Welcome to Must Read, where we single out the best stories from around the automotive universe and beyond. Today we've got reports from The New York Times, The Truth About Cars, The Star-Ledger, and The Car Lounge.
The Future Of Driving – New York Times
I've actually wondered this about driverless cars. If we make driving easier and cheaper, don't we also make it more common? What does this portend for the environment? For driving joy?
But smarter driving will lead to more driving, because smarter driving reduces the cost per mile of vehicle usage. The end result of additional driving could be more traffic and more aggregate fuel consumption.
Fitch, Moody’s, Stand Alone As Subprime ABS Skeptics – The Truth About Cars
This is one of those boring issues that's actually quite important and credit to TTAC for staying on top of it.
While the Reuters piece questions how investors may fare in the event of a burst ABS bubble, TTAC has long maintained that the real risk lies with new cars, the auto makers, and another possible systemic crisis. Auto manufacturers could interpret rising sales in an overly optimistic fashion, and start adding capacity as a result. But if the growth in sales is being driven by subprime lending, then it is inherently vulnerable to a slowing economy or an increase in unemployment. Either of those factors could be the trigger that causes subprime buyers to start defaulting.
Dual-purpose dogs: TSA canines are bomb sniffers by day, family pets by night – The Star-Ledger
What happens to the TSA's bomb-sniffing dogs? They lead family lives at night, just like regular dogs.
So with all but the most high-strung members of the K-9 unit, on nights and weekends the TSA’s furry baggage screeners assume the role of family dog: playing with the kids, going for walks, pooping on the rug and doing all the things that doggies do.
So McLaren MP4-12C HS Chassis #1 came in for service... – The Car Lounge
Must reads can involve a lot of photos, including this gem from TCL
I don't really have much info on this one, so I'll have to let the pics do the talking. Enjoy
(hat tip to Scott!)
Photo Credit: Getty Images, Audi, TCL