A Podcast as Uplifting as Car Sales in August

It was an awesome summer for me in the PacificNW, but most car dealers and auto makers had a great summer too. Car sales were lush and green in August for almost every brand, and the good news trickled down all the way to electric cars like the Volt and Nissan Leaf.

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Car sales were like a day at the beach

But what is good for car makers may be bad for consumers. Inventories are tight across the U.S. and that may mean higher prices and less choice.

If you love old cars, and rare cars, that is a good place to park your assets. The Economist found that classic luxury autos are a great investment.

But few of those investment vehicles spend much time on the road, especially because traffic is going to get much, much worse because there are few plans to increase the amount of roads.

Do transportation planners take into account how bad (or good) drivers in their regions are?

Driverless cars would help take more of those bad drivers off the road and they are one of the five things that are coming in near future vehicles. Nissan and GM are promising at least semi-autonomous vehicles by 2020.

Will they be safe enough for passengers to skip the seatbelt? That might not be an option if ignition interlocks are connected to seat belts. But that might have lots of other benefits for car design.

Finally, we dissect a goofy list of 15 things you should always have in your car and Mathew convinces me that jumper cables are still a good idea.

This Podcast Hopes 'Autodrive' Comes With Wireless Electric Cars

We continue our focus on electric cars and autonomous vehicles.

With the tax breaks and fuel savings, some electric car owners are finding their costs going down to zero.

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Tesla paid back its loan as it's stock soars and is started to battle state legislators -- and dealer lobbyists -- as it seeks to expand its network of retail outlets.

Wireless charging could help expand demand for electric vehicles.

A global study found that a majority of drivers are ready for vehicles that can drive themselves. Surprisingly, so are we as well as a group of legislators, but the benefits have to be explained better.

This Car Podcast Isn't Driverless, It's Flying on Autopilot

Another great episode with conversation on:

Telsa and Elon Musk working to bring "autopilot" systems to their vehicles.

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Apple is another company working to do something cool with cars, but in the infotainment area.

Flying cars are one thing, but flying electric-car helicopter hybrids from Terrafugia are something else and Mathew is all in.

But we're not as interested in taking the helm of the golf-cart hovercraft, which looks loud and hard to steer.

This Automotive Podcast Doesn't Drive Itself ... Yet

The latest episode goes totally tech with news and discussions on:

The newest NHTSA voluntary regulations for auto makers and suppliers designed to minimize driver distraction as they develop infotainment systems.

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That's good because the latest study from Texas found that whether typing our or dictating texts, it's just as distracting.

A new Kickstarter project called Dash/Lynk promised more data for driving geeks.

J.D. Power found that drivers are getting more interested in technology and infotainment in the car, and are likely going to be willing to buy driverless vehicles.

But one economist thinks that driverless vehicles could increase demand for fuel as people who previously couldn't get behind the wheel get a chance.

This Wipro dash is a bit distracting.

Charging Our Driverless Podcast on the Fancy Bus

Paris is usually lovely in spring time, but it's time for the bi-annual Paris auto show and there were some important and alluring vehicles unveiled, including the VW Golf (and GTI), the Jaguar F-type and the Porsche Panamera Sport Turismo wagon concept.

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Not the next Tesla Supercharger

Electric vehicles are becoming more important and prevalent, and now Tesla is offering a new charging system called Superchargers. One kind of vehicle that won't be charging there are Toyotas, which pulled the plug on its plan to build pure electrics to focus on hybrids.

Which is worse for air quality? Burgers or trucks. The answer may surprise you.

Speaking of surprises: Buses are going upscale in some cities.

Next thing they will have are driverless cars. Or fonts that you can actually read. Or kids developing apps.

Finally, Carmageddon II is coming in the land of sequels and it might be worse than the original.

Dude, Where's My Podcast ... About Cars

It's a particularly safe podcast this week, with a look at the record number of safe cars, the lowest number of traffic fatalities and the federal government's effort to ban all cellphone use by drivers. If you want to see where things haven't been so safe, check out this awesome interactive map showing where all road deaths have occurred in the U.S.

What does he drive?

While the Senate is looking to finally overhaul the regulations around vehicle recalls, Google is patenting a car that drives itself. That project has been a passion of Larry Page, but there are other powerful and rich people who have had just as interesting vehicles.

Young people aren't as interested in owning a car for various reasons, but if they did, we can guess what most of them would drive using this chart. There is a growing movement to discourage folks from buying cars, and now changing your oil. And we can look at what geezers prefer to tool around in, and it isn't a sexy list of rides.

Perhaps some folks will get a new car for Christmas while others will do some smart shopping now, usually one of the best times to buy a used car.

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