SAIC Volkswagen to expand production at Xinjiang plant

URUMQI, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) — SAIC Volkswagen's plant in China's far west Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region is scheduled to increase production by mass-producing an SUV model in mid-2020.
The SUV production line has been installed and is expected to start mass production of the Tharu SUV model in July next year, said Fu Xuejun, general manager of the SAIC Volkswagen (Xinjiang) Automotive Co., Ltd.
The Xinjiang subsidiary previously only produced the new Santana sedan model, with the output exceeding 20,000 units last year.
After the mass production of the SUV model, total production at the Xinjiang plant is expected to increase to 50,000 units.
The subsidiary, based in Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang, is SAIC Volkswagen's first production facility in western China and also Xinjiang's first passenger vehicle assembly plant.

The history: Porsche, the electrical pioneer

Ferdinand Porsche, later the founder of the company of the same name, was fascinated by electricity even as a teenager. As early as 1893, the 18-year-old installed an electric lighting system in his parents’ house. In the same year Porsche joined Vereinigte Elektrizitäts-AG Béla Egger in Vienna. After four years there, he progressed from mechanic… Continue reading The history: Porsche, the electrical pioneer

Chinese startup Full Truck Alliance breaks even en route to IPO

China’s Uber-for-trucks startup Full Truck Alliance said it’s weighing an initial public offering after breaking even from May, defying a sector-wide downturn. The company, which is backed by SoftBank Group Corp. and Tencent Holdings Ltd., said its improved financial performance dovetailed with its decision not to follow through on a plan to raise as much as $1… Continue reading Chinese startup Full Truck Alliance breaks even en route to IPO

Why we invested in Voyage, a self-driving car company.

Voyage, our self-driving car portfolio company, has announced their $31 million Series B funding round, here. We’re proud to continue backing Oliver Cameron and his team alongside existing investors and welcome new investors Franklin Templeton and Chevron Technology Ventures to the journey! Sam Clifton explores why we invested in Voyage and why we continue to… Continue reading Why we invested in Voyage, a self-driving car company.

INMOTION VENTURES BACKS SELF-DRIVING CAR COMPANY VOYAGE IN $31M RAISE

InMotion Ventures has announced its follow-on investment into autonomous vehicle manufacturer Voyage. The investment is part of a $31m Series B fundraiser, led by Franklin Templeton, with participation from Khosla Ventures and Chevron Technology Ventures – bringing its total capital raised to $52m. Voyage will be using the fresh funding to bring its technology to… Continue reading INMOTION VENTURES BACKS SELF-DRIVING CAR COMPANY VOYAGE IN $31M RAISE

AEye: Developing Artificial Perception Technologies That Exceed Human Perception

Nothing can take in more information and process it faster and more accurately than the human visual cortex…until now. Humans classify complex objects at speeds up to 27Hz, with the brain processing 580 megapixels of data in as little as 13 milliseconds. While conventional LiDAR sensors on autonomous vehicles average around a 10Hz frame rate and revisit rate, iDAR sensors can achieve a frame rate in excess of 100Hz (>3x human vision), and an object revisit rate of >500Hz.
So what?A single interrogation point rarely delivers sufficient confidence – it is only suggestive. That’s why LiDAR systems must capture multiple detects of the same object to fully comprehend it, making the speed of subsequent interrogations/detects (the object revisit rate) significantly more critical to autonomous vehicle safety than frame rate alone. For conventional LiDAR sensors, the object revisit rate is the frame rate.
AEye’s iDAR not only has the ability to revisit an object within a single frame, it can revisit multiple points/objects of interest. The achievable object revisit rate of AEye’s iDAR system for objects of interest is microseconds to a few milliseconds – which can be up to 3000x faster, compared to conventional LiDAR systems that typically require hundreds of milliseconds between revisits.
Reducing the time between object detections within the same frame is critical, as shorter object revisit times keep processing times low for advanced algorithms that correlate multiple moving objects in a scene.
“iDAR takes the guesswork out of artificial perception and replaces it with actionable data.” – Dr. Allan Steinhardt, AEye Chief Scientist

AEye: Developing Artificial Perception Technologies That Exceed Human Perception —This Is AEyeForbes On How AEye Teaches Autonomous Vehicles to Perceive Like a HumanAEye Advisory Board Profile: Scott PfotenhauerAEye Advisory Board Profile: Luke SchneiderAEye Adds VP of AI and Software to Executive TeamRethinking the Three “Rs” of LiDAR: Rate, Resolution and RangeAEye Team Profile: Bailey Da CostaAEye Team Profile: Jim RobnettAEye Announces Industry Leading Family of Perception Sensors for ADAS Solutions

Applied Intuition raises $40 million for autonomous vehicle simulation tools – VentureBeat

Simulators are invaluable assets for companies developing autonomous vehicles (AVs). These tools are used by Waymo, GM’s Cruise, Zoox, and countless others to validate systems’ scalability and safety, not to mention training the machine learning algorithms underlying car makers’ real-world vehicles. But not every company has the resources to build their own software simulator from… Continue reading Applied Intuition raises $40 million for autonomous vehicle simulation tools – VentureBeat

McLaren North America relocates corporate headquarters from New York to Coppell, Texas

12 Sep 2019 North American HQ moves from NY City to high tech facility in Texas industrial park Continued growth of brand in supercar market requires larger facility with greater storage and service capacity 27 strong retailer network to benefit from a more centrally based HQ and enhanced technical and customer service support McLaren North… Continue reading McLaren North America relocates corporate headquarters from New York to Coppell, Texas

Renault K-ZE electric crossover launches in China for just ~$9,000

Renault has unveiled the production version of its new K-ZE electric crossover, and in China, it starts at just ~$9,000. We reported on the Renault K-ZE when they unveiled the prototype last year. At the time, the only spec that they confirmed is the range, which they claim is 250 km (155 miles), but they… Continue reading Renault K-ZE electric crossover launches in China for just ~$9,000

Uber Announces Pricing of Upsized $1.2 Billion Senior Notes Offering

SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Uber Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: UBER) today announced the pricing of $1.2 billion principal amount of 7.500% Senior Notes due 2027 (the “notes”). The principal amount of the offering was increased from the previously announced offering size of $750 million. The notes are being offered only to persons reasonably believed to be qualified institutional… Continue reading Uber Announces Pricing of Upsized $1.2 Billion Senior Notes Offering