its my understanding that the US has banned Chinese EVs based on their “ability to send telemetry back to China” (fwiw, every manufacturer is doing something similar, but that’s out of scope for this question).
Waymo has a new class of car they’re using called the Ojai (Oh, hi) that is built by Zeeker, a Chinese company, that is built in China. This seems like it would run afoul of that ban.
I thought I heard somewhere that the car is built in China, but the infotainment system and ecu are then installed here in America, which bypasses that issue. If that’s the case. Why don’t other manufacturers import Chinese EVs and drop in their own infotainment systems for much cheaper?
Edit: it’d be nice to have answers grounded with proof, not just “because bribes! and the oligarchy!”
I thought they couldn’t be DOT certified for road use. Didn’t realize it was just sale. If that’s the case, surprised there isn’t a service to buy them online and have them imported. The same way Tesla got around the franchise laws.
As far as I know DOT certifies vehicles for sale in the US. Individuals can import any vehicles they want. Each state has its own requirements for registration. Because remember, people can build their own cars and as long as they meet the requirements for that state, they can be driven on the roads.
You can certify any car you want. You just have to wreck a bunch of them first. No normal person is going to buy 5 cars just to wreck 4 and finally be allowed the 5th.