hire the region's auto manufacturing talent. Waymo plans to buy 62,000 Pacificas and 20,000 Jaguars and convert them for autonomous driving. By 2022, it intends to conduct about 1 million trips per day. In a sea of rivals, Waymo is generally thought of as far ahead in the self-driving race. It already operates a robotaxi service in Arizona that it plans to expand geographically over time. Global automakers, large technology companies and startups are all engaged in self-driving efforts, but experts expect it will be years before systems are ready to be rolled out in all areas, with software and regulations among the many challenges. Waymo is competing with rivals General Motors and Uber Technologies to deploy such vehicles for the masses. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has also announced the company plans to launch a robotaxi service in 2020. Waymo, which has been working on self-driving technology for a decade, provided few new details. American Axle, with which Waymo is partnering for its Detroit facility, was formed in 1994 when an investment team purchased five plants that General Motors had put up for sale. GM plans to end output at its last Detroit factory next year, after announcing in November a plan to halt production at five North American assembly plants and cut about 15,000 jobs.

Mopar teases four of 'nearly 20' SEMA Show concepts

Yesterday it was Chevrolet. Today, Mopar has dropped some SEMA knowledge, releasing a quartet of teaser images that give us some indication of what kind of cars, trucks, and crossovers Fiat, Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, and Ram will be showing in Las Vegas. Like Chevy, Mopar's concepts utilize both production and concept accessories, although Fiat Chrysler has gone a bit more indepth on at least one of its concepts. Immediately, the most tantalizing teaser is the one shown above. Yes, that's the back of a Challenger, and aside from the bright orange accents on the gray body, you should take notice of the badge mounted on the spoiler – yes, that says "GT AWD." To be honest, such a vehicle wouldn't be a huge shock, as both the Challenger's LX platform-mates, the Dodge Charger and Chrysler 300, are offered with all-wheel-drive options. Still, adding such a vehicle to the production cycle would give Dodge a leg up on the rear-drive only Ford Mustang and Chevrolet Camaro. Aside from that concept, FCA has also released teasers of a Ram-based concept, a 300-based concept, and what we're guessing is a Fiat 500X. We can't wait to see what the actual Fiat concept has to do with kiteboarding. As for the 300 and Ram, there's not a lot of hints on what sort of styling details they'll contain. The Chrysler has additional LED accents and what we're guessing is matte blue paint, while the Ram is based on a Hemi-powered 1500 with Rebel styling cues. This is just a very tiny sample of Mopar's final SEMA roster, which include "hundreds" of parts. There should also be a total of 20 vehicles covering all four former Chrysler Group brands, as well as Fiat. Naturally, we'll have plenty to report on each vehicle once the SEMA show kicks off in the next couple weeks.

8 automakers, 15 utilities collaborate on open smart-charging for EVs

We're going to lead with General Motors here. GM is one of eight automakers working with 15 utilities and the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) at developing a "smart" plug-in vehicle charging system. Why did we start with GM? Because it's the first automaker whose press release we read that mentioned the other seven automakers. Points for sharing. For the record, the collaboration also includes BMW, Toyota, Mercedes-Benz, Honda, Chrysler, Mitsubishi and Ford. The utilities include DTE Energy, Duke Energy, Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas & Electric. The idea is to develop a so-called "demand charging" system in which an integrated system lets the plug-ins and utilities communicate with each other so that vehicle charging is cut back at peak hours, when energy is most expensive, and ramped up when the rates drop. Such entities say there's a sense of urgency to develop such a system because the number of plug-in vehicles on US roads totals more than 225,000 today and is climbing steadily. There's a lot of technology involved, obviously, but the goal is to have an open platform that's compatible with virtually any automaker's plug-in vehicle. No timeframe was disclosed for when such a system could go live but you can find a press release from EPRI below. EPRI, Utilities, Auto Manufacturers to Create an Open Grid Integration Platform for Plug-in Electric Vehicles PALO ALTO, Calif. (July 29, 2014) – The Electric Power Research Institute, 8 automakers and 15 utilities are working to develop and demonstrate an open platform that would integrate plug-in electric vehicles (PEV) with smart grid technologies enabling utilities to support PEV charging regardless of location. The platform will allow manufacturers to offer a customer-friendly interface through which PEV drivers can more easily participate in utility PEV programs, such as rates for off-peak or nighttime charging. The portal for the system would be a utility's communications system and an electric vehicle's telematics system. As the electric grid evolves with smarter functionality, electric vehicles can serve as a distributed energy resource to support grid reliability, stability and efficiency. With more than 225,000 plug-in vehicles on U.S. roads -- and their numbers growing -- they are likely to play a significant role in electricity demand side management.