Toronto, Ontario — In this weekly electric and autonomous vehicle report, Stellantis announces “the world’s first and only electric muscle car” to be built in Windsor, Ont.; while Tesla’s Full Self-Driving feature fails to pass a DMV driving test.
Charging Up
The new electric, all-wheel drive Dodge Charger will be built in Windsor, Ont., automaker Stellantis announced on Tuesday.
The automaker is billing the vehicle as the “world’s first and only electric muscle car.”
Several new Charger models, including gas-powered ones, will be produced at the Windsor plant, starting with two-door versions later this year.
Both the gasoline and electric chargers will be built on Stellantis’ global large vehicle underpinnings, and the factory will be able to flex between the models depending on consumer demand.
The electric Charger—named after the Charger Daytona raceway in Florida, United States—will come with two powertrains, one delivering up to 670 horsepower with the ability to go from zero to 60 miles per hour in three seconds. The other will offer 496 horsepower and be able to go from zero to 60 miles per hour in 4.7 seconds.
The electric vehicle (EV) will also feature a patent-pending exhaust system to help give the vehicle a muscle car sound.
Specifically, Paul Tyll, Stellantis’ senior manager of Dodge muscle cars said that the exhaust system “is going to have a very familiar undertone to what V8 engines sound like. But it’s not a V8 engine. It’s not intended to replace a V8 engine. It’s going to be its own sound that’s going to be unique to the next generation of Charger.”
DMV Demands
Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) feature failed to pass a DMV driving test in Santa Barbara, California administered by a professional driving instructor, reported the The Dawn Project.
While Tesla CEO, Elon Musk has claimed that Tesla FSD is four-times safer than a human driving by themselves, The Dawn Project has established that this is not the case.
The driving test took place in accordance with a standard California DMV driving test. During the test, Tesla’s FSD feature failed on four separate occasions, including almost colliding with a cyclist.
According to the professional driving instructor’s score card, the vehicle failed the driving test by “failing to finish centered in the proper lane”; making “needless stops”; failing to avoid “possible conflicts ahead by looking well in advance for problems”; and “failing to be aware of problems facing others and anticipating their next moves.”
During the test, the driving instructor also commented that if he had to teach in a FSD Tesla, “he would retire,” as well as frequently expressing his discomfort with the vehicle’s mistakes.
Upon completion of the driving test, the driving instructor further commented that the vehicle “failed the test miserably.”
Founder of The Dawn Project, Dan O’Dowd commented: “we mandate that drivers pass a standardized test to keep our roads safe. How can we possibly allow self-driving software that fails these minimum requirements to operate on public roads?”
