VW – Page 3093 – I wish I had more to offer

Lamborghini rolls out its 10,000th Urus

A little over two years on after its market introduction, the Lamborghini Urus SUV has reached its 10,000th unit milestone. The model with chassis number 10,000, destined for Russia, has rolled out in the new Nero Noctis Matt (black) colour, combined with the carbon fibre package and two-tone Ad Personam interiors in black and orange, complemented by… Continue reading Lamborghini rolls out its 10,000th Urus

Volkswagen warns Korean battery row could lead to ‘catastrophic’ supply disruption

SEOUL (Reuters) – Volkswagen and Ford said a U.S. legal row between South Korean battery makers could disrupt supplies of the key electric vehicle parts and cost U.S. jobs during the Covid-19 outbreak, according to documents submitted to a U.S. trade panel. FILE PHOTO: The logo of German carmaker Volkswagen is seen on a rim… Continue reading Volkswagen warns Korean battery row could lead to ‘catastrophic’ supply disruption

Gett raises $100M more to double down on its B2B on-demand ride business

A number of ride-sharing companies are feeling the strain from reduced business, with many consumers still reluctant to travel, and especially to travel in surroundings that might increase the risk of spreading or catching the novel coronavirus. But today, one of the startups in the space is announcing a significant round of funding to continue growing… Continue reading Gett raises $100M more to double down on its B2B on-demand ride business

German car industry warns of job losses due to ‘unprecedented slump’ in the market – Yahoo Finance UK

Workers wear face masks as they assemble cars at the Mercedes-Benz factory in Ludwigsfelde, Germany. Photo: Maja Hitij/Getty Images More The German automotive industry, one of the country’s biggest employers, is facing big job cuts, despite the government’s stimulus measures raising hopes for an economic upswing in the second half of the year. “The slump… Continue reading German car industry warns of job losses due to ‘unprecedented slump’ in the market – Yahoo Finance UK

@VW Group: New Production Board Member for Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand

Dr. Christian Vollmer, formerly Executive Vice-President for Production and Logistics of the SEAT brand, has been appointed Production Board Member of the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand effective August 1, 2020. In this function, he succeeds Dr. Andreas Tostmann, who has been appointed new CEO of MAN Truck & Bus SE with effect from July 16.… Continue reading @VW Group: New Production Board Member for Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand

@VW Group: We Charge: Volkswagen’s new charging service has over 150,000 public charging points

Volkswagen is rolling out its own charging service to coincide with the market launch of the ID. family: With We Charge, customers will be able to charge their electric vehicles at over 150,000 public charging points all over Europe. The We Charge charging card gives them easy access to these charging points. Customers have a… Continue reading @VW Group: We Charge: Volkswagen’s new charging service has over 150,000 public charging points

@VW Group: One card for all

07/20/2020 No vehicle goes through production without it: the vehicle routing card. An essential aid in changing times. Porsche Production 1.0 Zuffenhausen in the 1950s and 1960s: car assembly at Porsche still had the characteristics of a craft manufacturing process. But it was nevertheless based on clear ideas for efficient production. Short distances for the… Continue reading @VW Group: One card for all

Altair and Ducati Corse sign multi-year partnership to expand use of CAE software

Altair, the global technology company providing solutions in product development, high-performance computing (HPC), and data analytics, today announced a multi-year technical partnership agreement with Ducati Corse, the racing division of the legendary Italian motorcycle manufacturer. Ducati will expand its use of Altair’s computer-aided engineering (CAE) software for product development, providing Ducati Corse engineers with a vital… Continue reading Altair and Ducati Corse sign multi-year partnership to expand use of CAE software

Volkswagen AG: Slump in sales stopped in June

in theVW group has the sales slump caused by the Corona crisis somewhat weakened in June. As the company announced on Friday, worldwide deliveries decreased by 17.5 percent year-on-year to around 804,000 vehicles. This corresponds to a stabilization compared to May, when the minus was still around a third (33.7 percent). For the entire first… Continue reading Volkswagen AG: Slump in sales stopped in June

An Interview With NVIDIA: “Make All Cars Autonomous”

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Published on July 19th, 2020 |

by Alex Voigt

An Interview With NVIDIA: “Make All Cars Autonomous”

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My articles about the incumbent automotive industry are usually not at all friendly, and that is not done on purpose but is a result of a never-ending series of missed opportunities, wrong decisions, and ill-advised strategies they regularly annoy me with.

A full decade has passed in which I get angry when I listen to so-called industry leaders saying what they are doing, not doing, have decided to do, or concluded. Writing is probably my way of getting rid of that anger. Writing is my Anger Therapy.

The examples I could list are almost endless, but one of my top 10 was the decision from Daimler to sell its stake in Tesla in 2014. I called it one of the dumbest moves in the history of automakers for two reasons: #1 Financials, #2 Technology.

First of all, the nearly 10% stake in Tesla that Daimler originally purchased in 2010 would be worth about $80 billion today, almost twice Daimler’s $45 billion market cap on Friday.

And secondly, by selling its stake, Daimler lost the arguably even more important seat on the Tesla Board of Directors, and with that critical access to information about batteries and autonomous technology that is essential to Daimler’s survival.

Daimler lost its ability to negotiate a potential new deal for Tesla to supply drivetrain technology to Mercedes-Benz, as it had for the B-Class. In those early days, Daimler did not believe Tesla would be able to deliver and considered the B-Class as a proof of concept. Even after Tesla provided a good electric battery and drivetrain, Daimler did not take the technology for battery electric vehicles seriously.

That lack of understanding of the future technology and demand for sustainable transportation is expressed in its first and only BEV designed in house, the EQC, a vehicle that has missed all expectations with only about 700 vehicles sold so far. To compare, the objective for 2020 is 50,000 units. “Too late, too expensive, and too boring,” a core investor said about the EQC in the last shareholder meeting, in which CEO Ola Källenius announced an employee layoff. Daimler revealed this week that it will let 20,000 employees go to save €2 billion.

My anger boiled up again when I listened to a live press event 2 weeks ago in which Källenius and NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang released news about their strategic partnership on autonomous cars. I started my therapy session and wrote an article. (See that link.)

My thoughts received a lot of support and positive comments from my audience, which was expected — although, you never know. What was not expected is that after the article was released I received a request from NVIDIA asking if I would be interested in a conversation with the company’s Senior Director of Automotive, Danny Shapiro.

Usually, what you expect as an author after you express your not-so-friendly words in an article about a partnership between two companies is to NOT get an invitation for further events or conversations. I was positively surprised, but assumed that the request was initiated as a corrective measure about what I said and wrote, but I happily accepted.

I learned later, though, that I had been wrong.

Instead of trying to correct me or expressing justifications and explanations, like Ralf Brandstätter, CEO of the Volkswagen brand, did on LinkedIn, NVIDIA was truly only interested in a conversation, and I have therefore now gained even more respect for it.

It would be useful to have a conversation with the Senior Director of Automotive for NVIDIA, but I figured it would me much more valuable if I could publish the interview for others to see, and NVIDIA agreed to it. So, here it is, my conversation with Danny Shapiro, Senior Director of Automotive at NVIDIA, about autonomous driving, software, and the future of transportation. The summary title: “Make All Cars Autonomous.”

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About the Author

Alex Voigt Alex Voigt has been a supporter of the mission to transform the world to sustainable carbon free energy for 40 years. As an engineer, he is fascinated with the ability of humankind to develop a better future via the use of technology. With 30 years of experience in the stock market, he is invested in Tesla [TSLA], as well as some other tech companies, for the long term.

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