Possible_Terrorism_Warfare – Page 1068 – I wish I had more to offer

Late payment? ‘Kill switch’ can strand you and your car

Late payment? ‘Kill switch’ can strand you and your carAbout a decade ago, when Erin Hayes was in her late teens, she bought a used car with a subprime loan from one of those “buy here, pay here” car lots close to her home near Raleigh, North Carolina.
One day in 2013, having forgotten to make her payment, she got into her 2006 Kia Optima at work and turned the key, but instead of starting so she could go home, the car made a loud beeping noise and wouldn’t go anywhere.
The lender, without her knowledge, had installed a “kill switch” and triggered it remotely after Hayes missed a payment.
“I was very anxious,” Hayes said recently, recalling being stranded with her first car. “They cut the car off, and I was 20 minutes from home. I told them I would try to pay them, and they cut it on for an hour. If I didn’t have the payment to them in an hour, they’d cut it off again.”
A couple of years later, the same thing happened with her next car, a 2008 Hyundai.
Rudimentary kill switches have long been sold to the public as anti-theft devices for less than $50 apiece. But many subprime auto lenders across the country are using more sophisticated versions to ensure that car buyers make their payments.
In recent years, though, amid consumer horror stories ranging from inconvenience to outright danger, a few states are restricting or banning the kill-switch tactic as unfair and potentially unsafe.
New York is the latest, with a law that took effect in October requiring lenders to disclose in writing by certified mail when they install the devices on vehicles. Nevada’s and New Jersey’s similar laws took effect in 2017. Lawmakers in at least two other states, Illinois and Rhode Island, are considering legislation.
Hayes, now 27, acknowledges her credit wasn’t very good back then; that’s why she had the high-interest loans and the kill switches in the first place. But she says having a kill switch on her cars led to her being stranded more than once.
At least her cars didn’t stop in the middle of a trip. That’s what happened to T. Candice Smith from Las Vegas. Smith in 2013 testified to the Nevada legislature that her car’s kill switch activated as she was driving down Interstate 15.
“All of a sudden the steering wheel locked up and the car shut off,” she testified. “I was barely able to make it to the left shoulder. I was scared and shaking and had no idea what just happened.”
Lenders and switch makers contend that the switches are less embarrassing than the traditional “repo man” showing up on a car owner’s doorstep to take the car. They argue that the switches make getting the car operational again faster and easier than going to an impound lot.
“They do serve a purpose, and there are benefits to them,” said Michael R. Guerrero, consumer finance attorney at Ballard Spahr, a California law firm that specializes in advising companies on how to comply with consumer law, in an interview. “They reduce repossession costs, and they permit the consumer to cure the default and restart the vehicle when it’s cured. They also give some consumers access to credit who otherwise might not qualify.”
Guerrero tracks the handful of states that have passed laws that rein in the use of kill switches by requiring disclosure when the devices are placed on the cars and allowing borrowers who are in arrears to make a payment that will get the cars to start again. Some states also require an emergency override code that can be sent to a borrower if an urgent need arises.
Jeff Karg, director of marketing and communications for PassTime in Colorado, said that the automobile starter interrupt devices — as kill switches are also known — that his company manufactures can help consumers avoid repossessions by buying time to negotiate a payment plan with the lender.
His company conforms to state laws, he said.
But only half a dozen states have enacted regulations on kill switches, including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Nevada and New Jersey. The laws vary, but all, at the least, require telling the borrower that the devices, which also have GPS tracking, are installed.
The Federal Trade Commission is looking into whether installing the devices on cars violates consumers’ privacy. The FTC, citing a policy not to comment on open cases, would not confirm the inquiry when asked about it this month.
The Electronic Privacy Information Center, a privacy rights group based in Washington, D.C., also filed a complaint last year with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, asking the agency to look into the devices as invasions of privacy.
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Fiat Chrysler to build Jeep in revived Detroit plant

Fiat Chrysler to build Jeep in revived Detroit plantDetroit — Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV plans to convert an idled engine plant in the city into an assembly plant as part of the automaker's plans to add a new three-row Jeep SUV to its lineup, The Detroit News has learned.
The Auburn Hills-based automaker plans to revive Mack Avenue Engine II, which has been idled since 2012, as an assembly plant building a new three-row Jeep Grand Cherokee for model year 2021, multiple sources familiar with the plans told The News. The move could add as many as 400 new auto jobs in the city.
The renovated Mack Avenue facility would be the first new auto assembly line to open in Detroit in 27 years, potentially cushioning the blow of General Motors Co.'s plans to stop production of four sedans at its Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant by June 1. FCA's plans are the latest move by automakers in the waning days of the year before Detroit's automakers begin to renegotiate their contracts next year with the United Auto Workers.
Foreign and domestic automakers are under increasing pressure from President Donald Trump to boost production of cars, trucks and SUVs in the United States — even as his administration wages a costly trade war with China, Canada, Mexico and the European Union that is raising steel prices and threatening tariffs on imported vehicles.
FCA's plans for its Detroit plants come as GM CEO Mary Barra was on Capitol Hill for a second straight day to caucus with Michigan's congressional delegation and Ohio's two senators. They want the automaker to reconsider its plans to idle four U.S. plants next year, a request that Barra appears to have politely rebuffed.
When Mack II starts production of the three-row Grand Cherokee, FCA would begin retooling Jefferson North Assembly Plant — directly across the street from the Mack Avenue Engine Complex — to make way for the next generation of the two- and three-row Grand Cherokee. A public announcement is tentatively scheduled for the end of next week.
An FCA spokeswoman and the office of Mayor Mike Duggan declined comment.
“FCA is essentially out of capacity,” said Jeff Schuster, an analyst with LMC Automotive in Troy. “They’re kind of running up against being against full capacity. This is a very different situation than what GM is dealing with.”
Even as Fiat Chrysler officials mull decisions to prepare for a future expected to include expensive electric and autonomous vehicles, the automaker needs to invest in a new assembly line to build the profitable SUVs that will raise cash to fund that future. Fiat Chrysler’s plant capacity utilization in November hit 92 percent in North America.
The capacity crunch is not an accident. In 2016, FCA's late CEO, Sergio Marchionne, shocked the industry when he confirmed FCA would abandon car production in the United States and retool the plants to build profit-rich Ram pickups and Jeep SUVs. The plans to convert Mack II to build the Grand Cherokee are the latest move in that strategic realignment.
FCA also recently approved plans to spend six months next year retooling its Warren Truck Assembly Plant to prepare for production of a 2021 full-size three-row SUV, the Jeep Wagoneer. The automaker likely has delayed plans to repatriate from Mexico production of the Ram Heavy Duty.
Construction on Mack II, internally dubbed “Plant X,” likely would begin next year, as Detroit's automakers prepare to begin national contract talks with the UAW. To convert the old engine plant to a full assembly line, sources said, the automaker would need to add at least a body and paint shop.
Reviving the idled half of the Mack engine plant as an assembly operation would improve a worsening capacity problem for Fiat Chrysler. With strong demand for its Jeep and Ram products, the automaker has shuffled products from plant to plant in recent years while it retools for new vehicles — an attempt to avoid the significant financial hit of idling production of its most profitable vehicles.
Fiat Chrysler's North American assembly plants are currently running at 92 percent capacity, according to data compiled by LMC Automotive for The Detroit News. By comparison, GM and Ford Motor Co. were operating at 72 percent and 81 percent through November, respectively.
But FCA's Jefferson North plant, on the west side of Conner between Mack and Jefferson, is operating at 130 percent capacity. That means the automaker is running extra shifts to meet demand for the Jeep Grand Cherokees, Jeep Grand Cherokee SRTs and Dodge Durangos made there.
Only two of Fiat Chrysler's U.S. assembly plants are operating at below 80 percent capacity in 2018: the Toledo Supplier Park and Warren Truck Plant. Currently building only the Ram 1500 work truck, the Warren plant is operating at just 46 percent of capacity.
The new production line on Mack Avenue would also add a valuable new three-row product to Fiat Chrysler’s hot-selling Jeep lineup. The revamped line is expected to add hundreds of new jobs on Detroit’s east side and to bolster the city's tax base.
FCA's plans for its U.S. plants are a stark contrast to GM's. The Detroit automaker plans to idle five plants in North America next year, imperiling the jobs of 6,300 line workers in the region as it slashes some 8,000 white-collar jobs in a restructuring plan designed to save the Detroit automaker $6 billion by 2020.
Among the affected GM plants is Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly, staffed by nearly 1,350 union workers and one of only two vehicle assembly plants left in Detroit. Should GM's Detroit plant close as part of 2019 contract talks with the UAW, Fiat Chrysler’s Jefferson North Assembly Plant stood to become to final auto assembly plant in Detroit — until the Mack II project emerged.
Jefferson North, the last remaining automotive assembly plant located entirely inside Detroit's borders, completed construction in 1991 and produced its first Grand Cherokee in January 1992. GM opened Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly in 1985, after the city used eminent domain powers to seize a predominantly Polish neighborhood for the auto plant.
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Tire manufacturer: Dandelion in a car tire – Continental opens a research laboratory for rubber production

Continental builds natural rubber research facility Natural rubber is still essential today for truck tires and winter tires for passenger cars. Therefore, it should be further researched how this can be extracted from a dandelion root. (Photo: AP) AnklamThe white plant milk in the dandelion sticks: it contains rubber. The tire manufacturer Continental wants to… Continue reading Tire manufacturer: Dandelion in a car tire – Continental opens a research laboratory for rubber production

UPDATE 3-Uber confidentially files for IPO – sources

NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO, (Reuters) – Uber Technologies Inc has filed paperwork for an initial public offering, according to three people with knowledge of the matter, taking a step closer to a key milestone for one of the most closely watched and controversial companies in Silicon Valley. FILE PHOTO: The Uber application is seen on a… Continue reading UPDATE 3-Uber confidentially files for IPO – sources

Elon Axios Interview: How Model 3 Production Ramp Almost Killed Tesla, The Massive AI Threat, & Moving To Mars

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Published on November 26th, 2018 |

by Steve Hanley

Elon Axios Interview: How Model 3 Production Ramp Almost Killed Tesla, The Massive AI Threat, & Moving To Mars

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November 26th, 2018 by Steve Hanley

On Sunday night, an Axios interview with Elon Musk aired on HBO. If you don’t have an HBO subscription, you might want to get one. It is, as the expression goes, “appointment TV.” That is, it offers programs too good to miss. But in case you did, here are three takeaways from the program.

How The Model 3 Almost Killed Tesla
Earlier this year, as Tesla began ramping up production of the Model 3, Musk told Axios the company came within a few weeks of going out of business. Tesla “faced a severe threat of death. Essentially, the company was bleeding money like crazy and just … if we didn’t solve these problems in a very short period time, we would die. And it was extremely difficult to solve them.” Asked how close the company came to actually shutting down, Musk replied, “I would say within single-digit weeks.”

Musk’s notes about living, sleeping, and eating at the factory during that stressful time have become a bit of a joke on the internet, but Musk says it was no joke for him personally. “I was in the paint shop, body shop … end of [the] line where we do final check out of vehicles,” he said. “I personally redesigned the whole battery pack production line and ran it for three weeks. Pretty intense.”

“I think what a lot of people don’t understand is that I’m like the chief engineer like that. I actually do lead engineering of the rockets and lead the engineering of the vehicles and production. Ninety percent of my day is spent on engineering and production.

“No one should put this many hours into your work. This is not good. People should not work this hard. This is very painful. It hurts, it hurts my brain and my heart. It hurts. … There were times when I was working literally 120 hours. This is not recommended for anyone. I just did it because if I didn’t do it, then [there was a] good chance Tesla would die.”

The Existential Threat From Artificial Intelligence
When the topic turned to artificial intelligence, Musk’s remarks took on a somber tone. “My faith in humanity has been a little shaken this year. But I’m still pro-humanity. We’re like children in a playground. … We’re not paying attention. We worry more about … what name somebody called someone else than whether AI will destroy humanity. That’s insane.”

He worries that AI will soon outstrip human intelligence, rendering humans subservient to digital masters. AI is “just digital intelligence,” he summarizes. “And as the algorithms and the hardware improve, that digital intelligence will exceed biological intelligence by a substantial margin. It’s obvious.”

“When a species of primate, homo sapiens, became much smarter than other primates, it pushed all the other ones into a very small habitat,” Musk said. “So there are very few mountain gorillas and orangutans and chimpanzees — monkeys in general. They occupy small corners of the world — cages, zoos. Even the jungles that they’re in are narrowly defined so they were sort of like big cages. So, you know, that’s one possible outcome for us.”

Musk has founded Neuralink, a company that is working on finding ways to interface the human brain with computers, which he sees as a way of preventing pure AI from dominating the human race. Neuralink is comprised of about 85 of the “the highest per capita intelligence” engineers ever assembled. “The long term aspiration with Neuralink would be to achieve a symbiosis with artificial intelligence. To achieve a sort of democratization of intelligence, such that it is not monopolistically held in a purely digital form by governments and large corporations.”

What is he talking about, exactly? An “electrode-to-neuron interface at a micro level — a chip and a bunch of tiny wires implanted in your skull. I believe this can be done — It’s probably on the order of a decade.”

In a way, we are already halfway to such a reality, Musk says. “And by the way, you kind of have this already in a weird way. You have a digital tertiary layer in the form of your phone, your computers, your watch. You basically have these computing devices that form a tertiary layer on your cognition already.”

One of the first applications for the technology could be helping people with spinal cord injuries. “We already know how to do this. Implant electrodes into the motor cortex of the brain, then bypass the severed section of the spine and have effectively local micro controllers near the muscle groups. It could restore full limb functionality. As people get older, they lose their memory — incredibly sad to have a mother forget her children, and that can be solved too.”

Then the conversation turned darker. “You could make a swarm of assassin drones for very little money. By just taking the face I.D. chip that’s used in cell phones, and having a small explosive charge and a standard drone, and just have it do a grid sweep of the building until they find the person they’re looking for, ram into them and explode. You could do that right now. No new technology is needed.”

Even scarier to Musk is the ability of AI to impact the electoral process, something America should be wary of as the revelations about Facebook and the 2016 presidential election continue to emerge. He warns us about the power of AI to create “incredibly effective propaganda … influence the direction of society … influence elections.” It can hone a message by watching online feedback and reacting to news, then making the message “slightly better within milliseconds.”

The government is largely blind to the threat, Musk says, and hopelessly behind in its feeble attempts to control AI. “The way in which regulation is put in place is slow and linear. And we are facing an exponential threat. If you have a linear response to an exponential threat, it’s quite likely the exponential threat will win. That, in a nutshell, is the issue.”

Is Mars An Escape Hatch For The Rich?
Musk told Axios there is a 70% chance he will be one of the people who travels to Mars aboard a SpaceX rocket in the future. He thinks the first trip could happen within 7 years. A ticket to Mars could cost as little as “a couple hundred thousand dollars,” a sum some suggest will make Mars an “escape hatch” for wealthy people as the Earth warms to the point where it can no longer sustain human life.

Musk scoffs at that idea. “Your probability of dying on Mars is much higher than earth. Really, the ad for going to Mars would be like Shackleton’s ad for going to the Antarctic. It’s gonna be hard. There’s a good chance of death, going in a little can through deep space.”

Once someone arrives there, it will not be a life of leisure, reclining by the pool and eating bonbons. “You’ll be working nonstop to build the base. So, you know, not much time for leisure. And even after doing all this, it’s a very harsh environment. So there’s a good chance you die there. We think you can come back, but we’re not sure. Now, does that sound like an escape hatch for rich people?”

So, why go? “There’s lots of people who climb mountains. People die on Mount Everest all the time. They like doing it for the challenge.”

It is fair to say that Elon Musk is not risk averse. Indeed, he seems to thrive on risk, feed off it, and then actively seek out more. That appetite for skating up to and sometimes over the edge is what separates him from normal mortals. And it may be the factor that allows Musk to save us from ourselves, although there is no guarantee anything can keep people from sowing the seeds of their own destruction and reveling in the process.

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About the Author

Steve Hanley Steve writes about the interface between technology and sustainability from his home in Rhode Island and anywhere else the Singularity may take him. His muse is Charles Kuralt — “I see the road ahead is turning. I wonder what's around the bend?”

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Grab invests $100M into India’s OYO to expand its budget hotel service in Southeast Asia

Southeast Asian ride-hailing firm Grab has made its most ambitious investment to date after it backed India-headquartered budget hotel network OYO to the tune of $100 million. The investment was part of a $1 billion Series E round led by SoftBank’s Vision Fund that closed back in September. The deal was first made public via a… Continue reading Grab invests $100M into India’s OYO to expand its budget hotel service in Southeast Asia

Fiat Chrysler plans to open factory in Detroit to build new three-row, Jeep Grand Cherokee: Sources

Rebecca Cook | Reuters
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles assembly workers build 2019 Ram pickup trucks at the FCA Sterling Heights Assembly Plant in Sterling Heights, Michigan, October 22, 2018.

Fiat Chrysler, riding a wave of strong truck and SUV sales, is planning to build a new final assembly plant in Detroit even as other American automakers scale back operations in the U.S., according to people familiar with the plan.

The assembly plant, an old Mack II Engine Plant that closed in 2012, will build a new three-row, Jeep Grand Cherokee SUV starting in 2020 as the automaker moves to keep up with strong demand for utility vehicles, the people said. A spokesperson for Fiat Chrysler would not comment on the report, nor confirm the automaker's plans.

The move comes as the industry faces pressure from President Donald Trump to keep manufacturing jobs in the U.S. and stands in stark contrast to the recent decision by General Motors to stop production and idle five plants in North America including four in the United States.

GM has come under fire after announcing last week that it plans to cut 14,000 jobs in the U.S. and Canada, citing a weakening economy, the escalating trade war and a desire to reposition itself as a smaller, more nimble company. Ford is also scaling back, saying last week that it planned to cut a shift at two of its U.S. plants in an attempt to avoid more onerous layoffs.

Detroit will lose two GM facilities altogether. Both were performing well under capacity and contributing to a dismal capacity utilization rate of just 76 percent across the United States, far below Fiat Chrysler's rate of 90 percent.

Fiat Chrysler's plants are running at close to capacity due to continued strong demand for trucks and SUV's. Overall, Fiat Chrysler's sales in the U.S. are up 8 percent this year, easily outpacing the industry less than one percent according to the market research firm Autodata.

All of Detroit's Big Three automakers are abandoning sedan lines in favor of more popular and profitable SUVs and cross-over vehicles.

Sales of SUVs and pickups have been one of Fiat Chrysler's biggest areas of growth and have kept it ahead of its U.S. rivals. Overall sales jumped 17 percent in November over the same month last year — fueled largely by its popular Jeep SUVs and Ram Trucks.

Ford's sales, by comparison, dropped by about 7 percent in the same period.

Jeep unveiled the Gladiator pickup truck at the LA Auto Show last week, inspired by its popular and iconic Wrangler off-road SUV.

Fiat Chrysler CEO Mike Manley ran both the Jeep and Ram brands for FCA before he replaced late former CEO Sergio Marchionne in July as Marchionne's health rapidly declined.

Google’s robotic spinoff launches ride-hailing service

Google’s robotic spinoff launches ride-hailing serviceSan Francisco – Google’s self-driving car spinoff is finally ready to try to profit from its nearly decade-old technology.
Waymo is introducing a small-scale ride-hailing service in the Phoenix area that will include a human behind the wheel in case the robotic vehicles malfunction.
The service debuting Wednesday marks a significant milestone for Waymo, a company that began as a secretive project within Google in 2009. Since then, its cars have robotically logged more 10 million miles on public roads in 25 cities in California, Arizona, Washington, Michigan and Georgia while getting into only a few accidents – mostly fender benders.
The company is initially operating the new service cautiously, underscoring the challenges still facing its autonomous vehicles as they navigate around vehicles with human drivers that don’t always follow the same rules as robots.
The service, dubbed Waymo One, at first will only be available to a couple hundred riders, all of whom had already been participating in a free pilot program that began in April 2017. It will be confined to a roughly 100-square-mile area in and around Phoenix, including the neighboring cities of Chandler, Tempe, Mesa, and Gilbert.
Although Waymo has been driving passengers without any humans behind the wheel in its free pilot program, it decided to be less daring with the new commercial service.
“Self-driving technology is new to many, so we’re proceeding carefully with the comfort and convenience of our riders in mind,” Waymo CEO John Krafcik wrote in Wednesday blog post heralding the arrival of the new service.
The ride-hailing service is launching in the same area where a car using robotic technology from ride-hailing service Uber hit and killed a pedestrian crossing a darkened street in Tempe, Arizona seven months ago. That fatal collision attracted worldwide attention that cast a pall over the entire self-driving car industry as more people began to publicly question the safety of the vehicles.
“I suspect the Uber fatality has caused Waymo to slow down its pace a bit” and use human safety drivers in its ride-hailing service,” said Navigant Research analyst Sam Abuelsamid. “If people keep dying, there will be a bigger backlash against these vehicles.”
The Uber robotic car had a human safety driver behind the wheel, but that wasn’t enough to prevent its lethal accident in March.
Waymo’s self-driving vehicles are still susceptible to glitches, as an Associated Press reporter experienced during a mid-October ride in an autonomous minivan alongside Krafcik near company’s Mountain View, California, headquarters.
The minivan performed smoothly, even stopping for a jaywalker, before abruptly pulling to the right side of the road. Ahead was a left-turning FedEx delivery truck. In a digital message to the two human backup drivers, the van said it “detected an issue” and it would connect to a rider support agent. Rider support didn’t respond, so they switched to manual mode and returned to Waymo headquarters.
At that time, Krafcik conceded to the AP that Waymo’s self-driving vehicles were still encountering occasional problems negotiating left-hand turns at complicated intersections.
“I think the things that humans have challenges with, we’re challenged with as well,” Krafcik said. “So sometimes unprotected lefts are super challenging for a human, sometimes they’re super challenging for us.”
Waymo eventually plans to open its new ride-hailing app to all comers in the Phoenix area, although it won’t say when. It also wants to expand its service to other cities, but isn’t saying where. When that happens, it could pose a threat to Uber and the second most popular U.S. ride-hailing service, Lyft, especially since it should be able charge lower prices without the need to share revenue with a human driver in control at all times.
General Motors also is gearing up to begin offering a ride-hailing service through its Cruise subsidiary under the management of a new CEO, Dan Ammann, who has been the Detroit automaker’s No. 2 executive. Cruise plans to start its ride-hailing service at some point next year in at least one U.S. city. Another self-driving car company, Drive.ai, has been giving short-distance rides to all comers within Frisco, Texas and Arlington, Texas since the summer.
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AP Auto Writer Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to this story.
Read or Share this story: https://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/mobility/2018/12/05/google-robotic-spinoff-launches/38676567/

Hoarding for Brexit sparks race for warehouse space in Britain

LEIGHTON BUZZARD, England (Reuters) – In a vast warehouse complex 40 miles north of London, staff are wrestling with ways to cram in more goods after a surge in demand from companies building stockpiles ahead of Brexit. An employee looks up at goods at the Miniclipper Logistics warehouse in Leighton Buzzard, Britain December 3, 2018.… Continue reading Hoarding for Brexit sparks race for warehouse space in Britain

China’s Didi announces reorganization plan to address safety

FILE PHOTO: A Didi Chuxing driver checks the information on the application in his car in Beijing, China August 28, 2018. REUTERS/Jason Lee SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Chinese ride-hailing firm Didi Chuxing on Wednesday announced a reorganization plan aimed at improving safety on its platform, as it works to address public and government concerns raised after… Continue reading China’s Didi announces reorganization plan to address safety