Cars of tomorrow may lack life-saving AM radios

As technology evolves, concern is mounting that the automobiles of tomorrow may not roll off the assembly line with AM radios in their dashboards — an absence that could raise dangers during times of crisis, cutting Americans off from vital information.

Carmakers say they’re making the move not just to save money but because electric vehicles cause interference with analog AM reception. The European Union, though, has an answer — mandating digital radios in new cars as of 2018, which solves the electromagnetic problem without creating a new one.