2nd Gear sounds amazing. Companies will need to be damn sure that their driving suites actually work, and aren’t rolled out half-assed to “betas” that other drivers on the road haven’t opted into. Companies will be a lot more hesitant to roll them out if they’re liable, so this seems like a great way to make sure it’s…

Depends on how they define “self driving” in the law. It might help clean up how much certain companies love to brag about their automated driving systems and put more effort into requiring drivers to pay attention while the car is steering itself around town.

The thing with Challengers is the owners REALLY like them. It’s kind of the Tommy Bahama of cars.

There is a US-produced $20,000 EV with a range of 150 miles. It’s a Nissan Leaf, MSRP $27,400 and still eligible for a $7500 tax credit.

Neutral: I was super enthusiastic about Tesla at first. The roadster was extremely promising, and I thought Musk was a real innovator who was here to bring us into an EV future.

There is a minimum brightness?

How about a lack of a law concerning headlight brightness? There’s a minimum, but, and I realize I’m preaching to the choir here, there seems to be no limit to how bright headlights can be.

It is way too easy to get your driver’s license in this country. We need laws that requires more skills behind the wheel and actually keep checking our driving skills well into old age. Just one day of driving around Florida will demonstrate the need for better driver training for new and older drivers. 

It’s this - the FMVSS.

I reject part of your premise... that fuel is expensive. $3.10 a gallon? That’s seriously cheap. Americans are just too used to cheap gas.

Lack of global standards that lead to additional engineering / certification costs to deal with patchwork local legislation.

Maybe I’ve become jaded by COVID pricing, but this seems... not bad? I don’t want to call it a good price, but I don’t want to call it “no dice” either. I think it’s just the realities of the market today. I wouldn’t be filled with joy to pay that price, but I’d probably try to haggle a bit and end up considering it…

Intel was a big fab before they unwisely tried to get out of that business a bunch of years ago. They are working on getting fabs back online all over the world.

The Foxconn deal was mostly a publicity stunt to get Scott Walker reelected. Since it didn’t work out much of the company’s promises remain unmet. At least Wisconsin taxpayers aren’t on the hook for all that was promised since most of it was on a pay-as-you-go basis.

This seems to be a pattern among Jalop writers these days.  It started with Erik, but now it’s just become a bunch of jaded anti-everything weirdness.  Most of the Jalop writers seem generally angry about things, and I don’t understand why.

I’m not sure it’s that people don’t care, it’s just that we feel helpless.

Intel already has a number of up and running plants all over the US. A friend of mine lives outside of Portland and there is a MASSIVE amount of chip manufacturing there already. So I have no reason to doubt they will simply replicate more of these as the US seeks a means to become independent when it comes to chip…

‘The “Silicon Heartland” really still resides in China,”

For all the cheap shots you’ve taken at Intel here, I’d suggest that yes, in fact, this is the answer.

Intel’s plant in Albuquerque/Rio Rancho helps prop up the local economy, so there’s precedent for them not being totally awful when it comes to jobs and hiring practices. Though I agree that it’s good to be skeptical about whether or not Columbus will be all that is planned right now.