The Drivecast
The Drivecast is an automotive podcast from The Drive, offering behind-the-scenes insight into the biggest stories, controversies, and personalities in the car industry. Each week, editor-in-chief Kyle Cheromcha, director of content Joel Feder, and other experts discuss how automakers are adapting to rapid changes in technology, manufacturing, and consumer demand. The show explains how these shifts affect the way cars are built and sold and what they mean for the future of driving. It is aimed at both lifelong car enthusiasts and listeners curious about the automotive world.
Episodes
The big business of hacking into your car's brain
Cars are more complicated, connected, and software driven than ever. The tuning industry is growing, but awash in shady characters promising big power gains if you yank out your car's brain and send it to them to modify. AutoTuner aims to show you can run a legitimate business in this space, but this is at odds with what automakers want.
AutoTuner is building its business by primarily offering th
The man trying to fix EV charging in America
America's EV charging situation is a mess. So much so that eight automakers banded together to create a joint venture, dubbed Ionna, and try to fix the situation. It's an unprecedented move on multiple levels that shows the gravity of the situation, how seriously automakers take the future of electric vehicles, and an entirely new business venture that diversifies these companies beyond just build
What everyone is getting wrong about Leno's Law
A new law in California relaxing emissions tests for classic cars is being hailed as a “landmark” victory for the car community and common sense. But it’s not what it seems.
California has the toughest emissions standards in the country, requiring any car made after 1975 to pass a biennial smog test in order to be registered. By design, the system forces thousands of old cars off the road
Honda doesn't want to be the next Toyota
Honda's top executives have watched Toyota's reliability crisis play out with the Japanese competitor's new turbocharged engines, and it keeps them up at night.
Honda Motor Executive Vice President Noriya Kaihara and American Honda President and CEO Eiji Fujimura told The Drive how the automaker's quality control systems are evolving as the automaker prepares a new wave of next-gen powertrains. T
The luxury car market is crashing
You would not know it from the posts on Instagram during Monterey Car Week last month or the barrage of expensive debuts that have been touted, but the luxury segment is in trouble.
While Bugatti and Ferrari are doing just fine the story isn't the same for other luxury automakers. Bentley is spiraling, Aston Martin is a mess, Maserati is a train wreck, and Porsche is in trouble and it's not clear
Diesel prices are climbing and everyone's about to pay for it
One year ago, the average cost of a gallon of diesel fuel in America was $3.70. Today, at the time of this recording, it’s $5.60. That’s 50% higher, and some forecasts have it touching a record $6 a gallon by the end of the year. Not good.
America, and arguably the world, runs on diesel. So when prices go up by 50%... well, that pain can only be contained for so long. From multiple wars to oil
The man trying to save Goodyear
While most people could not care less about tires they are in fact one of the most important aspects of a car's performance and safety. Goodyear is one of the most iconic tire manufacturers in the world, but its name, legacy, and blimps haven't kept it insulated from the turmoil the auto industry is going through.
Goodyear recorded a net loss of $1.7 billion in 2025 and $249 million in the first
Finally: America's getting modern headlights
The U.S. is laughably behind the rest of the world when it comes to headlight technology. It’s not because the technology didn’t exist, but rather because outdated U.S. laws have prevented automakers from bringing these modern technological marvels to U.S. roads. Until now.
New laws that were finally enacted years ago are finally allowing automakers to bring adaptive headlights to the U.S. with a
Flock's CEO faced me
Millions of people have read Joel's report and seen the body cam footage after he was mistakenly tracked, and then ambushed, by police for what was believed to be grand theft auto after Flock license plate readers flagged the car he was driving for days.
The story, and topic of Flock and automatic license plate readers, is a lightning rod and at the heart of a national debate and various discussi
Flock tracked me
Sometimes we report the news, and sometimes we ARE the news. That’s exactly what happened two weeks ago when Joel published his report about being mistakenly tracked by police via Flock license plate cameras and ambushed by the police in a strip mall parking lot. We can't make this stuff up.
This story hit so hard is because it landed in the middle of a heated debate around the country about Floc
The curse of the concept car
The business of concept cars is faltering. Every year, automakers spend many millions of dollars building full-size, one-off concept cars to market-test new ideas, flex design capabilities, experiment with new technologies, and just get people excited about what's next. They are a showcase of what a company can do when they're freed up from pesky things like crash regulations and mass production
Do electric trucks make sense?
For a moment in time it looked like a hard shift to the electric future was taking place. When America's best-selling vehicle, the Ford F-150, is available with an electric powertrain, there were signs. But various automakers took different paths towards the electric future, and by many accounts history might show the first round of electric trucks were a failure with large price tags, sales volum
Congress could decide who's allowed to fix your car
Who's allowed to fix the car you own? Who's allowed to choose the mechanic that wrenches on the vehicle you own? As cars have become more complex and computerized, and corporations have become more fixated on gathering data, the topic of right to repair has become more intense. It's been thrust back into the limelight with recent comments from automaker CEOs and the White House.
The Drive's Direc
License plate cameras are tracking everything
The devices you carry will enable law enforcement and the government to track your every move. Scary thought. Time to break out the tin-foil hats.
A new kind of license-plate reading camera is said to be far more than its name. It will be able to scrape the smart devices you take with you and wrap all that data in a nice little bow for law enforcement and government agencies.
The Drive's Direct
GM said they crushed them all. One ended up in Sweden
Almost two decades ago General Motors almost changed pickup truck history, and would've changed the entire market. A new, smaller, Baby Duramax turbodiesel V8 was set to launch and reset the bar for torque, fuel economy, and technology in the half-ton market.
The engine was done, but the entire thing was scrapped with the crash of 2008 when GM filed bankruptcy. The automaker claimed all the prot
Rivian bet the company on R2. RJ Scaringe told us almost everything
Rivian, by many accounts, has become the darling of the automotive industry. It’s a hot topic despite its current volume and scale. To date, it’s not a mainstream brand with a mass-market offering. But that changed yesterday with the launch of the R2, which costs between $45,000 and $60,000 while hitting at the absolute heart of the compact crossover SUV market at 186 inches long, which is the siz
Inside Toyota's reliability crisis
Toyota, the world’s largest automaker, who for decades has been known for building more reliable cars than anyone else. But lately, some big cracks are starting to form in that foundation.
Last month, Toyota added another 44,000 vehicles to its ongoing recall of Tundra pickups and Lexus SUVs with the company’s troubled 3.4-liter twin turbo V6, bringing the total to nearly 270,000 trucks over th
Stellantis Has Big Plans. Tim Kuniskis Told Us Almost Everything
Stellantis has been rocked. The automaker built its current foundation upon loud noises and fast times at the drag strip all while making loud boom boom noises thanks to the Hemi and a legendary Hellcat V8 powertrain. Then the party ended. It was late to the electric game, many of its EVs didn’t even launch and were just DOA from the get go, SRT was mothballed, and things just looked bleak, again.
Your OBDII app might have put you on a federal list
Years ago EZ Lynk was in the news for its products, how they were being used, and what they were enabling consumers to do with their vehicles. Now, five years later, the book has been opened, again, and the department of justice is looking at how EZ Lynk enabled customers in modifying their vehicles in a way that violated laws. This time? The DOJ is targeting consumers and their data, which is a w
Why Porsche is about to copy... Hyundai??
Believe it or not but one automaker is about to copy another’s idea—and neither are who you’d expect. Porsche is an unquestioned leader in the world of performance cars, and its careful treatment of the 911, Cayman, and Boxster is often imitated, never duplicated. But now? It’s about to steal a controversial move from an unlikely source— Hyundai—as it tries to figure out the magic formula for a fu
Billions burned: The great EV reckoning
It's time to check in on the state of electric vehicles both in America and abroad—and how much money automakers have lit on fire in the last few years rushing to cash in on electrification, which… hasn’t really paid off. Now, it feels like a big correction is underway.
Car companies spent most of 2025 in a wait-and-see position, but now they’ve waited and seen enough, and started to make big mov
Nissan's going all in: Inside the plan
Nissan's in trouble, but the automaker's not going down without a fight. After laying out a massive turnaround plan it's clear Nissan's not just on the ropes, but about to swing for the fences and really try and cater to both the masses and enthusiasts, again, as it refocuses.
This week, The Drive's Director of Content and Product, Joel Feder, is joined by Senior Vice President and Chief Planni
Hyundai and Kia are coming to crash the truck party
In a shocking turn of events: Both Hyundai and Kia are preparing body-on-frame pickup trucks. Sounds far-fetched, but it’s true, and it’s quite the development as these two juggernauts continue to blaze a trail forward challenging the rest of the industry on multiple fronts.
It doesn’t sound like we’ll have long to wait. Now Hyundai announced it will kick off a family of body-on-frame vehicles in
The Toyota Prius is losing the hybrid war it started
The Toyota Prius is an icon, a statement, and possibly a moment in time as the nameplate approaches its 30th anniversary. Sales of what was once a cultural icon are spiraling. The Prius arguably hasn't been the "it car" that it was once upon a time with EVs taking the mantle for an eco-friendly statement, countless hybrid entries now flooding the market in every conceivable shape and size, and tim
The government's plan to dilute your gasoline, explained
With gas topping $4 a gallon this week amid the war with Iran, the EPA announced a plan to lower prices and stretch America's fuel supply by cutting more of it with ethanol. Will it work? Probably not. And as Joel, Kyle, and Andrew explain, it could actually ruin your car's engine.
Ethanol is an alcohol made from corn, and it's commonly added to gasoline as an oxygenator that helps it burn more c
Can Toyota take down Ford as the king of off-road pickups?
The secret is out: Toyota is planning to build a crazy Baja-blasting version of the Tundra pickup. Does it stand a chance against the Ford F-150 Raptor? And why are we so obsessed with uber off-road trucks in America anyways?
We've been on top of this story since 2022, when a source tipped us off that the model was in development. Things went quiet for a while, but earlier this month we uncovered
Inside the shady world of the Montana license plate loophole
Ah, Montana. Big Sky Country, the Last Best Place, and... Land of Tax Evasion?
This week, we're diving into the controversy around the Montana license plate loophole. A quirk of Montana law allows non-residents to buy and register cars there without ever setting foot in the state, and it's been heavily used by wealthy people around the country to avoid paying their own state's sales taxes and reg
Why does GM keep killing America's cheapest EV?
General Motors just did something unprecedented. It brought a car back from the dead—with the promise of killing it again. Today, we're diving into the life, death, and temporary revival of the $29,000 Chevrolet Bolt—the cheapest EV you can buy in America—and how its saga represents a lot that's gone wrong in the new car market is today.
The Bolt was GM's first modern electric car when it was lau
How Rivian Got RAD
Rivian just green lit its own internal performance division, dubbed the Rivian Adventure Department or RAD for short, to move from skunkworks to something larger than one-off passion projects and software development. The usage of the word "yes" landed Rivian here, but now that we have RAD there's a laundry list of questions.
This week, Kyle and Joel break down the history of events that formed R
How Jeep got lost in the wilderness
Jeep is in trouble. The rugged American icon finds itself struggling to dig out from mountain of problems: plummeting quality, skyrocketing prices, and confusing strategic shifts that alienated its most loyal fans. Now, with a new CEO in town, Jeep is trying to smash the reset button.
This week, Kyle and Joel are joined by The Drive’s senior editor and resident truck expert Caleb Jacobs to explai
How a Tesla Actually Drove Itself from LA to NYC
No, really. A Tesla Model S just drove itself 3,081 miles from Los Angeles to New York City with zero accidents and zero human intervention for the first time. Was it just another stunt, or a watershed moment for self-driving tech?
Today we're taking you inside the Tesla FSD Cannonball Run, as its organizer and wheelman Alex Roy named it after the famous cross-country speed record challenge. Joel
Ferrari, Jony Ive, and the analog future of dashboards
Ferrari's first electric car is a massive gamble for a company steeped in heritage. So is tapping the designer of the iPhone to create a revolutionary new interior and make a statement about the place of screens in cars today.
This week, the automaker revealed the cabin of the Ferrari Luce designed by LoveFrom, the firm founded by Jony Ive, the former head of design at Apple, and his partner Marc
The Drive Awards 2026: The best new cars and behind the scenes with The Drive team
Today we're rolling out The Drive Awards, aka the Slashies, our annual celebration of the very best new cars and trucks on sale right now. We're running through the winners, the losers, the almost-got-it-rights—and we're peeling back the curtain to explain our picks and how exactly The Drive runs a comprehensive car review operation.
Every year, we review well over a hundred new cars and trucks t
Volvo on the edge: Inside the plan to turn things around
For our very first episode, we're taking a hard look at Volvo. The Swedish company once known for quirky wagons and safety innovations is in trouble after dumping billions of dollars into an early, all-in bet on electric vehicles five years ago that led to a mess of software issues and production problems, tanking reliability and dragging its global sales to dangerous lows.
Last year, then-CEO Ji
