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Transportation Government

House Committee Approves Bill Requiring New Cars To Have AM Radio (theverge.com) 303

The House Energy and Commerce Committee has approved the AM for Every Vehicle Act, which mandates that automakers include AM radio in new vehicles without additional charges. The Verge reports: The bill passed the committee on a roll-call vote of 45-2 and now heads to the full House for final approval. The bill, titled the AM for Every Vehicle Act, would direct the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to issue a rule that "requires automakers to maintain AM broadcast radio in their vehicles without a separate or additional payment, fee, or surcharge." Supporters say they are pushing the bill out of a concern that the slow demise of AM radio could make it more difficult to broadcast emergency information during a natural disaster or other related events. Conservatives are also worried about losing a lucrative platform for right-wing news and media. [...]

Automakers generally see AM radio as an obsolete technology, arguing that there are other, better technologies, such as internet streaming, HD radio delivered on FM bands, or some apps that provide AM content that will make up for the absence of AM radio in vehicles. Critics say the bill could also add to the costs of producing EVs at a time when many manufacturers are struggling to rein in their costs. "With a new mandate, [EV companies] will have to go through a significant powertrain redesign, vehicle redesign," Albert Gore, executive director of the Zero Emission Transportation Association, said in an interview earlier this year, "because of the degree to which electric motor generates this [electromagnetic] interference."

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House Committee Approves Bill Requiring New Cars To Have AM Radio

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  • by fredrated ( 639554 ) on Wednesday September 18, 2024 @05:42PM (#64797781) Journal

    free market!

  • Radio?? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by sunderland56 ( 621843 ) on Wednesday September 18, 2024 @05:48PM (#64797797)

    At least one car I've bought had *NO* radio. (Optional extra, stock was a blank space in the dash).

    So does the new regulation mean cars must come with a radio?

    • by msauve ( 701917 )
      This. They shouldn't require AM unless there's also another radio present, including FM/DAB/GPS/SXM/WiFi/OnStar, etc.
    • At least one car I've bought had *NO* radio. (Optional extra, stock was a blank space in the dash).

      So does the new regulation mean cars must come with a radio?

      If we know auto makers, this will mean your $50,000 car will come with a shitty $10 handheld AM radio reflected as a “government mandated” $799 surcharge.

      • I kinda wonder how much this costs. This could be designed as an extra auxiliary. In order to get some reasonable isolation, it needs a power supply, a tuner chip and an antenna. Maybe $1-1½ plus however long the wire you need to get out to whatever is a EMI-free location. I think this is a rounding error on a vehicle that has a $20K BOM.
        • there's SO much noise in a modern car, am is just too low a freq and too easily interfered with.

          sure, you can listen to birdies. you like birdies?

          cause this is how you get birdies.

    • The plain reading of the bill says YES. The bill calls for a rule "requiring devices that can receive signals and play content transmitted by AM broadcast stations be installed as standard equipment in passenger motor vehicles"

      There is a small short term exclusion for manufacturers that manufactured "not more than 40,000 passenger motor vehicles for sale in the United States in 2022."

      So, yes, all cars will need to have some way for the driver to easily receive an AM broadcast. It does not go into the qual

  • AM radio (Score:5, Informative)

    by Valgrus Thunderaxe ( 8769977 ) on Wednesday September 18, 2024 @05:51PM (#64797803)
    Not surprised. AM is all Christian and conservative radio where I am. Free market, of course.
  • is something to hold the buggy whip.

  • by RossCWilliams ( 5513152 ) on Wednesday September 18, 2024 @05:56PM (#64797829)
    I would think if the sole concern was emergency communications a weather radio would be more useful.
    • This mostly about talk radio which is almost entirely on AM. Specifically right wing talk radio which is virtually all talk radio now except for a few slightly apolitical shows and on a good day NPR.

      I do wonder what the Christian radio shows are going to do in 10 years when the country is done secularizing. Church and religion in America has become 110% political and it's chasing away anyone under the age of 65. I wonder if they will just cram it full of more guys like Rush Limbaugh and Alex Jones or if
    • by e3m4n ( 947977 )

      You just happen to keep one in your car and check its battery status regularly? People have been knownnyo get stranded in their cars during severe weather events. This ensures people would have access to emergency broadcast in an emergency so long as the car battery holds out.

  • Automakers generally see AM radio as an obsolete technology, arguing that there are other, better technologies, such as internet streaming, HD radio delivered on FM bands, or some apps that provide AM content that will make up for the absence of AM radio in vehicles.

    Automakers argue in favor of alternatives for which they can charge subscriptions ...

  • ... automakers to maintain AM broadcast radio ...

    The point of AM radio is, it's simple technology. Using a PLL chip or software-based frequency filter, is great for getting precise demodulation (audio) but not the priority in an emergency. Putting the UI into another device, (think all-in-one touch-screen) is guaranteeing a point of failure. Government should be setting a level of simplicity. eg IC chips with less than 50 'components' and a mechanical UI (push-buttons).

    • A complete superheterodyne AM receiver can and is done in one single IC nowadays. It's a matter of a couple extra dollars.
      • Long gone are the days of pulling a whisker from your cat.

      • you can install an am radio chip easily.

        tell me how much it costs to rf shield all the wiring and ecu's in the car so that the am radio is not flooded with peaks and noise and birdies (as they're called).

        the harness is not designed to be rf quiet. and the car harness is about 1/4 to 1/3 the cost of the car ('the more you know'...).

        who's gonna pay for the redesign of all that?

        • Back when we had points-and-condenser ignition systems, they were about as noisy EMI-wise as anything could be -- and many cars had nothing but an AM radio. I myself had a hand-me-down Pinto wagon and the factory radio was AM-only. Guess what? Never had a problem with noise in the reception. Guess what else? We can still do that.
          • by kriston ( 7886 )

            I totally agree.
            The sycophants arguing the electric motors and computers are too noisy to support AM radio didn't grow up in the world of gasoline engines with their spark plugs and alternators spewing interference all over the radio dial.

            CB Radio users in the 1970s and 1980s (also an AM band) experienced interference but that was easily solved with a $0.50 part.

            The "interference problem" had been definitively solved many decades ago.

    • The issue with AM these days is that with more electronics in cars, the signal is being disrupted. With EVs, the presence of a very large battery makes receiving AM broadcasts harder. Automakers will have to spend money to engineer cars with better shielding so they can get AM signals. Or take the path of least resistance and just drop AM. Automakers have chosen the latter. Bear in mind, automakers are willing to spend money to get satellite radio into cars. Because they can make money off that.
      • by kriston ( 7886 )

        Hahah, no, the "interference problem" was solved many decades ago. I had already posted on this topic elsewhere in this thread.

        This is a false argument by people who want to save about $0.50 to $2 per vehicle for EMI shielding.

        • Hahah, no, the "interference problem" was solved many decades ago. I had already posted on this topic elsewhere in this thread.

          I never said EM interference was an insurmountable problem that requires Nobel prize winning physics. I said automakers will have to spend money to engineer cars with better shielding. But they would rather not spend any money.

          This is a false argument by people who want to save about $0.50 to $2 per vehicle for EMI shielding.

          As I said, automakers will take the path of least resistance and just drop AM

  • Does the Bill specify the performance and operating conditions?

    If not the simple option is install AM so owners can listen to all the noise their car creates, especially in less well implemented EVs. Most cars it would be usable when stationary and any engine/motors not running. Even the worst implementation will work if parked under the transmitter. Even the best implementation will fail if too far from the transmitter.

    So how are they going define what is acceptable? Maybe they could mandate the
  • by williamyf ( 227051 ) on Wednesday September 18, 2024 @06:13PM (#64797889)

    The whole western hemisphere, the USoA included, is supposed to transition to Digital Radio Mondiale in the not to distant future ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org] )

    Then, the will not be "AM Radio" and/or "FM Radio" anymore. Instead there will be only DRM Radion in the 600-1600Khz band and DRM Radio in the 80-108Mhz band.

    Woudn't have been more forward looking to MANDATE (as they did) a DRM Radio in each vehicle, thereby kickstarting adoption AND solving the interference and fading problems that Plague AM Radio and are making automakers to remove them?

    Well, we all know what the House-Critters think.

    • Make everything more expensive and complicated!

    • by Trip Ericson ( 864747 ) on Wednesday September 18, 2024 @08:10PM (#64798195) Homepage

      This post is not accurate.

      No, DRM isn't even an adopted standard for AM and FM by the FCC in the US. The FCC adopted IBOC ("HD Radio") for digital AM and FM in the US. There is no wholesale transition in the works for this, either.

      I don't know where you got this from. Your link mentions the US only once, and it's a specific reference to DRM for HF only, not AM or FM.

      • This post is not accurate.

        No, DRM isn't even an adopted standard for AM and FM by the FCC in the US. The FCC adopted IBOC ("HD Radio") for digital AM and FM in the US. There is no wholesale transition in the works for this, either.

        I don't know where you got this from. Your link mentions the US only once, and it's a specific reference to DRM for HF only, not AM or FM.

        Even if this is true, the point stands. Why mandate analogue AM radio istead of the future Digital standard (and making the analog one optional), therefore jumpstarting both adopition and transition?

      • by kriston ( 7886 )

        It's been rumored for years that IBOC HD Radio on AM in the US might transition to Digital Radio Mondiale.

        After dark, HD Radio on AM reception is so bad that the broadcasters literally turn it off. It's been this way for decades.

        Broadcasters also turn off HD Radio during sporting events, but that's for a completely different reason.

    • by kriston ( 7886 )

      Nope, not true.

      HD Radio on AM 570-1710 kHz is widely perceived to be a failure and might transition to Digital Radio Mondiale because of HD Radio's problem with skip after dark. DRM is used on shortwave with much success for many years.

      The 87.5-107.9 band will remain on HD Radio in the US forever.

  • A problem with AM radio (maybe THE problem) is that it is at a low frequency and also amplitude modulated so it is very susceptible to interference from electrical noise coming from car computers and communications. It's difficult to screen the radio from all of this local interference without extensively shielding all of the wiring and computers in the car.

    • AM radios have existed in cars for longer than most on this site have been alive. The problem has already been solved. And yes, computers in one form or another have existed in cars since the 80s, they used to be called ECMs.

    • by PPH ( 736903 )

      I have an AM radio in my car. You pull up next to me in your EV, its systems had better be shielded. Whether you have an AM radio or not.

  • Is this based on actual data, such as usage of AM radios in new cars today? Is there some telemetry data I missed? Have the polled the current generation or car buyers whether they even know what AM radio is, and if they would ever use it? If people don't know it's there or what it's for, it's not at all useful, even in case of an emergency.

    Or was this just based on how many of the 47 members of the committee listen to AM radio themselves?
    • The fact AM radio goes farther than FM and that there's a big chunk of this country where a lone public radio station on AM is the only local media probably has a lot to do with it. Granted, this affects like, 80 people, but still.
  • If the point is to provide an alternative communications channel, one would think a portable radio would be a better choice -- Not everyone owns a vehicle.

  • I bought a 2019 Tesla Model 3. It's been 5 years and 39000 miles. Never in that time have I needed to tune into AM radio. In fact, I've only used the FM tuner when I was in an area where streaming didn't have sufficient network to access.

    The local authorities can make my cell phone scream bloody murder for an Amber or Silver Alert. The US Government can make my cell phone scream for a Presidential Alert.

    My phone will always be on me. So why do I need an ancient AM receiver in my car? Just make m
  • Yeah, shield that noisy electric motor and stop being lazy about FCC interference compliance, already!!

    We were able to shield the noisy gasoline engine's spark plugs and the alternator for 130 years. What's the technical problem? A $0.25 piece of aluminum foil or a $0.10 ferrite coil?

    AM radio is not going away and shouldn't.

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