Category: Automotive

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.

Production halt at Gunma Manufacturing Divisiondue to component defect in certain models

January 23, 2019

Production halt at Gunma Manufacturing Division
due to component defect in certain models

On January 16, 2019, Subaru Corporation (“Subaru”) identified a possible defect in certain vehicle component used in some of its models manufactured at its Gunma manufacturing plant (“Gunma Plant”). To ensure quality and safety of its vehicles, Subaru halted all vehicle production at and shipment from Gunma Plant on the evening of the same day and has since been suspending new vehicle registration for the relevant Japanese-domestic models in Japan.
The investigation to date has confirmed that the vehicles to which the component in question may have been incorporated (the “Potentially Affected Vehicles”) (Please see below for the Potentially Affected Vehicles) have not been delivered to any customers or retailers in the U.S. The investigation has also confirmed that the Potentially Affected Vehicles have not reached any customers in any countries outside Japan.
Subaru will not deliver the Potentially Affected Vehicles to any customers.

The cause of the possible defect has been identified.
In prospect of obtaining modified components, preparations are now underway at Gunma Plant to restart production targeting next week (as early as from January 28, 2019).

– Component that has been identified to have possible defect:
Electric power steering unit

– Models of the Potentially Affected Vehicles:
Forester, Impreza, and Subaru XV models manufactured at Gunma Plant
(Production of other models is also suspended as they are manufactured using the same production lines.)

– Period in which the Potentially Affected Vehicles were manufactured:
Late December, 2018 – January 16, 2019 *
* Subject to further investigation.
* No vehicle was manufactured during the plant shutdown period for winter holidays (December 29, 2018 – January 6, 2019).

– Risk due to the possible defect:
If the defect were to cause a malfunction, there is a risk that the steering control warning light on the instrument panel would activate, power steering would cease to function, and steering would become sluggish (i.e. greater force will be required to turn the steering wheel). In the event of such malfunction, please contact your nearest Subaru dealer immediately and have the vehicle checked.

– Cause of the defect:
The investigation is ongoing to determine the details of the cause and mechanism of the possible defect.

– Impact on Subaru’s consolidated financial performance
Impact on Subaru’s consolidated financial performance is not yet certain. Subaru will make further announcement if deemed necessary.

###

[PDF/104 KB]

Volkswagen Wants to Matter in America Again – Automobile

Scott Keogh is Volkswagen of America’s CEO and president, and his company recently announced a collaboration on small commercial vehicles and midsize pickups with Ford, and confirmed those companies’ advanced negotiations regarding possible partnerships on electric and autonomous vehicles. We spoke with him at the North American International Auto Show just ahead of the announcement—made… Continue reading Volkswagen Wants to Matter in America Again – Automobile

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

Solar Roofing Is The Focus Of Standard Industries’ New GAF Energy Unit

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Clean Power Published on January 19th, 2019 | by Charles W. Thurston
Solar Roofing Is The Focus Of Standard Industries’ New GAF Energy UnitTwitterLinkedInFacebookJanuary 19th, 2019 by Charles W. Thurston
Boosting solar roofing growth with the DecoTech is the mandate of GAF Energy, a new company formed under the Standard Industries wing. The new entity will assist customers with planning, financing, permitting with utilities, and installation in a streamlined approach, the company says.

“As the largest global player in roofing and waterproofing, we will reshape the way clean solar energy becomes a reality for everyone,” said David Millstone, co-CEO of Standard Industries. The new unit will help focus on the DecoTech product, which GAF began developing in 2008 and first installed in 2017.
The DecoTech is a product midway between a very low-profile Tesla solar shingle and a mounting-bracket supported add-on system. The DecoTech is installed at the same time as a home is partially re-roofed, so that the new roofing helps hide the solar panel. The patented installation process renders the roof watertight.
Unlike Tesla or RGS shingles that are integrated components, the DecoTech system relies on off-the-shelf 60-cell solar panels, to avoid the cost of proprietary manufacturing, the company says. The DecoTech carries a 25-year warranty. An additional lifetime guarantee also is available, which offers extended coverage for labor.
“Our unique design does allow for module level power electronics and we have installs already with MIs and DC optimizers. We will standardize on a power electronics solution but all options are available to us based on our superior engineering,” says Martin DeBono, president of GAF Energy. .
The cost of the DecoTech roof is expected to be on par with standalone solar. “Our unique technology that allows solar to be sold and installed by roofers enables cost savings in sales and install that offsets the increased costs of a solar roof,” says DeBono. That cost is expected to decline with volume to parity, the company suggests.
The cost may also be defrayed with additional offerings from the company, such as monitoring, EV connections, and energy management. “Distributed generation of the future will require seamless integration across storage and EVs and we will have an offering to satisfy that requirement,” says DeBono.
The system will be sold through networks of certified roofers. “We are best positioned to accelerate the growth of residential solar with over a century of waterproofing experience and the largest network of roofing distributors and contractors in the world,” said David Winter, co-CEO of Standard Industries in a January 10 statement.
Using roofers to offer solar will tap the large annual US market for new roofs, a potential pool of 5 million roofs, according to one industry estimate. Of this number only about 300,000 customers opt for solar as well, according to Energy Sage. The US demand for roofing was projected to amount to 268 million squares (a 10 foot by 10 foot area) in 2017, valued at $27.2 billion,” said the Freedonia Group in a 2017 study.
Sageworks, a financial information company, was cited by Forbes recently as saying sales among privately held roofing contractors have increased, on average, 14% in the 12 months ended May 1, 2018.
“The scale of the roofing industry is an order of magnitude greater than the solar industry,” says DeBono. “GAF Energy can now give those customers a simple option: a roof or a solar roof.” While the dollar amount of the roofing market is greater than solar, it also is growing faster; the growth of solar was flat during 2018, although recovery is widely anticipated.
“GAF Energy capitalizes on the historic challenges facing the rooftop solar industry – acquisition and installation costs – and turns them into demonstrable strengths – making it easy for customers to say ‘yes’ to solar rooftops,” said DeBono, in the statement.
The DecoTech system should help retrofit part of the US historic stock of homes roofed with sub-standard roofing material. “The US experienced a number of severe weather events in 2016 that caused extensive roof damage in many parts of the country, necessitating the repair and replacement of thousands of roofs. This surge in re-roofing jobs was in large part due to the fact that many structures are outfitted with roofing materials that do not meet modern building codes for storm resistance,” says a July market analysis of US residential roofing by Research and Markets.
“Going forward, home and business owners will undertake roof renovation projects to replace these older products with more durable materials – such as laminated asphalt shingles, metal roofing, and polymer-modified bituminous membranes – that can better withstand high winds and heavy precipitation,” the study says.
GAF began operations in 1886 and has a network of 5,000 certified contractors. The company manufactures well over 1 million roofs annually in North America. GAF Energy works in partnership with North America’s largest roofing and waterproofing manufacturer, GAF, offering affordable, integrated and aesthetic rooftop solar options to residential and commercial customers.

About the AuthorCharles W. Thurston Charles specializes in renewable energy, from finance to technological processes. Among key areas of focus are bifacial panels and solar tracking. He has been active in the industry for over 25 years, living and working in locations ranging from Brazil to Papua New Guinea.

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