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Jay Leno Filmography
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James Douglas Muir Leno (born April 28, 1950 in New Rochelle, New York) is an American comedian best known as the host of the popular NBC television program The Tonight Show. He grew up in Andover, Massachusetts, and received his Bachelor's degree in Speech therapy from Emerson College in 1973. He suffers from a slight form of dyslexia.
Known for his work ethic and his "nice" demeanor, Leno started his career as a stand-up comic performing in nightclubs, bars and any place that would give him even five minutes of stage time. Though he had made the occasional foray onto television in the form of guest appearances on
The Tonight Show, then hosted by
Johnny Carson, stardom eluded him and he continued to work wherever he was allowed. It has been reported that Leno would sometimes work as many as eight or nine clubs in one evening. He began making more frequent appearances on television when many of his friends and contemporaries became more influential on late night programs. Leno made a record number of appearances on Late Night with
David Letterman. His popularity was noted by NBC executives, who decided to make Leno the permanent guest host for The Tonight Show when
Joan Rivers left that position.
When Carson retired in 1992 Jay Leno became the new permanent host of
The Tonight Show after a long period of debate and negotiation between the network, Leno, and
David Letterman (who had been considered by many to be Carson's heir apparent); Letterman soon signed a deal with CBS, sparking an ongoing late-night rivalry between the two talk-show hosts. Although Letterman's Late Show
led in the ratings from the start, The Tonight Show took over the lead in 1995 and has, on the whole, had higher ratings ever since.
Although known mainly for his wit, he has also shown his sensitive side on air. When The Tonight Show came back after the September 11 terrorist attacks, he nixed his usual monologue to talk about what had happened. He also spoke about the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. In addition, following the skating controversy surrounding the ice skating pairs event at the 2002 Winter Olympics, Leno invited the Canadian pairs teams onto his show the following day and waved a Canadian flag and played "O Canada" for them.
In 1998, Jay Leno and his show partner Kevin Eubanks were invited to a wrestling show called WCW Road Wild 1998, from Sturgis, South Dakota, to wrestle against Hulk Hogan and WCW President Eric Bischoff.
On May 12, 2003, he and
Katie Couric switched places as a publicity stunt, meaning Leno co-hosted the Today Show with Matt Lauer.
On The Tonight Shows 50th anniversary episode, on September 27, 2004, he announced that he would retire in 2009, when his current contract expires; as many expected, Leno announced that Late Night host
Conan O'Brien will replace him.
In the upcoming
Michael Jackson child sexual abuse trial, Leno was one of the names on the defense witness list alongside people such as
Elizabeth Taylor, Ed Bradley, Diana Ross, and a number of other people. Leno was reported to be mystified over why he was included in the list of 300 people as he and Jackson are not friends and Jackson has never appeared on his show.
In automobile collecting circles Jay Leno is known as an avid collector and restorer of cars and motorcycles. He has a very large antique car collection on which he is constantly working in his spare time, and routinely drives cars from his collection from his home to his studio. He is also a promoter of the mechanical crafts, through his columns in Popular Mechanics and his educational activities. Recently Leno auctioned off a Harley Davidson motorcycle signed by his celebrity guests to help the victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake, the bike sold for $US800,100.00.
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Latest news on Jay Leno
Issues"Media Matters"; by Jamison Foser
MSNBC still
doesn't "get it": hosts Obama-bashing hatemonger Ann Coulter
... again
A month ago, after Chris Matthews made a forced (and
ridiculously inadequate) apology for one of his many sexist comments about
Hillary Clinton, MSNBC colleagues Joe Scarborough, David Shuster, and Mika Brzezinski leaped to Matthews'
defense.
Brzezinski
and Scarborough suggested
that Matthews had been taken out of context; in doing so, they falsely
portrayed the controversy as being about a single Matthews comment, rather than
a years-long pattern of behavior that has been exhaustively detailed by Media Matters, Bob Somerby, and others. Shuster complained:
"[T]o see him have to go through this is absolutely infuriating, to see
the way these groups used him for pure political gain is absolutely
infuriating." Scarborough added, "This ain't about Hillary Clinton's
campaign."
This morning, Matthews lashed
out at the Clinton campaign, saying that Clinton should "get
rid of the kneecappers
that work for her," referring to her communications staff who go "after the press." Matthews added, "The
kneecapping hasn't worked. Her press relations are lousy. ... If all you do is
intimidate and punish and claim you'll get even relentlessly, people of all
kinds of politicians -- and in all fairness, the press -- human reaction to
intimidation is screw you."
For the record, Matthews' overt hostility toward Hillary
Clinton cannot honestly be described as a reaction to how her presidential
campaign has treated the press: More than six years ago, Matthews said of Clinton, "I hate her. I hate her. All that she
stands for." More
to the point, Matthews' apparent blaming of the Clinton campaign for his own sexism is the
clearest indication yet that he doesn't "get it" and that
MSNBC doesn't care that he doesn't get it.
MSNBC apparently still doesn't understand that this
controversy "ain't about Hillary Clinton's campaign." And it isn't about
just one comment, or just one MSNBC reporter. It's about a steady stream of
inappropriate comments by Chris Matthews ... and by Joe Scarborough and by
Tucker Carlson and by David Shuster. Not
just about Hillary Clinton, but about (and to) many women, including some
conservative women. And
the problem at MSNBC isn't limited to the cable channel's treatment
of women: Remember, this is the network
that hired Ann Coulter, Michael Savage, and Don Imus. All three were fired after making
(predictably) disgraceful comments. Only
Imus' firing had anything to do with sexism, and his controversial
comments were both sexist and
racist.
The controversy, in short, ain't about Hillary
Clinton's campaign and never has been. It is about NBC News allowing MSNBC (and, to
a somewhat lesser extent, NBC itself) to be a safe haven for hate speech and a sanctuary
for sexism.
How else to explain MSNBC's decision to make Ann
Coulter a frequent guest? As
MSNBC contributor Pat Buchanan (a well-known bigot in his own right)
explained
after a Coulter appearance on the cable channel last year: "I don't think
she's peddling hate. ... MSNBC certainly doesn't ... because if they did, they would never put
her on the air for an hour."
Ann Coulter peddles nothing
but hate. Well,
that isn't quite fair --
she typically throws in a few lies as well. But the hate is her bread and
butter. MSNBC
knows this; they fired her for it
long ago. Yet they
continue to host her.
Media Matters noted in October:
As Media Matters for America documented, in the weeks
following the release of her last book, Godless:
The Church of Liberalism (Crown Forum, June 2006), Coulter made
numerous appearances on MSNBC, CNBC, and their parent network, NBC, where she
unleashed a stream of attacks on the
widows of victims of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. As Media Matters also documented, while NBC continued to provide Coulter an open
platform with which to spew her inflammatory and offensive rhetoric,
several NBC hosts and anchors -- including Tonight
Show host Jay Leno, Today co-host Matt Lauer, and Nightly News anchor Brian Williams --
expressed disapproval of Coulter's "harsh" and "nasty" statements.
On June 26, 2007 -- the date Godless
was released
in paperback -- Chris Matthews, host of MSNBC's Hardball, claimed
that Coulter forces him to "go to confession." Matthews, however, has
a history of inviting her on his show. Following an appearance on Today in June 2006 -- during which Coulter
criticized the 9-11
widows for "speak[ing] out using the fact that they're widows" and
"using their grief" and "the fact that [they] lost a
husband" to make "a political point while preventing anyone from
responding" -- Williams devoted a segment of the
Nightly News to the subject of
"civility in American life," highlighting Coulter's comments. And yet
NBC and its cable affiliates have continued to invite her on the air. The
upcoming release of Coulter's new book gives rise once again to the question of
whether NBC programs will keep hosting her.
According to a Media Matters review*, Coulter has been
interviewed at least 194 times on at least 13 individual programs on MSNBC,
CNBC, and NBC since April 28, 1997.
Just yesterday, Coulter was a guest on MSNBC Live. A day earlier,
she had referred to Barack Obama as "B. Hussein Obama" five times
in a span of two minutes and once described him as "President
Hussein." During
her appearance on MSNBC, the cable channel touted her
recent statement that Obama "wouldn't be running for president if he
weren't half-black," which she
has described as his "big accomplishment."
On NBC programs alone, Coulter has called former Vice
President Al Gore a "total fag" and has attacked former
President Bill Clinton as a "latent homosexual." She has defended her claim that 9-11 widows were
"enjoying their husbands' deaths." She has wished aloud that
"the American military were targeting journalists." She has claimed that "John Kerry does not believe in
God." And she has
spoken of
"perfecting Jews."
After Elizabeth Edwards responded to Coulter's
description of her husband, John, as a "faggot," MSNBC Live host Chris Jansing asked Edwards,
"There are people who support your opinion, I'm sure you know, who say,
'Why even dignify it with a response? Why give Ann Coulter more
publicity?'"
Why give Ann Coulter more publicity? That's a question that should be
directed to Steve Capus, not Elizabeth Edwards. As the president of NBC News, Capus may be
more responsible than anyone else on earth for giving Ann Coulter publicity.
In August 2006, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann said of
Coulter: "[W]hy
she has not been banned from this network, I do not know." That's a good
question, and one Capus should answer --
but it is also too narrow a question.
MSNBC is the
channel that hired Coulter in the 1990s, only to fire her after
her controversial comments to a disabled Vietnam veteran; that hired Michael Savage in 2003, then had
to fire him for telling a caller to "get AIDS and die"; that hired
Don Imus, then had to fire him for making sexist and racist comments about the Rutgers women's
basketball team. This
is a cable channel that has, for years, been a welcome home to highly
questionable comments about race, gender, ethnicity, religion, and sexual
orientation.
Chris Matthews has said
Republicans "have a right to fear" seeing a "majority Latino population";
when his guest defended America's
"tradition" of welcoming immigrants, Matthews retorted, "Do
you live in a Mexican neighborhood?" Tucker Carlson used his MSNBC show to call the NAACP
a "sad joke that should be shut down" and has attacked
Barack Obama's religion, saying of Obama's church, "[I]t's hard to call that
Christianity." Joe
Scarborough says
that pollster John Zogby, an Arab-American, "may be biased" on the
issue of the Iraq war and
"the Middle East situation."
Before Don Imus was fired, his executive producer told MSNBC
viewers that Obama has a "Jew-hating name"; Imus himself referred to
the "Jewish management" of CBS Radio as "money-grubbing bastards." MSNBC apparently
didn't have any problem with those
comments; it would be months before Imus was fired. The cable channel, however, did issue public apologies
for ethnic slurs on Imus' show in 2004 and for comments made on the
program about the movie Brokeback
Mountain in 2006 -- though the later apology whitewashed Chris
Matthews' role in the matter.
MSNBC frequently hosts Bill Donohue, an unrepentant bigot who has said that
"[p]eople don't trust the Muslims when it comes to liberty," referred
to the "gay
death style," demanded
that the gay community
"apologize to straight people for all the damage that they have
done," asserted
that Hollywood "is controlled by secular Jews who hate Christianity in
general and Catholicism in particular," and claimed that
Hollywood "likes anal sex" and "abortions." Not to mention his repeated use of the slur
"gook." And
he has said all of that on MSNBC.
This is a cable channel that, in the middle of a monthlong controversy
over its pattern of broadcasting sexist comments, chose to host Ann Coulter, a
pundit whose defining characteristic is her tendency to make utterly
inappropriate comments about women and minorities. (A more tone-deaf response to such a controversy
is hard to imagine, though Arkansas
Democrat-Gazette political editor Bill Simmons' decision to respond
to accusations that the paper's newsroom is a "good ole' boys
club" filled with racist and sexist commentary by referring to
"boys being boys" was indescribably bad.)
This is what MSNBC is. It is the cable channel of Ann Coulter and
Michael Savage and Don Imus. It
is the home to Chris Matthews and Tucker Carlson and their deeply disturbed
attitudes toward women.
The longer MSNBC responds to legitimate concerns about the
conduct of its hosts and guests by lashing out at critics and booking Ann
Coulter again, the more clear it becomes that the problems at MSNBC go much
higher than Chris Matthews.
Published: Sat, 16 Feb 2008 01:16:47 GMT - Source: Mediamatters.Org - Read the articleIssuesBeck falsely claimed Dem candidates have not supported striking writers
On the January 23 edition of his CNN Headline News program,
Glenn Beck repeatedly suggested that the top Democratic presidential candidates
have not shown support for the ongoing Writers Guild strike, asking:
"[W]hy haven't the pro-union Democratic candidates spoken up on the
strike?" and "[W]hy haven't any of the Democratic candidates
joined them on the picket line?" He added: "Are they laying low so they don't
upset their Hollywood contributors?" In fact, John Edwards joined striking writers on a Los Angeles picket line on November 16, 2007;
he carried a placard and said, "I'm proud to be with you in this march.
I'm proud to be with you in this fight for justice. I am proud to be with you
in this fight for fairness." On November 5, 2007 -- the day the strike began -- Sen. Barack
Obama (D-IL) released a statement saying:
"I stand with the writers." A Politico article further reported that an
Obama aide called the Writers Guild that day and asked, "What can we do
to help?" Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) also issued a statement of
support on November 5:
"I support the Writers Guild's pursuit of a fair contract that pays
them for their work in all mediums."
Moreover, the candidates withdrew from a
planned December 10 CBS News debate, forcing its cancellation. John
and Elizabeth Edwards also canceled a
scheduled appearance on ABC's The View,
as did Michelle
Obama. By contrast, Republican presidential
candidate Mike Huckabee, a recipient of union endorsements
himself, crossed picket lines when he appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on January
2.
In contrast with Beck, who did not acknowledge the
Democratic candidates' shows of support for the writers, CNN's Wolf Blitzer did so on
the November 26 edition of The Situation
Room, but suggested that in also taking contributions from entertainment
executives, the candidates were "trying to have it both ways."
From the January 23 edition of CNN Headline News' Glenn Beck:
BECK: Plus, movie and TV writers
still on strike, but why haven't any of
the Democratic candidates joined them on the picket line? Are they laying low
so they don't upset their Hollywood
contributors? Hmm.
[...]
BECK: Oh, well, thank goodness the Hollywood writers are going to return to the negotiating table
this week in hopes of saving us from shows like American Gladiators and the return of my personal favorite, Paradise Hotel.
But the real question is not when
will they make their deal, but why
haven't the pro-union Democratic candidates spoken up on the strike? Where,
where, where, where have they been?
I'll examine all of that in just a bit.
[...]
BECK: Coming up, if you want more
proof that Hollywood
is completely out of touch with the American mainstream, look no further than
the Oscar nominees. And where are those
liberals with the strikers and the writers? We'll look into it next.
[...]
BECK: Hollywood
striking writers and the studio executives have said that they plan to meet
this week for the very first time since early December, when their talks
collapsed. Who's been paying attention? You know, might be good news for those of us
who are really sick and tired of reconnecting with our family. I mean, whew.
But the most interesting side of
this whole fiasco might be the political one. I want you to think about this. When was the last time that
you saw a strike in our country where the Democrats haven't lined up to
deliver hot coffee on the picket lines and denounce the big, bad corporation
for keeping the man down? Well, where is
Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama now? Where's John Edwards?
The writers are starting to ask this
question, and they
don't like the answer.
Democrats just get too much money from Hollywood to risk screwing
it all up. Or, do they like Hollywood's
money and their propaganda tools,
but they just don't want to be seen around the Hollywood
people?
Screenwriter and former Clinton/Gore
staffer Chris Jackson told the
New York Post, quote, "I was
hurt by learning the truth. The DNC (the Democratic National Committee) are in
bed with big business. They are for change when it comes to using marketing
slogans ... but they
only use Hollywood
to milk money out of us."
Michael Medved
is a nationally syndicated talk radio host, a veteran film critic. Michael, which is it? Are
they just -- they don't want to be seen around Hollywood because they
just -- they know it's really bad for them, or are they just getting too
much money?
MEDVED: Well, I think it's a
combination of all of the above, of course. But the main thing is they gain absolutely
nothing by getting involved in this very, very, very bitter dispute. It would
be like getting involved between the baseball players and baseball management
when the players went out on strike.
Published: Fri, 25 Jan 2008 20:13:16 GMT - Source: Mediamatters.Org - Read the articleAutosGM Says Electronics - Including Driverless Cars - Will 'Reinvent the Automobile'
The other day we told you about General Motors' plan to develop driverless cars. As wild as that idea sounds, company Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner told people at the Consumer Electronics Show that GM is serious about it.
Wagoner didn't spent a lot of time discussing the proposal, which was buried deep in his keynote address, but he did say GM is developing vehicle-to-vehicle communications that will "minimize traffic jams and, more importantly, greatly reduce traffic accidents and fatalities with minimal and possibly even no roadway infrastructure required."
That's not quite the same as driverless cars, but Wagoner cited the Boss, the autonomous Chevrolet Tahoe GM and Carnegie Mellon University developed for the DARPA Urban Challenge, as an example of where the technology stands and where it might be headed.
GM is the first auto company invited to address CES, and of course Wagoner's speech focused on technology the company is developing for tomorrow's cars. He said a lot about what's coming for OnStar and promised to bring 1 million E85 flex-fuel vehicles to market in 2008 (he also said GM plans to offer flex-fuel versions of half its lineup by 2011). GM's touting E85 at every opportunity, but with fewer than 1 percent of the nation's gas stations actually selling the stuff, it's clearly not the game-changing technology the General's making it out to be - and Wagoner touched on that, too. He spent a lot of time discussing the Chevrolet Volt and said "we're moving as fast as we can to bring it to market." He also promised a plug-in version of the Saturn Vue hybrid "as soon as we can."
We got a transcript of Wagoner's speech from GM...
Rick Wagoner General Motors Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Remarks at the Consumer Electronics Show
The Venetian Las Vegas, Nevada
Rick:
Thank you, for your very kind introduction.
(Shapiro exits stage? GRW moves to podium.)
As Gary said, GM is the first automaker in 41 years to host a keynote presentation at CES? let me tell you, this is a great honor for us.
It?s great to be here? where so many powerful people are debating some really critical issues.
The other day, for example, I understand that Bill Gates, Michael Dell, and Gary Shapiro were debating the shape of the earth. Bill and Michael insisted that the world is flat; Gary insisted that it?s round. Well, after a long and intense debate, they decided to call on God with their question. There was a crack of thunder, a flash of lightning, and then a booming voice proclaimed, ?The world is round!?
?There you go,? said Gary. ?I told you so.?
?Not so fast,? said Gates. ?Now it?s two against two??
Just kidding, Bill!
At GM, we have a long history at GM of automotive firsts... from the electric starter and automatic transmission? to the catalytic converter and OnStar? to the spectacular concept car that just delivered me onstage? the Chevy Volt!
Those of you who know the Volt ? which GM introduced in Detroit at the North American International Auto Show almost exactly one year ago ? know that it?s a lot more than just a great looking car.
The Volt is a powerful example of beauty and brains? because as good as it looks on the outside, it?s the technology under the hood that?s truly revolutionary.
We?re now over a year into our production engineering for the Volt? and we?re moving as fast as we can to bring it to market.
You may have seen the Volt chassis at the GM display in the Grand Lobby of the Convention Center the past two days.
The car you see onstage will join that Chassis starting tomorrow? so, please stop by and take a closer look.
I?ll have a lot more to say about the Volt? especially the technology that drives it? later in my presentation.
For now, let me just say that we at GM are excited about being the first automaker to take the stage at the world?s biggest and most impressive technology conference.
Let me tell you why we?re here.
The fact is, the auto and electronics industries have traveled similar paths for a long time? sometimes arm-in-arm.
Way back in 1912, GM introduced the industry?s first electric starter? which replaced the old hand-crank starters you?ve all seen on the History Channel.
We don?t even think about electric starters today, but they truly revolutionized the automobile.
And it was the first of many electronic innovations that transformed automobiles from rough-and-tumble horseless carriages? to the sophisticated machines that we know and drive today.
In fact, if the automobile were invented today, I?m pretty sure it would debut right here at CES? because more and more, that?s exactly what today?s cars and trucks are ? highly sophisticated consumer electronics.
The electronics content of the typical automobile has increased by almost 50 percent over just the last five years.
And you can?t think about new consumer electronics for long without imagining what automotive applications they might have.
At the same time, it?s hard to think about today?s cars without thinking about the electronics they already incorporate? and not just radios, DVD players, GPS devices, and navigation systems? but also the things you can?t see? like airbags, antilock brakes, engine control modules, and the latest major safety breakthrough, electronic stability control, like GM?s StabiliTrak system.
So the auto and electronics industries go way back.
At GM, we think we?ll be even closer going forward.
And we can think of no better place than right here at the Consumer Electronics Show, to tell you about some of the exciting things we have going on at GM.
If the clearest intersection between the automobile and consumer electronics used to be the radio, today it?s telematics? and in GM?s case, that means OnStar? the unquestioned leader in telematics today.
By the way, that leadership would not have been possible without the support and partnership of a lot of you here today.
Over the past 12 years, your passion and expertise have helped bring OnStar to life? and we look forward to continuing and growing that kind of mutually beneficial relationship with you in the years to come.
We?re always open to your ideas to bring electronics to the auto industry? in fact, here with me today are a number of GM?s top technology experts.
They?re sitting in the front row? and you?re going to see a number of them on video during my remarks.
They?ll also be here in the room when I finish up, so please seek them out if you have questions or ideas.
But back to OnStar, its value to our customers is very clear: it provides safety, security, and ?peace of mind? through a suite of OnStar-exclusive features? all of which can be accessed through a powerfully simple user interface.
On average, OnStar is now interacting with about 85,000 subscribers per day. In an average month, we respond to about? 1, 750 automatic crash notifications. 11,000 calls for emergency service. And 35,000 roadside assistance calls.
?Good Samaritan? subscribers call for help on behalf of their fellow motorists about 6,000 times a month.
OnStar also handles about 29 million minutes of hands-free calling per month? and responds to about 800 stolen vehicle location requests.
To date, OnStar has had more than 82 million subscriber interactions? one interaction about every two seconds.
There are thousands of examples of OnStar proving itself as a life-saving technology? here's just one.
(video: OnStar Commercial [:30])
Clearly, OnStar helps us establish stronger relationships with our customers.
We hear from many subscribers like the couple in the video? who insist that every future car they purchase must have the safety and security features that only OnStar provides.
OnStar has led to a number of unexpected benefits for GM, as well? like using the system?s diagnostics feature to validate our vehicles? like driving down warranty costs? like leading to more than 400 GM patent applications so far.
One huge benefit that OnStar has brought to GM... and again, one we really didn?t anticipate? has been learning from the faster engineering and development cycles of the consumer electronics industry.
In fact, our OnStar technology platform is about to roll out its eighth generation in just 12 years? which, as I suspect you all know, is somewhat faster than our normal automotive development cycle.
But probably the greatest thing about OnStar is what?s great about electronics? we keep finding new ways to take advantage of the technology.
A good example is our ?Automatic Crash Response? feature.
When we started OnStar, the system alerted us if your airbag was deployed, we called your vehicle to see if you were ok, and directed emergency services to your exact location.
We thought that was a pretty amazing use of technology way back in 1996.
By the way, we?ve responded to nearly 1 million emergency situations since then.
And OnStar?s service is not dependent on a cell phone or other dashboard device that could be damaged in a crash.
Our system is embedded in the vehicle? is very well protected? and works following even the most severe collisions.
But as time went on, we worked with emergency responders and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who told us that if we could figure out a way to tell them how serious a crash was before they got to the scene, they could prepare for what they were likely to find.
So, working with a key supplier, we developed a more sophisticated system that tells us not only when an airbag deploys, but also what part of the vehicle was hit, how hard it was hit, how many times it was hit, even whether the vehicle rolled over.
And now the OnStar advisor can convey all that information to the emergency responders as they travel to the scene? improving the chances of a better outcome for those involved.
Another great OnStar feature is Turn-by-Turn Navigation, which lets drivers ? even back seat drivers ? ask for directions from a live advisor, who downloads complete step-by-step directions to your car. The advisor then signs off, and OnStar directs you to your destination.
In keeping with OnStar?s guiding principle, we?ve made the service very easy to use. There are no DVDs to mess with, no maps to read, no hand-held devices to juggle. Everything you need is already in your car. Push the blue OnStar button, get directions, and you?re on your way.
I have to say, all this goes way beyond anything I ever thought we?d ever do at GM ? I mean, we?re not just saving lives? we?re actually saving marriages.
One more OnStar feature I?ll mention? our newest one? is what we call ?Stolen Vehicle Slowdown,? which we?ll make available starting later this year on nearly 1.7 million 2009 model-year cars and trucks.
Stolen Vehicle Slowdown is an enhancement to OnStar?s Stolen Vehicle Location Assistance, which uses GPS technology to pinpoint the location of stolen vehicles? which we?ve done more than 30,000 times.
Well, sometimes, when the police find the vehicle, the person who stole it is still in it? and doesn?t want to get caught.
Imagine that!
Well, the bad guy takes off? the police give chase? and all too often, the situation ends tragically.
In fact, there are about 30,000 police chases a year in the U.S? which lead to about 300 crash-related deaths.
At OnStar, we partnered with law enforcement to address this problem? by designing a service that works for everyone? well, everyone except the car thief.
It all begins with OnStar pinpointing the location of a stolen vehicle and providing that information to the police.
Then, once the police have a clear line of sight of the stolen vehicle, they can request that OnStar send a signal to slow the vehicle down? which we do by gradually reducing power to the engine.
And here?s the best part? if you?re the one driving the stolen car, you get to hear ?the voice.? Listen to this?
(Audio: OnStar voice; ends with ?...please remain inside the vehicle")
(ad lib)
So, what else is new at OnStar?
What do we have coming?
Take a look at some of the technologies we have on the horizon.
(video:Chet Huber on new and upcoming OnStar features. [2:02])
These applications, and a lot more, are possible? and not just in the U.S. and Canada, where our primary focus has been to date? but around the world.
In November, we signed an agreement to bring OnStar to China, which represents a huge opportunity to offer the benefits of OnStar to a huge new audience.
And I suspect China?s not the last place OnStar will be going.
More to come in that department.
In short, OnStar has been, and continues to be, more than a terrific business for GM, and our customers? it?s been a massive learning experience for us, and another great example of where and how the auto and electronics industries intersect today.
Now, where will they intersect tomorrow?
If OnStar and telematics are connecting cars to the outside world? then one of the next big developments in automotive electronics is connecting cars with other cars.
Connecting them electronically, that is? to keep them from connecting physically.
In recent years, advances in electronics have allowed for technologies like anti-lock brakes,
traction control, electronic stability control, and obstacle detection.
At GM, we?re working our way up this advanced technology ladder to help our drivers avoid accidents and improve traffic flow.
In fact, we?re now offering a Lane Departure Warning System and a blind-spot alert system on the 2008 Buick Lucerne and 2008 Cadillac STS and DTS.
We?re preparing to take it even further through the use of GPS and advanced transponder technology that we believe will revolutionize the driving experience.
We call it V2V, or vehicle-to-vehicle communications.
V2V starts with collision avoidance and builds from there.
And the key difference between V2V and sensor-based ?vision? systems is in the electronic communications.
Today?s vision systems send out a signal that determines the speed and location of the vehicle ahead of you, and directs your car accordingly.
It?s excellent technology.
These next-generation systems promise to be considerably better? because they?ll be significantly less costly, yes? but more importantly, because they?ll use transponders to ?talk? with other vehicles within a quarter mile of your vehicle.
So, if six cars ahead, somebody in a transponder-equipped vehicle steps on the brakes? in your lane or the lanes on either side of you? your transponder will immediately know that, and start slowing down your car before you?re even aware you may need to stop.
This type of technology, unheard of 15 years ago, has the potential to minimize traffic jams and, more importantly, greatly reduce highway accidents and fatalities? with minimal or possibly even no roadway infrastructure required.
And it?s progressing.
This past November, for example, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, sponsored a contest for ?sophisticated autonomous vehicles.?
Translation: they held a race for robot cars.
Well? 37 years ago, GM built the lunar rover for the Apollo Space program. Why not try something a little more down to earth? And so, we teamed up with Carnegie Mellon University, Caterpillar, Continental, and others to outfit and race what has to be the most tricked-out Chevy Tahoe this side of? well, this side of the moon.
The Carnegie Mellon Team named the Tahoe ?Boss,? after Charles ?Boss? Kettering, the first head of GM?s research division? who personally invented the electric self starter I spoke of earlier. Let?s see how the modern-day ?Boss? made out.
(video:Larry Burns on the DARPA Urban Challenge. [2:20] )
Some pretty exciting possibilities there.
I think Boss Kettering would be proud.
So, just to put this in perspective, autonomous driving means that, some day, you could do your e-mail, eat breakfast, apply your make-up, read the newspaper, watch a video? all while commuting to work.
In other words, you could do all the things you do right now while commuting to work? except you could do it safely!
It?s still a ways off? but the technology demonstrated by ?Boss? and V2V represents the latest example of electronics driving big advances in autos.
Incidentally, we couldn?t fit Boss into the room this afternoon, but we did get him into Vegas and you can see him tomorrow afternoon and Thursday in the Gold Lot at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
So, lots of work today with electronics, lots of work for tomorrow, and some big ideas for even further out.
Now, let me turn to an issue of more immediate concern? especially with oil hitting $100 a barrel last week and that?s the role of the automobile in energy security and environmental protection and the role that electronics, and electricity, can play in reinventing the automobile to address these concerns.
As we look at the global energy and environmental picture today and consider the future of the automobile, one fact stands out above all others the auto industry can no longer rely almost exclusively on oil to supply the world?s future automotive energy requirements.
This matter is getting plenty of attention here in the U.S. recently, but make no mistake? this is a global issue. Energy supply, sustainable growth, CO2 emissions, fuel economy these are topics of concern all around the world as I have learned firsthand in discussions with national and city leaders from Mumbai and Sao Paulo to Shanghai and Washington.
For the global auto industry, it is critical ? both as a business necessity, and an obligation to society ? that we develop alternative sources of propulsion to meet the world?s demand for our products a demand that is growing at a very rapid rate.
In the next five years, we project that global sales will grow to 85 million units a year and that 80 percent of that increase? 12 million new cars and trucks? will be in developing countries like China and India. This clearly shows the enormous opportunity our industry has but also highlights how important it is that we address the challenge of sustainability. And as we?ve worked to address this, it?s become very clear to us that no one solution is going to be best for every part of the world.
So our strategy at GM is simple: use advanced technology to offer a broad range of clean and efficient vehicles powered by different sources of energy, to best meet the needs of local consumers all around the world.
How do we do this?
Well, first I should note that a lot of the recent big improvements in internal combustion engines, both gas and diesel, rely heavily on advances in electronics? things like direct injection, variable valve timing, cylinder deactivation and others.
Beyond improvements to conventional engines, a huge opportunity to reduce the growth in oil consumption, reduce U.S. oil imports, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions lies in the fuel used by our cars and trucks and it?s increasingly clear that ethanol offers tremendous potential in this regard, over a surprisingly short timeframe.
Why?
Well, in part, because there are already so many Flex-fuel vehicles on the road right now that could be running on ethanol, if it were more readily available. At GM, alone, we have more than 2.5 million Flex-fuel vehicles on the road just in the U.S? and we have plans to expand our Flex-fuel offerings to 50 percent of our production by 2012.
Incidentally, in 2008, we?ll offer 25 Flex-fuel models around the world, and produce more than one million new Flex-fuel vehicles globally.
Now, if all of the Flex-fuel vehicles that GM, Ford, and Chrysler have already built in the U.S., plus those that we have committed to build over the next 10 years, were to run on E-85, we could displace 22 billion gallons of gasoline annually.
That?s billion with a ?B.?
And if all manufacturers in the U.S. made that same commitment, we could save 37 billion gallons of gasoline annually. That?s more than four times the oil savings that the new energy legislation will achieve? and, very importantly, it would actually reduce America?s oil consumption by more than 10 percent versus today?s levels? and CO2 emissions, as well.
How do we accomplish this?
Three straightforward steps:
First, continue to grow ethanol production ? and we?re pleased to see that the new energy legislation includes provisions for this.
Second, invest heavily in the development of advanced ?cellulosic? ethanol, which can be made from fast-growing, non-food plants like switchgrass? or even from agricultural and municipal waste.
And third, increase the woefully low number of E-85 pumps in our nation?s gas stations. Right now, there are about 170,000 gas stations in the U.S., but less than 1 percent of them offer E-85.
Another technology that?s receiving a lot of attention these days is the gas-electric hybrid. It?s not very well known outside of Detroit, but at GM, we?ve actually been in the hybrid business now for five years. And we didn?t start small. In fact, we started very big.
Our thinking was simple: you save a lot more gasoline when you improve the fuel economy of a big bus versus a small car. And so we developed the industry?s first two-mode hybrid? which is still the most advanced system in the business. In 2003, we began supplying our two-mode hybrids to transit systems in North America and Europe. In fact, I?m pleased to announce today that we will deliver our 1,000th hybrid bus right here in Las Vegas later this month.
More recently, we?ve been aggressively expanding our hybrid presence into passenger vehicles. By the end of this year, GM will be selling eight different hybrid models in the U.S. In fact, we?ll introduce 16 new hybrid vehicles over the next four years ? an average of one every three months.
We?re particularly excited about two hybrids we?ve just recently introduced? the Chevrolet Tahoe and GMC Yukon hybrids? which use the two-mode hybrid system we developed for transit buses.
Why?
Because they get 50 percent better city fuel economy than their gasoline counterparts? which already get the best fuel economy in their class. Hard to believe, but Tahoe and Yukon two-modes will get the same city fuel economy as the 2008 Toyota Camry with a base four-cylinder engine. But the Tahoe seats eight, churns out 332 horsepower, and can tow up to 6,200 pounds. This performance earned the Tahoe two-mode the ?Green Car of the Year? award at the Los Angeles Auto Show last November. And even the author of hybridcarblog.com? no friend of SUVs he? noted in a recent post that the Tahoe two-mode is as fuel-efficient as the tiny BMW Mini Cooper.
Another new hybrid we?re very excited about is our next-generation Saturn VUE Green Line.
It?ll get an impressive 27 percent overall fuel economy improvement, with a hybrid price premium of less than $2,000. The VUE hybrid continues to prove that you don?t have to be rich to be green. And beyond that, we?ve already announced our intention to build a ?plug-in? version of our Saturn VUE hybrid. Our team is hard at work to get this technology to market as soon as we can. Expect an announcement on the VUE plug-in hybrid very soon.
Looking further out, we see tremendous opportunities with hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicles. Fuel cells have been used to power spacecraft since the 1960s, and today there?s a huge effort to develop fuel cells that are strong enough, and small enough, and economical enough, to power today?s modern automobiles.
Since 2002, when we introduced a groundbreaking fuel-cell concept vehicle called AUTOnomy, we?ve been making steady progress toward our goal of developing fuel-cell vehicles for real-world customers.
Our latest fuel cell concept, the Chevy Sequel, is powered by our fourth-generation fuel cell stack.
It?s simpler, more efficient, and smaller than previous generations? yet delivers 25 percent more power.
Last spring, Sequel made history when we drove it 300 miles on a single tank of hydrogen, in real-world conditions, from our fuel-cell research facility near Rochester to Westchester County, New York. And the hydrogen we used was derived from hydro power at Niagara Fall - a clean, renewable source? so this was a true zero-emissions run. Today, we?re in the process of putting Sequel?s technology on the street? by building it into our Chevy Equinox SUVs.
You may have seen a few of these cruising the strip over the last several days. The Equinox Fuel Cell has a 150 mile range, refuels in 5-8 minutes, and is a full-fledged electrically-driven ZEV? zero emissions vehicle. In the next few weeks, we?ll begin delivering more than 100 of these vehicles to customers in Southern California and the East Coast. Together, they?ll constitute the world?s largest fuel-cell test fleet.
Now, all of these technologies? more fuel-efficient conventional engines, bio-fuels, gas-electric hybrids, and hydrogen fuel cells? are important, and all are possible, thanks largely to advanced electronics. But what?s really exciting is when we bring them all together? with concepts like the Chevy Volt onstage with me now.
In fact, fair to say that no concept in my GM career has created more excitement than the Chevy Volt? here in the U.S., and in fact, all around the world. Volt is our first demonstration of a new family of electrically driven propulsion systems that we call E-Flex.
The ?E? in E-Flex stands for ?electric,? because all E-Flex vehicles will be driven by electricity? and E-Flex is ?flexible,? because it is easily adapted to different sources of electricity. The electricity used to energize E-Flex vehicles can come directly from the power grid or from a small motor running on ethanol or gasoline, like the Chevy Volt? or from a small diesel engine, like the Opel Flextreme concept we unveiled in Frankfurt in September or from a hydrogen fuel cell, like the Volt concept we showed in Shanghai last April.
So, how does E-Flex work?
Well, like so many other electronic devices, everything begins with the battery.
Take the Chevy Volt.
Running off the battery, which customers can charge in a standard electrical outlet, the Volt operates as a traditional battery-electric vehicle, with a driving range of about 40 miles.
And when you consider that three-quarters of American drivers travel less than 40 miles in their daily commute? clearly, Volt will have a huge impact on America?s petroleum dependence. And if the driver of a Volt needs to travel beyond 40 miles, the engine/generator kicks in to supply the electricity to keep the vehicle moving, as well as recharge the battery. This allows the vehicle to drive several hundred additional miles? still with a composite fuel economy of around 150 miles per gallon.
The whole of General Motors is behind this project. In fact, we have over 200 engineers working on the Volt alone, and another 400 on E-Flex and its various ancillary programs.
Here are two of our team leaders.
(video: Chris Borroni-Bird & Denise Gray on electrically driven vehicles. [2:18] )
All this talk about batteries and charging reminds me of the guy who goes to a club on the Strip with his shirt open at the collar, and is stopped by a bouncer who tells him he has to wear a necktie to get in. So, the guy goes out to his car and looks for a tie? and discovers that he just doesn?t have one. But he sees a set of jumper cables in his trunk. In desperation, he ties these around his neck, and manages to fashion a reasonable-looking knot and lets the ends dangle free. He goes back to the restaurant. The bouncer suspiciously looks him over for a few moments and then says, ?Well, okay, I guess you can come in.
Just don?t start anything.?
(pause)
Hey, what can I say? All the writers are on strike. I?m like Jay Leno up here? I have to prepare my own material! In all seriousness, the key to getting Volt on the road is advanced lithium-ion battery technology.
Our internal tests have shown that individual Lithium Ion cells, scaled-up to a pack level, will deliver the required power and range. We?ve run prototype packs through a number of tests since last fall, including some pretty severe ones and the results to date are very encouraging. The next step is to begin testing the battery packs in drivable cars? which we will begin shortly. Importantly, the vehicle side of the Volt program is being engineered in parallel with battery development.
(In fact, I saw the latest and, I suspect, just about final major iteration of the production Volt design theme just before Christmas.)
Typically, we develop new technology ? like the battery and propulsion systems ? before we kick-off a production-vehicle program. But, the Volt is being developed with the maximum sense of urgency we can muster. In fact, the Volt is just the beginning of our commitment to E-Flex and electrically driven vehicles and today, I?m very pleased to introduce the next exciting step in our E-Flex development program the world premier of GM?s latest fuel-cell concept vehicle and the first vehicle introduction ever at CES? ladies and gentlemen? the Cadillac Provoq!
(REVEAL: Cadillac Provoq. )
The Cadillac Provoq is the latest example of GM?s E-Flex propulsion system, combining our new fifth-generation fuel cell with a lithium-ion battery to produce an electrically driven vehicle that uses no petroleum, and has no emission other than water. The Provoq is the first vehicle to extend the E-Flex propulsion system beyond our small-car architecture to a new, global, luxury cross-over architecture. The concept?s fifth-generation fuel cell technology is half the size of its predecessor, yet is able to produce more power and performance. The concept will drive 300 miles on a single fill of hydrogen. Hydrogen stored below the cargo floor will mix with oxygen to generate electricity. A lithium-ion battery pack will store additional electrical energy, and also provide peak power for enhanced performance.
The electricity generated by the fuel cell will be distributed fore and aft to give the Provoq all-wheel-drive traction and great driving dynamics. It?ll have a top speed of 100 mph? and its 0-60 speed of 8.5 seconds is more than 30 percent faster than our previous-generation fuel cell system. And with instantaneous torque to the wheels, it?ll feel even faster.
At its core, Cadillac is all about luxury, design, and technology? so it?s fitting that our premium brand should be propelled by the most advanced propulsion system in the industry. The Provoq signals GM?s intent to lead the industry with advanced-propulsion technology in many forms across multiple brands, from Chevrolet to Cadillac.
In addition to its fuel cell and E-Flex advances, Provoq offers other exciting features which demonstrate that great style and environmentally conscious transportation can go hand in hand? supported by advances in electronics.
Features like:
A solar panel integrated into the roof to help power onboard accessories, such as interior lights and a high-performance audio system.
An active front grille with louvers that close at highway speed to enhance aerodynamic and open at low speed to provide maximum cooling to the fuel cell stack.
Both brake-by-wire and shift-by-wire technology, which minimize the concept?s need for mechanical systems, reduce the vehicle?s overall weight, and provide for greater interior storage space.
And, left and right fender-mounted charging ports to allow for overnight, plug-in charging of the lithium-ion battery pack.
Ladies and gentlemen, the Cadillac Provoq represents another important step in GM?s commitment to energy-wise, environmentally conscious, electrically driven vehicles and the promise of truly sustainable transportation.
So, to wrap up?
OnStar, V2V, autonomous driving, advanced propulsion and electrically driven vehicles all point to a convergence of the auto and electronics industries that is literally transforming the automobile and the global auto industry. As we face the reality of rapidly growing global demand for our products in light of society?s legitimate energy and environmental concerns, there can be no doubt that electronics will play an even bigger role in our industry?s second century, than it did in our first.
And when we connect the dots from mechanically driven to electrically driven energized by petroleum to energized by electricity, powered by internal combustion to powered by electric motors mechanically and hydraulically controlled, to electronically and digitally controlled operated in isolation, to fully connected.
We at GM believe we have the ability to create cars and trucks that are cleaner, safer, ?smarter,? and more exciting than ever before. We believe the future of the automobile is extraordinarily bright and truly electronic. And we look forward to claiming that future with the consumer electronics industry? and with all of you.
Thank you for having me here today? enjoy the rest of the show!
Published: Fri, 11 Jan 2008 10:10:51 GMT - Source: Blog.Wired.Com - Read the article
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