Communauto is enthousiast about the City of Montréal’s position shift concerning free-floating carsharing vehicles

Montréal, March 15th 2018 – Communauto, the largest free-floating carsharing operator in Greater Montréal, salutes the City of Montréal’s new position on free-floating carsharing vehicles.

“Demands for free-floating vehicles are far from being met. Also, the potential is great compared to other Canadian cities. The City’s new policy will allow us to overcome the barriers that have slowed us down in the past. It will also contribute to significantly reduce the circulation of cars and their emissions.” says Mr. Benoît Robert, CEO of Communauto.

The new administration’s initiatives : a positive response to Communauto’s demands:

Enlarging the free-floating service area to include the boroughs of Ahuntsic-Cartierville and Ville-Marie. Note that the free-floating service is already available in Verdun and Outremont. As a result, the City’s new policy will allow us to improve the service coverage in those boroughs ;

Eliminating the cap on the number of permits for hybrid free-floating vehicles and simplifying procedures to obtain them ;

The introduction of incentives for the electrification of the fleet of vehicles, starting by a lower price for the vignettes emitted for those particular vehicles. Communauto already has Canada’s largest carsharing fleet of electric vehicles (120 EV). Most of them are part of its free-floating service.

A positive alternative
“Apprehensions were brought up in the past about the free-floating carsharing service being detrimental to the cab industry, and eventually cannibalizing public transit. After several years of service, it seems obvious to us that there are more opportunities than risks in developing mobility alternatives to the private ownership of cars. Communauto is strongly committed to strengthening the relationship between the actors within this ecosystem”. adds M. Robert.

– 30 –

About Communauto
Communauto is the largest carsharing service in Québec. Founded in 1994, the company with an environmental, social and urbanistic mission has a fleet of over 2000 vehicles in 8 cities: Kingston, Ottawa, Gatineau, Montréal (Laval and Longueuil), Québec, Sherbrooke, Halifax and Paris (France).

In Montréal, Communauto offers to its users a station-bound service with reservation of over 1000 vehicles and a free-floating service, Auto-mobile, that counts 600 vehicles.

Communauto is also the largest operator of shared electric vehicles in Canada. Over the years, it also developed several partnerships with public transportation operators, urban and long distance, taxi companies and bike sharing.

For more information:

Marco Viviani, vice-président

Développement stratégique 1 514 499-2804

mviviani@communauto.ca

AEye Advisory Board Profile: Willie Gault

We sat down with each of our Advisory Board Members to ask them why they’re excited about working with AEye…
Willie Gault is a former NFL wide receiver and Olympic athlete. Gault was an All-American at the University of Tennessee from 1979 to 1982. He played in the National Football League for 11 seasons for the Chicago Bears and Los Angeles Raiders. Considered one of the fastest NFL players of all-time, Gault was a member of the Chicago Bears team that won Super Bowl XX, and was also a participant of both the summer and winter U.S. Olympic teams. Gault is currently an investor, remains active, and holds several world records in masters track and field.

Q: What in your past experience ultimately drew you to the autonomous vehicle arena?
As a professional athlete, I have always been fascinated and amazed by human perception and the role it plays in athletic performance. The brain’s ability to sense the details in the world around you and then accurately calculate where your body needs to be in space and time is remarkable. I have been curious about how these capabilities might be replicated with technology and artificial intelligence. Recently, I have been tracking the application of artificial intelligence in autonomous vehicles which led me to AEye.

Q: Why AEye?
What AEye is doing aligns with my interests in biomimicry, which uses knowledge of natural processes found in humans, plants, and animals to better inform technology and design. After I found out AEye was pursuing research in this field, I knew I had to be part of it.

Q: Where do you see ADAS solutions, autonomous vehicles, and/or artificial perception, heading within the next few years? The next decade? Beyond? How do you see AEye playing a pivotal role in this vision?
I live in Southern California where traffic has a major impact on quality of life. Autonomous vehicles will not only improve safety and efficiency on the roads, but will greatly improve quality of life around the world. I would like to see this technology adopted quickly and widely. However, one of the barriers to its adoption is cost. I believe that AEye’s iDAR system can be manufactured at tremendous scale, efficiently, and at a price point that encourages rapid adoption.

ALL PROFILES
Advisory Board Profile: Elliot Garbus — The Future of Autonomous Vehicles: Part I – Think Like a Robot, Perceive Like a HumanAEye Introduces Groundbreaking iDAR TechnologyThe Future of Autonomous Vehicles: Part II – Blind Technology without Compassion Is RuthlessCB Insights Unveils Second Annual AI 100 Companies at A-ha!Observe, Orient, Decide, Act: How AEye’s iDAR System Adopts Principles of the OODA Loop to Achieve Intelligent, Long-Range DetectionAEye Announces the AE100 Robotic Perception System for Autonomous VehiclesAEye Announces Addition of Aravind Ratnam as Vice President of Product ManagementAEye Introduces Next Generation of Artificial Perception: New Dynamic Vixels™Nate Ramanathan Joins AEye as Vice President of OperationsElon Musk Is Right: LiDAR Is a Crutch (Sort of.)

Elon Musk Is Right: LiDAR Is a Crutch (Sort of.)

By Luis Dussan

Tesla founder Elon Musk recently declared that LiDAR is a “crutch” for autonomous vehicle makers. The comment sparked headlines and raised eyebrows in the industry. Given that this vision technology is the core of many companies’ self-driving car strategies, his view strikes many as anathema or just plain nuts.

But for the moment, let’s ignore the fact that LiDAR is vital to self-driving cars from GM, Toyota and others. Forget that the most advanced autonomous vehicle projects have focused on developing laser-sensing systems.

Even disregard that the alleged theft of LiDAR secrets was at heart of the legal battle between Uber and Alphabet’s Waymo. Waymo claimed that LiDAR is essential technology for autonomous vehicles and won a settlement recently worth about $245 million.

The truth is: Mr. Musk is right. Relying solely on LiDAR can steer autonomous vehicle companies into innovation cul-de-sacs.

LiDAR is not enough. Autonomous vehicles require a rapid, accurate and complete perception system. It is a system-level problem that requires a system-level solution.

My agreement with Mr. Musk may seem surprising given that our company, AEye, sees LiDAR as playing a significant role in making driverless cars a commercial reality.

But we too have realized that if autonomous vehicles are ever going to be capable of avoiding accidents and saving lives, LiDAR is not the answer. At least not by itself.

Not THE answer, but part of the answer…
At Tesla, Mr. Musk is forsaking LiDAR for a 2D camera-based vision system. While Mr. Musk is known for disruptive thinking, it is hard to escape the fact that autonomous vehicles move through a 3D world and successful navigation of that world requires the seamless integration of both 2D and 3D data precisely mapped to both time and space.

At AEye, we believe LiDAR is the foundation of the solution when it seamlessly integrates with a multi-sensor perception system that is truly intelligent and dynamic. Our research has produced an elegant and multi-dimensional visual processing system modeled after the most effective in existence — the human visual cortex.

In fact, AEye’s initial perception system, called iDAR (Intelligent Detection and Ranging), offers a robotic perception system that is more reliable than human vision. LiDAR integrates with a low-light camera, embedded artificial intelligence and at-the-edge processing to enable a car’s vision system to replicate how the human visual cortex quickly interprets a scene.
In short, iDAR enables cars to see like people.

Why this is the superior approach?
In his skepticism of LiDAR, Mr. Musk has curiously bet on a “camera-mostly” strategy when building a vision system for autonomous Tesla vehicles. He has previously made bold (many say unrealistic) predictions that Tesla would achieve full Level 5 autonomous driving with camera-mostly vision in 2019. Navigant Research, in their annual ranking of self-driving vehicle makers, says this is “unlikely to ever be achievable” and rates Tesla at the back of the pack.

The company’s Autopilot system relies on cameras, some radar, and GPS. It has suffered setbacks due to a split with its camera supplier in 2016 after a fatal accident that investigators have blamed partly on Autopilot. Last month, a Tesla smashed into a firetruck in Culver City, California, and the driver said it was “on autopilot.”

The evidence strongly argues against Mr. Musk’s decision to bet on passive optical image processing systems. Existing 2D image processors and 2D to 3D image conversion concepts have serious flaws that can only be addressed with massive computing power and more importantly — algorithms that have not been invented, and are many years away from becoming a reality. This makes this approach too costly, inefficient and cumbersome to achieve Level 5 autonomous driving at commercial scale.

At AEye we know that integrating cameras, agile LiDAR, and AI equals a perception system that is better than the sum of its parts. It surpasses both the human eye and camera alone, which is required if you don’t have the sophistication of the human brain yet replicated.

In his “crutch” comments, Mr. Musk predicted that LiDAR-based systems will make cars “expensive, ugly and unnecessary,” adding: “I think they will find themselves at a competitive disadvantage.” The truth is that size, weight, power, and cost are decreasing for vehicle navigation grade LiDAR. And they will fall further. AEye, and maybe others, will see to that.

We respect Musk’s innovations and are grateful to him shedding light on where LiDAR needs to go to reach full autonomy. But in the end, as we see LiDAR as a lever, rather than a crutch, we can only give him partial credit for his understanding of the way forward.

ALL NEWS & VIEWS
Elon Musk Is Right: LiDAR Is a Crutch (Sort of.) — AEye Introduces Groundbreaking iDAR TechnologyObserve, Orient, Decide, Act: How AEye’s iDAR System Adopts Principles of the OODA Loop to Achieve Intelligent, Long-Range DetectionAEye Introduces Next Generation of Artificial Perception: New Dynamic Vixels™AEye Announces the AE100 Robotic Perception System for Autonomous VehiclesThe Future of Autonomous Vehicles: Part I – Think Like a Robot, Perceive Like a HumanAEye Announces Addition of Aravind Ratnam as Vice President of Product ManagementCB Insights Unveils Second Annual AI 100 Companies at A-ha!AEye Granted Foundational Patents For Core Solid-State MEMs-Based Agile LiDAR And Embedded AI TechnologyGartner Names AEye Cool Vendor in AI for Computer VisionAEye Welcomes James Robnett to Executive Team as Vice President of Automotive Business Development

Mazda Reveals All-New Mazda3

2018/11/28 Products and Technology Redesigned model kicks off a new generation of Mazda cars HIROSHIMA, Japan—Mazda Motor Corporation today hosted the world premiere of the all-new Mazda3. The fully redesigned model will be rolled out to global markets starting from North America in early 2019. The all-new Mazda3 will be on display at the Los… Continue reading Mazda Reveals All-New Mazda3

The building blocks for the future of the BMW Group. The BMW Vision iNEXT celebrates its world premiere in Los Angeles.

Munich. The BMW Vision iNEXT provides an insight into the future of personal mobility. The latest Vision Vehicle from the BMW Group symbolises the dawn of a new era in driving pleasure – and is celebrating its world premiere at the Los Angeles Auto Show. Far more than a vehicle alone, the BMW Vision iNEXT… Continue reading The building blocks for the future of the BMW Group. The BMW Vision iNEXT celebrates its world premiere in Los Angeles.

New York Holiday Route Update

The Rockefeller Christmas Tree Lighting will be attracting thousands of spectators throughout the holiday season. The Christmas Tree is on display from November 28 through January 7, 2019. Streets will be closed at the police department’s discretion so in order to best serve our riders we’ve made minor changes to Midtown Getaround PM and East Side Express PM. The… Continue reading New York Holiday Route Update

Tower International to Announce Second Quarter 2018 Financial Results

Tower International to Announce Second Quarter 2018 Financial Results

LIVONIA, Mich., July 18, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Tower International, Inc. (NYSE: TOWR), a leading global manufacturer of engineered automotive structural metal components and assemblies, will report second quarter 2018 financial results before the market opens on Tuesday, July 31, 2018, via PR Newswire. At 11:00 a.m. EDT on that date, a conference call is scheduled to discuss the results in further detail, as well as other related matters.

To participate in the conference call:

Domestic calls: (866) 393-4576

International calls: (706) 679-1462

Tower will provide a broadcast of the conference call for the general public via a live audio webcast. The conference call, along with the financial results release, presentation material and other supplemental information, can be accessed through Tower's Web site at www.towerinternational.com.

The audio replay will be available two hours following the call at:

Domestic calls: (855) 859-2056

International calls: (404) 537-3406

The audio replay will be available until August 31, 2018 (Conference I.D. 5089747).

Investor & Media Contact:
Derek Fiebig
(248) 675-6457
fiebig.derek@towerinternational.com

View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/tower-international-to-announce-second-quarter-2018-financial-results-300683011.html

SOURCE Tower International, Inc.

Tower International Reports Second Quarter Results and Affirms Earnings and Free Cash Flow Outlook for 2018

Tower International Reports Second Quarter Results and Affirms Earnings and Free Cash Flow Outlook for 2018

LIVONIA, Mich., July 31, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Tower International, Inc. (NYSE: TOWR), a leading global manufacturer of engineered automotive structural metal components and assemblies, today announced second quarter 2018 results and affirmed its earnings and free cash flow outlook for 2018.

Revenue for the second quarter was $556 million compared with $490 million in the second quarter of 2017 representing a 13 percent increase.

Net income was $22.4 million or $1.07 per share increasing from $19.2 million or $0.92 per share in the second quarter last year. As detailed below, this year's second quarter included certain items that, in aggregate, decreased results by $468 thousand. Excluding these items and comparable items in the second quarter of 2017, adjusted earnings per share amounted to $1.09, an increase of 12 percent from the $0.97 reported a year ago.

Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $58.2 million slightly ahead of the Company's outlook and up 10 percent from $52.8 million a year ago.

For the quarter, net cash provided by continuing operating activities was $49 million. Cash disbursed for purchases of equipment totaled $40 million resulting in Free Cash Flow of $9 million.

Full year 2018 outlook includes

Revenue of $2.17 billion, reflecting primarily net new business of $125 million, favorable foreign exchange and higher steel prices;

Adjusted EBITDA of $230 million;

Diluted Adjusted EPS of $4.10 per share; and

Free Cash Flow of $50 million, with strong free cash flow in the second half of the year more than offsetting the cash outflow in the first half of the year.

The Company's outlook for third quarter 2018 includes revenue of $525 million, Adjusted EBITDA of $57 million and Diluted Adjusted Earnings Per Share of $1.04.

“We remain balanced in our approach of growing profitably, reducing leverage – as evidenced by our July pay down of $50 million of Term Loan debt, and returning capital to shareholders,” said CEO Jim Gouin. “Tower delivered solid financial results in the second quarter as Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EPS both increased by more than 10 percent. Revenue for the quarter increased 13 percent as Tower continues to benefit from the secular trends of outsourcing and a continued production mix shift from cars to trucks and SUVs. Tower's North American revenue continued to significantly outpace the market, growing by 16 percent while the industry production declined by 2 percent. These trends, in combination with our solid backlog of net new business, gives us further confidence that we will continue to grow our revenue faster than the industry in total.”

Tower to Host Conference Call Today at 11 a.m. EDT

Tower will discuss its second quarter 2018 results and other related matters in a conference call at 11 a.m. EDT today. Participants may listen to the audio portion of the conference call either through a live audio webcast on the Company's website or by telephone. The slide presentation and webcast can be accessed via the investor relations portion of Tower's website www.towerinternational.com. To dial into the conference call, domestic callers should dial (866) 393-4576, international callers should dial (706) 679-1462. An audio recording of the call will be available approximately two hours after the completion of the call. To access this recording, please dial (855) 859-2056 (domestic) or (404) 537-3406 (international) and reference Conference I.D. #5089747. A webcast replay will also be available and may be accessed via Tower's website.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

This press release includes the following non-GAAP financial measures: “adjusted EBITDA”, “adjusted earnings per share”, and “free cash flow”. We define adjusted EBITDA as net income/(loss) before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, restructuring items and other adjustments described in the reconciliations provided in this press release. Adjusted EBITDA margin represents Adjusted EBITDA divided by revenues, Adjusted earnings per share exclude certain income and expense items described in the reconciliation provided in this press release. Free cash flow is defined as cash provided by continuing operating activities less cash disbursed for purchases of property, plant and equipment. We use adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA margin, adjusted earnings per share, and free cash flow as supplements to information provided in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) in evaluating our business and they are included in this press release because they are principal factors upon which our management assesses performance and in certain instances in measuring performance for compensation purposes. Reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable financial measures calculated in accordance with GAAP are set forth below. The non-GAAP measures presented above are not measures of performance under GAAP. These measures should not be considered as alternatives for the most directly comparable financial measures calculated in accordance with GAAP. Other companies in our industry may define these non-GAAP measures differently than we do and, as a result, these non-GAAP measures may not be comparable to similarly titled measures used by other companies in our industry; and certain of our non-GAAP financial measures exclude financial information that some may consider important in evaluating our performance. Given the inherent uncertainty regarding mark to market adjustments of financial instruments, potential gain or loss on our Discontinued Operations, potential restructuring expenses, and expenses related to our long-term incentive compensation programs in any future period, a reconciliation of forward-looking financial measures to the most directly comparable financial measures calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP is not feasible. Consequently, any attempt to disclose such reconciliations would imply a degree of precision that could be confusing or misleading to investors. The magnitude of these items, however, may be significant.

Forward-Looking Statements and Risk Factors

This press release contains statements which constitute forward-looking statements, within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including but not limited to statements regarding the Company's projected third quarter earnings and revenues, full year earnings, cash flow and revenues, net new business backlog, business growth, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA margin and free cash flow. The forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “plan,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “project,” “target,” and other similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this press release and are based upon management's current expectations and beliefs concerning future developments and their potential effects on us. Such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. The following important factors, as well as risk factors described in our reports filed with the SEC, could cause our actual results to differ materially from estimates or expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements:

global automobile production volumes;

the financial condition of our customers and suppliers;

our ability to make scheduled payments of principal or interest on our indebtedness and comply with the covenants and restrictions contained in the instruments governing our indebtedness;

our ability to refinance our indebtedness;

risks associated with our non-U.S. operations, including foreign exchange risks and economic uncertainty in some regions;

any increase in the expense and funding requirements of our pension and other postretirement benefits;

our customers' ability to obtain equity and debt financing for their businesses;

our dependence on our largest customers;

pricing pressure from our customers;

changes to U.S. trade and tariff policies and the reaction of other countries thereto;

work stoppages or other labor issues affecting us or our customers or suppliers;

our ability to integrate acquired businesses;

our ability to take advantage of emerging secular trends;

risks associated with business divestitures; and

costs or liabilities relating to environmental and safety regulations.

We do not assume any obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements contained in this press release.

Contact:
Derek Fiebig
Executive Director, Investor & External Relations
(248) 675-6457
fiebig.derek@towerinternational.com

TOWER INTERNATIONAL, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS

(Amounts in thousands, except share and per share amounts – unaudited)

Three Months Ended June 30,

Six Months Ended June 30,

2018

2017

2018

2017

Revenues

$ 556,007

$ 489,925

$ 1,119,513

$ 987,515

Cost of sales

491,948

428,807

995,608

870,097

Gross profit

64,059

61,118

123,905

117,418

Selling, general, and administrative expenses

30,869

29,007

63,103

58,232

Amortization expense

108

113

220

216

Restructuring and asset impairment charges, net

269

3,337

1,817

7,248

Operating income

32,813

28,661

58,765

51,722

Interest expense

5,255

1,807

10,417

2,260

Interest income

112

86

269

133

Net periodic benefit income

559

479

1,117

958

Other expense

977

977

575

Income before provision for income taxes and income / (loss) from

discontinued operations

27,252

27,419

48,757

49,978

Provision for income taxes

5,539

7,672

10,606

14,168

Income from continuing operations

21,713

19,747

38,151

35,810

Income / (loss) from discontinued operations, net of tax

663

(489)

1,525

861

Net income

22,376

19,258

39,676

36,..