Drew Dowdell

Mazda rolled the new MX-30 electric vehicle at the Tokyo Motor Show today. The MX-30 is a new take on the Kodo design language and one of its most interesting features is the clamshell doors. This vehicle will be the brand's first battery electric vehicle, but it is unlikely to make it to the U.S. in this form. What we're looking at here is a European model. The MX-30 is powered by a single motor driving the front wheels and a 35.5 kWh battery pack under the floorboards. That battery size is rather small compared to some other EVs (The Chevy Bolt EV is 60 kWh for example) and range is limited to about 130 miles. Power rings up a 141 horsepower and 195 lb.-ft of torque. Mazda has tuned the MX-30 differently than other EVs. Rather than strong torque off the line, power builds more gradually and regenerative braking is less grabby than others. Mazda even pipes artificial engine noise into the cabin to give the sensory effect of acceleration. Mazda called the new powertrain e-Skyactive. There are rumors that an MX-30 will appear at the Los Angeles Auto Show with a rotary powered regenerator, a vehicle much more interesting to the North American buying public, but for now, we just sit and wait for pricing to be announced to this European model.

Hyundai Motor Group has announced they have developed the first Machine Learning based Smart Cruise Control (SCC-ML). This new technology can read the driver's behavior and incorporate the driving style into the cruise control's system. It incorporates artificial intelligence with advanced driver assistant system that is essential to self-driving technology. Previously, the driver had to manually adjust factors like distance to the next vehicle and acceleration. Now with machine learning, the SCC can fine-tune these settings by reading a driver's habits. Even the same driver may accelerate differently depending on the situation. SCC is now able to read those different situations and adjust acceleration to the driver's preferences automatically. The system is specifically programmed to avoid learning unsafe driving patterns. The system is planned for Hyundai group vehicles in the future with an upcoming Highway Driving Assist system that features land change assist. SCC-ML achieves level 2.5 self driving.

Hyundai is set to debut a hydrogen powered fuel cell semi-truck at the North American Commercial Vehicle show in Atlanta next week. The truck, named the HDC-6 Neptune is named after the Roman god of the sea, the largest source of hydrogen on earth. Not much is known yet about the truck, but in the teaser it is shown to be a very art deco design that Hyundai says is based on the streamline trains of the 1930s. Hyundai currently offers trucks from Class 2 to Class 8 and buses. Look for an update on October 29th.