“They make 15-20hr on their own time.”

Yup... I briefly looked at driving for Uber and concluded within 15 minutes that after I deducted ALL car expenses, it’s likely I would only make minimum wage at best... but probably less.

1st Gear/neutral: “They warned that converting drivers to employees would force them to employ fewer drivers, reduce service, increase wait times and raise prices.”

LOL, dude, their turnover is HORRENDOUS. Fast food workers last longer. Whenever I open Lyft there’s a little “please drive for us!” prompt that appears, first thing. Have you noticed Uber had been trying to appeal to new immigrants and retirees? There’s a reason.

Exactly that. While Tesla is doing amazing right now, it’s shooting fish in a barrel — a barrel chosen and curated by Tesla. I’d say 80%+ of the general population wouldn’t consider one without a showroom and/or support nearby. VW’s dealer network is pretty thin, but it’s far more encouraging than Tesla.

Neutral:

It used to be that you had to have a taxi medallion to operate a taxi, and that not having one while taxiing people made you and illegal “gypsy cab”.

Yep, once you dont allow contractors to set their own rates, they are no longer contractors. Not to mention Uber dictating what kind of car you can drive and penalizing you when you turn down too many rides

Neutral: The gig economy is complete b.s. 

I have gone to the D.C. Auto Show several times in the past. It is a good show, but my impression is that it is getting a little smaller over the years.

Yeah but then they go on to say “Among U.S. brands,”... and Tesla IS a US brand.

If a fully loaded F150 is considered low tech then what is considered high tech? Its got more crap on/in it than there are stars in the sky. If that is considered low tech, then the truck i really want is probably considered NO tech...

Sounds like “Dave” Power is cooking up something weird.

2nd Gear: Around me road projects and improvement projects seem everywhere. Maybe the activities are a regional thing. The two north/south state arteries I use most have both seen large paving projects this year. That said, planning for those projects takes more time time than a few weeks/months.

1st gear:

Has anyone driven a Volvo recently? The tech that’s apparently so highly rated is ANNOYING AS FUCK to drive with. BMW wants to change everything to a subscription model. I have no opinions on the Cadillacs, I haven’t driven a new one recently.

What about...tech execution? FCAs infotainment implementation is…

People who buy trucks.

Technically, using the standard given, the 1925 Model T pickup would be among the most technologically advanced production pickups.

And yet today, there’s another report from the Japan Times reiterating “Toyota to withdraw from U.S. subcompact car market,” citing the death of the Yaris:

So will Ram Trucks bring out the Apocalypse Now edition TRX?

yeah, these are the kinds of things that cast JD Power in a questionable light (IMO.)  things like the IQS and VDS are actual surveys, but reports like this smack of being rather arbitrary. Or tone deaf, as you point out, not considering what the customer for a particular vehicle expects.