Final answer:
The consumer organization uses statistical data to make predictions about the automotive industry, including the increase in electric cars. Statistics are also used to test whether an auto manufacturer's fleet meets specific fuel economy standards by using hypothesis testing and comparing sample means and standard deviations to policy requirements.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question pertains to probability and statistics, particularly in the context of estimating certain outcomes for a fleet of passenger cars over a one-year period. When the consumer organization estimates that 17% of cars will (A) be electric, (B) experience recalls, (C) be self-driving, or (D) have reduced mileage, they are using statistical data to inform the public and various stakeholders about possible trends and issues in the automobile industry.
To analyze whether a manufacturer's fleet meets the fuel economy standard set by a policy requires statistical hypothesis testing. This typically involves calculating a test statistic based on the sample mean and standard deviation and comparing this to a critical value to determine if there is enough evidence to reject the null hypothesis at a specific significance level, such as 5%.
In the specific example where an auto manufacturer's fleet has a sample mean fuel economy of 34.6 mpg, a hypothesis test would be conducted to see if this mean is statistically different from the policy requirement of 35.5 mpg, considering the known standard deviation of the fleet.