People don't prepare, so either pressuring or mandating congress to keep AM a standard is necessary.

There is already mature roadway infrastructure that provides localized announcements via AM - tunnels, bridges, mountain passes, low-vis areas, flood prone passes, hurricane evacuation corrodors, etc. I would imagine the cost of pressuring automakers to keep AM pales in comparison to the cost of updating public emergency communication infra.

I'm also a ham but I'm also a person who sometimes forgets there's an air compressor beneath my trunk floor.