GM wants to help shape the EPA’s next clean car standard

GM wants to exclusively sell electric vehicles by 2035, and it’s now trying to nudge the US government toward the same goal. The automaker has teamed up with an advocacy group, the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), to develop recommended principles for the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) car emissions standards from the 2027 model year onward. The guidelines are meant to accelerate EV adoption in a socially conscious way — and, of course, help GM’s bottom line.

The brand wants standards that ensure at least half of new vehicles sold by are zero-emissions by 2030, with a 60 percent reduction in emissions across a lineup compared to 2021. They need to address multiple pollution sources (such as CO2, nitrogen oxides and particles) and be “performance-based,” GM argues. The company also believes there should be an optional pathway to speed up the launch of breakthrough emissions-reducing technology, and that standards should ensure the benefits of reduced pollution apply to everyone (such as vulnerable communities). Not surprisingly, GM hopes for tight coordination between the public and private realms, including complementary investments.

GM and the EDF want a quick decision process. They’d like the standards to be proposed this fall, and completed by fall 2023. The standards should last until 2032 at a minimum, the partners said, but they also hoped the EPA would extend that to 2035.

There might not be much opposition to the basic concept. President Biden already wants half of new vehicles to be emissions-free by 2030, and the EPA reversed Trump-era standards rollbacks in December. Meanwhile, California, Massachusetts and New York State expect to ban sales of new gas-powered cars by 2035 and frequently push for stricter standards than the federal government. The principles and resulting EPA standards would theoretically help politicians reach these targets sooner by encouraging manufacturers to electrify their fleets quickly.

Whether or not GM and the EDF get their way isn’t clear. The EPA isn’t guaranteed to take the principles to heart, and a change of presidents could lead to weaker rules. We’d add that GM has altered its stance on emissions reductions depending on who’s in office. The firm backed the Trump administration’s efforts to revoke waivers letting California set tougher requirements, only to change its tune after Biden won the 2020 election. Still, we wouldn’t expect GM to back out any time soon. The company has staked its future on EVs, and it stands to profit if the market shifts to eco-friendly vehicles a little sooner.

Amazon is holding its annual hardware event on September 28th

Amazon will host a hardware event on September 28th at 12PM ET, the company announced today. The invite the retailer sent to Engadget didn’t include many details, promising only that it would share news about “our latest Amazon devices, features, and services.” Incidentally, the event will fall exactly one year to the date of its 2021 hardware showcase. 

Last year’s event was full of offbeat products, with Astro, the company’s Alexa-powered robot on wheels, stealing the show. Other highlights included the Echo Show 15 and Glow, a kid-focused teleconferencing device. The company also announced more iterative updates in the form of the Halo View fitness band and Ring Alarm Pro. Amazon won’t stream the event, but you can expect comprehensive coverage from Engadget.

The US Space Force’s new anthem proves it’s just another boring government entity

Three years after becoming the newest branch of the US Armed Forces, the Space Force has an official song. Titled “Semper Supra” (or “Always Above,” if you’re not a fan of Latin), the tune made its debut on Tuesday at the 2022 Air, Space and Cyber Conf…

American Airlines says hackers obtained some customer and employee data

American Airlines says that hackers may have obtained personal information for a “very small number” of customers and employees. The company did not say exactly how many people were impacted, though it noted there’s no evidence that the attackers have misused the information. It told affected customers that names, driver’s license and passport numbers, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth and medical information may have been compromised.

The hackers gained access to American’s email system through a phishing campaign, as the Associated Press reported. The company told regulators in Montana that it discovered the intrusion in July. It started informing affected customers last week. American says it has secured the breached email accounts and brought in a third-party cybersecurity firm to investigate.

American said it’s putting more technical measures in place to prevent similar breaches from occurring. The company has also offered customers affected by the breach two years of identity theft-protection coverage.

An American Airlines spokesperson provided the following statement to Engadget:

“American Airlines is aware of a phishing campaign that led to the unauthorized access to a limited number of team member mailboxes. A very small number of customers and employees’ personal information was contained in those email accounts. While we have no evidence that any personal information has been misused, data security is of the utmost importance and we offered customers and team members precautionary support. We are also currently implementing additional technical safeguards to prevent a similar incident from occurring in the future.”

The iPhone 14 Pro isn’t as easy to repair as the other new models

So much for the iPhone 14’s surprisingly repairable design extending across the lineup. iFixit has completed a teardown of the iPhone 14 Pro Max, and the easier-to-fix internals haven’t carried over. Break the back glass and you’ll have a harder time repairing it yourself — or an expensive ($549 in the US) Apple Store visit if your device is out of warranty. While Apple never said the Pro models would receive this upgrade, it’s worth considering if you plan to keep your phone running with a little surgery.

It’s not clear why Apple didn’t rethink internals across the entire iPhone 14 range. iFixit speculates that Apple wanted to limit potential delays, particularly given the supply chain risks involved with the Pro family’s new camera and display technologies. We’ve asked Apple for comment, but it won’t be surprising if more accessible innards come with future generations.

The teardown has a few additional surprises. On US versions of the iPhone 14 line, Apple hasn’t replaced the newly removed SIM tray with anything else. This is more to push eSIM adoption than to save space, then. iFixit also couldn’t pinpoint a dedicated satellite antenna for emergency communication, suggesting that Apple might be using the usual cellular or WiFi antennas to send SOS messages.

The overall repairability of the iPhone 14 Pro “isn’t terrible” outside of the requirement to activate parts, according to iFixit. Unless Apple harmonizes its design, though, do-it-yourself repair enthusiasts will have to make sacrifices if they want an iPhone they can fix with relatively little difficulty.

Hertz to purchase 175,000 General Motors EVs over the next five years

Hertz is once again growing its EV fleet, announcing Tuesday that it has struck a deal with General Motors to purchase 175,000 electric vehicles from the automaker’s Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, Cadillac and BrightDrop brands over the next five years. Customers will see the first offerings, namely the Chevrolet Bolt EV and Bolt EUV, arrive on Hertz lots beginning in the first quarter next year. 

The deal, which runs through 2027, will bring a wide variety of models to Hertz’s growing EV herd. Between now and 2027, the rental company expects its customers to drive about 8 billion miles in said EVs, preventing an estimated 3.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from being released. Hertz plans to convert a quarter of its rental fleet to battery electric by 2024. 

This news follows Hertz’s 65,000-vehicle order from Polestar in April, which the performance EV maker has already begun deliveries on. An earlier announcement in 2021 had many believing that Tesla would be supplying the Hertz fleet with 100,000 vehicles, worth an estimated $4.2 billion, was quickly kiboshed by Tesla CEO, Elon Musk. Hertz is already planning to rent 50,000 Tesla EVs to Uber drivers, which now operate in 25 North American cities, there’s no word on whether GM’s vehicles will be offered under similar terms.

For folks who are already in line, having ordered a GM EV and are waiting on delivery, don’t fret. This deal with Hertz shouldn’t impact your existing delivery date. “Our first priority is delivering vehicles to customers holding reservations,” a GM rep told Engadget via email Tuesday. “GM is installing capacity to meet demand from all customers, with annual capacity in North America rising to more than one million units in 2025.”

EA Motive is working on a single-player Iron Man game

EA’s Motive Studio is putting the finishing touches on its solid-looking Dead Space remake, but it’s already looking ahead to other projects. EA announced that Motive has teamed up with Marvel to make an Iron Man game.

Although the title is in early development, the company has teased out a few details. It will be a single-player, third-person, action-adventure game with an original story. The idea is that you’ll be able to “feel what it’s like to truly play as Iron Man,” EA claimed in a statement.

The Motive team working on the project will be led by Olivier Proulx, who was a senior producer on last year’s surprisingly great Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. Proulx also worked on the single-player side of Marvel’s Avengers and so won’t be a stranger to Iron Man. “We have a great opportunity to create a new and unique story that we can call our own. Marvel is encouraging us to create something fresh,” Proulx said.

EA said the Iron Man game marks the beginning of its partnership with Marvel as it’s the first of several titles they’ll make together. Rumors suggest one of those is a Black Panther game.

The Windows 11 2022 update is here, but should you care?

Can you believe it’s been almost a year since Windows 11 launched? Back then, I was surprised that Microsoft was practically rushing a new version of Windows out the door. But, as I noted in my review, Windows 11 ended up refining Microsoft’s desktop f…