Drew Dowdell

According to research issued by AAA, 40 percent of Americans expect driver assist systems with names like ProPilot, Co-Pilot 360, or Autopilot to give the vehicle the ability to drive itself. In a quote to Automotive News, Director of Automotive Engineering and Industry Relations at AAA says "Somewhere in there, you'd think a pilot is involved, but indeed no, human driving is still required." AAA examined 34 vehicle brands to identify the number of driver-assistance names used and found 40 different terms used to describe automated emergency braking, 20 terms for adaptive cruise control, and 19 different lane-keeping assist names. At CES this year, a coalition of automakers, safety advocates, and others launched Partner for Automated Vehicle Education (PAVE). This organization is dedicated to the promotion of these technologies while simplifying the language used to describe them.

Chinese automaker Zotye (pronounced Zoh'-Tay) has announced it has signed agreements for 19 stores with various dealership groups nationwide. This move brings the company closer to being the first manufacturer to sell Chinese made vehicles under a Chinese brand name. Eventually, Zotye plans to enter 80 US markets with 300 to 325 dealers. The company is hoping to reach that goal by the end of 2020. The next round of dealership expansion is expected in March 2019. While no vehicle has officially been announced, it has been widely speculated that the first Zotye vehicle offered will be the Zotye T600 (shown above), a crossover offered for sale in China since 2013. Zotye aims to be a low-cost automaker at the value end of the spectrum.

Porsche announced this morning that buyers of the forthcoming Taycan will have free charging with Electrify America included for the first three years they own the vehicle. The plan includes 30 minutes of free DC fast charging at any of 484 locations across 42 states. Every Electrify America station will have at least two 350 kW chargers with additional chargers at the 150 kW level. Electrify America has been building a national network of charging stations in metro areas and along major national highways. The average highway distance between chargers will be about 70 miles with no more than 120 miles between charging stations. 17 metro areas will have stations with 5 to 10 chargers each. The Taycan features one of the fastest charging rates using 800 volt technology to add more than 60 miles of range in just 4 minutes through its Combined Charging System (CCS) plug. In addition to the Electrify America network, all of Porsche's 191 dealerships will have DC fast charging stations installed. Of these, around 120 of these will feature the Porsche Turbo Charging, a proprietary 320kW system that also uses the CCS plug. To supplement the national charging network, Porsche will be releasing a Porsche designed at-home charging system with details to follow soon.