Welcome to The Morning Dump, bite-sized stories corralled into a single article for your morning perusal. If your morning coffee’s working a little too well, pull up a throne and have a gander at the best of the rest of yesterday.
The Present Is Too Weird
The world we’re living in feels like an Adam Curtis doc and so it’s sometimes hard to get excited about all the strange things that are happening all the damn time. For example, General Motors, which is rapidly trying to shift into electric vehicles, has pulled its money from Twitter because Twitter is now owned by the guy who owns Tesla and the guy who owns Tesla is nothing if not unpredictable. Specifically, as CNN reports, GM had this to say: Do I think that this is because Elon Musk owns Tesla and is therefore the competition? Probably not. Ford and GM developed a 10-speed transmission together; competition in business is real, but so is cooperation. I try to avoid Elon Musk-related stories on The Morning Dump as much as I can because there’s a bad habit in the industry of knee-jerking (and other jerking) related to Elon Musk but it’s all sound and fury and signifies very little and just serves to keep the blog machine running. I’m also going to avoid the politics of the whole situation because it’s unpredictable and a sideline, generally, to what we’re trying to do here. All I’ll say is that both Elon Musk and I probably spend too much time on Twitter and if I had the money I’d have been tempted to buy it as well and maybe it’s better I didn’t… That’s from this piece from Nilay Patel at The Verge who also makes the good point that if China wants to squeeze Twitter they can just squeeze Elon Musk over Tesla now. Great.
Self-Driving Startup TuSimple Probed By Feds
Well now that we’ve covered social media giants, cars, and politics I’m so glad we can move onto something else… Ah, damn. That’s from this Reuters story that breaks down what’s going on. I know there are a million self-driving startups and, roughly, 999,998 of them are in some sort of trouble, but the details here are important. TuSimple is a California-based startup focused on developing self-driving trucks for freight, which is why it’s weird that they’ve been allegedly sending their tech to a Chinese-based company that does basically the same thing. That company is called Hydron and it was started by TuSimple’s co-founder. From the same story: Not great. It was already under investigation for its ties to China earlier this year related to its financial backers which include Sina Corp, which is owner of Weibo which is… China’s version of Twitter. Maybe the present isn’t like an Adam Curtis documentary, maybe it’s like a Christopher Nolan movie; oppressively recursive and mostly annoying (though I kinda liked “Tenet”). I actually started writing this last night and woke up to find out that the company’s founder was fired this morning, which is a helluva way to start Halloween.
The Chips Are Still Down For 2023
You’re probably tired of reading about chip shortages and we’re mostly tired of writing about them, but there’s been a sort of hopefulness about supplies loosening up in the next year. The fine people at Automotive News are here to throw some water on that idea with this story: Most modern systems in vehicles require a microchip and automakers tend to only need cheaper, simpler ones, which puts them in the same position as their customers who want cheaper, simpler cars. If you’ve got a limited supply of resources you’re going to make your most profitable items and not your least profitable items. Overall, AFS (which stands for AutoForecast Solutions) estimates nearly 4.3 million cars won’t be built this year because of production capacity issues.
VinFast And CATL Are Doing A Skateboard
The dream of many electric car fans and carmakers, for many years, has been the creation of a “skateboard chassis” that integrates everything you need (batteries, motors, suspension) into one platform that can then be used to make whatever type of car you want. Specifically, GM touted this design many moons ago. While not as perfectly integrated as the original GM design, but seemingly more flexible, the two Ultium platforms are somewhat similar and will support a range of vehicles. Chinese mega-supplier CATL, whom we’ve mentioned before, has just announced a deal with up-and-coming Vietnamese car company VinFast to use the CATL-developed “CIIC skateboard” chassis for future VinFast products. From the press release: There’s no indicator of what types of cars these will be, but it’s a moment we might look back on in 8-to-10 years as significant. In addition to the collaboration on CTP batteries and skateboard chassis, CATL is poised to cooperate with VinFast with respect to other areas, thus promoting battery innovation and e-mobility transition.
The Flush
David and I are headed to SEMA this year, is there anything you’re excited about seeing? Anything we should seek out?
Photos via: Elon Musk, GM, BMW, VinFast, TuSimple
For the record I don’t have and never have had a Twitter account, so I have no dog in this fight.
Like the whole “$20 for a blue check” thing is the kind of thing that makes you go “is this going to give our ad spend less value.”
The leadership yes, but the UAW rank and file has been pretty split since Trump came on the scene. I also strongly doubt those members are keeping up on the intricacies of GM’s marketing budget vis a vis the ownership of Twitter.
Personally, I think the whole thing is ridiculous. Twitter is important to journalists, which is why they like to write about it, but the actual fraction of Americans who tweet regularly is miniscule. The vast vast majority of people wouldn’t notice if Twitter disappeared tomorrow, let alone made some small changes to its moderation policies. Give me a break.
My point is basically a broader one, that 98% of people either don’t or shouldn’t care who owns Twitter, but since literally everything has to be a culture war topic, now we do.
They don’t ACTUALLY give a shit about that, correct, but you can’t make money if people don’t want to buy your shit.
Though I do assume this is also largely done under the assumption that staffing and moderation cuts will affect the targeted marketing. They probably pay good money to ensure the right customers see their ads.
Yeah, this sounds like a solid business plan.
Thats all I am interested in… thats all I look at. I dont comment. I dont post.
I think… it honestly sucks that OL MUSKY is involved. Took a good thing.. and screwed it up.
I never thought I’d say this, but smart move, GM, you did the right thing 🙂
Did anyone else read this as “Siiiick skateboard chassis” (bro)? Also, I find it hilarious that a Chinese company that supplies transportation-related equipment has an acronym that I pronounce as “cattle”.
Just me then? Well, I’m easily amused, I guess.
No, it absolutely is not a sideline. Cars and politics are intertwined, always have been, always fucking will be. Stop pulling this “stick to sporps” shit. We didn’t accept it at the lighting site and we damn well expect better here.
The fact that fElon is gleefully promoting fake news sites, conspiracy theories, and white-supremacists is absolutely germane to the discussion. For fuck’s sake. Just ban the Muskovites if they want to fall on their sword so goddamn bad. Anyone that wants to go out of their way to defend that shit has absolutely no place in car culture, has absolutely no place in society, and should be chased away from it with all due haste. Period.
I am not interested in and I will not tolerate people who think that racial slurs, bigotry, and hate are acceptable or that there is room for ‘compromise’ with people whose stated desire is to see those different from them dead. And nor should anybody else. And quite frankly, if you don’t ban everyone who comes along and says “so much for the tolerant left,” that says a hell of a lot more about you than about me.
Oh, and instances of a single racial slur on Twitter as analyzed by people with ‘firehose’ access were up more than 1300% in the first 24 hours; instances of hate speech are up more than 2500%; and harassment and literal death threats against Twitter employees and car journalists by pro-Musk accounts are off the charts. It’s very, very fucking relevant.
“TuSimple is a California-based startup focused on developing self-driving trucks for freight, which is why it’s weird that they’ve been allegedly sending their tech to a Chinese-based company that does basically the same thing.”
Who wants to play “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” except replace ‘Kevin Bacon’ with ‘Listed Entity’? My money’s on three degrees and the ‘founder’ fleeing prosecution.
“Overall, AFS (which stands for AutoForecast Solutions) estimates nearly 4.3 million cars won’t be built this year because of production capacity issues.”
Not what my crystal ball says, but mine is attuned to a few very specific parts that are commonly used. Automakers could revise designs or use less reliable alternatives though. You don’t want to know what my crystal ball says. Frankly, I wish I hadn’t looked at it.
Talk about Morning Dump material. I mean seriously. You have nothing, NOTHING on Chastain’s brilliant “fuck it, send it” move at Martinsville? Goddamn was that racing.
The reason the lighting sight is a cesspool is precisely because everything has to be political there, generally sneeringly so, and exclusively in one direction. The great thing about cars is people of all stripes, colors, and creeds can come together and do awesome things with them. That’s what this site is about, and that’s what Matt’s statement is about. Yes, stick to sports (or cars), because they can unite people in a divided world.
“I am not interested in and I will not tolerate people who think that racial slurs, bigotry, and hate are acceptable”
Frankly your chucking around more than your fair share of hate and bigotry whilst crapping on your political opponents. You spent the comments section on Mercedes’ article about gearhead homes shitting on the rural countryside, and people therein. On the Tesla robot thread you called someone mentioning twitter bots a Vatnik, then separately stated the proper use for the robot was eliminating Vatniks. You have some good comments on the technical side, but you are just really not a nice person online. Something something glass houses, stones.
“Anyone that wants to go out of their way to defend that shit has absolutely no place in car culture, has absolutely no place in society, and should be chased away from it with all due haste. Period.”
And let me guess, anyone who happens to disagree with you on anything is “defending that shit”, and you are thus justified in calling for their hounding out of existence? I refuse to believe someone capable of otherwise cogent long-form comments is this totally unaware of the irony here. You are not the grand moral arbitrator of the universe, no one is. Humans disagree all the time about everything, the key to getting along is not hating people who think differently from you. Please reflect on this.
Rootwrym, take a breather pal. I don’t know you and by the sound of your writing about anything other than the actual car industry, I don’t want to. I kindly invite you to tone down the “Holier Than Thou” shit. It’s not doing anyone any favors. This is an inclusive site. Please no more sermons. Thanks 🙂
As far as the ACTUAL topic of Twitter, I have an account. I don’t really post all that much and basically only use it to follow some sports writers, comedians, musicians, and car folks. I avoid the main page and almost never see any of the political stuff. Also, what I don’t see are any ads at all. I have no idea why GM pulling its ads (where ever those are located) for a hot second is that big of a deal. Maybe that will change, but for now, it’s basically a non-issue. I suspect most organic Twitter users experience the same click-through as me, so Ad-spend money seems like a bad allocation of money regardless.
I even love the RCMP pullin people over and doin inspections of cars… then watching the cars n trucks fail cause of numerous issues.
This is stuff I love. Thats all I am interested in… thats all I look at. I dont comment. I dont post.
I think… it honestly sucks that OL MUSKY is involved. Took a good thing.. and screwed it up.
AND this is the kind of stuff… that I hope somehow SOMEONE remakes. Twitter or some such other name should exist because this stuff on Twitter.. (once ya stand on my side — no bs) isnt bad at all.
The Autopian is not a place for rhetoric, no matter your beliefs. Please knock it off and let’s continue to talk about transportation.
Sheesh.
Carry on, my good sir Caddy.
NAZI. You are a Nazi. Wuffles is by the legal definition, a Nazi. That’s how we dealt with trash like you in WWII, that’s how we should deal with it now. If you don’t like that, come over here, so I can say it to your face. Or get your ass de-Nazified. We had a war about it. Your side – the one that is a-okay with killing millions of people for being non-white, dark haired, loving differently as long as it’s a ‘little’ genocide and the ‘right’ people – lost.
Calling for a politically neutral POV and “sticking to cars” is not equivalent to advocating for genocide, and the fact I even need to type that sentence means we’ve gone off the rails here. Some moderation of the comments section would be greatly appreciated lest this site becomes another Jalopnik.
“I am not interested in and I will not tolerate people who think that racial slurs, bigotry, and hate are acceptable or that there is room for ‘compromise’ with people whose stated desire is to see those different from them dead. And nor should anybody else.”
However the rest just makes people who agree with the above sentiment, like me, look bad. Take a chill pill buddy.
Did it say they’re just going to use less reliable alternatives?
It did not. And to be 110% fair to auto manufacturers and electronics manufacturers and engineers like me: “less reliable” doesn’t have to mean “less reliable.” Sometimes we overbuild, using a 105C capacitor in something that never goes above 40C, because we want it to last 30 years instead of 15. (Yes, the math on capacitors can work out like that sometimes.) Sometimes it means a design that’s less fault-tolerant, which appears ‘less reliable,’ but is cheaper and easier to repair.
And sometimes everybody just throws the cheapest Chinese stolen IP junk they can get by the millions for a song (because it’s missing half the formula) in fucking everything. Google “capacitor plague” if you don’t get that reference.
But no, my crystal ball is saying on certain components “2023? HAHAHAHAHA, we haven’t even gotten to orders from 1H21.” I know of one component (which AFAIK manufacturers are all actively substituting, very much not a big deal one) where they’re still on 1H20 orders.
What exactly is “an Autopian perspective” if not the literal thoughts of the Autopian employee tasked with this assignment?
Not that it makes it that much better. “Autopian calls dibs on this booth! Nobody else write articles! Our readership demands we cover things they haven’t seen elsewhere!”
