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by The Drive
The Drivecast gives you an inside, behind-the-scenes look at the biggest stories, controversies, and people shaping the car industry from one of the top automotive news sites in the country. Each week, The Drive's editor-in-chief Kyle Cheromcha, director of content Joel Feder, and a rotating cast of expert staffers will break down how automakers are navigating a transformative time. Massive shifts in technology, manufacturing, and consumer demands are changing the ways cars are built and sold quicker than ever, and the way car companies are navigating this moment will shape the way our roads look for the next century. It doesn’t matter if you’re an enthusiast since birth or just curious about why cars are the way they are today—we’ll give you the inside line with our exclusive reporting and break it all down for you. If you like what we're doing, check out The Drive for the latest news, analysis, and in-depth car reviews, sign up for one of our newsletters, and subscribe to us on YouTube. We're also posting all the time on Instagram and Facebook.
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- Today40 min
Flock's CEO faced me
Millions of people have read Joel's report and seen the body cam footage after he was mistakenly tracked, and then ambushed, by police for what was believed to be grand theft auto after Flock license plate readers flagged the car he was driving for days. The story, and topic of Flock and automatic license plate readers, is a lightning rod and at the heart of a national debate and various discussions in America. People's concerns about warrantless tracking, their 4th amendment rights, their privacy, and the constant stories surfacing of cops misusing the technology to stalk people can't be overlooked. The Drive's Director Of Content And Product Joel Feder and Flock Safety CEO Garrett Langley sat down for a candid conversation about what happened, what's happening in America, and the future. Stories mentioned in today's episode: How Flock Cameras Wrongly Tracked Me for Days Over ‘Stolen’ Plates and Sent Police After Me Flock Says Its Cameras Worked ‘Correctly’ When Police Tracked and Ambushed Me for No Reason I Reported on Flock’s Cameras. Now I’m One of the System’s Mistakes Cops Are Already Using License Plate Readers to Stalk People License Plate Cameras Are Tracking Your Life Without a Warrant License Plate Cameras Will Soon Track Phones, Wearables, Infotainment, and Even Your Pets 00:00 Intro 03:55 - What happened? 06:16 - What's changing and what did Flock learn from this? 14:02 - Addressing the hundreds of millions of misreads a month 18:00 - What's the future look like? 21:21 - The 4th amendment and privacy concerns 24:28 - Congress members threatening anti-Flock bills 27:00 - Publish pushback on Flock 31:52 - Police misuse and abuse of Flock 35:26 - Addressing Garrett calling people "domestic terrorists" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- 1 weeks ago43 min
Flock tracked me
Sometimes we report the news, and sometimes we ARE the news. That’s exactly what happened two weeks ago when Joel published his report about being mistakenly tracked by police via Flock license plate cameras and ambushed by the police in a strip mall parking lot. We can't make this stuff up. This story hit so hard is because it landed in the middle of a heated debate around the country about Flock Safety’s growing network of AI-powered surveillance cameras, which police can use to track a lot more than just license plates. Every week, there are more headlines about one city entering a new partnership with Flock, another city ending theirs after residents pushed back, or people running around and cutting down every Flock camera they can find. What happened? What have we learned since? And answers to people's questions that go beyond the stories we've published so far. The Drive's Editor-In-Chief Kyle Cheromcha and Director Of Content And Product Joel Feder break it all down. Stories mentioned in today's episode: How Flock Cameras Wrongly Tracked Me for Days Over ‘Stolen’ Plates and Sent Police After Me Flock Says Its Cameras Worked ‘Correctly’ When Police Tracked and Ambushed Me for No Reason Cops Are Already Using License Plate Readers to Stalk People License Plate Cameras Are Tracking Your Life Without a Warrant License Plate Cameras Will Soon Track Phones, Wearables, Infotainment, and Even Your Pets 00:00 Intro 04:23 - What happened? 07:31 - Flock cameras tracked me 14:11 - Flock reached out 16:27 - What did we learn? How did this happen? 34:12 - Why four squad cars and four cops? 36:22 - Now what? Where do we go from here? What comes next? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- 2 weeks ago1h 2m
The curse of the concept car
The business of concept cars is faltering. Every year, automakers spend many millions of dollars building full-size, one-off concept cars to market-test new ideas, flex design capabilities, experiment with new technologies, and just get people excited about what's next. They are a showcase of what a company can do when they're freed up from pesky things like crash regulations and mass production budgets. Most never make it to the showroom, at least not without a lot of compromises, but that's not the point. The point is to push, see what happens, and apply those findings to the cars of tomorrow. The signal that a concept car is supposed to create for both sides, for companies and consumers, is getting weaker. When people are geared to greet concepts with suspicion because they represent anxieties about the future instead of hope, the market research aspect breaks down. When car companies can't get valid data from that response, their aim falters. And when companies build fewer ambitious concepts because it feels like a waste of money, the one window for both sides to have a conversation about what the cars of tomorrow should look like or do or represent gets smaller and smaller. Are concept cars going to disappear? Why? What will happen? The Drive's Editor-In-Chief Kyle Cheromcha is joined by John Ikeda from Honda and Acura to break down the business of concept cars. Stories mentioned in today's episode: How Flock Cameras Wrongly Tracked Me for Days Over ‘Stolen’ Plates and Sent Police After Me Do concept cars matter anymore? 5 top Designers explain 00:00 Intro 04:19 - John Ikeda and his background 5:40 - What's the ROI of concept cars? 11:39 - How expensive are concept cars to create? 15:53 - The Internet and digital consumption changed things 17:33 - Design studies vs. public concept cars 28:33 - Powertrains and proportions 37:38 - The Precision Concept 42:48 - Public reactions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- 3 weeks ago45 min
Do electric trucks make sense?
For a moment in time it looked like a hard shift to the electric future was taking place. When America's best-selling vehicle, the Ford F-150, is available with an electric powertrain, there were signs. But various automakers took different paths towards the electric future, and by many accounts history might show the first round of electric trucks were a failure with large price tags, sales volume that quickly cooled off, and what resulted in massive losses for automakers. Now the next-generation of EVs are taking shape, and of course, because this is America, trucks are at the forefront. But this time things are going to be different. From how these electric trucks are being designed and built to how much they will cost, what they can do, and even what they offer in terms of features. But do electric trucks even make sense? The Drive's Director Of Content And Product Joel Feder, Executive Editor Andrew P. Collins, and Senior Editor Caleb Jacobs break down the electric truck segment, what happened, where we are today, and what's coming next. Stories mentioned in today's episode: Ford F-150 Lightning EV Is Dead, Next Gen Will Have Gas Engine Backup GM Delays Full-Size Electric Truck and SUV Redesigns: Report Ram Gives Up On Its Electric Truck 2026 Rivian R1T Quad First Drive Review: When Too Much Is Just Enough 2024 Tesla Cybertruck Review: Impressive Engineering Hamstrung by Hubris Spied: Ford’s $30,000 Electric Truck Caught Next to an Expedition Slate’s $24,950 Electric Truck Gets More Range, More Tow Capacity—and 450 More Pounds I Rode in Slate’s $24,950 Electric Truck. It Didn’t Feel Like a $24,950 Electric Truck Pour One Out for Canoo, the EV Startup That Dared to Be Different 00:00 Intro 08:59 - Quick history lesson 13:58 - Rivian R1T and Tesla Cybertruck paved the way into the future 16:58 - Ford's $30,000 electric truck 17:39 - Slate 19:41 - Lightning replacement 22:31 - Telo 27:11 - Today's trucks are big 29:41 - Canoo 31:06 - EREVs are coming 36:51 - Do electric trucks make sense? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- 4 weeks ago36 min
Congress could decide who's allowed to fix your car
Who's allowed to fix the car you own? Who's allowed to choose the mechanic that wrenches on the vehicle you own? As cars have become more complex and computerized, and corporations have become more fixated on gathering data, the topic of right to repair has become more intense. It's been thrust back into the limelight with recent comments from automaker CEOs and the White House. The Drive's Director Of Content And Product Joel Feder and Executive Editor Andrew P. Collins break down what right to repair is, what's happening, how we got here, and what it means for you. Stories mentioned in today's episode: Feds Might Flip the Script on Right to Repair Vehicle Emissions Systems Ford CEO Jim Farley’s Right To Repair Comment Should Make Every Car Owner Uncomfortable Want To Stop Your New Car From Transmitting Your Personal Data? It’s Possible Replacing Brake Pads on a Hyundai Ioniq 5 N Requires a Professional Mechanic’s Login 00:00 Intro 06:05 - What is right to repair? 07:53 - How did we get here? 10:49 - Why are we talking about this? Where are we now? 12:44 - Ford CEO Jim Farley claims it's about Safety 21:14 - Modern cars are complicated and computerized 22:49 - The future 32:32 - What can consumers do? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- Jun 24, 202629 min
License plate cameras are tracking everything
The devices you carry will enable law enforcement and the government to track your every move. Scary thought. Time to break out the tin-foil hats. A new kind of license-plate reading camera is said to be far more than its name. It will be able to scrape the smart devices you take with you and wrap all that data in a nice little bow for law enforcement and government agencies. The Drive's Director Of Content And Product Joel Feder and Senior Editor Adam Ismail are joined by security expert Matt Hurewitz, who is currently the CISO at Ent.AI, to sort fact from fiction and dissect what's really going on here. Stories mentioned in today's episode: License Plate Cameras Will Soon Track Phones, Wearables, Infotainment, and Even Your Pets Want To Stop Your New Car From Transmitting Your Personal Data? It’s Possible Cops Are Already Using License Plate Readers to Stalk People 00:00 Intro 04:14 License plate cameras are about to track you 07:42 Should you be concerned? 13:56 The danger that lurks 16:42 Slippery slope 18:40 Cars are incredibly complicated and connected now 20:37 What can people do? 23:04 Final thoughts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- Jun 17, 202629 min
GM said they crushed them all. One ended up in Sweden
Almost two decades ago General Motors almost changed pickup truck history, and would've changed the entire market. A new, smaller, Baby Duramax turbodiesel V8 was set to launch and reset the bar for torque, fuel economy, and technology in the half-ton market. The engine was done, but the entire thing was scrapped with the crash of 2008 when GM filed bankruptcy. The automaker claimed all the prototypes were crushed, but at lest one escaped into the wild. So today, we dig into the history books and dissect the story of the unreleased Baby Duramax and a prototype surfacing in the real world. Stories mentioned in today's episode: The Recession Killed GM’s 4.5L Duramax V8, But One Escaped the Factory I Found the Canceled 4.5L Duramax V8 Prototypes, Then They Disappeared We Found GM’s Lost Duramax V8 Prototype That Could’ve Reinvented Modern Trucks 00:00 Intro Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- Jun 10, 202645 min
Rivian bet the company on R2. RJ Scaringe told us almost everything
Rivian, by many accounts, has become the darling of the automotive industry. It’s a hot topic despite its current volume and scale. To date, it’s not a mainstream brand with a mass-market offering. But that changed yesterday with the launch of the R2, which costs between $45,000 and $60,000 while hitting at the absolute heart of the compact crossover SUV market at 186 inches long, which is the size of the Toyota RAV4 and Tesla Model Y. The former is one of the best selling vehicles period while the latter is one of the best-selling EVs by the widest of margins it’s not even funny. Now it’s Rivian’s turn to step into the arena and aim for the masses. This is the moment RJ Scaringe and his team has been building towards for years. Everything is riding on this. This week, The Drive's Director of Content and Product, Joel Feder, is joined by Rivian Founder and CEO RJ Scaringe to dissect how we got here, missteps, where the company is today, and what's about to happen in both the immediate and longer-term future. So, today, it’s behind-the-scenes on Rivian going into the mass market arena, what that looks like, how it plays out, and addressing how the automaker aims to tackle it all. Stories mentioned in today's episode: 2027 Rivian R2 First Drive Review: The Perfect Car for So Many PeopleSomehow, Rivian’s Cheaper R2 Is Its Most Refined Vehicle The Rivian R2 Needed a Rear Wiper That Didn’t Exist. So Rivian Invented One 2026 Rivian R1T Quad First Drive Review: When Too Much Is Just Enough Rivian Is Going RAD. But Can It Stick the Landing? Rivian Won’t Talk About the Missing R2 Tri-Motor. The Reason Why Is Big Rivian Sidesteps Apple CarPlay With Built-In Texting 00:00 Intro 04:05 R2 profitability 07:43 R2 launch 10:49 Service 16:54 Rivian Adventure Network 20:03 RAD 25:47 R3X 26:25 R2T? 29:13 R4 29:31 Patents and a winch for R1 30:57 Repairability 35:32 Buttons, knobs, and the Halo wheels 37:43 Voice controls 39:07 RJ's final thoughts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
About The Drivecast
The Drivecast gives you an inside, behind-the-scenes look at the biggest stories, controversies, and people shaping the car industry from one of the top automotive news sites in the country. Each week, The Drive's editor-in-chief Kyle Cheromcha, director of content Joel Feder, and a rotating cast of expert staffers will break down how automakers are navigating a transformative time. Massive shifts in technology, manufacturing, and consumer demands are changing the ways cars are built and sold quicker than ever, and the way car companies are navigating this moment will shape the way our roads look for the next century. It doesn’t matter if you’re an enthusiast since birth or just curious about why cars are the way they are today—we’ll give you the inside line with our exclusive reporting and break it all down for you. If you like what we're doing, check out The Drive for the latest news, analysis, and in-depth car reviews, sign up for one of our newsletters, and subscribe to us on YouTube. We're also posting all the time on Instagram and Facebook.
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