I'll agree, if we want capitalism to work for us, the government shouldn't have its hand forcing radio into cars, since radio is a convenience. Consumer demand put radio into cars in the first place, now people are into streaming, and manufacturers want money from subscriptions, and the listener statistics that go with it.
Radio should have been positioning itself as a necessary information service and emergency communications when other systems go down, like cell phones and the internet. In the testimonies I heard, they weren't even running that angle. If a disaster happens and there's no power, and phones, internet and TV and local radio stations are all down, anyone could go to the car and tune in a distant AM radio station.
AM radio could be used for a Conelrad 2.0 type system, where special hardened stations come on air in emergencies, and it would be much easier today with the small efficient transmitters and antennas we have now.
I used to think those little dinky car fin antennas had to be poor, such a small aperture for AM signals especially, but after hearing then in a couple of new cars, a KIA and an Elantra, I've changed my mind. The signal pickup was actually really good! The receivers are using DSP, with auto-bandwidth, low distortion and noise reduction, and at low volume there are enough highs you could think it was FM.
I believe that they're using active antennas, which are 'voltage probes' that can be a few inches long, yet very wide band as they work with the car's ground plane.
As for AM noise in an EV, there are some EVs with AM radios, so apparently it can be done.
The way I see it, there's 'static' on both sides of the argument.
I think AM radio is MAGAnificent!
