Qualcomm Inc on Tuesday said it will supply a range of chips for General Motors' next generation of vehicles.

The San Diego company has long been known for making modem chips that connected Apple iPhones and many vehicles to cellular data networks. In recent years, Qualcomm has moved into automotive chips.

Qualcomm and GM said in statements the automaker will use Qualcomm's "cockpit chips," which can run an automotive-grade operating system for functions such as the vehicle's speedometer and also the in-dashboard infotainment (information and entertainment) system.

The companies also said GM will start integrating Qualcomm's automated driver assistance system chips for features such as adaptive cruise control and lane-change assistance.

Qualcomm has rolled out multiple tiers of chips with different features and pricing, positioning itself as GM's single provider for budget and luxury vehicles.

"We look at this partnership as a very important foundation for what we would like to repeat really across various parts of the industry," Nakul Duggal, senior vice president & general manager of automotive for Qualcomm Technologies, said in an interview with Reuters.

Qualcomm also said its driver-assistance computer, called Snapdragon Ride, would hit the roads in a production vehicle in 2022, though it did not specify the automaker or vehicle.

The system is designed to have enough computing power to scale up to self-driving functions in some vehicles. Qualcomm has not given a timeline for such a car.

Qualcomm earlier on Tuesday said it was pairing with Veoneer Inc's software unit Arriver to provide a full system of self-driving hardware and software to automakers, although Qualcomm will also offer its computer as a standalone for automakers that want to write their own code.

Qualcomm said that its next generation of automotive chips will have the ability to integrate Amazon.com's Alexa voice assistant into vehicles if automakers chose to enable the feature.

General Motors made a surprise announcement this week, saying that it will solely offer electric light-duty vehicles by 2035 as a part of a pledge to become carbon-neutral by 2040. This means that its light-duty lineup — the crucial distinction here — is expected to become electric by that year, and GM will also take steps to switch to 100% renewable energy at its U.S. plants even sooner, by 2030.
The bold announcement comes just days after GM unveiled an updated logo, designed to reflect its aspiration to become a carbon-neutral automaker, and amid an acceleration of development of its EV lineup, the latest crop of which will arrive later this year in the form of the relaunched Hummer sub-brand.

"General Motors is joining governments and companies around the globe working to establish a safer, greener and better world," said Mary Barra, GM Chairman and CEO. "We encourage others to follow suit and make a significant impact on our industry and on the economy as a whole.”

The announcement also comes just weeks after GM sketched out its plans for the Ultium electric battery and drivetrain, making a bet on Cadillac to be among the first GM vehicles to use the Ultium drivetrain, scheduled to enter into production next year. The Cadillac Lyriq is expected to have more than a 300-mile range when it goes on sale, drawing juice from a battery with about a 100-kWh capacity. The Lyriq will also be offered in rear- and all-wheel drive variants, and will feature DC fast charging capability.
More GM vehicles are expected to use Ultium, and the automaker showed five of them late last year. But the first, of course, is the Hummer lineup, with the first vehicles due on sale later in 2021. In all, the automaker plans to offer 30 battery-electric models by the middle of this decade, aiming to offer 40% of its lineup as BEVs by the end of 2025. Overall, GM plans to offer EVs in every customer segment, from sedans to crossovers to SUVs.

Of course, GM makes more than just light-duty vehicles, so medium and heavy-duty trucks are expected to keep their gas and diesel powerplants a while longer. But just how much longer is an open question.

More than just a plan to switch to EVs, General Motors said that it has partnered with the Environmental Defense Fund to plan out its carbon-neutral strategy over the next two decades.

"With this extraordinary step forward, GM is making it crystal clear that taking action to eliminate pollution from all new light-duty vehicles by 2035 is an essential element of any automaker’s business plan," said Environmental Defense Fund President Fred Krupp. "EDF and GM have had some important differences in the past, but this is a new day in America — one where serious collaboration to achieve transportation electrification, science-based climate progress and equitably shared economic opportunity can move our nation forward."
GM also plans to invest $27 billion in electric vehicles and autonomous technology, the company said, raising the investment from $20 billion, the amount planned before the pandemic. This investment will, of course, include development of its Ultium battery technology, and also the operations of its factories in the U.S.

"To account for the expected remaining carbon emissions, GM expects to invest in carbon credits or offsets," the automaker noted. "The company will assess credit and offset solutions in the coming years as the most efficient, equitable and inclusive ideas mature. The company recognizes that offsets must be used sparingly and should reflect a holistic view of mitigating the effects of climate change and helping people thrive around the world."

The plan raises the question of whose vehicles countries that don't have a rate of EV adoption on par with the U.S. will be buying in the late 2030s. This issue is suspected to have kept most Japanese automakers out of the EV game to this date, because they have to account for the market share in countries (and entire continents) where EV are much rarer than in western Europe, for example.

GM's plan is also seen as being based on expectations of EV adoption here at home in 15 years, expectations that in the past decade reversed sharply after 2015, in favor of larger SUVs and crossovers amid cheap gasoline and an economic recovery. The market share of EVs has certainly increased in the past five years, but still hovers below 4% in the U.S. Needless to say, that market share will have to grow by significant amounts every year between now and 2035.

General Motors and South Korean joint-venture partner LG Chem will announce a second U.S. battery cell manufacturing plant on Friday, revealing plans for a $2.3 billion factory in Spring Hill, Tennessee, three people familiar with the matter said.

The plant will use a different, more cost-effective battery chemistry than the one the companies will offer from the joint-venture plant they are building in Lordstown, Ohio, the sources said on Wednesday.

The battery will be for the Cadillac Lyriq electric crossover vehicle that GM will begin building at its nearby Spring Hill assembly plant next year, the sources said.

The timing of the Tennessee battery plant's opening is unclear, but there will be a period when the battery is supplied for the Lyriq by another LG facility until the Tennessee plant opens and it will not come from Lordstown, one of the sources said.

GM would not confirm the details and declined further comment, and a spokesman for LG did not have an immediate comment. A Tennessee economic development spokeswoman also declined to comment.

The No. 1 U.S. automaker previously said it was exploring the feasibility of another U.S. battery cell plant with LG's battery unit, LG Energy Solution, via its Ultium Cells LLC joint venture.

Sources previously told Reuters that GM and LG Chem were in advanced talks with Tennessee officials, and that the plant there would be similar in scope to the $2.3 billion Lordstown plant.

GM said in October it would invest $2 billion in Spring Hill to build EVs. The Detroit automaker said last year it was investing $27 billion in electric and autonomous vehicles over the next five years.

Sources previously said GM would need more battery plants beyond the Tennessee one to meet aggressive EV targets. GM has set a target in January of halting sales of light-duty gasoline and diesel-powered vehicles by 2035.

LG Energy said last month it planned to invest more than $4.5 billion in U.S. battery production over the next four years, including plans to build at least two new plants.

LG had been embroiled in a high-profile dispute with rival South Korean firm SK Innovation in the United States after LG alleged SK stole trade secrets, but the companies settled that and other disputes with SK agreeing to pay $1.8 billion to LG.

Criticized by the UAW for investing $1 billion in the Ramos Arizpe assembly plant in Mexico, GM keeps pouring dollars outside of the United States. On this occasion, the biggest automaker in North America has picked São Caetano do Sul in Brazil for an even larger investment.

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No fewer than 10 billion reais, which translates to $1.9 billion at current exchange rates, will be spent on redevelopment. This money will also bring forth a brand-new pickup truck from the Chevy brand in the guise of a ute.

“The model will complement the Chevrolet pickup family,” said GM of South America president Carlos Zarlenga. “It will also debut a completely innovative concept for the brand in the light commercial vehicle segment.”

What kind of innovative concept he’s talking about is anybody’s guess because unibody trucks are relatively common in Central and South America. What’s more, U.S. customers already have two of them in the guise of the Honda Ridgeline and Hyundai Santa Cruz. Not long now, Ford will enter the compact ute segment with the Escape-based Maverick that will be manufactured alongside the Bronco Sport in Hermosillo, Mexico.

General Motors didn’t mention the name of the all-new model, but we do know the pickup is under development as we speak. GM do Brasil further mentions that it will join the rejuvenated family of global vehicles that currently comprises the Onix, Onix Plus, and Trax-replacing Tracker.

We also know the yet-to-be-named ute serves as a replacement for the Montana, which is alternatively known as the Tornado or Utility depending on the market. Based on the old underpinnings of the Opel Corsa and Chevrolet Agile, the Montana comes exclusively as a two-door regular cab.

Rendered by Brazilian pixel artist Kleber Silva with styling cues from the Trailblazer and Blazer with the RS equipment group, the newcomer isn’t likely to be exported to the United States because of the Global Emerging Markets platform on which it’s most likely based. As a brief refresher, the GEM was developed exclusively for markets of the developing world. Over in the United States, the automaker’s low-cost platform is called VSS-F, and it succeeds four platforms in total: the Gamma, D2, E2, and the Epsilon II.

As you likely know, to make all of those batteries that store power for electric cars, an awful lot of the alkali metal lithium—the lightest solid element, in case you weren’t aware—is needed. It’s not particularly common, the 25th most abundant element in the Earth’s crust, and demand for it is growing, thanks to EVs. So it makes sense that GM would be interested in a lithium mine, and they’re talking about putting one in one of America’s most renowned shitholes, the Salton Sea.

GM has partnered with Controlled Thermal Resources (CTR) to build a lithium mine at the Salton Sea in California. The Salton Sea is a lake created as an accidental byproduct of farm irrigation from the Colorado River, when a canal gate-head broke and dumped water into the Salton Basin, forming the 35 by 15 mile lake.

The area was a sort of resort in the 1950s, with hotels and lakehouses and all the associated mid-century leisure stuff that entails.

By the 1980s, agricultural waste runoffs caused all kinds of problems, resulting in massive die-offs of bird and fish, the spreading of diseases, and a dramatic increase in water salinity, killing even more fish.

Eventually, the whole lake became a fetid, foul-smelling death-pond, littered with carcasses and bones and swarming with flies. I’ve been to the Salton Sea, a number of years back, and it is without a doubt one of the most revolting, miserable, unpleasant places I have ever been.

I love the desert, and enjoyed my time in Southern California’s deserts when I lived there. But the Salton Sea is different. It feels like a visceral example of everything going wrong, a skeleton-carpeted scorching blister of decay, smelling of death and remorse.

I remember being there and thinking some wooden structures by the shore were dark gray, but I was wrong; they just looked that way because they were absolutely covered with large, belligerent flies, fattened by bird and fish carcasses.

If you fell unconscious in LA and woke up in a rowboat in the middle of the Salton Sea, it would be entirely reasonable for you to think you had died and gone straight to Hell.

What I’m getting at here is that I can’t think of any place that would be made more pleasant by the presence of a lithium mine than the Salton Sea. I hope they turn the whole fucking place into a lithium mine. Sitting in a fluorescent-lit break-room trailer with a couple of vending machines, a wobbly card table, and a rusty fridge would be a far superior experience than standing on the shore of that salty nightmare.

Now, there is some concern that developing this hot, rank, fetid demon-pit into a lithium mine could be bad for migrating bird populations, who, for reasons lost to me, stop over at the Salton Sea, possibly out of some perverse avian sense of humor.

Or they’re tired and thirsty. I don’t know.

So, okay, that’s a downside. But can’t they build, oh, I don’t know, literally anything that will be better for the birds? Can’t we demand GM also builds a nearby water-filled hole that isn’t crammed solid with dead things for the birds to splash around in? Ornithologist gearheads, help me out here. There has to be some way of making something artificial that’s better than this already artificial shithole.

So, yeah, the lithium mine. It appears that the plan is to piggyback on a geothermal power plant in the area, CTR’s Salton Sea Geothermal Field, and will be part of their Hell’s Kitchen Lithium and Power development.

The lithium will be extracted from the briny water of the area in a closed loop with the geothermal power generation, which is explained (in simplified form) in this animation:

Basically, hot brine is pulled from the geothermal source, and is split into steam to drive the turbines and a concentrated brine, which then is processed to produce lithium carbonate, with the remaining water returned into the earth, in a continuous cycle of hot brine-to-power-to-lithium-carbonate.

Ordinarily, the creation of a new mining operation would raise all kinds of ecological concerns about the area it’s going to be in. But, not this time! The Salton Sea, again, is a shithole! Go ahead and get lithium out of it!

Although the updated late-model year 2022 GMC Sierra is still a little ways off (In fact, it hasn't even been revealed), we've had an opportunity to try one of its headlining features: Super Cruise. But it's not quite the Super Cruise you know from the current Cadillac line. The new Sierra will be getting a newer version with two features: the ability to execute lane changes and passes automatically, and the ability to operate with a trailer.

We tried the system at GM's proving grounds in Milford, Mich., and our test vehicles were 2022 Sierra prototypes. Though the trucks themselves are early examples with features not finalized, GMC representatives said the Super Cruise system is pretty much finished. The system uses close and long-range radar sensors at the front and a new set of radar sensors at the back, plus the truck's various cameras. It also utilizes the mapping data that GM has accumulated for the system to ensure it operates on approved roads and has detailed information about where the car is.

Now, the first new feature enabled by the updated Super Cruise is the automatic lane-change system. The current system can change lanes on its own, but it must be prompted by a press of the turn signal. That feature remains intact, but now, if you approach a slower vehicle on a multi-lane highway, Super Cruise can check the lane next to you to see if it's safe to merge, change lanes, and then return to the original lane once the slow-moving vehicle has been passed. This is where those rear radar sensors come in. We tried it three times on GM's big banked oval course, and it did it impressively smoothly. It was able to make the decision proactively, too, making the decision to change a good distance before we were on top of the slow moving car. Oh, and of course, because this is Super Cruise, it all happened without us having to touch the wheel.



Our automatic lane change test was followed by trying Super Cruise with a trailer. Now, it's important to note that the automatic lane-changing functionality won't work with a trailer. This is because that function depends on a set of radar systems at the back of the truck that are blocked by a trailer. Apart from that, the rest of Super Cruise's functions still work just fine. To make this possible (and safe), the system is able to estimate the weight of the trailer and adjust following distance accordingly, allowing it to safely slow down as needed. It also adjusts the curve trajectory of the truck to be slightly wider than normal. This is to make sure the trailer doesn't dip into the inside lane in a sweeping turn. And in practice, it feels just like Super Cruise without a trailer. It's smooth, confident, and hands-free. Of course in both situations, you do have to keep paying attention to the road, and the face and eye-tracking system is quite vigilant, kicking off the system if you look away too long.

The updated Super Cruise will be released on the also-updated GMC Sierra Denali (exclusively at launch) late in the 2022 model year. This new version of Super Cruise will also be available on GMC Hummer EV models.

General Motors is doing the right thing here, and deserves a hearty round of applause for it. The company’s new “Buckle To Drive” seatbelt interlock system will prevent any vehicle from shifting out of park if the drivers is not properly belted and buckled. Buckle To Drive was introduced in 2020 as a feature of the company’s teen driver safety suite on Colorado, Traverse, Malibu, and Canyon models. The company has already expanded this tech to the Equinox and Blazer, and will be adding it to Silverado and GMC Sierra when the redesigned models launch next year.

Back in 1973 congress passed a law requiring all new vehicles sold in the U.S. to have seatbelt ignition interlocks to make American roadways safer. According to data at the time, these interlocks contributed to an almost 7-fold increase in seatbelt use. Of course, this being America, a massive letter writing campaign and calls to congressional representatives saw the law overturned for 1974. We don’t want to be told that something slightly annoying has a huge safety benefit.

We have been in favor of seatbelt interlocks here at Jalopnik for quite some time, as we want driving to be as safe as possible for everyone. As an added benefit of that, our insurance rates would likely go down a bit. Seatbelt use in the U.S. is higher than it has ever been, with the IIHS reporting 86 percent of drivers belting up. More than half of people who die in vehicle crashes, however, are not clicking it. If even a small percentage of those deaths could be prevented by seatbelt interlocks, it’s worth implementing across the board.

Kudos to General Motors for doing something that probably should have been done half a century ago. It’s a good idea that needs to be implemented across its entire product line in short order. Here’s the part where I find something shitty to say about GM, however, because the Buckle To Drive software is completely defeatable in the vehicle’s settings. I’m not going to even tell you how to disable it, however, because that’s irresponsible. Keep Buckle To Drive on, and wear your damn seatbelt.

I would argue that this is a tiny step in the right direction, as the technology exists to determine if a person is sitting in the seat, and whether their belt is buckled. This should not be limited only to the driver, the shifter should not function unless everyone in the vehicle is buckled. GM has apparently been working to implement this to all people in the front seats, but let’s take this another level. Sitting in a seat? Wear the belt. It could save your life.

GM has announced that it is recalling every Chevrolet Bolt made to date, including new electric utility vehicle models, over concerns that a manufacturing defect in the cars' LG-made batteries could cause a fire.

The Bolt was first recalled in November after five cars that hadn’t been in crashes caught fire. After investigating the problem further, Chevy recalled a second batch in July. The problem was traced to two manufacturing defects that could occur simultaneously. The defects—a torn anode tab and folded separator—created conditions that could lead to a short in affected cells. So far, the company has identified 10 fires that involve faulty batteries, according to an AP report.

This third and latest recall includes 73,000 Bolts made from 2019 to 2022, the current model year, and brings the total recall to nearly 142,000 cars, with over 100,000 having been sold in the US. GM estimates that the initial recalls will cost $800 million, and it expects the new one to add $1 billion to the total. GM said it will be seeking reimbursement from LG.

To fix the problem, the automaker will replace the vehicles’ batteries, a costly and laborious procedure that will take some time. Until replacement batteries are ready and service appointments can be scheduled, GM has recommended that Bolt owners park their vehicles outside and limit their battery’s state of charge to 90 percent or lower. The company also recommended not letting the estimated range dip below 70 miles. GM says it is working with LG Chem to ramp up production of the replacement cells.

Tracing the problem
The faulty batteries were traced initially to an LG Chem factory in Ochang, South Korea, and the companies thought the issue was contained to that plant. But a fire a few weeks ago in Chandler, Arizona, involving a 2019 Bolt led investigators to expand their scope, revealing that problems were also present in batteries that had been made at other LG factories.

GM and LG Chem are partners in a new multibillion-dollar joint venture to manufacture the Ultium batteries that will underpin a range of new electric vehicles from the Detroit automaker. The companies have announced two $2.3 billion battery factories in Ohio and Tennessee, with the first set to begin production next year.

GM initially partnered with LG Chem for its high-voltage batteries in 2008, when the automaker selected the company to supply packs for its Chevy Volt plug-in hybrid. At the time, it was widely believed that GM selected the Korean company because of its established track record in the relatively new field of lithium-ion batteries. It was likely the right choice given that one of the competitors for the contract, A123, suffered a black eye a few years later when its batteries were responsible for a string of bricked Fisker Karma plug-in hybrids.
But even LG Chem’s experience and manufacturing prowess have not immunized it from high-stakes errors. “Batteries are hard,” Greg Less, technical director of the University of Michigan’s Battery Lab, told me for another article. “If they weren’t hard, everyone would be making them.”

In recent years, battery manufacturers have struggled to balance the competing needs of cost, stability, and performance when developing new chemistries. Many lithium-ion batteries in cars use cobalt to maintain stability while charging and discharging. But cobalt is expensive, and most of it is found in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a country known for its spotty human rights record and substandard mining conditions. Electrochemists have been working to reduce the amount of cobalt used, swapping it for nickel, which also has the benefit of boosting energy density. Unfortunately, high-nickel batteries are also more prone to fire.

Though neither GM nor LG has released specifics about the Bolt’s battery chemistry, its ingredients are thought to be NMC 622, or six parts nickel, two parts manganese, and two parts cobalt. That’s similar to what other automakers are using. There have been plenty of recalls recently as automakers work out the kinks in their battery supply chains—Ford, Hyundai, and BMW have all announced recalls lately. So far, those recalls are smaller than GM’s, and their causes range from manufacturing defects to potential software issues.

More fires?
Though EV fires garner high-profile headlines, it’s not clear whether EVs catch fire more frequently than internal combustion engine vehicles. Earlier this month, Tesla released a figure in a report claiming that fossil-fuel vehicles are 11 times more likely to catch fire than Tesla’s own cars (as measured by fires per billion miles traveled). On the other hand, 2019 data from the London Fire Brigade suggests that plug-in cars are more like to catch fire than ICE vehicles (0.1% vs. 0.04% of cars registered in the city).

As GM continues to invest in electrification, the company clearly understands that it has to move swiftly to rectify the problem. “We’re working with our supplier and manufacturing teams to determine how to best expedite battery capacity for module replacement under the recall,” GM spokesman Dan Flores wrote to CNBC in the wake of last month’s recall. “These teams are working around the clock on this issue.”

General Motors president Mark Reuss has unveiled the carmaker’s three all-new electric motors that are set to power future Ultium platform based EVs. The first is a 180-kilowatt front-drive motor, followed by a 255-kW rear and front-drive motor setup, plus a 62 kW all-wheel drive assist motor. All are part of Ultium Drive and were built as a scalable family.

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The 180 and 255-kW units are permanent magnet motors built in a way that would minimize reliance on heavy rare earth minerals. Meanwhile, the 62-kW unit is an induction motor. All, however, offer excellent torque and power density, which means they can be utilized by a wide range of passenger vehicles, from performance cars to pickup trucks or SUVs.

A single EV can use as many as three electric motors. For example, some variations of the 2022 GMC Hummer EV will boast three separate 255-kW motors, for a total of about 1,000 hp.

“Twenty years of electric drive system development and more than 100 years of high-volume vehicle engineering are helping GM pivot quickly from conventional vehicles to EVs,” said Reuss. “Our vertical integration in this space, encompassing both hardware and software, helps give us control over our own destiny and a significant competitive advantage.”

GM has also developed software for Ultium Drive’s motor controllers, with engineers using computer-assisted and virtual engineering to move “quickly, safely and in a cost-effective manner,” while also improving vehicle controls.

Machine learning was used in order to determine the most efficient ways to distribute torque in the three-motor systems, such as the one in the previously mentioned GMC Hummer EV.

The carmaker also designed the software of key power electronics components, such as the power inverter module. In fact, the Hummer EV’s spectacular 0-60 mph acceleration time (estimated to be approximately 3 seconds) is largely due to GM’s electric drive software expertise.

As for packaging, current GM EVs feature the inverter and other power electronics, like the accessory power module and onboard charging module, outside the actual drive units. However, in Ultium-based vehicles, such electronics will be integrated directly into the Ultium Drive units.