We are two weeks into September. I have travelled a fair few miles in a commuting and leisure capacity. Incredibly I have only spotted one new 76 registration plate. This was on a Land Rover Defender actually locally parked in my village. Where are all the new cars ? I understand that the majority of sales this month will be vehicles on lease and PCP schemes. Where’s the excitement gone that used to go with a new reg coming out? I remember as a young teenager, some dealerships used to open at midnight on August 1st allowing customers to pickup their new cars. The novelty gradually wore off as the years went on and then the new registration system changed to bi-annually.
We won’t know the sales statistics for this month until next month, but I’m guessing the figures will be lower than September last year or even March’s new registrations this year. Conversely, the figures for the Chinese vehicles sold this month will be higher than last year. With the broad range of choice available on our shores, consumers are now adding a Chinese vehicle to their shortlist.
Mirroring the lower demand for new cars, motor manufacturers are announcing a reduction in their staffing. Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) are laying off 4000 jobs over the next two years. The main causes are for this is related to US tariffs, chinese competition, transaction to EV vehicles and the hesitation of consumers spending on the generally second highest purchase in their lifetime.
The only way UK manufacturers will survive it seems, is to collaborate with the Chinese marques. Companies such as Nissan UK are providing factory capacity to Chinese manufacturer Chery. Ford showrooms have reduced their costs by sharing sales space with Jaecoo. Other marques like MG Motor and Lotus Cars are now owned by chinese companies. It’s down to the consumers who buy their choice of car that will eventually dictate the market.
Fugitive Auto
Driverless cars are in the news again. Uber has launched UK’s first robotaxi In London. Fifteen cars have initially been let loose but have a backup driver on-board to take control if necessary. Waymo – Google’s autonomous car company is also looking to launch soon in the UK. The cars are still learning as ever and adding to the mass dataset already collected and processed to facilitate safe autonomous driving.
However, is the cars decision making perfect yet? Can it handle occurrences such as police tape across the road in the event of an incident? How about a fire hose across the road ? Would it slow down and assess the area for emergency vehicles ? Or driving down a single track road and meeting an oncoming vehicle. Which car reverses back to allow progression of the other car ?
No doubt, future statistics will show that the headless wagons to be safer than humans driving the highways. There are no human emotions involved, decision making errors, distractions such as talking to passengers, mobile phone alerts, an attractive male or female walking the pavement and the like going on. But humans have embedded in their DNA coding, thousand of years of immediate reactive responses. This includes modern situations such as someone walking out onto the road, a cat, a dog, appearing from no-where or a pheasant changing its mind and switching direction in the road.
The autonomous car will react how it has learned and brake and stop as quick as possible. As a human in the same situation, having glanced in the rear view mirror a few seconds before and knowing there is a 40 ton lorry behind them, the reactive decision could be a different one – it could be a case of swerving instead to the left or right to avoid the sudden object and also circumventing the lorry impact from behind.
Time will tell how the driverless vehicles get on and if they completely take over the roads. In the meantime, we still have the choice and ability to drive ourselves. The machines are coming though. We had the Daleks and the Terminator to hide from. Now beware of a silent driverless car coming from around the corner…
