German automaker Volkswagen might be the only one against this decision.

VW opposed to the new rules because “they are lax towards light trucks.” According the proposed standards, “passenger cars would have to improve fuel-economy by 5 percent per year, while for light trucks the figure is only 3.5%.”

Volkswagen U.S. spokesman Tony Cervone said in a statement: “The largest trucks carry almost no burden for the 2017-2020 time frame, and are granted numerous ways to mathematically meet targets in the outlying years without significant real-world gains. The proposal encourages manufacturers and customers to shift toward larger, less efficient vehicles, defeating the goal of reduced greenhouse gas emissions.”

Source: WCF

“The LAPD bomb squad is using a remote-controlled robot to coax the suspect out of his Volkswagen beetle. This device is operated by a human, and is not autonomous — sort of a humanoid drone, a machine proxy for a human negotiator…At least four police cruisers blocked the red Volkswagen Beetle in the driveway of a parking lot on Veteran Avenue just south of Wilshire Boulevard. Officers stood nearby with their guns pointed at the vehicle, and a police robot wheeled its way next to the driver’s side door as the standoff continued. A military-style armored vehicle was also brought to the scene and was parked near the vehicle.” – According to BoingBoing.

According to an anonymous source: That particular piece of equipment is a Remotec (a subsidiary of Northrop-Grumman) model F-6A by the looks of it. It has 3 cameras, a microphone and a speaker. It can be operated remotely by a fiber optic tether or by radio waves. It is used by Law enforcement and the Military typically in bomb disposal operations. The use in hostage situations is not unprecedented however.

Good old fashion teargas put an end to this standoff – and the authorities identified the man as a 56-year-old from Westchester. His mother told the local papers he suffers from depression. The LAPD went to the man’s home in that area to search for bomb-making equipment but apparently didn’t find any.