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Believe it or not, the U.S. Department of Transportation has convened a summit, yes a summit, to ponder the implications of “distracted driving” and try to figure out what to do about it. Today’s highlights include a Seventeen magazine editor moderating a panel for young folks to discuss why texting behind the wheel is a one-way ticket to an opposable-thumb early demise.

Toyota is having all kinds of problems at the moment. There are lawsuits, sales are way down, and the company posted its first-ever loss this year. Now comes word that the largest global automaker can’t even design a decent floormat. Yes, that’s right, a humble hunk of plastic and cloth meant to cushion the driver’s feet and prevent interior carpet from getting dirty has led to a recall of 3.8 million vehicles.

CNBC’s Phil LeBeau seems like a knowledgeable enough car reporter, and unlike many other CNBC heads, he almost never bleats, shouts, or uses dippy finance-dude lingo.

Here’s a case of intense over-specification leading to alarming over-generalization. Felix Salmon is riffing off one of James Fallows’ car-driving correspondents admitting weight loss when spending time in urban environments, walking more. Salmon extrapolates from this to argue that, yes, substituting walking for driving can lead to weight loss (no debate there).

Fisker Automotive recently received a $529 million loan form the U.S. Department of Energy to develop a plug-in hybrid-electric sedan that will sell for around $40,000 (actually, it will probably sell for around $50,000, but will qualify for a $7,500 federal tax credit). A few months back, Tesla Motors, a Fisker competitor, got a $465 million DOE loan, to build an all-electric sedan, the Model S.

Here are the nuts and bolts of Fiat/Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne’s plan to revive the number three Detroit automaker, which he and the U.S. government rescued from oblivion earlier this year (my info comes from the Detroit Free Press):

“Marchionne is to present a five-year plan to the company's board of directors Friday. If the board approves, he will submit the plan to President Barack Obama's auto task force next week, said company insiders.

Edmunds.com is a consumer auto site that also produces reams of industry analysis. Every month, they project sales by automaker, and they also break out relative market share. With the auto industry being radically rejiggered worldwide, this can be a vitally interesting set of numbers.

I have to say, I saw this one coming. In the USA, that which happens on the golf course often begins to happen in the real world. So-called "neighborhood electric vehicles" (NEVs) are busting out of their golf-course-development enclaves and becoming short-hop rides for folks who just want to dash down to the store for a gallon of milk, a gallon of ice cream, and a gallon of chocolate sauce. These NEVs only have max speeds of around 30-40 mph, so they're faster than walking.

This just in via Autoblog: Hummer—which is being purchased from General Motors (MTLQQ) by a Chinese company, Tengzhong—is planning to build a new $9.4 million headquarters in Michigan. By not moving to China, Hummer could end up employing as many as 300 people in the United States. Dust off that resume and go sell the most evil vehicle ever set upon this spinning globe!

Fisker Automotive, an electric carmaker that’s often spoken of in the same company as Tesla Motors (and occasionally the same lawsuits) has just, like Tesla, qualified for a Department of Energy loan. Tesla got $465 million earlier this year, and now Fisker has received $528.7 million. Both companies are supposed to use the money to bring affordable electric vehicles to market.

I think there’s already a good chance that there’s a Warren Buffett-driven Asian battery bubble inflating (that’s lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, by the way). Now it may have morphed into a Chinese auto-industry bubble. I’m not sure how I feel about Matt Taibbi’s controversial analysis of Goldman Sach’s bubble-surfing, but it is true that the bank has positioned itself to take advantage of bubbles when they occur.

Chrysler is a basket case, right? Starved for new products while former owner Cerberus Capital Management tried to stave off bankruptcy, then officially bankrupt, now under the control of Fiat, but with no snappy new Fiat imports online for a couple of years. Still, the perennially smallest of the Big Three, like all car companies, spends a lot of money on advertising. Around a billion annually, in fact. So while the Pentastar may not exactly be cool right now, its ad budget certainly is.