Take Two translates the day’s headlines for Southern California, making sense of the news and cultural events that affect our lives. Produced by Southern California Public Radio and broadcast from October 2012 – June 2021. Hosted by A Martinez.
After being caught cheating in a massive diesel emission scandal, Volkswagen seems to be trying to say, "hey, sorry, but look at this." It rolled out an all-electric concept van at this weeks Consumer Electronics Show, and by most accounts, it's a fitting act of contrition.
The Budd-e promises well over 200 miles of range from its electric drive train, but the real fun starts inside. Seat swivel, there's lots of video screen, and the car has a voice recognition system that can identify passengers, and, for instance, turn up the AC when your kid in the back seat complains of being hot.
Not to be outdone, BMW showed a topless version of its i8 Spyder. Sleek and lean, it too has some interesting stuff on the inside, including a complete lack of control knobs or buttons. In BMW's future world, all that will be handled with hand gestures.