President-elect Joe Biden is ready to nominate a strong environmentalist to head the Environmental Protection Agency.

Multiple reports say Biden’s selection is Michael Regan, currently head of North Carolina’s Dept. of Environmental Quality.

Biden has promoted a “green” environmental agenda that includes restoring the U.S. as a supporter of the Paris Accord and promoting a national push for renewable energy usage that will enable the country to achieve net-zero emission levels by 2050.

He is widely expected to encourage EPA to at least partially restore tougher carbon dioxide and fuel economy standards for the auto industry that had been set under the Obama administration for the 2021-2026 model years.

The Trump administration softened those ...READ MORE

As it transitions beyond being a traditional carmaker, Toyota is championing a much broader range of mobility technologies.

A case in point: Toyota Mobility Foundation’s Mobility Unlimited Challenge, which the company created in 2017 with Nesta Challenges to drive innovation in assistive technologies and enhance the mobility and independence of people with lower-limb paralysis.

More than 80 teams from 28 countries competed in the inaugural three-year event. Entrants were evaluated on innovation, functionality, usability, quality, safety, affordability and market potential.

Phoenix Instinct, a U.K.-based developer of smart wheelchairs.

The 5-year-old company took home the $1 million first prize for the “Phoenix i” ...READ MORE

Europe offers a sobering glimpse of how the worsening COVID-19 pandemic could dent car sales in the U.S. over the next few months.

New-car registrations across Europe fell 14% to 1.05 million units in November, according to trade group ACEA. Regional sales through the first 11 months of 2020 totaled 10.75 million units, down 26%.

ACEA blames last month’s results on new measures implemented in Europe’s five largest national markets to contain a second wave of coronavirus. November sales shrank between 3% in Germany and 27% in France. Volumes retreated 4% in the U.K., 8% in Italy and 19% in Spain.

It was a lousy month for the 15 carmakers tracked by ACEA. The region’s “big three” producer groups—Volkswagen, PSA and ...READ MORE

Lidar developer LeddarTech is hosting a series of webinars on autonomous driving and new mobility services. The latest session focused on “Multiple Sensing Modalities: The Key to Level 3-5 Autonomy.”

The panel featured a pair of similarly named CTOs—Pierre Oliver of LeddarTech and Pierre Lefrevre of Coast Autonomous, a mobility-as-a-service and self-driving vehicle developer. They were joined by Daniel Sisco, senior automotive director for chip giant Renesas.

Here are a few highlights and insights: 

Oliver: “Level 2 is the first stage where the car starts to drive itself. But it’s not very good. …. Level 2+ is Level 2 that works. It’s what most people would like today.”

...READ MORE