Category: Automotive

BMW Group increases worldwide sales in November

Munich. The BMW Group has achieved sales growth both in November and the year to date, despite the current very volatile market situation. In November, the company delivered 222,462 vehicles to customers around the world, an increase of 0.8% compared with the same month last year. That result brings the company’s year-to-date sales total to… Continue reading BMW Group increases worldwide sales in November

Insight: what fuels Volkswagen’s production line?

With so many staff to feed, and production line workers given precise 15- or 30-minute breaks, getting the food in the right place and the right time is a huge effort. “To make the plants as efficient as possible, we have to make sure every employee is close to food, beverages and things like newspapers,”… Continue reading Insight: what fuels Volkswagen’s production line?

Senior Management Changes

News – 2018

Senior Management Changes

2018/12/13

Tokyo (December 13, 2016) – Bridgestone Corporation today announced the following changes in Executive Officers and Corporate Officers.

1. Retiring Member of Executive Officers
(December 31, 2018)

NameNewFormer

Kazuhisa
NISHIGAI

Member of the Board

Member of the Board
COO and Representative Executive Officer
Concurrently Chief Technology Officer Responsible for Technology

2. New Members of Executive Officers
(January 1, 2019)

NameNewFormer

Christine
KARBOWIAK

Executive Vice President and Executive Officer of Bridgestone Corporation
Responsible for Global Public Relations, Government Relations and Sustainability
Deputy Chair, Chief Administrative Officer, Chief Risk Officer and Executive Vice President of Bridgestone Americas, Inc.

Vice President and Senior Officer of Bridgestone Corporation
Deputy Chair, Chief Administrative Officer, Chief Risk Officer and Executive Vice President of Bridgestone Americas, Inc.

Masato
BANNO

Senior Vice President and Executive Officer, Chief Technology Officer
Responsible for Technology, Quality Management; Concurrently responsible for Products and Technology Development

Vice President and Senior Officer
Responsible for Products Development
Next Generation Product Technology Development
Concurrently General Manager, Design Structure Control

Masahiro
HIGASHI

Senior Vice President and Executive Officer
Responsible for MAA（Mining, Aircraft, Agriculture）& Diversified Products Solutions Business

Vice President and Senior Officer Responsible for Diversified Products Business Diversified Products Production

3. Changing Positions and Responsibilities of Executive Officers
(January 1, 2019)

NameNewFormer

Akihiro
ETO

COO, Representative Executive Officer and President

Executive Vice President and Executive Officer
Responsible for Japan Tire SBU;
Concurrently responsible for Group Strategy Planning
Chief Financial Officer
Finance

Shuichi
ISHIBASHI

Vice Chair and Representative Executive Officer
Responsible for GBS(Global Business Support)
Concurrently responsible for Technology and Quality Management
Concurrently responsible for Global Original Equipment and Marketing Strategy
Concurrently responsible for Olympics・Paralympics, Sports・Cycle & Active Healthy Lifestyle
Concurrently Executive Chair of Bridgestone Sports Co., Ltd.;
Concurrently Executive Chair of Bridgestone Cycle Co., Ltd.

Executive Vice President and Executive Officer Chief Quality Management Officer Responsible for Quality Management;
Concurrently responsible for Global Original Equipment and Global Business Strategy;
Concurrently responsible for Global Solutions Business and Diversified Products;
Concurrently responsible for Global Solutions Business

Gordon
KNAPP

Vice Chair and Executive Officer of Bridgestone Corporation
Member of the Board, CEO and President of Bridgestone Americas, Inc.

Senior Vice President and Executive Officer of Bridgestone Corporation
Member of the Board, CEO and President of Bridgestone Americas, Inc.

Paolo
FERRARI

Executive Vice President and Executive Officer of Bridgestone Corporation
Member of the Board, CEO and President of Bridgestone Europe NV/SA
Chairman of Bridgestone Americas, Inc.

Senior Vice President and Executive Officer of Bridgestone Corporation
Member of the Board, CEO and President of Bridgestone Europe NV/SA
Chairman of Bridgestone Americas, Inc.

4. New Members of Corporate Officers
(January 1, 2019)

NameNewFormer

Akira
MASUNAGA

Vice President and Officer, Chief Digital Officer
Digital Technology, IT;
Concurrently Director, Digital Solution Division

Director, Digital Strategy Planning Division

Naoki
HISHINUMA

Vice President and Officer, Chief Financial Officer
Finance;
Concurrently Director, Finance Division;
Concurrently General Manager, Headquarters Treasury Department

Director, Finance Division;
Concurrently General Manager, Headquarters Treasury Department

Makoto
ISHIYAMA

Vice President and Officer
Next Generation Technology Development;
Concurrently Director, Next Generation Technology Development Division
Concurrently Director, Next Generation Production Engineering Development Division

Director, Next Generation Product Technology Development Division

Junya
ONO

Vice President and Officer
Tire Operation Management and Service;
Concurrently Director, International Business Operations Division

Director, International Business Operations Division

Minoru
ISODA

Vice President and Officer
Internal Manufacturing Management and Procurement,
CQO Internal Manufacturing Management

Director, Procurement Division

Satoru
KUSANO

Vice President and Officer
Diversified Products Production;
Concurrently Director, Diversified Products Production Division

Director, Diversified Products Production Division

Hiroshi
HARASHIMA

Vice President and Officer
Diversified Products Development and Production Technology;
Concurrently Director, Diversified Products Base & Advanced Technology Development Division

Director, Diversified Products Production Innovation Promotion Division
Concurrently General Manager, Quality Control Innovation Department
Concurrently General Manager, Production Innovation Department

5. Changing Positions and Responsibilities of Corporate Officers
(January 1, 2019)

NameNewFormer

Minoru
SHIMIZU

Senior Vice President and Senior Officer Assistant to COO, Representative Executive Officer and President

Senior Vice President and Senior Officer
Responsible for Japan Tire Business

Thomas
HIGGINS

Vice President and Senior Officer, Chief Strategic Officer of Bridgestone Corporation
Responsible for Global Strategy
President, US & Canada Consumer Tire Sales Division of Bridgestone Americas, Inc.
Chairman of Bridgestone Europe NV/SA

Vice President and Senior Officer of Bridgestone Corporation
President, US & Canada Consumer Tire Sales Division of Bridgestone Americas, Inc.
Chairman of Bridgestone Europe NV/SA

Hidekazu
KIMIZU

Vice President and Senior Officer
Responsible for Corporate Administration
Chief Compliance Officer, Legal Affairs and Intellectual Property

Vice President and Senior Officer
Responsible for Corporate Planning;
Concurrently responsible for Corporate Administration
Chief Compliance Officer, Legal Affairs and Intellectual Property
Chief Information Officer
IT & Network

Hideki
KOMATSU

Vice President and Senior Officer
Responsible for Nest Lab.

Vice President and Senior Officer
Responsible for Business Development Planning

Yoshihiko
ICHIKAWA

Vice President and Senior Officer
Responsible for Global Original Equipment Strategy
Global Original Equipment Strategy

Vice President and Senior Officer
Responsible for Global Original Equipment;
Global Original Equipment Strategy

Akira
MATSUDA

Vice President and Senior Officer, Chief Quality Management Officer
Responsible for Quality Management

Vice President and Senior Officer
Responsible for Basic Technology Development

Yuzo
SHISEKI

Vice President and Senior Officer
Responsible for Tire Development, Production Technology Development

Vice President and Officer
Quality Promotion

Masashi
OHARA

Vice President and Senior Officer
Responsible for Core Technology Development

Vice President and Senior Officer
Chief Quality Officer,
Responsible for Safety, Disaster Prevention and Environment

Yukihiko
HOSO

Vice President and Senior Officer
Responsible for Production Engineering

Vice President and Senior Officer
Responsible for Production Technology

Masahiro
ISOBE

Vice President and Senior Officer
Responsible for Japan Tire Business;
Concurrently Chairman of Bridgestone Tire Japan Co., Ltd.

Vice President and Senior Officer
Responsible for Japan Tire Sales;
Concurrently Chairman of Bridgestone Tire Japan Co., Ltd.

Tomohiro
KUSANO

Vice President and Senior Officer
Responsible for Diversified Products Solutions Business

Vice President and Officer
Diversified Products Development and Production Technology;
Concurrently Director, Diversified Products Development Division Ⅰ

Naohisa
YODA

Vice President and Senior Officer
Responsible for Supply Chain Enhancement;
Concurrently Director, Supply Chain Enhancement Business Planning and Administration Division

Vice President and Officer
Internal Manufacturing Management and Procurement, Chief Quality Officer,
Internal Manufacturing Management

Masayuki
ISHII

Vice President and Officer,
Corporate Planning
Chief Risk Officer, Chief Human Rights Officer
Human Resources and General Affairs
Concurrently Director, Corporate Planning Division

Vice President and Officer Corporate Planning
Chief Risk Officer, Chief Human Rights Officer
Human Resources and General Affairs
Public Relations and Brand Strategy;
Concurrently Director, Corporate Planning Division

Jun
SUGIHARA

Vice President and Officer
Quality Management Promotion
Safety, Disaster Prevention and Environmental Promotion
Concurrently Director, Quality Management Qualification and Audit, Governance Division

Vice President and Officer
Safety, Disaster Prevention and Environmental Promotion;
Concurrently Director, Safety, Disaster Prevention and Environmental
Promotion Division

Sho
INOUE

Vice President and Officer, Chief Quality Officer
Quality Promotion

Vice President and Officer
Quality Management Promotion;
Concurrently Director, Quality Management Qualification and Audit, Governance Division;
Concurrently General Manager, Quality Management Governance Office

Kenji
YAMASAKI

Vice President and Officer
Tire Production Technology Development

Vice President and Officer
Production Technology Strategy

Teruo
KUNITAKE

Vice President and Officer
Production Engineering;
Concurrently Director, Tire Process Platform System Engineering Division
Concurrently Director, Consumer Tire System Engineering Division

Vice President and Officer
Tire Process Systems Development;
Concurrently Director, Tire Process Technology Platform Development Division

Yasuyuki
TAMURA

Vice President and Officer
Advanced Technology..

Blair LaCorte Named President of AEye

AEye’s former Chief of Staff will lead the company’s growth and expansion as its iDAR™ system is set to scale production for the global automotive market
“Blair is an invaluable asset to AEye. His unparalleled leadership skills, insight and intellect, as well as his experience successfully leading high-growth businesses will be critical to AEye as we set to scale our business to address the needs of our automotive customers.”

Pleasanton, CA – December 12, 2018 – AEye, leader in artificial perception systems and the creators of iDAR™, today announced the appointment of Blair LaCorte as president. LaCorte initially invested in AEye’s Series A in 2016, and was named chairman of the advisory board. He joined the management team as chief of staff in August 2017. An accomplished executive and strategist, LaCorte will now bring to bear his extensive leadership experience as the company’s new president.

LaCorte has run large, fast growing global corporations and held numerous executive and general management positions in both private and public technology companies. Prior to AEye, he was the global president of Production Resource Group (PRG), the world’s largest live event technology company, the CEO of XOJET, which under his leadership became the fastest growing company in private aviation, and an operating partner at TPG, a premier private equity firm with over $91B in global investments, where he co-founded the TPG growth fund. LaCorte has also held leadership roles at companies including Savi Technology, Autodesk, VerticalNet and Sun Microsystems. He is a current participant in the Virgin Galactic astronaut program which is expected to launch in late 2019.

“Blair is an invaluable asset to AEye,” said AEye founder and CEO, Luis Dussan. “His unparalleled leadership skills, insight and intellect, as well as his experience successfully leading high-growth businesses will be critical to AEye as we set to scale our business to address the needs of our automotive customers.”

Ransom Wuller, AEye co-founder and former president, has joined the company’s board of directors and will continue in his role as chief financial officer.

“The team at AEye is exceptional,” said LaCorte. “They uniquely combine humility with burning curiosity and sincere desire to solve challenges for their partners and customers. I am grateful to be a part of it, and for the chance to work with Luis and the rest of the AEye team to build an extraordinary company.”

AEye takes a disruptive approach to vehicle perception by putting intelligence at the sensor layer and making it extensible and controllable via a software-driven architecture. AEye’s iDAR
is an artificial perception system that physically fuses a unique, agile LiDAR with a hi-res camera to create a new data type called Dynamic Vixels. This real-time integration occurs in the IDAR sensor, rather than post fusing separate camera and LiDAR data after the scan. By capturing x, y, z, r, g, b data, Dynamic Vixels uniquely mimic the data structure of the human visual cortex, capturing better data for vastly superior performance and accuracy.

AEye recently set a new benchmark for solid state LiDAR range. In performance tests validated by VSI Labs, AEye’s iDAR acquired and tracked targets at more than 1000 meters and at scan rates exceeding 100 Hz – a major breakthrough in speed and long-range threat detection. AEye’s use of Biomimicry is more fully explored by LaCorte and Dr. James Doty, world renowned neurosurgeon and clinical professor in the Department of Neurosurgery at Stanford University in a white paper available at aeye.ai.

Media Contact:

AEye, Inc.
Jennifer Deitsch
[email protected]

925-400-4366

Blair LaCorte Named President of AEye — AEye’s iDAR Shatters Both Range and Scan Rate Performance Records for Automotive Grade LiDARThe Future of Autonomous Vehicles: Part I – Think Like a Robot, Perceive Like a HumanGartner Names AEye Cool Vendor in AI for Computer VisionAEye Announces the AE100 Robotic Perception System for Autonomous VehiclesAEye Granted Foundational Patents For Core Solid-State MEMs-Based Agile LiDAR And Embedded AI TechnologyAEye Introduces Next Generation of Artificial Perception: New Dynamic Vixels™AutoSens Names AEye Most Exciting Start-Up in the Automotive Imaging SectorElon Musk Is Right: LiDAR Is a Crutch (Sort of.)AEye Announces Addition of Aravind Ratnam as Vice President of Product ManagementAEye’s iDAR Leverages Biomimicry to Enable First Solid State Lidar with 100Hz Scan Rate

Elon Musk’s Brother, Kimbal, Gets Booted Off Fox Business Segment For Talking About Planting Seeds

Elon Musk’s brother, Kimbal, had an interview segment on Fox Business cut short on Thursday after he insisted on talking about an initiative called “Plant A Seed Today.” Kimbal Musk is a Tesla board member and interviewers tried to steer him into talking about Elon stepping down as chairman. But his younger brother could not be swayed.

“Hi, and thank you for having me here,” Kimbal said after he was introduced by Fox host Stuart Varney. “I’m so excited about plant a seed day.”

Elon Musk has been replaced by Robyn Denholm and it looks like Varney wanted to find out more about how she is adjusting to the role.

“Have you heard anything from her?” the host asked at one point during the attempted interview. “Is she laying down law?”

But Kimbal Musk did not take the bait.

“I am very happy for the future of Tesla,” he replied. “Let me tell you about a kid on the Southside of Chicago.”

That’s when Varney seemed to get frustrated with his uncooperative interview subject.

“Look, this is the most watched business news program in America and we have that reputation because we go at the stories of the day and we figure out exactly what’s going on,” he said tersely. “Now I want to know what’s going on at Tesla with the new board chair and you are on the board. Can you answer the question?”

Kimbal Musk ignored the question again and continued to talk about Plant A Seed Day.

After Musk was given a little bit more time to talk about the environmental project, Varney ended the interview, insisting that he would not be “used.”

Plant A Seed Day may have been dismissed by Varney, but on Twitter, people cheered Kimbal on for advocating for it so fiercely.

“This is amazing. A+ trolling by Kimbal Musk,” wrote a Twitter user.

“Maybe @Varneyco only wants to talk about Tesla, but after watching this I want to talk about PlantASeedDay,” another tweeted.

As Kimbal Musk tried to explain, Plant A Seed Day, is his effort to get 1 million families to plant seeds on March 20, 2019. As you can imagine, it’s being spearheaded by an NGO that was co-founded by Musk named Big Green.

“Our mission is to inspire families across America to discover the magic of growing their own food,” he wrote in an article on Medium.

There’s no word yet on whether Kimbal will be interviewed again to talk about the project or whether he wants to continue to troll journalists who want to talk about the future of Tesla.

Hyundai Motor Group to provide suppliers with $1.5 billion in funding

FILE PHOTO: The logo of Hyundai Motor is seen at a dealership in Seoul, South Korea, April 26, 2017. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Co (005380.KS) plans to provide funding worth 1.7 trillion won ($1.5 billion) to stabilize management of its suppliers, the company said in a statement on Thursday. The… Continue reading Hyundai Motor Group to provide suppliers with $1.5 billion in funding

Revival of PROTON underway with launch of Proton X70 SUV

Proton X70 SUV signals start of PROTON’s complete revival PROTON to benefit from Geely’s investment, technology and talent 12 December 2018, Kuala Lumpur. PROTON, the leading automotive brand in Malaysia, has launched its flagship SUV, the Proton X70, at an official launch event in Kuala Lumpur. The X70 SUV is the first vehicle released as a… Continue reading Revival of PROTON underway with launch of Proton X70 SUV