AVCampos

Actually, the implementation of autonomy on 8448 is a pair of bumper sensors that let it know if it hit something on the left or right side, so I have a slight feeling that it wouldn't be quite well accepted in real life.

Well, it's probably not as heavy, but 8448 did come with instructions for motorisation with a single 9V motor (twin motors optional), and even autonomous driving with an RCX.

☝️ This. Not only that, but some C+ hardware, namely the Porsche all-in-one hub, is also artificially limited at the hardware level. From my understanding, its memory is encrypted and therefore can't be flashed with alternative firmware such as Pybricks. Fortunately the folks behind the BrickController 2 fork are doing a great work to alleviate this limitation. Yes. You can replace its firmware with Pybricks', transfer your own program to it, and let it run autonomously (and/or controlled with an Xbox controller or the LEGO train controller, if you so choose).

Apart from the "hey, that's [brand], I want it" crowd, I don't see a need for a licensed truck: it'll just limit the design and potentially increase the price. IMO branding isn't as important for the general populace on trucks as it is on cars.

Speaking of new car transporter, I wonder what improvements could be made to 42098 to justify a new, overdue car transporter for its gang? The first thing that pops in my mind is the usage of pneumatics for the various ramps, but, since those tend to lose pressure and sag over time, they'd have to be connected to bistable linkages.

If they made them in purple and lime green, they could say it's another collab with Hasbro, call them Constructicons, and post somewhere instructions on how to use the combined parts to build a tiny Devastator.

A 4L pin would be at the top of my list.

I'm looking forward to those: if anything, at the very least they're a welcome variation from all the licensed cars.

I'd expect them to cost the same as the CMFs and the blind-bag F1s.

Actually, a stud is 5 mm in diameter. A brick, or module if talking about studless, is what's 8 mm in width. But yes, I know that, when people refer to studs as a unit of measure, they mean bricks/modules, so your answer isn't wrong.

Yeah, I can imagine buckets of those left ripped open in the supermarket.

Collectible minifigsmodels and a celebratory set aren't mutually exclusive... I hope.

I feel those are one year early: they would've been a quirky (but hopefully not the only one) celebration of Technic's 50th anniversary in 2027.

The image does say that it's not the final artwork.