2010's Vehicles
Vehicles in the 2010's
Vehicles in the 2010's were battling a need for fuel efficiency and a desire for big loud tire eating muscle cars America had become known for. Some of the most impressive muscle cars in American history are produced during the 2010's with the 2018 Dodge Demon and the 2012 Ford Boss 302 as these cars set records on the track with a blend of new technology and powerful engines and win awards for the way they look on the showroom. While many of the muscle cars of the decade were not affordable for the average American it didn't stop many from dreaming.
For most Americans the 2010's was about the expansion of electric and hybrid vehicles and the introduction of a social symbol that screams wealth and social responsibility - the Tesla. With revolutionary new designs and technological innovations that changed the industry the Tesla replaces the Prius as the symbol of the "green movement" and became an image of sophistication and class. For those American who could not afford an $80,000 car, major manufacturers also produced efficient and fashionable hybrid and electric cars that were far more affordable as the United States recovered from an economic recession and a focus on fossil fuels consumption increased throughout the decade.
The economic downturn at the start of the decade also gave rise to new ways of travel with the introduction of ridesharing services like Uber and Lyft where everyday people could connect and carpool to work, the bar or anywhere you wanted to go for a fraction of the cost of driving yourself or taking a taxi. This new transportation trend created a new industry of part time rideshare drivers who turn their personal vehicle into a side hustle to earn a few extra bucks.
The automotive industry was in the midst of some major changes the only question now what change is coming next?
Tasks
Task 1: Watch the Introductory Video to this Unit (5 minutes)
Task 2: Review the provided images and attached links for Vehicles during the 2010's (15 minutes)
Task 3: Exploring the Positive and Negative Effects of Technology and Vehicles (30 minutes)
As technology changes the way we live and drive concerns arise that question the safety and reliability of this technology and its need in society. This is especially true when it comes to cars and technology. There are many proponents on both sides of the discussion around issues like autonomous driving vehicles, rideshare services, texting and driving, ect.
You will:
Research the potential benefits of technology and vehicles
Research the potential negative impacts of technology and vehicles
Research areas both sides agree on in terms of technology and vehicles
Use an Venn Diagram Creator and complete a diagram with your research
You can use this or any other program you want to complete this assignment
When you click on the link it will take you to a generic Venn Diagram Template
At the bottom of the page click the purple button that says “Reduce to TWO Circles”
On the Left Side Click on the words [Title Here] and Name Your Project
Include a description and your name
Click on one of the remaining circles
Replace “Food 1/Food 2” Title with For Technology and Against Technology
Add details to the For and the Against Circles as well as the Similarities crossover section
When finished click the purple “Save” button at the bottom of the page
Copy the URL link that appears to submit your work
Go to GOOGLE CLASSROOM and submit your completed work
If submitting a link paste URL link in the private comments section of the assignment and send, then click the submit button to indicate you have submitted your work
If you are submitting a digital copy you can attach it to the assignment and submit as usual
Task 4: Submit your completed work on GOOGLE CLASSROOM
The Future of the Auto Industry at the Start of the 2010's
Sports / Muscle Cars
By 2010, a new “golden age” of muscle cars was in full swing, thanks to the return of the Dodge Challenger, and the launch of the fifth-generation Chevrolet Camaro (after a brief hiatus) to do battle with the never-discontinued Ford Mustang. Supporting the Mopar fleet is the Dodge Charger, which is considered to be the world’s only four-door muscle car on sale today. (https://www.musclecarsandtrucks.com/muscle-cars-trucks-suv/muscle-car/ )
2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon
2012 Ford Mustang Boss 302
2014 Chevrolet Camaro Z28
Electric and Hybrid Vehicles
Hybrid and electric vehicles have existed much longer than the 2010s, and Toyota introduced their first mass-produced hybrid vehicle, the Toyota Prius, in 1997. However, hybrid and all-electric vehicles have grown in popularity tremendously in the 2010s as consumers have grown more concerned with the environmental impact of their vehicles. During the 2010s, Toyota’s range of hybrid vehicles have advanced tremendously in fuel economy and power. However, it was the Tesla and their revolutionary new designs and technological innovations that change the industry; the Tesla replaces the Prius as the symbol of the "green movement", and became an image of sophistication and class. For those can could not afford a $80,000 car, major manufacturers also produced efficient and fashionable hybrid and electric cars that were far more affordable as the United States recovered from a economic recession at the start of the decade and a focus on fossil fuels consumption increased throughout the decade. (https://www.stevelanderstoyota.com/blog/2020/january/30/technologies-that-made-driving-better-in-the-2010s.htm )
Tesla
Tesla was founded in 2003 by a group of engineers who wanted to prove that people didn’t need to compromise to drive electric – that electric vehicles can be better, quicker and more fun to drive than gasoline cars. Today, Tesla builds not only all-electric vehicles but also infinitely scalable clean energy generation and storage products. Tesla believes the faster the world stops relying on fossil fuels and moves towards a zero-emission future, the better.
Launched in 2008, the Roadster unveiled Tesla’s cutting-edge battery technology and electric powertrain. From there, Tesla designed the world’s first ever premium all-electric sedan from the ground up – Model S – which has become the best car in its class in every category. Combining safety, performance, and efficiency, Model S has reset the world’s expectations for the car of the 21st century with the longest range of any electric vehicle, over-the-air software updates that make it better over time, and a record 0-60 mph acceleration time of 2.28 seconds as measured by Motor Trend. In 2015, Tesla expanded its product line with Model X, the safest, quickest and most capable sport utility vehicle in history that holds 5-star safety ratings across every category from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Completing CEO Elon Musk’s “Secret Master Plan,” in 2016, Tesla introduced Model 3, a low-priced, high-volume electric vehicle that began production in 2017. Soon after, Tesla unveiled the safest, most comfortable truck ever – Tesla Semi – which is designed to save owners at least $200,000 over a million miles based on fuel costs alone. In 2019, Tesla unveiled Model Y, a mid-size SUV, with seating for up to seven, and Cybertruck, which will have better utility than a traditional truck and more performance than a sports car.
Tesla vehicles are produced at its factory in Fremont, California, and Gigafactory Shanghai. To achieve our goal of having the safest factories in the world, Tesla is taking a proactive approach to safety, requiring production employees to participate in a multi-day training program before ever setting foot on the factory floor. From there, Tesla continues to provide on-the-job training and track performance daily so that improvements can be made quickly. The result is that Tesla’s safety rate continues to improve while production ramps. (https://www.tesla.com/about )
2014 Nissan LEAF
2018 Kia Niro
2016 BMW i3
Tech in Vehicles
Technology and vehicles have always been partners in moving the industry forward from improved engine performance, improved safety and more luxurious features, but for the first time in the 2010's technology and the auto industry began to interact in a different way. Technology that is at the fingertips of millions of Americans allow for a more streamlined taxi service with the creation of ridesharing service like Lyft and Uber that allow for real-time tracking of vehicle movement, price estimations and reviews of the experience. Technology was turning the average driver into a small business with the download of a simple and easy to use app. The 2010's also bring changes to the car itself with companies like Tesla introducing Autopilot systems that allow for nearly autonomous driving by the vehicle on its own. Owners can let the vehicle take control on the highway or even summon the car to drive independently from a parking space to the doorstep. While this technology is still in its infancy it is beginning to change the way people look at transportation and vehicles going forward.
Self Driving Cars
Engineers have been attempting prototypes of self-driving cars for decades. The idea behind it is really simple: Outfit a car with cameras that can track all the objects around it and have the car react if it’s about to steer into one. Teach in-car computers the rules of the road and set them loose to navigate to their own destination.
This simple description elides a whole lot of complexity. Driving is one of the more complicated activities humans routinely do. Following a list of rules of the road isn’t enough to drive as well as a human does, because we do things like make eye contact with others to confirm who has the right of way, react to weather conditions, and otherwise make judgment calls that are difficult to encode in hard-and-fast rules.
And even the simple parts of driving — like tracking the objects around a car on the road — are actually much trickier than they sound. Take Google’s sister company Waymo, the industry leader in self-driving cars. Waymo’s cars, which are fairly typical of other self-driving cars, use high-resolution cameras and lidar (light detection and ranging), a way of estimating distances to objects by bouncing light and sound off things.
The car’s computers combine all of this to build a picture of where other cars, cyclists, pedestrians, and obstacles are and where they’re moving. For this part, lots of training data is needed — that is, the car has to draw on millions of miles of driving data that Waymo has collected to form expectations about how other objects might move. It’s hard to get enough training data on the road, so the cars also train based on simulation data — but engineers have to be sure that their AI systems will generalize correctly from the simulation data to the real world.
That’s far from a complete description of the systems at work when a self-driving car is on the road. But it illustrates an important principle to keep in mind when wondering where our self-driving cars are: Even the “easy” things turn out to hide surprising complexity. (https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2020/2/14/21063487/self-driving-cars-autonomous-vehicles-waymo-cruise-uber )
Ride Sharing Service
Ridesharing platforms connect drivers and vehicles with consumers who want rides at an agreed price. 2 Typically, a customer uses an app on her smartphone to request a ride at a particular time and place. The app on the phone then walks the customer through a series of steps, including the actual or expected price of the ride, the location of the driver, and the likely wait time. It also allows the customer or the driver to contact each other without giving out personal information. These platforms take advantage of GPS to arrange for the ride and help determine a driver’s best route. They also provide other benefits for riders and drivers, including measures of rider and driver quality to foster trust, and an efficient payment system, frequently using a credit card that is entered into the platform’s data base.
The platforms also can help balance demand and supply by adjusting prices in real time to accommodate shortfalls in the supply of drivers or surges in demand. Ridesharing companies are able to implement “pay flexibility” , a term that refers to a firm’s ability to adjust labor costs, particularly wages, to changing market conditions. In exchange for providing these various services, ridesharing platforms like Uber and Lyft take a percentage of the fare for each ride.
There is evidence that that employment from offering rides is becoming a more important part of the economy, especially in large metropolitan areas. Furthermore, there is evidence that the use of ridesharing platforms is growing rapidly. Since its market launch, Uber has attracted dramatically increased the number of new “driver-partners” for the basic ridesharing service, from fewer than 1,000 in January 2013 to almost 40,000 new drivers starting in December 2014. Currently, more than half of American adults have heard of ridesharing apps like Uber and Lyft, with 15% actually using the services. (https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/ridesharing-oup-1117-v6-brookings1.pdf )