Will self-driving trucks really drive the autonomous market?

The next few years could see vehicles of all shapes and sizes, from Google’s current prototype car to Class 8 trucks, move from human drivers to computer algorithms.

Daimler, the parent company of Mercedes Benz, has already started testing its semi-truck in Nevada and Germany. Volvo and a Volkswagen subsidiary are also testing autonomous trucks in Europe, with Volkswagen’s managing over 2,000km without taking over control.

The freight business relies quite heavily on trucks, the provider of more than half the shipments in the United States, according to Wired. Bringing self-driving into the mix might be a blessing and a curse, as it might with all industries.

Autonomous trucks will reduce accidents on the road and might allow truckers — an industry that has a 90 percent labor turnover rate — to watch movies or read books instead of constantly watching the road, which might lead to a lower turnover rate.

But that short-term advantage for truck drivers will be lost once regulators let autonomous trucks drive on the road without a human inside. That is bound to bring a swift end to the freight business, at least for drivers.

Electric trucks another innovative step

Autonomous functionality is not the only innovation coming to trucks in the near future. A Salt Lake City-based startup, using the first half of Nikola Tesla’s as their brand name, has announced plans to launch a Class 8 electric truck, named the Nikola One.

This is not like other electric vehicles however, it features a turbine that continues to power the car, making it self-sufficient. If it happens to turn out of juice, it has a fuel agnostic car that accepts natural gas, making it the safest and cheapest car to run on the roads.

Nikola Motors promises a 1,200 mile range and 1 million miles of free fuel, though the latter might be a promotion for the first few hundred buyers.

It also plans to utilize self-driving systems in the future to improve fuel efficiency.

Ford paid $200,000 for a Tesla Model X — $55,000 more than the normal price

Ford Motor Co. paid $199,950 — $55,000 more than the sticker price — to buy one of the first sport utility vehicles made by Tesla Motors Inc. so it could test and examine the electric SUV.

Ford bought the 64th Model X — a white Founders Series version — in March 2016. Spied recently in the Detroit area with Michigan manufacturers’ plates, it originally belonged to a California coin dealer who bought it as part of Tesla’s customer-referral promotion.

Automakers often buy cars made by competitors for road testing and for “tear-downs” to reveal components and materials and how they’re put together. But it’s unusual to pay such a high price — almost $212,000 after Michigan sales tax and title — for such an early model.

“Wow, I hope that investment pays off in some good intelligence,” Michelle Krebs, senior analyst for researcher Autotrader.com, said of the premium Ford paid. “If you’re going to be one of the early buyers, you’re probably going to pay well over list. But that’s significant.”

Krebs suspects other major automakers, such as General Motors Co. and Toyota Motor Corp., are also among early buyers of the Model X. Automakers are looking for ways to make highly profitable SUVs more fuel efficient as they race to meet a federal mandate to average 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. Ford is investing $4.5 billion in electrified vehicles and will add 13 electric cars and hybrids by 2020.

Future SUVs

“We’re going to definitely see more electrification and light-weighting,” Krebs said. “Those are the things I suspect Ford would be taking special note of as they develop their sport utilities of the future.”

Krebs said she hopes Chief Executive Officer Mark Fields and Executive Chairman Bill Ford —as well as the automaker’s top engineers and designers — get some seat time in the Model X.

“Everybody should be exposed to one of your hottest competitors,” Krebs said.

One Ford executive spotted driving the company’s white Model X was David Woodhouse, chief designer of the automaker’s Lincoln luxury line, according to a person who saw him. Woodhouse oversaw the creation of the Lincoln Navigator concept SUV that debuted at the New York Auto Show last month. Like the Model X, the Navigator concept featured gull-wing doors, though Ford said that feature won’t be on the production version of the SUV. Ford declined to confirm who is driving the car.

Tesla’s first Model Xs are limited-edition Founders Series —fewer than 100 of them were made — that typically go to board members and close friends of the company like Google co-founder Sergey Brin. Those are followed by the Signature Series models, which require a $40,000 deposit from customers and start at $132,000. According to vehicle registration documents obtained by Bloomberg, the window-sticker price on the all-wheel-drive Model X P90D that Ford purchased is $144,950, including the $10,000 Ludicrous Speed Upgrade that boasts a 0-to-60 miles per hour time of 3.2 seconds.

Original owner

The original owner of the Model X that was ultimately purchased by Ford was Wayne Skiles, 71, who owns and operates the Carousel Coin & Jewelry Exchange in San Bernardino, California. Skiles owns a Model S sedan and participated in Tesla’s Model S referral program. Customers who referred at least 10 friends to purchase a Model S were able to buy a Model X Founders Series for a base price of $116,700.

“I sold 11 Model Ss. So I got a Founders Model X and immediately flipped it for a profit,” said Skiles in a phone interview. “The car never came to California. I flew to Chicago, took physical delivery of the Model X and immediately drove it to a dealer in Chicago and sold it.”

Ford bought the vehicle from Corporate Auto of Auburn Hills, Michigan, according to the documents.

“It is a common industry practice among many automakers to buy production vehicles for testing as soon as they are released,” said Ford in a statement. “Sometimes, this means automakers pay more than sticker price to acquire them as quickly as possible.”

Quality concerns

Tesla officially launched the Model X at a splashy event in late September, years after the vehicle’s early 2012 unveiling. The company announced that it delivered 2,400 of the SUVs in the first quarter as it continues to ramp up production. But early models are not without flaws: several customers have reported issues with sensors on the “falcon-wing” doors that open vertically. Consumer Reports on Tuesday published a report about quality problems on early models. Tesla shares slipped 2.6 percent on Tuesday before rebounding 2.3 percent Wednesday to $253.09 at 1:48 p.m. New York time.

“We are committed to making the world’s most reliable cars,” said Tesla in a statement Tuesday. “While we have seen some issues with early Model X builds, the issues are not widespread, and we are working closely with each owner to respond quickly and proactively to address any problems. We will continue to do so until each customer is fully satisfied. This commitment is one of the reasons why 98 percent of our customers say they will buy another Tesla as their next car.”

Earlier this month, Tesla issued a recall on 2,700 Model Xs made before March 26 to repair the third-row seats after strength tests done by the automaker found a potential defect. Tesla has advised customers not to let anyone sit in those seats while the car is in use.

Musk has said that the Model X’s unique features were difficult to engineer and relied heavily on parts suppliers. Tesla said this month that Model X deliveries missed first-quarter expectations because of parts shortages stemming from “Tesla’s hubris in adding far too much new technology” to the Model X.

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This article originally published at Bloomberg 

Electric fork zaps a salty taste to your tongue without the sodium

If you love salt but you're worried about your sodium intake, a new futuristic fork could save your life.

This week, a two-day trial was conducted at a restaurant in Tokyo offering a salt-free five-course meal to patrons. The star of the show was an "electro fork" that can send a salty taste to your taste buds when its button is depressed.

The salty taste is triggered by a current generated by the utensil, and the fork is able to mimic sour, bitter and metallic taste sensations. A sweet taste is sorely missing however — bad news for dessert fans.

A patron at the restaurant said he was surprised at how convincing the salty taste was: