Category: News Site

UPDATE 3-Hyundai Motor suffers first net loss in 8 years as China sales skid

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s Hyundai Motor (005380.KS) surprised the market on Thursday by posting its first quarterly net loss in at least eight years as its vehicle sales slumped in the key China market. FILE PHOTO – Hyundai Motor’s vehicles are displayed at a Hyundai Motorstudio in Goyang, South Korea May 29, 2017. REUTERS/Kim… Continue reading UPDATE 3-Hyundai Motor suffers first net loss in 8 years as China sales skid

VW to join Tesla in the charging and energy storage businesses

Volkswagen has announced plans to set up a new brand called Elli – for “electric life” -to sell EV charging stations, stationary storage batteries and electric services such as clean power. Elli, which will initially be focused in Europe, will sell various home charger models, including two 11 kW wall boxes with or without WiFi… Continue reading VW to join Tesla in the charging and energy storage businesses

Europcar’s Mobility Joins Smart Cities Platform

Nicolas Bailleux, who recently joined Europcar Mobility Group as head of the Mobility Lab, will oversee the partnership. Photo courtesy of Europcar.  Europcar Mobility Group is forming a partnership between its Mobility Lab and Plug And Play, a long-standing incubator with roots in Silicon Valley. Europcar Mobility Group intends to leverage the Plug And Play… Continue reading Europcar’s Mobility Joins Smart Cities Platform

Hertz to Refund Florida Customers over Toll Charges

As part of the settlement, both companies must clearly disclose its toll and PlatePass fees. Photo via Fletcher6/Wikimedia.  Hertz has agreed to a settlement with the Florida attorney general’s office over complaints that Dollar and Thrift customers were hit with additional charges for going through cashless tolls, according to AG’s office. An investigation found that the… Continue reading Hertz to Refund Florida Customers over Toll Charges

Apple just dismissed more than 200 employees from its autonomous vehicle group

Brendan McDermid | Reuters
Tim Cook, CEO, Apple

Apple dismissed just over 200 employees this week from Project Titan, its stealthy autonomous vehicle group, people familiar with the matter told CNBC.

An Apple spokesperson acknowledged the lay-offs and said the company still sees opportunity in the space:

“We have an incredibly talented team working on autonomous systems and associated technologies at Apple. As the team focuses their work on several key areas for 2019, some groups are being moved to projects in other parts of the company, where they will support machine learning and other initiatives, across all of Apple,” the spokesperson said.

“We continue to believe there is a huge opportunity with autonomous systems, that Apple has unique capabilities to contribute, and that this is the most ambitious machine learning project ever,” they added.

In August 2018, Apple enlisted a Tesla engineering vice president and Apple veteran, Doug Field, to lead the Titan team alongside Bob Mansfield. This week's dismissals from the group were seen, internally, as anticipated restructuring under the relatively new leadership.

Other employees who were impacted by the restructuring of Project Titan are staying at Apple, but moving to different parts of the company.

Of late, Apple CEO Tim Cook has touted his company's initiatives in health as the key to its future growth. “I believe, if you zoom out into the future, and you look back, and you ask the question, “What was Apple's greatest contribution to mankind?” it will be about health,” Cook told CNBC's Jim Cramer.

Tim Cook teases new Apple services to come in 2019
12:15 PM ET Thu, 10 Jan 2019 | 01:08

Meanwhile, Apple executives have remained mum in recent months on the company's car prospects, which appear to have been scaled back from the initial rumored vehicle to a focus on software. In 2016, Apple laid off employees from the same group, shifting its strategy. Fully self-driving cars remain experimental, even for major players in the field such as Waymo, Cruise and Tesla.

Venture investors and strategic investors from the traditional automotive world have poured billions into start-ups developing self-driving vehicles including: Zoox, Pony.AI, Aurora, May Mobility, Embark and others.

— Paul Eisenstein and CNBC's Jordan Novet contributed to this report.

Amazon is Unleashing Its Own Army of Delivery Robots

Amazon Scout To absolutely nobody’s surprise, Amazon announced today that it will roll out its own network of delivery robots. [embedded content] Amazon’s diminutive new six-wheeled friend is called Scout. It’ll deliver your packages, according to the company, without a need for a pesky and demanding human. Scout is about the size of a small cooler, and rolls… Continue reading Amazon is Unleashing Its Own Army of Delivery Robots