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MIT reveals who self-driving cars should kill: The cat, the elderly, or the baby?

It is a classic problem and a test of where our morality lies: if a runaway trolley is uncontrollably heading down a set of tracks and you have the ability to use a lever and choose between either five people or one, what would you do? Featured stories Extend this to cars: would we prefer… Continue reading MIT reveals who self-driving cars should kill: The cat, the elderly, or the baby?

UPDATE 1-Veoneer delays 2020 targets on slower car production starts

(Adds details, background) STOCKHOLM, Oct 25 (Reuters) – Electronic car products maker Veoneer, carved out of Autoliv this year, forecast delays in achieving its 2020 income and sales targets due to postponed production starts for some car models, sending its shares tumbling. The Swedish company, which is focused on high-tech safety gear to target self-driving… Continue reading UPDATE 1-Veoneer delays 2020 targets on slower car production starts

Chinese state-owned automaker FAW Group gets $144 billion credit line

BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China’s state-owned automaker FAW Group said it signed a deal with 16 banks for a credit line worth over 1 trillion yuan ($144 billion), but did not give specific reasons as to why it wanted to secure access to such a large amount of funding. FILE PHOTO: A concept car is displayed… Continue reading Chinese state-owned automaker FAW Group gets $144 billion credit line

A global ethics study aims to help AI solve the self-driving “trolley problem”

In 2014 researchers at the MIT Media Lab designed an experiment called Moral Machine. The idea was to create a game-like platform that would crowdsource people’s decisions on how self-driving cars should prioritize lives in different variations of the “trolley problem.” In the process, the data generated would provide insight into the collective ethical priorities… Continue reading A global ethics study aims to help AI solve the self-driving “trolley problem”

Ford Celebrates Production Start of All-New 2019 Ranger Midsize Pickup and a New Era for a Storied American Factory

Ford today invited more than 3,000 employees from its newly transformed Michigan Assembly Plant to experience the best of the all-new Ranger on an on-site, off-road course Ford has invested $850 million in Michigan Assembly to retool the plant to build the all-new Ford Ranger and future Ford Bronco 2019 Ford Ranger is part of… Continue reading Ford Celebrates Production Start of All-New 2019 Ranger Midsize Pickup and a New Era for a Storied American Factory

Daimler adjusts its earnings guidance – preliminary results for the third quarter 2018

Stuttgart, Germany – As a result of recent developments, Daimler AG today reassessed its earnings outlook for the year 2018 for the Mercedes-Benz Cars and Daimler Buses divisions and for the Daimler Group. This reassessment is based on a number of factors: The main factor is an increase in expected expenses in connection with ongoing… Continue reading Daimler adjusts its earnings guidance – preliminary results for the third quarter 2018

The Army is preparing to send driverless vehicles into combat

WARREN, Michigan — The Army is getting ready to drive into war — in driverless trucks. Next fall, its “Leader-Follower” technology will enable convoys of autonomous vehicles to follow behind one driven by a human. It’s a direct response to the improvised explosive devices that caused nearly half the casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan. The… Continue reading The Army is preparing to send driverless vehicles into combat

Uber considers minority investors for self-driving car unit: Report

Uber Technologies Inc is considering selling minority stakes in its costly self-driving car unit as the ride-hailing company tries to address rising cost pressures ahead of its initial public offering, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday. Uber received interest from potential investors and could spin off its Advanced Technologies Group into a separate business unit… Continue reading Uber considers minority investors for self-driving car unit: Report

Breaking News — Tesla Seals The Deal For Gigafactory 3 In China

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Published on October 17th, 2018 |

by Steve Hanley

Breaking News — Tesla Seals The Deal For Gigafactory 3 In China

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October 17th, 2018 by Steve Hanley

It’s official. Tesla has acquired just under 1300 acres of land in the Shanghai Lingang Equipment Industrial Zone for its Gigafactory 3. The factory is expected to cover about 1200 of those acres. The official signing ceremony for the transfer of land to Tesla took place in China on October 17, today.

Tesla is pushing hard to get the Gigafactory 3 project moving forward. Thanks to the tit for tat trade war initiated by the current US president and his crack team of economic advisers, Tesla cars manufactured in America now must pay an import tariff of 40%, making it hard for them to compete against locally produced automobiles. Cars built in the new factory outside Shanghai will be exempt from that tariff.

Tesla plans to be a major force in the Chinese new car market, especially as China institutes its latest EV policy starting January 1, 2019. After that date, every manufacturer building cars in the country will be required to produce a certain percentage of electric cars, known locally as new energy vehicles. Battery electric cars will get the most credits under the system. Plug-in hybrids will get a smaller credits.

Companies who wish to continue building cars with gasoline or diesel engines will be required to buy credits in order to do so. That will raise the selling price of those cars, making new energy vehicles more competitive in the marketplace.

Last month, Tesla began advertising numerous jobs for construction workers to help build the new factory, which is expected to have a capacity of 500,000 vehicles a year. Tesla expects the factory to begin producing cars in fewer than 2 years time — an incredibly short ramp up from breaking ground on the factory to getting cars rolling off the assembly line and into the hands of customers. But when have short timelines ever been a problem for Tesla?

It reportedly has increased the funding committed to the Gigafactory 3 project to $681 million. And as Vincent indicates on Twitter, local banks in the Shanghai area are actively engaged in lining up the additional funding needed to build GF3.

With the biggest new car market in the world, China is an important market for Tesla. Just how important is indicated by the fact that it is moving forward aggressively with plans for a Chinese factory before committing to a factory in Europe. Check out this video from the World Economic Forum on the rosy prospects for electric cars in China:

Check out more Tesla China news if this isn’t enough for you.

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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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Ford sales in China dropped 43 percent in September

JOHANNES EISELE | AFP | Getty Images
The Ford Mustang is displayed during the 17th Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition in Shanghai.

Ford's sales in China dropped 43 percent in September from the same month a year earlier, a sign that sales are slowing in the world's largest car market.

This is the third straight month of declining auto sales in China.

The second-largest U.S. automaker has been hit by the ongoing trade war between the U.S. and China, despite the fact that Ford sells cars in China through partnerships with local firms.

Ford shares are down nearly 30 percent since the beginning of the year. The stock hit a 52-week low of $8.57 in trading Friday.

“We are intensely focused on our sales turnaround plan in China, which includes an aggressive cadence of product introductions to meet the needs of our Chinese customers, including the launch of the highly anticipated all-new Ford Focus,” said Peter Fleet, president of Ford Asia Pacific and chairman & CEO of Ford China, in a statement. “We believe the new products, which have been custom-designed and developed with Chinese customers in mind, will help us to regain momentum in the world's largest auto market.”

Auto sales are down across the board in China, said Michael Dunne, president of ZoZo Go, an investment advisory firm that follows Chinese autonomous and electrified vehicle companies. This is the first sustained downturn Dunne has seen since the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s, he said.

There are three major factors driving this decline in demand. The first is a crackdown on certain types of peer-to-peer lending practices in China, a feature of the Chinese financial system that has typically allowed less wealthy Chinese to borrow money at rates better than what banks are offering.

The second is a general cautiousness among Chinese consumers that has emerged recently.

“When times are good, the Chinese are really bullish and bold,” he said. “But when times are uncertain they become exceptionally conservative.”

There is a particular mentality that can take hold among Chinese consumers that is more pronounced than the lack of consumer confidence seen in the United States, for example. “And it is contagious,” he added.

Finally, there is the trade war with the U.S., which has exacerbated the uncertainty many Chinese feel from the overall economic slowdown.

Ford has unique problems in China, Dunne said. The automaker has not brought new products to market for more than a year, and Chinese consumers have sought cars elsewhere. Ford is expected to bring new products to China in the next few months, he said.

Ford was not immediately available for comment.

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