the president calls for the end of tax breaks for electric cars. we'll sit down with the ceo of charge point to get his reaction. meanwhile, this doctor is leading the way in driverless cars with her radar technology. and one of the hottest industries in silicon valley, spin tech, thinks about the future. our reporters, automotive journalists this week on "press: here." good morning, everyone. i'm scott mcgrew. in 2008, congress passed a law

that gave $7500 in federal tax breaks to people who bought electric cars. those subsidies are under threat from two places. one, from donald trump and other republicans who want to end the government support for clean energy vehicles. the other problem, some car companies are victims of their own success. those subsidies have limits. the first 200,000 cars sold. and tesla has already crossed that limit. pascal romano is ceo of charge point, the service that lets you charge up your electric car in parking garages and shopping centers and the like. sort of the modern day gas station. he's part of the ev drive coalition calling for changes to the federal tax credit. thanks for being with us. talk to me about the changes. you're not saying get rid of the subsidies, the tax breaks, but there need to be changes in what we're doing with these cars. >> yeah, well, subsidies, if they're properly designed, don't

go from some level to zero overnight. i mean, nothing in nature works that way. so an appropriate ramp down, i think, is appropriate over time. a flash cut to zero that clearly has consumer support probably isn't a great idea. >> it also would affect your business as well. you kind of depend on electric cars being out there. >> yeah, the growth rate last year and this coming year is around 40% in both europe and the u.s. so it's not -- >> what do you mean by 40%? >> 40% volume growth in terms of cars sold. >> really? >> yeah, it's staggering. >> that's amazing. >> yeah, so i don't expect it to, you know, fundamentally harm our business, but i think it's just bad practice. >> but the subsidies are not going to go from 7500 to zero. i saw today on tesla's website, for example, those subsidies are going to go down from, i don't know, 7500 to like halfway then halfway again over a period of

about a year. so it's not a flat everything and nothing. >> what i was referring to is that period of time is just a little short. >> right. >> we have a 135-year-old gasoline car industry that's very mature. i think we need a little bit of support here to get some volume up so these auto manufacturers can get the economies to scale. >> does it create some kind of disparity since the subi did si start to ratchet down at 200,000 vehicles sold? so you know, there's more incentive for me to go buy a bmw that still has a full subsidy than a tesla. how does that make sense? >> it doesn't. i think it's just oversight when it was originally designed, probably for fairness reasons. i think just like competition, to make things fair and equitable. >> you and the ev coalition, which include car companies that have skin in this game as well,

how successful have you been in convincing washington to adjust these car tax credits when the president of the united states doesn't seem to want to have it at all? >> yeah, it's hard to call. >> everything in washington is hard to call. >> but i will say that even, you know -- there isn't a u.s. manufacturer right now fthat is supportive of this. we have the auto industry themselves in america creating jobs in america that are supportive. >> but a lot of these evs are also going to states like california, states like oregon. we're not seeing a lot of ev distribution in the middle of the country. so how do you think we're going to be able to bring ev adoption to the middle of the country where frankly people are driving longer distances and having to -- they'll go through their range really fast. whereas here in the city, ten miles here, ten miles there, it's a little easier. >> i think there's two answers to that question. first of all is, again, there's

the success problem with the zev states. >> explain that. >> zero emission vehicle mem ran dam of understanding that's under challenge now by the federal government. california and a coalition of states have put together standards for emissions that are higher. unfortunately, one of the provisions allows automakers to kind of concentrate where they sell the vehicles. those credits were then used to offset their sales of lower gas mileage vehicles. >> i want to talk a minute about your business itself, the charge points. i have a plug-in hybrid. you have a full electric? >> no, plug-in hybrid. >> and you have all kinds of cars. you drive muscle cars. i see them at the mall. you swipe a card and you can plug in and you're charging me a

little bit of money. how are you making money? that actual pump thing must cost a fortune. i'm at the mall for an hour and you're charging me a couple bucks. and you have to pay for the electricity. >> yeah, it's actually not a -- so our business model isn't to sell you electricity. our business model is to sell services to that mall operator or your employer to put ev charging in that parking lot. so we don't own those chargers, but much like airbnb doesn't own the room you're renting. but we wrap it into one easy to use platform for the consumer. >> aren't you selling home versions? >> we are. >> seems like a completely different business. >> it absolutely is. a lot of our -- we're also in the sleep segment. that's a different business too. there's no consumer. in the business world, the business is the customer and the driver is our customer's customer. in the fleet segment, there's no driver.

>> which of these businesses is the best business? >> they're all good businesses. they're all very different. they all have very different economics. >> let me ask you if you could say one thing to washington about these tax credits that would convince people in states that don't use ev or haven't adopted ev as much, to people who don't want the government to be involved in subsidizing businesses, what would you say to them? >> i would say if you look at promoting electrification in general, aside from the obvious environmental benefits, it's in the long-term the best way -- one of the best ways to lower the cost of living. if you can drop the cost of transportation, you drop the cost of everything. if you drop the cost of energy and transportation, which is also happening at the same time, you really have a pretty magical effect over a 20-year period or so. so we're really helping everyone have lower cost of living. your car next to your house is your biggest expense. >> we appreciate your being with

us. >> thank you. up next, we continue our version of car talk with a look at the new technology for self-driving cars when "press: here" continues.

that man running away in the fog is an engineer at california. he's going to try to hide from

an automated car. will it be able to see him hundreds of meters away? welcome back to "press: here." the answer is yes, the self-driving car will be able to see him. not with cameras but an improved version of radar developed at meta wave. meta wave is revolutionizing radar, which is an 80-year-old technology, making it cheaper and better and smaller. one physicist is leading that effort, funded by hyundai and toyota. thanks for being with us this morning. so automated cars have cameras. they have lidar, which are lasers. then radar. what makes radar so important no it seems like that's the most old fashioned of all the technologies. >> that's correct. radar is the only sensor that can reach long ranges. why do we need to reach long ranges? >> because of that guy in the fog.

>> yeah, not only the fog, but cars cannot just drive at 20 miles an hour. even if you have a level four or level five car without drivers, you cannot drive a car full speed if you cannot see far away. when i talk about far away, you'd be able to see a pedestrian like you saw in the fog video at 200-plus meters. we'll show that at ces this week. and you'll also be able to detect cars and trucks beyond 400 meters. you cannot do this with lidar. you cannot do this with camera. the radar is the only sensor. >> why is it then that google and all of those other upstarts doing automotive autonomy research, none of them are using radar. what makes your radar special? what makes it overcome the current high technology of lidar? >> analog. people are focused on digital.

we're bringing analog back because at these high frequencies, digital is not enough. you have to offset it with analog. that's why we're the only company doing these improved radar and also the 5g with analog. >> we've seen stories in the last few weeks about people attacking the cars. i'm curious as somebody who's in the industry, how do you view this? what do you think is going on? why are people behaving this way? >> that's one of the challenges, to get acceptance from the general audience about autonomous vehicles. it's happening. my daughter refuses to own a car. she loves uber and lyft. independence for them is to be connected continuously on their cell phones. independence for us was to move from point "a" to point "b." that means we have to drive. it's going to take time. eventually, it's going to happen. >> it reminds me a little bit of the people you read in the old

newspaper articles about the horseless carriage. people got very angry at cars themselves. now, if cars have radar, and some car every day h-- some dayy car has your radar, if they're all beaming radar, is that something i need to worry about? >> so interference is always a problem. >> no, no, my body. >> oh, your body. yeah, absolutely. so part of our radar, we also do artificial intelligence. we classify objects. we will know that you have cars coming at a closer distance or you have pedestrians. >> what i mean is radar beams. i'm constantly exposed to radar beams. >> going into your body. >> is that something that's a problem? >> it's not a problem because these signals decay very quickly. if you're a few meters away from the radar, you're safe. if you're behind the windshield in your car, you're fine. >> let's go back to the question you expected i was asking, and

that is, if every car has a radar and they work at certain radio frequencies, how is it that they're not all interfering with each other? >> they will. the answer is they will. today is not a problem because not all cars have these long-range powerful radars. that's why being able to focus the beam of a narrow cone, you're eliminating interference. i believe down the road, government would impose such a performance to make sure they don't cause interference, especially in high intersection places. also being able to steer the beam. so if i'm blinded by some interference, i'm moving the signal to the right, so the left to the top, to the bottom or changing the frequency so there are ways you can overcome the interference. >> will it put the radar detection device out of business? >> oh, you're talking about -- >> yeah, my radar detector would

just go bing, bing, bing. >> level four and level five, they would be compliant. i have a tesla. it complies with every speed limit on the road. >> tesla does. >> right. but i mean level four and level five, they will be compliant. it will be already programmed. it will be safer than a human driver. >> is the exciting technology -- i mean, we talk about automated cars and self-driving cars. my car, which i'm driving myself, still does amazing things. it can back itself into a parking spot. it warns me if i'm going to hit something and if i don't pay attention will stop anyway. i think that's where we're really going to get the exciting things. or is it the automated car? is it the assist or the automation? >> the assist is helping because it basically helps the driver, especially new drivers. old drivers like us, we already have the sensor. we know how to overcome situations. new drivers trying to get into that space, it helps them in terms of parking or lane assist or changing lanes.

but the most excitement is going to happen when you have a full level five car. so it's going to take decades to come into place, where you don't even have a driver behind the steering wheel. the riders as well as people on the street, they trust this car. >> let me quickly follow up. you're saying when i walk out and routinely see cars driving down my street that have nobody behind the wheel, ten years? >> yes. >> all right. >> i would say around ten years. >> and you're an m.i.t. physicist, so i'm going to take your word. doctor, thank you. >> thank you very much. well, big banks got into real trouble ten years ago. what can new start-ups learn from that? when "press: here" continues.

welcome back to "press: here." 2018 was a terrible year for the stock market. we can say that about 2019 so far as well. add to that, we're more than ten years in a growing economy and a cycle that usually lasts between five and seven years. i don't want to talk us into a recession, but it does pay to think ahead. one thing that's very different now compared to 2009, it's not just big banks lending money. san francisco is now full of what they call fin tech, small start-ups using technology and new ideas to lend money. this is blue vine, one of the most successful, sitting on loads of cash, making loans to

other start-ups and small businesses. citibank is an investor. silicon valley bank is an investor, as well as microsoft and traditional venture capital. in fact, more than a billion in funding. now, a billion in funding, not to run your business, but rather to lend out. have i got that correct? >> we've financed over a billion and a half to small businesses today. >> and you're getting that money through places like citibank? >> citibank did not provide us capital. we have a warehouse -- >> of cash? >> a warehouse of cash, yeah. there's a term for a facility that we have, which we use to lend out money. we have one facility from credit suisse. >> why doesn't credit suisse lend it out? >> well, you noted we have several banks invested in the company. what we do different than a bank is how we underwrite small

businesses. it is very inefficient for banks to underwrite small businesses. they do it very manually. we do it completely different. for us, the fractional cost to underwrite a small business is almost zero. >> it's essentially done on the iphone, right? >> well, we use a lot of technology. >> well, on my end. >> on your end, yes. >> so the cost of lending becomes very low. >> yes. >> but aren't small businesses traditionally -- don't they get their funding from venture capitalists? why do they need to go to you? do you make it easier for them? is it easier to get in touch with you? is it easier to get approval? what's the advantage of using you as opposed to pitching a bunch of angel investors or vcs, i think they're called? >> well, we raise capital from vcs. they finance more technology companies. we focus on the traditional small business, the brick and mortar small business, the restaurant, the barbershop, the construction guy. these are not funded by venture

capitalists. traditionally they have been funded by banks. but since 2008, banks have significantly pulled out from that industry. when you look today, gaining financing from a bank for a small business, only one out of four can get approved. so that's very difficult. that's where we come in. our only purpose is to finance small businesses. >> you obviously are talking to a lot of small businesses every day. there's a lot of disquiet right now about the u.s. economy and about the global economy. what are you hearing back from your clients or customers, whatever you call them? >> well, our customers are consumers, so they are aware of what's going on in the markets. you know, people are looking and seeing what's going on, whether interest rates are going up or the markets are volatile. but no one has a crystal ball. things are still going well. the businesses we finance are doing well, they're growing. they're hiring more employees. they're investing in their business. yes, everybody is aware, but

nothing is really happening yet right now. so we encourage them to manage the risk and be smart around how they manage their financing, but other things they can do in their business. >> you provide tools for that? >> we provide a lot of content. we talk a lot about these types of things, what they can do in terms of managing risk, how they can be more prepared if a recession hits. but ultimately, they are smart entrepreneurs and smart enough to manage their business. >> i talked about how fin tech is this brand new thing essentially. a few years old. it didn't exist in 2009, the last recession. admittedly, the 2009 recession was kind of unique. are there lessons we can learn from 2009 that the banks didn't learn the last time we went through something that again we may not go through any time soon, but maybe we will? >> the way we underwrite is data driven. the data doesn't lie. that's lesson number one.

looking retrospective, some of the signs of that recession, the securities -- >> oh, the signs were there, yeah. >> if you knew where to look. >> yes. >> not enough people did. >> that is true. what makes us unique is we acquire or gain a lot of data sources. we have more than 20 external data sources. we collect hundreds of variables. and we analyze them through models, through humans that look at a lot of aggregated information. this is the way that we sort of assess the risk and try to look at signals that would allure us to changing the environment. >> can you give us an example or two? what kind of signals? >> in our world, an indicator that things are changing is leverage. how much debt businesses are carrying relative to their income. that's something we monitor very, very closely. >> what are you seeing? >> we're not seeing significant

changes right now. right now it's not that business businesses do not carry debt. however, we're not seeing alarming leverage ratios. what we're seeing are things are still healthy. small businesses are growing. we're not seeing declines. for us, the external signs of the market and everything is there, but we're not seeing it yet for the businesses we're financing. >> so i just want to know, why did you decide to start blue vine? what was your impetus for doing that? >> first of all, there's a personal angle. my father was a small business owner. he owned a physical therapy clinic in new york for over 25 years. his father was a small business owner. he owned a hardware store for 40 years. so for me, there's kind of that personal angle. i've seen my father struggle with cash flow when i was young, and he owned the business. his business was doing well. that's the interesting thing. many small businesses are actually thriving, but they have structural cash flow issues because their customers take a

long time to pay or because they need to make payroll every two weeks while their customers pay in a different cycle or because their suppliers require payment ahead while they get payment from their customers in a delay. there's a lot of reasons why small businesses may be doing very, very well, but they still need financing. i saw that firsthand when i was growing up. so for me, there's this personal mission of helping small businesses thrive. >> ceo of blue vine. appreciate you being with us this morning. >> thank you. >> "press: here" will be back in a minute.

this truck really needs to be aired down in this soft sand. but when you air down, your tires spread out and there's a bunch of sharp rocks. i just took the time to air up because i'd rather air up than get a flat tire. but it took some time, so now we got to go. >> that's road show reporter and

race car driver emmie hall racing in the moroccan desert. welcome back. you are a race car driver and automotive journalist. you helped us off the top with our first two automotive guests. i thought you did quite well in the fin tech side as well. tell me about what we just saw. you're racing across the deserts of morocco. >> well, it's actually a rally. it's not a race. the gazelle rally is a navigational rally. it's all about precise navigation, point to point, with no gps. all your navigation is done with a compass and a map. you have to plot those points on a map and drive as straight as possible because it's about the shortest distance, not fastest time. you have to drive as straight as possible and hope you're on the right heading. >> fewest miles logged wins the race. >> correct. now, that is in morocco. i've done that three times. my biggest finish was fifth

place in a land rover defender. there's also one here in america that's very similar called the rebel rally, where you are navigating for check points, no gps, but in that you have three different levels of check points. greens are super easy to find. blues are a little harder to find. both of those are marked. you also have black check points which are not marked at all. you have to drive to where you think it is and triangulate using your map. >> who won that race? >> oh, i did. i won that rally. my navigator and i won. and because it is a navigational rally -- >> let me show folks pictures. >> that's actually my old car. >> very good. but that's clearly going fast. there's another picture. >> yeah, we're not on the ground. what you don't see in that clip is there's another car rolled over right on the other side i was trying to avoid. >> so fast is good too. >> fast is good too. although, that vehicle is an air cooled volkswagen. so it's about 90 horsepower. but it feels really fast when

you're in it. i really like those momentum cars where you have to go fast, drive a slow car fast. >> emmie hall is an award winning race car driver and automotive journalist. and new to this program. we're so delighted to have you. >> thanks so much. it was fun. >> thank you. that's our show for this week. my thanks to my guests. and thank you for making us part of your sunday morning. bay area kari is tracking how long you )l need your umbrella. plus: car repair disputes following fender benders. the free inspection that

will help you find out whether your repair work is done properly. join us monday morning from 4:30 to 7. 4:30 to 7. to "comunidad del valle." i'm damian trujillo. and today, a look back. our sit-down interviews with george lopez, vicente fox, and little joe, on your "comunidad del valle." male announcer: nbc bay area presents "comunidad del valle" with damian trujillo. ♪ damian: we're going to start today with our exclusive sit-down interview with former mexican president vicente fox. this interview was a few years ago, but it's timely given mexico has just elected a new president. vicente fox: i worked 15 years for the coca-cola company. i became president, ceo. i worked 15 years for private business, and i learned there about accountability, honesty, and hard working. and this is the way i have acted in politics.