In a press release issued Monday, BMW released details of its upcoming Z4 roadster overhaul and its M Performance variant, with photos of a pre-production test mule attached.

Elements of the Z4 Concept are retained in the prototype car, such as the forward-slanted kidney grille, headlights, alloy wheels, and though in a less extreme form, the fender vents. Apparently gone are the speedster-like roll hoops, extreme fender vents, and taillights that extend far across the trunk lid—assuming the test mule is representative of the new Z4's production specifications.

BMW confirmed an M Performance package for the Z4, to be sold as the M40i. The M40i will use an all-new inline six engine, though no details of the engine beyond configuration were shared. Its power will be kept in check by an electrically controlled rear differential, and its weight by a front axle unique to the M40i.

Electronics dictate damping settings at all four corners, where alloy wheels clad in a staggered tire setup surround upgraded brakes.

"The vehicle concept of the new BMW Z4 is geared consistently towards agility and driving dynamics," described BMW's Jos van As, head of application suspension, in the car's press release.

"The high level of body stiffness and the very rigid suspension attachment provide the perfect basis for a set-up that guarantees the performance qualities of a genuine sports car in terms of steering precision as well as longitudinal and transverse acceleration," he said.

Whether these components will also be found in the Z4's Toyota Supra platform-mate is not yet certain.

The Z4 M40i qualifies as what BMW calls an M Performance car, the lowest of its sporting trims. M, M Competition, CS, and CSL designations outrank M Performance, and the existence of a full Z4 M package for the outgoing Z4 made us ask BMW whether any more hardcore Z4s were on their way, but BMW declined to discuss details.

"It is much too early to discuss any further variants," stated Cypselus von Frankenberg, head of design communications, in an email to The Drive. "The market launch of the new BWM Z4 will be in March 2019."

U.S. Special Operations Command is looking to find a light tactical vehicle that is more capable than its existing all-terrain vehicles, but can still fit inside a V-22 Osprey tiltrotor in a combat-ready configuration. The new requirements effectively concede that the larger internally-transportable vehicles American special operators have access to at present are not truly capable of performing those missions.

U.S. Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Atkinson gave new details about the effort to develop a new “purpose built” internally-transportable vehicle (ITV) at the National Defense Industry Association’s annual Special Operations Forces Industry Conference earlier in May 2018. Atkinson is presently the program manager in charge of the Family Special Operations Vehicles, or FOSOV, for Special Operation Command’s Program Executive Office (PEO) Special Operations Forces (SOF) Warrior. The FOSOV includes a wide array of different vehicles, including militarized all-terrain vehicles, upgraded civilian trucks, and larger Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) types.

“We want something beefier than MRZR with more performance and additional life,” he said. According to the Marine officer, U.S. special operations forces presently rely heavily on Polaris Government and Defense MRZR-2 and MRZR-4 all-terrain vehicles, which it refers to collectively as Light Tactical All Terrain Vehicles (LTATV), for so-called “fly and drive” operations involving the V-22.

This means that the aircraft can land and special operators can drive their vehicles straight off and be ready to go for the mission at hand without needing to reattach any weapons or other components. Lighter all-terrain vehicles and motorcycles also have this capability, but have more limited payload capacity than the MRZRs. These various light vehicles give special operators added mobility after inserting into remote or austere locations where it might not even necessarily be possible to operate more traditional military trucks.

The problem is that none of these types of vehicle offer significant mounted firepower or protection for the occupants that those larger, purpose-built vehicles offer. According to Jane’s 360, Lieutenant Colonel Atkinson said the specific goals of the new ITV program were to provide better lethality and survivability over the MRZR, as well as a boost in mobility and range.

“They aren’t being used really … no one will approve any real operation with MRZR,” an unnamed U.S. Marine Corps special operator told Marine Corps Times in January 2018. “We’ve used them for recon in training but not in real life.”

That being said, there is photographic proof that U.S. Army special operators have employed the all-terrain vehicles in combat in Iraq and Syria. In particular, pictures emerged from the campaign to liberate the Iraqi city of Mosul from ISIS terrorists in 2016 showed Special Forces soldiers in MRZRs working closely with Kurdish forces close to the front lines.

Regardless of the differing opinions between the services, finding an acceptable design is easier said than done. For as long as the V-22 program has existed, special operations forces, as well as the Marines in general, have been interested in a combat worthy vehicle that can fit inside the aircraft.

The Marine Corps ultimately procured a number of variants of a jeep from a company called American Growler, which proved to be costly and controversial. Since at least 2015, the service has been looking for a suitable replacement for those vehicles.

In 2014, Special Operations Command had begun evaluating General Dynamics Land Systems’ Flyer 60 light vehicle as a possible ITV. This design does fit inside an Osprey, but not in a mission-ready form.

In the end, American special operators began receiving a version of the larger Flyer 72, which the U.S. military now calls the M1288 or the Ground Mobility Vehicle 1.1. Though still billed as an ITV, this type is too big for the V-22 and can only squeeze inside larger CH- or MH-47 Chinook or CH-53E helicopters in a truncated configuration.

The video below shows personnel loading Flyers onto V-22s and MH-47 Chinooks, but with many systems removed and stowed beforehand.

On top of that, U.S. special operations forces have questioned whether it offers enough firepower and protective features to be truly useful during operations where there is a higher likelihood of direct combat. In January 2018, The War Zone was first to report that Special Operations Command planned to pay defense contractor Military Systems Group more than $3 million for new turrets that could accept a Common Remotely Operated Weapon Station, or CROWS.

This remotely-operated system, which can accept various weapons, such as the .50 caliber M2 machine gun and 40mm Mk 47 automatic grenade launcher, would allow the gunner to remain within the safety of the vehicle’s main cabin when engaging enemy forces. General Dynamics is already offering additional armor suites for the Flyer series and has proposed adding active-protection systems to the vehicles.

The M1288s will almost certainly be unable to unable to fit inside the V-22 or even larger helicopters with those various features installed, especially the CROWS, which will dramatically increase its overall height. These additions could also have a significant impact on the vehicle’s payload capacity and performance.

We don’t know what Special Operations Command’s exact requirements are for the new vehicle, but these past and existing examples demonstrate the very real difficulties in combining the desired capabilities with a platform that fits inside the V-22, or even larger aircraft. There’s also a cost factor that could come in to play.

MRZRs have a unit cost of less than $40,000. The prototype Flyer 60 in a dedicated ITV configuration that Special Operations Command bought in 2014 had a price tag of nearly $500,000.

General Dynamics has since stepped up production of the Flyer series and is adding new types, including a multi-purpose version akin to a lightweight pickup truck called the Flyer 72 Tactical Utility Vehicle, so those costs have likely dropped somewhat since then. However, these larger vehicles will never be as inexpensive as an all-terrain vehicle.

According to Jane’s 360, Lieutenant Colonel Atkinson specifically noted that PEO SOF Warrior had limited funds available for the new project at present. And as of 2017, Special Operations Command had more than 850 MRZR-2s and -4s in service.

Replacing any significant portion of these vehicles could easily become an expensive proposition. But if American special operations forces are increasingly reluctant to use those all-terrain vehicles on actual missions, any cost savings might be a moot point.

We won’t have to wait long to see what defense contractors propose to fill this apparent capability gap. One immediately apparent option might be the development of a lightweight armor suite that fits onto the existing MRZRs. In April 2018, Israeli firm Plasan recently unveiled the Yagu, a variant of the Arctic Cat Wildcat, a similar all-terrain vehicle, with a composite armor package that would seem to be an ideal solution to the desire for more protection, though it's not clear if that vehicle, or a similar design, would meet the rest of Speical Operations Command's requirements.

Atkinson says that an evaluation of various vehicles will begin in the third quarter of the 2018 fiscal year – which began in April 2018 and ends in June – and hopes there will be an actual contract award in either 2019 or 2020. Special Operations Command plans to issue a new LTATV contract in the 2021 Fiscal Year, which it could conceivably combine with this new ITV program.

What seems clear is that special operations still have a very clear desire for a combat-ready vehicle that they can drive straight out of an Osprey and that they are far less than pleased with their current options.

Contact the author: jtrevithickpr@gmail.com

Amid a surge in interest around the world in lightweight combat vehicles, including in the United States and Russia, Israeli firm Carmor has unveiled a new modular design it says will be able to fulfill a wide variety of different roles. The engineers behind the project say that the Mantis vehicle family, which will be available in 4x4 and 6x6 configurations, is like a Lego kit and could serve as anything from reconnaissance and fast attack vehicles to command and control platforms and even self-propelled artillery pieces.

The prototype Mantis will make its debut public appearance at the biennial Eurosatory defense and security trade fair in Paris, which begins on June 10, 2018. Since May 2018, Carmor has been releasing images and details about the vehicles to hype up the design. It appears to be the company's first new offering in more than three years.

“The development of the Mantis Family answers the global demand for lightweight vehicles with improved capabilities in the field,” Carmor CEO Eitan Zait said earlier in June 2018, according to Defence Blog. “These new vehicles provide a range of solutions and capabilities together with a unique ergonomic design that do not exist in any other lightweight armored vehicle.”

The initial 4x4 version that Carmor has a general shape reminiscent of suped-up all-terrain vehicles with a futuristic looking body on top, but is substantially bigger. From what we know so far, the Mantis appears to be sized somewhere in between large ATVs and militarized commercial pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles.

The firm says that this monocoque armored shell is the centerpiece of the vehicle’s new, proprietary chassis. The composite armor reportedly gives the vehicle a high degree of protection relative to its weight and bulk, but so far there is little information on what type of threats it is supposed to stop. It has a special “floating floor” shape to deflect the blast from mines and roadside bombs, too.

Carmor says its armored body is also air-tight and features an air-purification system, giving it the ability to protect the crew against chemical or biological attacks. The design also buries the 360-horsepower Cummins V6 turbo-charged diesel – a significantly more powerful engine that one often finds in vehicles of this type – deep inside the body, shielding it from enemy fire and lowering the vehicle’s thermal signature.

There is no word yet on how fast the 4x4 model can go, but the Israeli manufacturer says the complete vehicles will be no more than 10 tons and potentially as light as 3 tons, depending on their configuration. It’s not clear if those specifications extend to the proposed future 6x6 model, which would likely be a much larger vehicle overall.

There was also a deliberate, aesthetic element to the development process. The resulting design that looks like it could be at home in a science fiction movie or television show about a dystopian near-future and that was apparently by design.

Mantis “was also a way of proving, while we were at it, that armored vehicles don't have to be ugly by bringing in the world of aviation with a driver's position that resembles a cockpit on the one hand and sports cars on the other, thanks to a silhouette with a lot of mass sloping downwards in the front,” Amos Boaz, the vehicle’s chief designer, told Israel’s Ynet News in May 2018. “One of the earliest things we had in mind when we started to plan the vehicle out was to create an element of surprise with a unique design that's different from the rest of the clunky, squared armored vehicles.”

Carmor’s previous products have had a much more conventional look to them. Previously known as Hatehof, the company has been armoring trucks for the Israeli military and other customers since before the country officially came into existence. One of its best-known designs, the Wolf, is a heavily modified Ford F-550-series truck with a very angular armored body kit and other improvements.

But the design concept doesn’t make the Mantis any less flexible a vehicle. The 4x4 family will be available in three main configurations, a “pickup truck” type with an armored cabin for a crew of three, a crew-cab version with space for five people inside, and a large, “open buggy” with the ability to carry up to eight individuals. In the latter case, “open” refers to the available space inside the vehicle and personnel will still be seated inside an armored shell.

And despite Carmor's insistence on referring to the Mantis as a buggy, it is really not in the same class as those type of lightweight vehicles. The 6x6 type will have space for as many as 13 personnel, including the driver, which could allow it to function as a small armored personnel carrier, armored ambulance, or command vehicle. Concept art of these vehicles shows a raised rear body section that could make it easier for personnel to move around inside, too.

The company has only shown the 4x4 pickup configuration so far, fitted with a remotely-operated, retractable mount at the rear. The debut example has a remote weapon station armed with a .50 caliber M2 machine gun in this position, but it is almost certain that this could accept different types of weapons or even other equipment, such as an electro-optical and infrared camera turret or other sensor packages. Gili Hacohen, who oversaw the development of the Mantis, told Ynet in May 2018 that the goal was for the vehicle to easily reconfigurable “just like Lego.”

The folding mount would allow the vehicle to move around in as discreet a configuration as possible. The crew could then look over terrain or other obstacles while remaining largely concealed, allowing them to better perform reconnaissance and surveillance missions.

With a guided anti-tank missile in that position, the vehicle could engage in shoot-and-scoot attacks on larger armored vehicles from behind cover, too. It is very possible that the chassis, especially in the 6x6 configuration, may even be robust to carry some sort of small, mobile artillery piece.

One of the most obvious options would be Israeli firm Elbit’s Spear Mk 2 120mm mortar. This weapon has an advanced recoil system that makes it a practical option to fit on the back of various light trucks. There is also computer-aided targeting equipment available that significantly improves its accuracy and reduces the time it takes for a crew to engage a target after receiving a request for support.

Various other similar weapon systems are available on the open market, including Spain’s EXPAL Integrated Mortar System, or EIMOS, and the American Hawkeye 105mm low-recoil howitzer. U.S.-backed Kurdish forces in Syria have received the former weapon in a vehicle-mounted configuration, giving them an important mobile fire-support system in their fight against ISIS terrorists.

That collapsible mounting arrangement might make the Mantis suitable for transport inside various fixed-wing cargo aircraft, reducing the time and effort it might take to get the vehicle ready to go and not necessarily requiring troops to reassemble anything at the destination. U.S. special operations forces, in particular, have long been interested in acquiring a lightweight vehicle that can fit inside various planes and helicopters, but drive straight off in a combat ready configuration. Even with the mount retracted, the vehicle would almost certainly be too tall to fit inside even large transport helicopters, though.

The diversity in potential mission sets, as well as the ability to rapidly customize the design to meet a customer’s particular requirements, could make Mantis broadly appealing to both military and other security forces – the prototype has a light brick more commonly associated with police tactical and riot control vehicles. The common family of vehicles could also reduce operating and maintenance costs for any organization looking to acquire a fleet of various types with various weapons and other mission systems.

As noted, one immediate customer could be U.S. special operations forces, who are in the market for new and advanced lightweight vehicles. The U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Army are also investigating similar platforms to improve mobility during expeditionary and airborne operations where it might be difficult to effectively operate larger, traditional military vehicles.

At the same time, Mantis is entering an increasingly jam-packed market. Another Israeli firm, Plasan, recently unveiled the Yagu, a much smaller vehicle that offers an especially lightweight option with an advanced composite armor package. General Dynamics has just expanded their line of Flyer lightweight combat vehicles with a multi-purpose pickup type, as well. This is to say nothing of new developments elsewhere in the world.

Carmor's vehicle is still smaller than many "light" tactical trucks, such as the ubiquitous Humvee and it is miniature compared to more common mine-resistant vehicles, such as the U.S. military's new Joint Light Tactical Vehicle. With at least some ability to withstand bomb blasts, it could be a much more mobile alternative to these vehicles or those in similar weight classes.

Carmor’s offering is clearly aiming to set itself apart based on its ability to perform so many different missions using a large number of common components. It will definitely be interesting to see what additional configurations the company pitches publicly and how any initial customers end up employing the vehicles operationally.

Contact the author: jtrevithickpr@gmail.com

Google will officially not renew its contract with a Pentagon drone project after it expires, according to Bloomberg, following protests by the tech company’s staff and the ensuing publicity.

Head of the Google Cloud, Diane Greene, told Google employees on Friday that the tech giant won’t seek renewal, and will let the protested Pentagon contract expire in March of next year. The contract, signed last September, allows the Department of Defense to use Google’s artificial intelligence software to analyze drone footage, in a program that the DoD calls Project Maven.

Greene was reportedly eager to compete with Amazon and Microsoft’s business relationships with the government, the resulting drone tech projects of which have cloud computing at their core. Unfortunately for Greene, mass upheavals forced her to tactfully reassess.

“We’ve always said this was an 18-month contract ... so it ends in March of 2019,” she said. “And there will be no follow-on to Maven.”

More than 4,000 Google employees signed a letter demanding the contract be canceled, and urging the tech company not to use its sophisticated artificial intelligence programs for the war business. As it stands, over 12 employees have resigned over this particular issue.

On the other hand, Greene’s cloud division is currently vying for a different, far bigger deal with the Pentagon. The Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure would essentially bridge the same gap as Project Maven, and allow the government to employ Google’s artificial intelligence tech, anyway.

Two of The Drive’s editors—Will Sabel Courtney and Josh Condon—recently spent time with the 2018 Ford Mustang GT with Performance Pack 2. They discussed the finer merits and detractors of this super-speedy station wagon via Slack, an instant message program with a fun ability to summon random gifs based on what users type. The following is a partial transcript of that conversation.

josh
You had that new Mustang GT this weekend, right? Thoughts?

willscourtney
This weekend, and the last. I've been blessed with a lot of Mustang time lately. And it wasn't just any Mustang—it was the 2018 Ford Mustang GT with Performance Pack 2, in full FoMoCo parlance. It was...delightful.

josh
It's a lot of car. And of course I mean that in a good way.

willscourtney
I've always been a big fan of the Mustang, but in recent years, it's been hard not to acknowledge that the Camaro is a better drive. This was the first 'Stang in this generation where I felt like it took the lead.

josh
Magnetorheological dampers, yo.

willscourtney
THE BEST. Why every carmaker doesn't use 'em I don't know.

josh
Well, lots do. Cadillac, Ford, and Ferrari, to name a few. All from the exact same supplier, by the way. A little tidbit I learned when I was driving the Mustang up at Monticello.

[After-the-Fact Check: All the automotive industry's magnetic dampers are made by Delphi Automotive.]

Which sounds a little misleading, because I had four laps of the track—my first time ever driving it, notably—while racing against one giant bucket of a rainstorm. Which showed up as soon as I hit pit lane and cancelled the on-track driving for the rest of the day.

willscourtney
/giphy aaaand scene

josh
Still, the amount of performance you can pull out of that car is breathtaking.

willscourtney
Yeah. At least you were lucky enough to try it on the track at all. On the road, you've always gotta be careful. Not in the usual muscle car "Oh shit, here comes the slide" way, more in the true sports car "I have to go twice the speed limit to push this car" way.

josh
Well, there's also the "Oh shit, here comes the slide" moment the second you get a little fresh with the throttle.

willscourtney
True. But those giant sticky tires mitigate a lot of that.

josh
/giphy Tail Happy

willscourtney
I can't remember the last time I saw rubber that jutted so far out of the body.

josh
We had Sport Cup 2s on the track.

[After-the-Fact Check: The Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 was originally developed for hypercars like the Porsche 918 Spyder; it was also used on the Koenigsegg Agera RS during its record 277-mph top speed run.]

willscourtney
Yeah. I had 'em too.

josh
Those come with the Track Pack. Along with a half-inch lower ride height, MagneRide, 19-inch wheels, and quicker steering. Not bad for $6,500.

[After-the-Fact Check: In addition to the above, Performance Pack 2 also includes six-piston Brembo brakes up front with upsized calipers, a larger radiator, a strut tower brace and K-brace, a new front splitter, and a Torsen limited-slip diff.]

willscourtney
Which, to be honest, almost seem like enough of a deal to warrant PP2 on its own. It's actually kind of a steal, even though it marks the car up to around $50K. Ours was $51,000 and change, if I recall correctly.

josh
Not cheap, but still a bargain, as you said. BUT, only if you're really tracking the thing. If not, you're kind of ruining the car a bit for everyday use. It's too aggressive.

willscourtney
See, I disagree. I didn't think it was over the top at all for the street. It's a muscle car. I want it to be a bit of a brute.

josh
/giphy You're high

willscourtney
Then again, the 2013 Shelby GT500 is one of my favorite cars of all time.

[After-the-fact check: The 2013 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 packed both a 661-horsepower supercharged 5.8-liter V-8 and a solid live axle.]

josh
Those huge tires and low stance are just brutal on non-ideal pavement.

And the GT500 was the Dodge Challenger Hellcat of its day: so overpowered as to be unusable.

willscourtney
It was goofy. That was the fun part.

josh
That's some expensive goofy.

willscourtney
But if I had the PP2 I'd probably get a second set of wheels and tires for street use. Save the Cups for the track.

josh
So...it's not a $51,000 car anymore.

Also, I'd like to take exception to your assertion that the modern Mustang is a muscle car. Because Ford is definitely trying to turn it into a sports car.

willscourtney
True. But that's broadly true across the category.

(Of three cars.)

josh
To compete with the Camaro, as you noted earlier. The only real muscle car left is the Challenger. Oh, and the Charger.

josh
The Challenger is totally still a muscle car.

willscourtney
Oh no, I was excluding the Charger.

Ford and GM have redefined the muscle car to basically be a sports car. The Chally is a holdover from the olden days.

josh
I mean, if we're going by strict definition, the Charger is as much a muscle car as the Challenger.

willscourtney
There's the whole two door / four door thing, which I think represents a modern-day demarcation line between muscle car and not.
But I digress.

josh
Ah, yes. You're right.

willscourtney
Back to the Ford: I will admit that the 2018 facelift for the Mustang is growing on me. It's still uglier than before, but I hate it less with time.

josh
I really liked it out of the gate. I was never a traditionalist about those things. I don't really care about taillight shape or whatever.
The profile is beautiful—the way the roof slopes to the rear. It just looks fast.

willscourtney
I've always loved the general lines of this generation Mustang. It's one of the best designs in autodom today, IMHO.

josh
But wait, I want to go back to the muscle car / sports car issue.

willscourtney
/giphy boomerang

josh
Because it makes for a bit of a weird driving experience, no?

willscourtney
It does, yeah. It's nimble, but massive at the same time. Like an NFL player who does ballet.

josh
Not bad per se, but it's a bit of a houseboat—neither a great muscle car, nor a great sports car.

Yeah, good analogy. And a nose tackle that can run a 4.4 40 is a hell of a thing.

willscourtney
Exactly. But he's never gonna work for the Bolshoi. It's always gonna feel lacking compared to, say, a BRZ or a Miata or a Porsche.

josh
In terms of pure feel, yes. And those cars are never going to feel or sound as good opening up on the back straight at Road America.

willscourtney
Nope. Oh, God, the sound.

josh
Best-sounding car for $50K?

willscourtney
It's right up there. I'd have to do a taste-off between it, the Camaro SS, and the Chally 392.
/giphy old school

josh
392 probably wins, in my opinion. Still, there are no losers in that group.

I could use much less bobbing and weaving when the road goes squidgy, though. I scared myself a bit on a few occasions, thinking I was going to bounce into the next lane.

willscourtney
The suspension does feel very much track-oriented. You gotta be on your toes with it on the street.

That actually makes me think of something: I wonder if Ford gave the engineers the green-light to develop this because they knew the Shelby GT350 was going away to make room for the 2019 GT500. Because it does use goodies from the GT350, right?

[After-the-Fact Check: The PP2 Mustang's Michelin tires come from the Shelby GT350R, and the MagneRide dampers—also found on other 2018 Mustangs—also were first found on the GT350.]

josh
Interesting...

willscourtney
And with it gone, there's room for a new naturally-aspirated track-happy Mustang around $50K.

josh
/giphy Interesting

willscourtney
Speaking of track-tastic features, what'd you think of those buckets?

[After-the-Fact check: Unsurprisingly, the optional bucket seats are made by Recaro.]

josh
If you're going to use that car as God intended, they're great. And if you're my size—a person-sized person, unlike you—they're fine for the road, too. I thought they were comfortable.

willscourtney
They were actually fine for me, too. Girth, not height, would be the overriding concern.

josh
I wouldn't have guessed that. They're bolstered eight ways to Sunday.

What did you think of the rest of the interior, not that there's much of it?

willscourtney
I love that all-digital dashboard. Love how customizable it is, love how it changes with each mode, love how clear and legible it is.

josh
Agreed. Well done there for sure.

willscourtney
Also love that it shows the rpm down to the 10s. Nerdy fun.

josh
Well, and just based on the available data and the legibility, it was designed by people who know their way around a track drive.

So basically, this is the "new" Mustang that everyone (mostly) loves, just optimized for the track, and therefore (mostly) better. Except for the fucking tramlining. I forgot about that with those tires. They would find any groove in the road and follow it like a cult leader.

willscourtney
Oh, fuck. YES. That was so obnoxious.

josh
That issue was so bad it would disqualify those tires for me if I owned the car. It would make day-to-day driving 50 percent more work than it should be.
/giphy slot car

willscourtney
I more or less got used to it, but whenever it reared its head, it was obnoxious as hell. But overall, I think Ford did a solid job with this.

josh
That suspension wasn't too stiff for you?

willscourtney
No, because I'm not a wimp.
/giphy take it like a man

josh
Fair enough. I mean, on the track it was actually a bit shocking how flat the car stayed—on my later laps I was getting on the throttle earlier and earlier through the apex, and it just pulled the car along like a sled. But the roads around Monticello were basically bombed out after a few big storms, and it got a bit punishing.

willscourtney
In all fairness, it is really aggressive. You do have to suck it up.

josh
If you're opting for a $6,500 track package with all those goodies, I have to assume you know what you're getting into.

willscourtney
Exactly. Including a six-speed manual as the sole transmission.

josh
Yeah. That's a lovely thing.

willscourtney
Which I loved, but I'll admit, it's not a real performance-oriented gearbox. The gates are too notchy. I whuffed the shift once or twice trying to do full-throttle runs.

josh
Redline comes fast in that car.

willscourtney
It does. Which is incredible, 'cause it's so high for a muscle car. 7,400 rpm, IIRC.

josh
Obviously I'd rather have the shifter set-up in, say, the Porsche 718, but again, this is a muscle car we're talking about, not a sports car. Mustang owners would probably be pissed if it weren't so notchy. That's part of the expectation. Gotta play to the base with a car like this.

willscourtney
/giphy because mustang

All right, final thoughts?

josh
I've loved the new Mustang since it came out, mostly for how it mixed muscle-car feel with a newfound sportiness and everyday usability. And Ford clearly takes its stewardship of the nameplate, and its die-hard Mustang customers, very seriously. This new Performance Package Level 2 is a testament to that: nothing about it is superfluous, it all makes sense as a whole, and it really does turn the car into a shockingly fun track machine. It absolutely fixes some of the dynamic issues—I know I bitched about the bobbing and weaving, but even that is much reduced from the base car—but, as expected, that comes at the price of everyday comfort. I wouldn't make that sacrifice myself if it were my everyday driver, but for a track rat, this seems like a no brainer.

willscourtney
Yup. It's interesting how the Mustang, unlike the Camaro, has to serve as basically the halo car for the entire lineup—it doesn't have the advantage of a Corvette-type vehicle above it. So it's the only option Ford fans who want to hit the track have, assuming they don't have $400K for the GT. Adding in more and more track-friendly choices just makes sense, given that. Especially with the 700-plus-HP GT500 coming soon at a lofty price point, adding in more performance choices below to fill in the gaps makes a ton of sense.

josh
That goddamn car is going to be undriveable.

willscourtney
It's gonna be so much fun.

So on that note:
/giphy ford mustang gt performance pack 2

josh
/giphy That's all folks

Our progress as a technological society has always marched in lockstep with our failures. This has been particularly true in the realm of moving vehicles—airplanes, automobiles, spaceships, regular ships. The Titanic disaster spurred increased attention to lifeboat complements. A string of fatal crashes in the 1950s involving the de Havilland Comet—the first commercial jet airliner—launched modern accident investigation methodologies that of course led to countless safety innovations. Decades of nasty wrecks on public roads (and race tracks) led to seat belts, crumple zones, and air bags.

Along the way, we’ve always known that people die in moving vehicles. The forces of physics are undeniable; risk is built into speed. So it should stand to reason that this will remain true in the future, as technology advances through everything from self-driving cars to new generations of supersonic business jets to electric air taxis to even commercial space travel. All of these new modes of travel will pose risks of their own, even if they incorporate the latest safety technology and are even themselves intended primarily as safety innovations, as is the case with autonomous cars.

That may be true, but we’re in a decidedly new era now. These are no longer the swaggering salad days of NASA, for instance, when the tragic loss of three astronauts during the launch-pad fire of Apollo 1 gave the nation pause, but didn’t sway its steely resolve to reach the Moon. Today, there’s not much “steely resolve” in the public’s support of either space-tourism or even autonomous driving. Nor are we even in the age of Challenger and Columbia, when tragedy in the Space Shuttle program gave way more to grief than raw outrage. In both of these tragedies, the investigations revealed causes that would today spark televised fits of apoplectic fury among the talking heads. When the Challenger exploded in January 1986, the public response was tempered by the overarching faith in the corrective capabilities of the system—the investigations, the inquests, and the judgement. It’s the same faith that keeps us flying in commercial airlines even in the wake of massive air disasters, and, at least in part, the same one that keeps us driving even when someone we know personally dies in an accident. The risk is still there, but we’ve still come an awfully long way.

In the new era—one exacerbated by social media, a frantic 24-hour news cycle, and a ubiquity of cameras that gives every tragedy a lurid you-are-there vibe—the highest conceivable safety performance is, in fact, the expected standard, no matter what stage of development or operation the vehicle occupies.

The safety baseline may be higher, but so is what we’re asking of the systems in the first place. Radical new materials, extravagant product lifespans required by sheer economics, and daring capabilities unseen in transportation all still offer potential pain-points in our progress, and each could now bump up against much stronger headwinds than ever before in the court of public opinion.

Three accidents; three deaths

Take a look at three recent single-death incidents: the April 17 Southwest Airlines accident, in which an engine failure sent debris into the cabin, killing a passenger; the notorious March 18 Uber autonomous-car accident in Arizona, in which a pedestrian was killed; and, slightly farther back in recent history, the October 31, 2014, crash of a Virgin Galactic space tourism rocket that killed a test pilot. Three accidents; three deaths. None counted as major disasters, but all brought the public, and in the latter two cases, the companies—and, in fact, their respective nascent industries—to a screeching halt. Even the Southwest accident was still uniquely telling in its own way, as it was the first fatality on board a U.S.-based air carrier in a decade. It caused a precipitous, immediate drop in Southwest Airlines bookings, to the tune of between $50 million and $100 million in lost ticket sales.

Public expectations of transportation safety are now incredibly high, which makes perfect sense: that’s all we hear about. Volvo has very publicly pledged to eliminate all deaths in its vehicles by 2020, banking on advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and semi-autonomous functionality to make it happen, while Boeing reported last year in its annual statistical summary of global commercial airline accidents that there are now 10 aircraft models that have never seen a fatality, including Boeing’s 717, 787, and 747-8 and Airbus’s A380, A350, A340, and A320 NEO. When a single passenger dies in an accident—whether in routine airline service or in testing of an advanced new way of driving—that now draws scrutiny and public reaction. This is true even if the death is in development of a system that can radically reduce the number of fatalities, as with Uber’s autonomous drive system. Hence the recent AAA study that found that the percentage of Americans who say they’re afraid to ride in an autonomous vehicle has jumped from 63 percent to 73 percent since December—the period, of course, that included Uber’s accident.

Will There Be a Tech Bodycount Backlash?

So what will likely be the public reaction in the future when disaster inevitably strikes the new modes of transport being aggressively touted from every corner? Once Virgin Galactic, Jeff Bezos-created Blue Origin, or SpaceX starts launching celebrity customers into space, the countdown clock will start ticking toward tragedy. Once an autonomous UberAIR electric air taxi breaks apart over San Francisco Bay, the chronically embattled company will face even more of the withering lambasting it received when its autonomous car mowed down Elaine Herzberg in Tempe. Same goes for the first supersonic business jet, and even the most minor fender-benders that occur when self-driving cars becoming disoriented in the snow.

On the one hand, we could just as easily see a return to a broader acceptance of risk. After all, the three reactions cited reflect change—to either new technologies or long-established patterns. Once the miles rack up, public reaction to fatal accidents might stabilize.

“The question is how elastic is the public’s memory,” notes Marco Cáceres, a 30-year veteran spaceflight analyst with the Teal Group, who has tracked closely the progress of space travel startups as well as the veterans. “Will they remember a tragedy from a year ago or two years ago that would discourage them from embracing new technologies? My educated guess: The public has a relatively short memory when it comes to commercial ventures, and an even shorter memory when it comes to things sponsored by the government.”

Everyone above a certain age still remembers where they were when the Challenger exploded, he continues, but that was a uniquely national event. Much of what we’re dealing with now has more isolated impact, even if they still make the news and generate considerable hand-wringing. “If Virgin Galactic and SpaceX manage a string of successes with human flight, people will slowly develop confidence in these systems,” Cáceres says. “But people will also need to see the practical benefits of the flights, and so far the leaders haven’t done a good job of showing us how this is going to do anything for more than a few wealthy adventure seekers.”

There Will Be (Some) Blood

While the early days of aviation, steam ships, and railroads saw thousands of people dying, those were true pioneers, and the same tolerance may not apply in new endeavors today, as grand and ambitious as they appear to be. “Space tourism isn’t something that will attract the mainstream public,” Cáceres adds, noting that the lack of emotional investment in the cause on the part of the public may hurt it when things go wrong. “I’m sure SpaceX will have more explosions, and if Virgin Galactic stays in it for the long run, there will be other accidents. We’re dealing with rocket engines, after all.”

As for the challenges facing autonomy and even the likes of UberAIR, the challenges will be similar. “I’m very concerned about how the public’s reaction to these inevitable failure is going to sap their already quite low enthusiasm for self-driving cars and related technologies,” notes Azim Shariff, an associate professor of psychology and social behavior at the University of California, Irvine. He notes somewhat warily that even in the best-case scenario, there will still be fatalities. He cites a RAND Corporation study on how many lives could be saved by autonomous vehicles, with cars that are just 10 percent better at eliminating accidents than human drivers still generating 3,000 fatalities each year—this in cars with autonomous technology. Even if you had cars that were 90 percent better, that will still come out to 350 fatalities each year in autonomous cars. “Among those is going to be a car killing kids, pregnant mothers, a bus full of 12-year-old soccer players, etc,” Shariff says. “People are going to need to tolerate these types of fatalities without consumers abandoning the industry, or politicians and judges killing it with overly punitive regulation and liability judgments. It’s a tall ask.”

What will help reign in the knee-jerk reactions to transportation deaths? Space travel advocates will have to work on putting “meat on the bones”—as Cáceres says—to address the practical benefits to the non-wealth elites, especially in the realm of spinoff or trickle-down technology. With the more earthly pursuits, in addition to linking the technologies ever more aggressively to our own safety—or even less urgent benefits like time and cost savings—Shariff says that being transparent about how the technology does what it does, even down to the comparing the generally distrusted algorithms to the generally worse human alternative behaviors and capabilities, will be key. He says researchers are now working on psychological studies to test methods that might increase people’s comfort with and acceptance of riding in autonomous vehicles.

“So far, however, we’ve only detected the somewhat irrationally higher required safety thresholds that people demand from those systems,” he notes.

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then it appears there's a whole lot of love for Lambos in China. Meet the latest printout from the country's car-sized Xerox machine: the Huansu Auto C60 Hyosow, a midsize crossover that bears a striking resemblance to the brilliant new Lamborghini Urus at approximately one-tenth the price.

There are several strategic tweaks in the design to keep things out of obvious lawsuit territory, including a slightly different lower front fascia, a more upright roofline, and fewer creases in the body. Its wheelbase is also about seven inches shorter than the Lamborghini. Still, the renderings show a near-wholesale recreation of the angular Italian design of the original.

If you're excited about a budget supercar SUV, though, you should know that the C60 Hyosow's similarities to the real Urus start and end at your eyeballs. Instead of an intoxicating 4.0-liter twin-turbo V-8 putting out 650 horsepower under the hood, the Chinese version packs a pair of 1.5-liter and 2.0-liter four-cylinder engines pegged at 150 hp and 200 hp respectively.

Drivetrain details aren't available yet, but bet on front-wheel-drive instead of the Urus' advanced all-wheel-drive system with multi-terrain settings. Oh, and Car News China reports that it will come in five- and seven-passenger configurations, so say goodbye to that luxurious four-seat interior as well. All that cost-cutting does add up, though: pricing will reportedly range between the equivalent of around $15,000 to $23,000.

From the sleek-bodied grand touring cars of the mid-1960s to the identical jellybean crossovers of today, automotive design has always been a bit derivative across the board, but the Chinese copycat industry takes it to another level. Making it all the more fascinating is the fact that this isn't some sketchy independent outfit trying to make a buck—Huansu Auto is actually part of BAIC Group, a major state-owned manufacturer that also partners with Mercedes-Benz and Hyundai to build their cars in China for the domestic market.

BAIC Group itself isn't shy about taking inspiration from European manufacturers. At the Beijing Auto Show earlier this year, the company showed off a six-wheeled jeep with a pickup bed that looks an awful lot like the Mercedes-Benz G63 AMG 6x6.

So what's to be done? Probably not much, since China's protective and byzantine copyright laws make it difficult for foreign entities to put a stop to these shenanigans. In an analogous example, Porsche threatened to sue Chinese manufacturer Zotye in 2016 after it built an even closer copy of the Porsche Macan, but the knockoff SUV is still on sale today. We reached out to Lamborghini to see if they feel sufficiently flattered, and we'll update if we hear back.

Back in December, California motorcyclist Oscar Nilsson filed a lawsuit against General Motors after colliding with a vehicle operated by Cruise, GM's autonomous division. A court filing reveals that this lawsuit has been settled.

Nilsson had claimed that the Cruise-operated Chevy Bolt had begun to change lanes, but changed its mind and swerved back into the lane while he was already passing, and struck him. The Bolt driver's hands were reportedly off the steering wheel the whole time, indicating that the car was driving itself.

GM did not deny that the Bolt had initiated, then aborted a lane change under its own control, but laid the blame for the crash on Nilsson for reportedly starting the pass, looking at the car, wobbling, and then crashing without contacting the Bolt. Although Nilsson was passing the Bolt within its lane before its lane change was complete, lane splitting is legal in California, though GM questions whether Nilsson began to pass the Bolt too soon.

Although the case has been settled, presumably to Nilsson's satisfaction, the question of whether the motorcyclist or the car that was driving itself was at fault in the crash remains unanswered. This case was one of the first involving a self-driving test vehicle colliding with another person and could have set a legal precedent for liability in such cases had it gone to trial.

The case of a self-driving Uber car fatally striking a pedestrian in March was much more severe, but also more clear-cut as to who was responsible. Although that case was also settled out of court, the National Transportation Safety Board investigation determined that the car's sensors detected the pedestrian six seconds before impact. Both the car's autonomous systems as well as the human operator failed to evaluate the data and execute evasive maneuvers before it was too late.

Lexus has finally announced pricing and more information about the 2019 RC F and GS F 10th Anniversary Editions, limited-run variants made to celebrate 10 years of the Lexus F performance branch. Both variants feature an exclusive matte-finished Nebula Gray exterior color, blue-painted Brembo brake calipers, and black 19-inch wheels wrapped in Michelin Pilot Super Sport tires.

The company will sell 250 RC F 10th Anniversary Edition coupes in the United States, priced at $80,810. While the unique package is a $9,000 option, the $16,160 increase over the regular RC F also includes the Performance Package, Intuitive Park Assist, and Triple Beam headlights. The 10th Anniversary Edition RC F's interior is covered in blue leather which adorns the front seats, steering wheel, instrument panel cover, and shift knob, accented with white stitching. In addition, the RC F variant receives an embossed headliner.

At $89,350, the GS F 10th Anniversary Edition sedan costs just $5,000 more than the standard model and doesn't require any other options. It features a similar blue and white leather theme as the one found on the RC F but adds blue leather to the rear seats and blue carbon trim on the seat belts, dash, and center console. It also ditches the special headliner. Lexus will sell just 100 of these GS Fs in the States.

Lexus attributes the beginning of its F division in the United States to the launch of the IS F in 2008. The vehicles that have come as a result of these performance efforts act as the basis for Lexus' race cars, such as the oh-so-sweet sounding LFA V-10 supercar that raced at the 24 Hours of the Nürburgring in 2010. The RC F and GS F are F's only current offerings, sharing a 5.0-liter V-8 power plant.

Andretti Autosport's Ryan Hunter Reay celebrated his dominant victory at Sunday's IndyCar Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix by jumping into the James Scott Memorial Fountain in Belle Isle Park. As it turns out, he had made a promise to do so earlier during the week.

The "Detroit Double," as they call it, was filled with many unexpected surprises, such as a General Motors executive crashing a $120,000 Corvette ZR1 during the race's parade lap, but Hunter-Reay's choice of celebration came as a "refreshing surprise."

According to this video, the American racing driver had promised the folks at WXYZ Detroit that if he won either Saturday or Sunday's race, he would plunge into the frigid waters of the iconic Detroit fountain.

"He promised the local ABC affiliate that he would jump in the James Scott Memorial Fountain, which is nestled in the track here on Belle Isle, if he won the race. And he made good," said an IndyCar spokesperson.

Hunter-Reay lived up to his nice-guy reputation by showing fans and colleagues alike what to do when someone makes a promise. Although he appeared to stutter for a second due to the temperature of the water, he didn't think about it twice before laying down to pose with his bottle of champagne for the many photographers near the fountain.

The Andretti Autosport racing driver climbed from his starting position of 10th to second place during the race, only to force his teammate and race leader Alexander Rossi into a mistake in the closing stages of the race. Hunter-Reay's pressure ultimately paid off and earned him the 17th race of his IndyCar victory.

.@RyanHunterReay made us a promise. If he won the @DetroitGP, he would jump in Belle Isle's Scott Fountain.

Live on @WXYZDetroit, he kept his promise. pic.twitter.com/D5CIp9Dp1Z

— Brad Galli (@BradGalli) June 3, 2018

We have yet to see the second generation of Formula E cars race, but the sport's organizers have their eyes on the horizon, focused on the sport's third generation of cars, which may come as soon as 2020.

Toto Wolff, the head of Mercedes's Formula 1 and Formula E programs, revealed these reported specifications in an interview with Welt, where he discussed the future of Mercedes' motorsport programs, and the development trajectory of Formula E.

"What fascinates me about Formula E is not what it is today, but what will be the day after tomorrow," stated Wolff to Welt. "Starting in the 2018-19 season, we're going into the generation two vehicle with a car that is much more attractive than the current one, where the driver still has to change the vehicle because the battery is not enough for the entire race. With generation three in 2020-21 could come four-wheel drive, possibly 450 to 500 kilowatts. That's what fascinates me."

500 kilowatts is roughly equivalent to 670 horsepower. The upcoming second-generation Formula E car will lay down peak power of up to 250 kilowatts in qualifying, and 200 kilowatts in the race, or about 335 horsepower in qualifying, and 268 at race spec.

It is speculated that the new car can exceed 300 kph (186 mph) in the straights. This power output surpasses that of first-generation Formula E cars by a significant margin, which can only match the upcoming car's 200 kilowatt race output in qualifying, and races with 150 kilowatts (201 horsepower).

Power increases could add a layer of makeup to Formula E's attractiveness to fans, which is upstaged by that of traditional open-wheel racing series such as Formula 1 and Indycar. Sound, however, may at no point be comparable, with most of the noise made by Formula E cars coming from the whining of transmissions' straight-cut gears.

When the faster second-generation cars debut in the upcoming 2018-2019 season of Formula E, a total of seven major international automakers will field factory entries. Nissan, DS, Jaguar, BMW, Audi, Porsche, and Mercedes will all have a presence in Formula E next season.

Mercedes is so heavily invested in the series that it has cancelled its long-running DTM program in favor of Formula E, which will be supported by the brand's successes in Formula 1 for the past four seasons. Should Mercedes' Formula E program be a fraction as successful as its Formula 1 venture, we may see another one-sided racing series.

The Drive reached out to Mercedes about its third generation Formula E car specs and will update when we hear back.

According to Illinois publication Daily Chronicle, newly introduced legislation would expand the limited use of unmanned aerial vehicles for local law enforcement, for use cases including identifying possible criminal activity, evaluating crowd size and movement, public safety, and monitoring potential infrastructural weaknesses in public places.

This legislation, Senate Bill 2562, has already been approved by the Senate, but faces two amendments from the House. One of these amendments was approved with the other having been tabled after officials voted not to adopt it in committee.

DeKalb Police Chief Gene Lowery is eager to implement drones into the job as he’s seen first-hand how practical they could be after a local resident used his drone to monitor a local gunman who barricaded himself in an apartment. Additionally, other members of the DeKalb County Sheriff's Department have explained how useful UAVs were in investigating local traffic collisions.

We’ve reported on law enforcement increasingly adding drones to their set of tools before with the LAPD being granted permission to do so and the ACLU concerned about the potential politically-motivated infringement on privacy. The issue of civil liberties has certainly come up in discussion with Lowery as well.

“The two areas that are probably the most controversial [when expanding drone use] are general surveillance and crowd monitoring,” he said. “Those areas are probably where organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union have proffered arguments.”

The proposed drone use in the new bill would limit law enforcement to use UAVs as tools for public safety and crowd control. It would also prohibit the police from equipping drones with tear gas, stun guns, or any sort of projectiles.

While Lowery understands the hesitancy of citizens to overwhelmingly agree to UAV expansion and a potential invasion of privacy, he also argues that the police can strip citizens engaging in criminal activity of their right to privacy anyway, regardless of what tool is used to do so.

“However, if [drones] are used within the framework of the law, their benefits can be impactful,” he said. “For those who are committing a criminal act, their expectation or right to privacy can be diminished within the law, whether it is through police use of a drone to view a barricaded gunman, the execution of a search warrant, or some other measure within the law.”

DeKalb County Emergency Services and Disaster Agency Coordinator Dennis Miller, meanwhile, probably posits the argument to increase drone use by government agencies as plainly and enticingly as possible. “If resources that I have could make their job easier, why not make things like a search and rescue easier?” Miller asked. “It’s another set of eyes that can cover more ground than someone walking along a field or river.”

Lotus announced in a press release Monday that Chief Executive Officer Jean-Marc Gales will step down and be replaced by Feng Qingfeng (Mr. Feng), Vice President and Chief Technical Officer of Geely Auto Group. This announcement comes just one year after the China-based Zhejiang Geely Holding Group acquired Group Lotus.

Jean-Marc Gales says that he's leaving for personal reasons, telling Autocar that he wanted to change things up. Therefore, he will take the reigns of Suffolk-based classic car dealer JD Classics. Gales isn't done working for Lotus, however, as he'll serve as the chief strategic advisor for Lotus Chairman and Geely Chief Financial Officer Daniel Donghui Li.

“Jean-Marc has stabilized and turned Lotus to profitability for the first time in the iconic brand's history with new industry-leading products and unique business models since joining the company in 2014," Donghui Li explained. "Lotus is poised for the next phase of growth under Feng Qingfeng’s leadership, where its expertise in lightweight materials and sports cars-engineering will form part of the wider expansion of Geely‘s automotive portfolio."

During his four years as CEO, Gales recovered the brand after a tough spell under former boss Dany Bahar. More importantly, he helped Lotus do something it had not seen in years: Turn a profit. This came from the push for more Lotus dealerships around the world and the introduction of new, more powerful variants of the existing Elise, Exige, and Evora platforms. In 2017, Lotus sold 1,600 vehicles, a 10 percent increase from the previous year.

He leaves Lotus in the hands of "Mr. Feng," who will use assets from Geely's other subsidiaries to put the British brand back on top of the upscale sports car market.

“I am honored to have been appointed to lead this iconic British sports car group," Mr. Feng said. "With Geely’s global synergies and total support, I am confident that Lotus has an exciting opportunity to achieve its full potential as a luxury sports brand, based around its engineering legacy and its future product pipeline.”

Under Geely's guidance, Lotus aims to shoot back to the top of sports car segment and rival the likes of Porsche and more.

Law enforcement of North Plainfield, New Jersey is looking for information about a suspect connected to multiple attempted vehicle burglaries, one successful, and one public pooping.

Footage of the suspect wearing a hoodie, backpack, and fanny pack was captured by the home security system of one of the victims and shared by the North Plainfield Police Department via Facebook. According to authorities, the security footage depicts the subject doing his duty on a driveway around 2:27 a.m. on Sunday, May 27, though video of the act itself was not published. Afterward, the suspect attempted to force entry into multiple vehicles and was eventually successful, managing to get into a car around 3:42 a.m. the same morning.

Authorities request that anyone with information on the suspect shares it. When contacted by The Drive, the North Plainfield Police Department declined to provide an update to the story.

Unsavory news of this sort has made the papers several times thus far in 2018. Earlier this year, a flight from Chicago to Hong Kong was grounded after a passenger soiled multiple of the plane's lavatories with their own feces, wiping it "everywhere" inside the bathrooms. Down south, and on the ground, a train traveling with ten million pounds of human waste spent more than two months cooped up in an Alabama rail yard and was the butt of the joke of many an online news outlet.

As unpleasant as it may have been, we almost wish we had the full video of the New Jersey burglar—with commentary, of course. Humor's a good way to deal with shock, no?

San Francisco is one of the most eco-friendly cities in the world. Environmental accountability, sustainability, and green energy are all integral parts of the city's fabric. A growing trend in the Bay Area is electric scooter rental programs. The e-scooter trend sounds like the perfect fit for an eco-conscious city like San Francisco, yet CNBC reports that the populace is being divided by the introduction of scooters to the city.

These new programs allow you to rent an electric scooter to get around the city, reducing fossil fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions. The Drive interviewed the three main e-scooter-rental companies: Bird, Spin, and LimeBike to learn what problems the scooter rentals companies are facing.

Electric Scooter Rentals in San Francisco

Electric scooter rental companies like Bird, LimeBike, and Spin are building on the ride-hailing economy by providing electric scooters access through a mobile app in San Francisco as well as other cities.

Electric scooters are similar to the child's foot-operated vehicles accept these models are paired with a 20-pound electric motor to propel its rider through the city streets and up the iconic San Francisco hills.

These motorized scooters have a top speed of 15 miles per hour and a range of 15 to 37 miles. The scooters can typically be rented for $1, plus an additional fee in some instances, 15 cents per minute. If it's a quick trip, one could feasibly rent a scooter for less than the price of a Starbucks coffee.

Individuals who don't have a car in the city might call an Uber or Lyft to run errands. While the use of gas-fueled cars releases more greenhouse gasses, with companies like Bird, LimeBike, and Spin, those same errands could be run on a zero-emissions electric scooter.

Recent coverage, however, suggests some lawmakers don't want scooters on San Francisco's streets.

The Scooter and the City

Scooter companies, in some cases, are portrayed by the city as having launched their services without government officials' permission. However, according to the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), actual permits didn't exist at the time the scooter companies began.

"When [the scooter companies] launched, we were still finalizing details of our permit process," Paul Rose, spokesperson for SFMTA told The Drive via email. "[The permits] were not available," he said. "There were no specific local guidelines at the time."

The SFMTA encouraged the scooter rental companies to work with the agency as it developed the details of the permitting process.

"We believe that the conflict arose from the varying levels of engagement the companies had with the city," says Euwyn Poon, co-founder and president of Spin. Poon noted that Spin has worked closely with local city officials since February.

Spin told The Drive that prior to launching in San Francisco, it held a series of in-person meetings with city officials but didn't provide written documentation to the city, nor did the company fill out any city forms.

"The backlash was against companies that provided no notice to the SFMTA before dumping scooters," Poon said.

"The general idea that companies must 'ask for permission' from government entities before offering products and services to consumers is inconsistent with our system of law and free enterprise," said Kenneth Baer, spokesman for the electric scooter rental company Bird.

Bird also said it complied with all laws and regulations in every city and state where Bird operates and applied for all applicable business licenses available in each location, including San Francisco.

In San Francisco, Bird registered its business with the city and county. The company provided proof of its business licensing in an email to The Drive.

Regulation vs. Competition

According to LimeBike, a recent San Francisco dockless bike rental program called JUMP created confusion around the permit regulations with which electric scooter rental companies would need to comply.

"The manner in which the city handled the San Francisco dockless bike-share program in 2017 informed our efforts with regards to electric scooters," says Marketer and Business Developer for LimeBike Jack Song.

The bike program was reportedly operating in San Francisco without a permit on a limited pilot basis and SFMTA selected JUMP as the sole company to receive a permit to operate dockless bikes in the city, according to Song.

Following suit, LimeBike initially launched only a few pop-up scooter rental stations. "Unfortunately, our competitors used our limited rollout as a pretext to blanket the city with scooters, creating the chaotic situation that ultimately ensued," said Song.

Market competitors and the example of an unpermitted bike-sharing company in the city reportedly gave mixed signals and led the scooter rental companies to launch without proper permits.

"Before launching in San Francisco, Bird had started discussions with various city departments and advocacy groups about the best way to enter the market," Baer said. "While those discussions were ongoing, two competitor services launched. Faced with competitive pressures, a week later Bird decided to enter the market and our product has been in high demand since our first day of operations."

According to its company data, in Bird's first month in San Francisco, more than 32,000 people used the e-scooter service, taking more than 95,000 rides and collectively traveling 143,000 miles.

LimeBike said its scooter-rental program was "immensely popular" and LimeBike's usage has surpassed all the goals the company initially set. The Drive reached out to LimeBike for its ridership numbers. Song said the company could not share its ridership rate. We are awaiting scooter rental trip numbers and will update when we hear back.

The Drive has asked Spin for its ridership and scooter usage data and has not received a response.

Some city officials felt the companies released their products into the wild without any concern for the regulations and permits needed. The situation prompted Aaron Peskin, the San Francisco board supervisor, to tell ABC7News that the scooter companies were acting like "a bunch of spoiled brats.”

All three scooter-sharing companies told The Drive they would apply for the proper permits, once those permits were available.

Scooter Safety and Resident Opinion

There are issues with the scooter rental companies that need to be resolved but seem to be manageable once city officials and the scooter companies get on the same page. Even Peskin doesn’t want to ban these scooters from the city's streets. Instead, he's pushing for common sense regulations and permitting, including requiring that riders wear helmets.

Legally, scooter riders in California are required to wear a helmet when operating the vehicle. However, Brock Keeling from Curbed San Francisco writes that riders don't seem to be taking this law seriously. "You need to wear a helmet while riding an electric scooter," he writes. "Are riders really wearing helmets? No."

The lack of helmets is a big concern for San Francisco lawmakers, but it isn't the only one. San Francisco is a busy city with more than 400,000 cars registered within the city limits according to a 2017 report from the Department of Motor Vehicles.

Two women in Nashville, Tennessee were seriously injured in a hit-and-run accident while riding Bird scooters a few weeks ago. According to the Tennessean, they were struck by a car at an intersection in downtown Nashville. Neither of the women was wearing a helmet and both were admitted to Vanderbilt University Medical Center for major injuries.

Nashville has a population of about 691,000 people, several hundred thousand less than San Francisco.

Additional issues lie with the scooter drivers themselves. According to Curbed San Francisco, many scooters from all three companies have been impounded by law enforcement due to being parked on sidewalks or in front of doorways. Bird eventually implemented a program that required riders to send a picture of their scooter after they parked it to ensure it was in the proper spot.

LimeBike has started distributing helmets to its users, in addition to requiring a parking photo, to try to comply with city regulations.

According to the California DMV, motorized scooters do not have to be registered like a car or motorcycle. However, drivers must be at least 16 years old, have a driver's license, and wear a helmet.

Additionally, while it's legal in California to drive an electric scooter on a bicycle path or the biking lane of a roadway, it is illegal to drive them on sidewalks.

One reader wrote to a San Francisco legal blog stating that they had just left a Starbucks and someone riding a scooter on the sidewalk "almost clipped" them.

California state Senator Scott Wiener is in the pro-scooter camp. Wiener has tweeted at length about what is being touted as "scooter-geddon," and how he believes it's not a bad thing after all.

"Listen, these guys [the scooter companies] screwed up by not seeking permits," he tweeted. "Riding scooters on sidewalks isn’t ok. Dumping them all over isn’t ok. But, the reaction to the coming of the scooters has also been extreme. Scooters are a good thing."

The senator went on to say "Scooters are an affordable, easy way for folks to get around [without] using a car. They take up massively less space than other vehicles. Let’s get them permitted & avoid negative impacts. Let’s not have a knee-jerk 'the sky is falling because something new is happening' reaction," he added.

SFMTA Pilot Program and the Future of Scooter Rentals

A proposed pilot program for electric scooter rental companies would allow them to operate within the city limits with the proper permits and following the laws. That is, the scooter companies would need to ensure that their scooters are driven by customers wearing helmets, are not being driven on sidewalks, and should only be operated by users over 16 years old with a valid drivers license.

Each company would have to pay a $5,000 application fee, in addition to showing the city how it plans to ensure its scooters are used and parked safely and according to the laws.

It would also limit the number of scooters on the street at any given time to 2,500, issuing five permits with a limit of 500 scooters per permit. Currently, each of the three scooter companies operating within San Francisco's city limits have roughly 200 scooters each.

Each company would also have to provide user insurance, education to ensure the scooters are used safely, and share trip data with the city of San Francisco. User data would also have to be secure and encrypted to protect user privacy.

Low-income plans for those who can't afford to rent a scooter otherwise would also have to be implemented for a company to be approved for a permit.

According to a press release from the San Francisco City Attorney's Office, all scooter companies operating within San Francisco should either have a permit by June 4 or remove its scooters from San Francisco's streets.

On May 24, the SFMTA made the necessary permits accessible to the scooter companies via its website. Applications are due by June 7, 5:00 p.m. PST.

San Francisco legislators and officials say they don't want to get rid of electric scooters within the city limits. They simply want to ensure scooters are being used safely, are parked properly, and driven safely with respect to pedestrians on the sidewalks and drivers on the road.

According to The INRIX 2017 Global Traffic Scorecard, there are five U.S. cities ranked in the top 10 most congested cities worldwide—San Francisco is rated number five.

"People are integrating the scooters into the fabric of their lives as a new mode of daily transportation," Song says. "Because of that, we believe scooters can be part of the solution to get people out of cars and on to public transportation, helping to alleviate traffic congestion in the Bay Area."

Honda Repsol's Marc Marquez achieved the exact opposite of what he set out to accomplish at the 2018 MotoGP Grand Prix of Italy, which saw him finish in an embarrassing 16th place while Ducati's Jorge Lorenzo conquered the top step of the podium. As a result, the Spaniard's championship lead was reduced rather than extended.

Marquez arrived in Mugello with a massive 36-point lead in the MotoGP world championship standings over Yamaha rider Maverick Vinales—Marquez with 95 and Vinales with 59. With the point structure awarding 25 points to the race winner, it meant that regardless of what happened, Marquez would still lead the championship at the end of the day.

The Spaniard got his weekend off to a rocky start when all he could squeeze out of his Honda motorcycle was a lap time of 1:45.454, while the top three were laying times at least 0.2 seconds faster. Sunday's performance was drastically different as Marquez quickly rocketed to the front of the pack and gave Lorenzo, Petrucci, and other front-runners a piece of his mind with some rather aggressive passing maneuvers. Then, disaster struck on Turn 10 when Marquez laid his bike down in embarrassing fashion and simply skidded to the gravel trap.

GAME OVER ????@marcmarquez93's run of three straight #MotoGP wins came to a halt in Mugello#ItalianGP pic.twitter.com/AQgwo94eDD

— MotoGP™???????????? (@MotoGP) June 4, 2018

Luckily for him, everything on his Honda remained intact and he was able to rejoin the race and lap the famous 3.2-mile Italian circuit like a bat out of hell. He ultimately finished 16th and missed out on championship points. However, his archenemy Valentino Rossi finished in third place and secured a precious 16 points, which although didn't earn him the championship lead, narrowed the gap down to only 13 points.

Marquez will have to reassess his aggressive riding style if he plans on maintaining the championship lead and winning more races, as his two-wheeled shenanigans have landed him in hot water more than once this season.

The MotoGP fraternity now heads to the homeland of many of its riders, Spain, where hundreds of thousands of fans will passionately cheer on their favorite daredevils come June 17.

Andretti Autosport's Ryan Hunter-Reay returned to the winner's circle at this weekend's final race of the Detroit Double on the streets of Belle Isle. The American racer was followed by Team Penske's Will Power and Ganassi's Ed Jones in second and third places, respectively. As it's typical of the temporary street circuit, some drivers' fortunes fared better than others'.

Speaking of fortunes, the 70-lap IndyCar race hadn't even started when a crash on turn two brought things to a halt. In a bizarre turn of events, the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 pace car driven by the head of product development for General Motors, Mark Reuss, crashed into the wall while leading the IndyCar field on the parade lap. Reuss and his passenger were not injured, but it caused a nearly 30-minute delay.

Once the race got underway, pole-sitter Alexander Rossi made the most of the dry weather conditions and blitzed Belle Isle courtesy of its red-sticker tires. Considering he had just qualified a couple of hours earlier in rain-soaked conditions, the California native was more than motivated to get on with the program.

Sunday's only full-course yellow came courtesy of Spencer Pigot on the opening lap, due to the Ed Carpenter Racing driver stalling on turn five after being spun by rookie Santino Ferrucci. A second yellow was almost imminent, but leader Rossi was able to turn his Honda around and rejoin the race after locking up and diving into the runoff on lap 64.

Oh no!???? There goes Rossi’s front left ? tire.@RyanHunterReay to ???? P1!

???? LIVE on ABC
???? https://t.co/SAdeSxSfa7
???? WatchESPN | @verizon INDYCAR Mobile#INDYCAR // #DetroitGP pic.twitter.com/j0z9iPdwlf

— IndyCar Series (@IndyCar) June 3, 2018

"It was a pretty disappointing day considering we led the most laps and started on pole," said Rossi. "For sure we didn't have the pace for Ryan, he was just on another level. So hats off to him and the DHL team, they certainly deserved to win. But the Ruoff Home Mortgage car definitely had a second-place finish in it. Unfortunately, with less than 10 laps to go, our luck changed."

Much like the first day in Detroit, which saw Scott Dixon emerge victoriously, it was Andretti Autosport and Honda power that ruled the streets on Sunday, with Hunter-Reay, Will Power, Ed Jones, Scot Dixon, Graham Rahal, Robert Wickens, Tony Kanaan, Charlie Kimball, Marco Andretti, and Simon Pagenaud in the top ten. Had it not been for Rossi's hiccup, it would've been an all-Honda top six.

"When we started that last stint, Rossi was more than a straightaway ahead of us. I couldn't even see him. I just put my head down and this thing was flying," said Hunter-Reay. "It was such a great car. I'm so happy for this No. 28 DHL Honda team. I wish my wife and the boys were here with me because they're the best, and this has been a bit of a long time coming. That was going to be a heck of a fight at the end, but good thing we pressured him (Rossi) into it and we're here in victory lane."

After this weekend's results, it's Power who leads the drivers' standings with 309 points ahead of Dixon's 304, and Hunter-Reay's 278. The IndyCar circus now heads to the Texas Motor Speedway for the DXC Technology 600 on Saturday, June 9.

Mark Reuss, General Motors executive vice president of global product development, has issued an official apology for crashing the Corvette ZR1 pace car at this weekend's Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix.

The crash, which severely damaged the Corvette and triggered the sports car's airbags, happened while Reuss was making his way through the tricky Turn 1-2 sector following the temporary course's main straightaway. The Belle Isle circuit, which is known for its irregular surfaces and violent bumps, certainly played a role in the crash, but it was ultimately driver error that caused the incident. It's unclear whether it was IndyCar, Chevy, or both, who approved Reuss' driving of the pace car during the internationally televised sporting event.

First, it was General Motors that issued an official statement about the crash, naming variables like "weather" and "track conditions" as one of the many factors that contributed to the crash. Oddly enough, it was dry and sunny when the accident happened, and while heavy rain on Sunday morning washed away any rubber that had been worn into the circuit, the long skid marks on the ground point to the deactivation of the traction control system as the culprit.

"We are thankful that there were no serious injuries," said a GM spokesperson. "Both the pace car driver and the series official were taken to the infield care center, where they were checked, cleared, and released."

"It is unfortunate that this incident happened. Many factors contributed, including weather and track conditions. The car’s safety systems performed as expected."

Meanwhile, today's apology from Reuss himself was much more descriptive and heartfelt:

"I want to thank you all for your well wishes today. I am ok," Reuss wrote on Facebook. "I have driven this course many many many times. I have paced this race in the wet, cold, hot, and calm. On Z06s, Grand Sports, and other things. It is never a casual thing for me, but an honor to be asked."

"Today I let down my friends, my family, Indycar, our city and my company. Sorry does not describe it. I want to thank our engineers for providing me the safety I know is the best in the world."

Reuss and his ride-along passenger, an IndyCar official, were both cleared from medical control and did not suffer any injuries as a result of the crash.

Jordan is in the process of upgrading some of its AH-1F Cobra gunship helicopters to a new standard that incorporates many features similar, or outright identical, to those on the latest AH-1Z model. The update package could potentially serve as a model for other countries looking to upgrade their existing AH-1s or for military forces considering buying Cobras for the first time on the growing secondary market.

The Jordanian Air Force displayed one of the modified helicopters during the country’s biennial Special Operations Forces Exhibition, or SOFEX, which took place at Marka Airport in the capital Amman in May 2018. According to a report from Aviation International News, Jordan has taken delivery of two of the updated gunships from American contractor Science & Engineering Services (SES) for training purposes, but they will have to go back to the United States for additional live-fire testing.

Jordan is looking to upgrade 12 AH-1Fs in total, but it has a number of additional E and F models in service, including 16 it acquired from Israel in 2015, that it could put through the update program if it chose to do so. We have reached out SES for additional information, but at the time of writing we had not yet heard back about our queries.

However many helicopters the Jordanian Air Force eventually decides to upgrade, they will be significantly more capable than they had been in their previous configurations. The new versions will feature an Integrated Avionics System from Northrop Grumman that is the same as the one found on the latest new production twin-engine AH-1Z Zulu Cobras, also known as Vipers, from Bell.

Royal Jordanian Air Force’s modernisation programme is upgrading 12 of its 20 Bell AH-1F/S Cobras, with one of the first on display at SOFEX 2018. https://t.co/fOSFnbjlGP pic.twitter.com/uUtx4edrwG

— Armada International (@arm_magazine) May 15, 2018

This suite has an LN-251 inertial navigation system using a fiber-optic gyroscope. It also replaces a number of analog systems in the front and rear cockpits with large flat-panel multi-function displays by L3. New AN/ARC-210 radios from Rockwell Collins round out the major cockpit updates.

This comprehensive upgrade significantly reduces strain on operators who no longer have to keep track of the readouts from a mix of analog gauges, optical scopes, and antiquated heads-up displays. The U.S. Army is putting its older UH-60 Black Hawks through a similar and relatively low-cost update program for many of the same reasons.

Here's the HUD setup in the AH-1W. pic.twitter.com/434JBmdjCO

— Tyler Rogoway (@Aviation_Intel) December 31, 2017

The new Jordanian helicopters also have an improved OrbitalATK AN/AAR-47 missile approach warning system coupled with an Extant Aerospace AN/ALE-47 dispenser able to fire decoy flares and chaff. It’s not clear if there are any additional updates to the gunship’s defensive sensor suite and countermeasures systems planned for the future.

The most visible change is SES’ replacement of the original Telescopic Sight Unit, or TSU, with a new L3 Wescam MX-15D sensor turret, which is similar in both form and function to the Lockheed Martin AN/AAQ-30A Target Sight System, or TSS, on the AH-1Z. The TSU was specifically for guiding the TOW anti-tank missile, an optically-tracked weapon that required the gunner to keep the sight on the target until the weapon hit its mark.

The new system contains both electro-optical and infrared cameras, as well as a laser designator. Not only does this combination of systems it make it more flexible than the older TSU, but it also greatly expands the crew's ability to use it for reconnaissance and surveillance missions, as well as target acquisition.

The new Jordanian AH-1s combine the new sensor system with Hellfire missiles and Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System II laser-guided rockets, or APKWS II,. This pairing will give the gunships good flexibility against a variety of different targets.

The ever-popular Hellfires already come in a number of different types. According to Jane's 360, Jordan will primarily use the AGM-114R variant, which combines an anti-tank warhead with a fragmentation sleeve for use against both armored vehicles and soft targets. Other options include the tandem-warhead AGM-114K, which has a better chance to defeat countermeasures such as explosive reactive armor, and the thermobaric AGM-114N, ideal for engaging unarmored vehicles and enemy personnel both out in the open and inside buildings.

The smaller APKWS IIs mate a laser-guidance system to existing 70mm rockets and warheads, resulting in low-cost precision-guided munitions that can engage a variety of different targets. High explosive warheads are among the most common, but the U.S. military has begun building versions using the M282 warhead that has the ability to break through some armor and reinforced structures.

The rockets also have a smaller warhead than the Hellfires, which has allowed other military forces, including U.S. special operations forces, to use them to engage relatively small targets, such as individual enemy fighters in doorways and windows. And Since the AH-1s will be able to carry pods with seven or 19 of these weapons on one pylon, instead of just four Hellfires, it will drastically increase the total number of targets they can engage before needing to rearm, as well. And there’s always the gunship’s 20mm M197 three-barrel cannon under the nose, too.

We don’t know the exact price Jordan is paying to upgrade each AH-1F, but it is very likely far cheaper than buying an AH-1Z straight off the production line. A new build Zulu Cobra costs more than $30 million, according to the U.S. military's latest budget request for the 2019 fiscal year.

The unit cost of an older twin-engine AH-1W when it rolled out of Bell Helicopter’s plant in 1986 was only around $22 million when adjusted for inflation to 2018 dollars. Single engine models such as the AH-1F were cheaper and the value of older Cobra types aircraft available on the secondary market is almost certain to have depreciated markedly.

It’s also possible that these upgrades could lead to additional improvements as time goes on. The sensor turret mount especially is readily suitable to other L3 Wescam offerings that could either offer more or less capability as desired. It’s not hard to see other new features, such as a directional infrared countermeasures system, or DIRCM, to defeat infrared-guided anti-aircraft missiles or a new gun system, becoming available for the AH-1 series later on.

Despite there being no takers so far, various companies have pitched up-gunning programs for decades already, including swapping out the M197 for the single-barrel 30mm M230 chain-gun found on the AH-64 Apache. The lightweight M230LF version that is now available would be even better suited to any AH-1 platform.

As such, the upgrade package SES has put together for Jordanian Air Force, or a version thereof, could easily be a more cost-effective starting place for any country still operating older AH-1s or that is looking to do so. Jordan itself has donated AH-1Fs from its own stocks to other countries, such as Kenya and the Philippines.

More significantly, as the U.S. Marine Corps retires its AH-1Ws for good in favor of the AH-1Z, the U.S. military has begun actively looking for ways to modernize them for sale to foreign allies and partners. In December 2017, the Navy said it was interested in hiring a contractor specifically to install a new, commercially available off-the-shelf avionics update to help sweeten the deal, which sounds very much like what SES offered to Jordan.

As of May 24, 2018, there were already more than 30 “Whiskey Cobras” sitting at the Bone Yard at Davis Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona, according to a monthly U.S. Air Force inventory report. In March 2018, Brazil, which recently bought the helicopter carrier ex-HMS Ocean from the United Kingdom, reportedly inquired about buying some of these gunships.

The United States has already had significant success selling off retired OH-58D Kiowa Warrior armed scout helicopters, particularly to allies in Europe and Africa. Combining AH-1Ws, or other second-hand Cobra types, with the SES upgrade package, could be an even more attractive option for small, cost-conscious military forces looking to bolster their capabilities.

And countries that had expressed an interest in buying American gunship helicopters in the past, but may have been rebuked over human rights concerns and other issues, such as Nigeria, have found President Donald Trump administration much more willing to approve arms sales in general. Trump has even pushed for American diplomats to more actively promote American-made weapons.

There’s a distinct possibility that upgraded AH-1s similar to Jordan's new “AH-1Z Lite” gunships will end up in direct competition with the actual, production AH-1Zs. Bell has been steadily growing the Zulu Cobra customer base, but a lower cost alternative with many similar capabilities could definitely draw away potential buyers. If the cost is sufficiently low, the SES updated Cobras might also present some competition for other American-made and foreign light attack helicopters, as well.

It will definitely be interesting to keep an eye out for which countries decide to take the upgrade route and what Cobras they use as a starting place.

Contact the author: jtrevithickpr@gmail.com

Japanese automobile manufacturer Nissan has delivered its 100,000th Leaf vehicle this June in Europe. It contributes to the global sales figure of over 320,000 units, making it the "most sold EV in the world," according to the company.

The 100,000-mark in Europe comes just a few weeks after the same figure was achieved in Japan. With more than 37,000 new Leaf vehicles ordered in Europe in the past eight months, Nissan claims that there is one sold every 10 minutes on the continent, which is an indication of the change in the automotive market; customers are now looking to switch from conventional gasoline powered cars to zero-emission vehicles.

Gareth Dunsmore, electric vehicle director of Nissan Europe, stated, “For us, it’s no surprise that the Nissan Leaf is the world’s best-selling electric vehicle. We have been developing our electric vehicle mass-market offering for longer than any other brand and are proud to bring an affordable, visionary car to customers across Europe. In less than 10 years, we managed to make the electric vehicle a mass market reality. This milestone proves once again that our Nissan Intelligent Mobility vision is embraced by our customers who believe in a more confident, more exciting, and more connected future.”

The European specification Nissan Leaf makes 148 horsepower and 236 pound-foot of torque, capable of propelling it from 0 to 62 miles per hour in just 7.9 seconds. Top speed is a usable 90 mph. Using the CHAdeMO rapid charger, you can get up to 80 percent charge in as little as 40 minutes. You can also have it fully charged using the latest seven-kilowatt home chargers in 7.5 hours. The second generation Leaf is also the first Nissan vehicle in Europe to feature the company's ProPilot and ProPilot Park technologies

Nissan claims that European Leaf customers have now clocked over 2 billion kilometers, saving over 300,000 tons of CO2 in the process. The EV is considered a favorite over other Nissan models, boasting a 92 percent customer satisfaction rate.