Engadget We’ve known since WWDC in June that iOS 12 would herald the arrival of Google Maps on CarPlay. Apple released the latest version of the iPhone and iPad software Monday, and after Google updated its app to support CarPlay, you can now use that navigation option on your car’s infotainment system. Waze was also… Continue reading Google Maps works with Apple CarPlay following iOS 12 update
Tag: Apple
New 3S dealer outlet in Puchong, Selangor
Petaling Jaya, 14 September 2018 – Atiara Johan Sdn Bhd has officially launched its new 3S dealer outlet here today. The event was officiated by Dr Li Chunrong, Chief Executive Officer of PROTON, in the presence of PROTON’s senior management members.
New 3S dealer outlet in Puchong, Selangor
The new outlet by Atiara Johan Sdn Bhd replaces a 1S showroom, previously operating in Pandan Indah, Kuala Lumpur, and performing sales activities only. In order to serve its customers better, the management of the company decided to upgrade its facilities to 3S centre at a new vicinity. Located in Puchong, the new outlet was developed on an empty plot of land and cost approximately RM 3.5 million to build, with a built up area of 1,700 square metres. Situated in a busy commercial area beside the town’s main road alongside other car marques, it’s estimated that sales will increase by 60% while servicing will be a new revenue stream for the outlet.
“We took the opportunity to upgrade to a 3S centre ..
Google Street View rival Mapillary collaborates with Amazon to read text in its 350M image database
Mapillary, the Swedish startup that wants to take on Google and others in mapping the world by way of a crowdsourced database of street-level imagery, is taking an interesting step in the development of its platform. The company is now working with Amazon, and specifically its Rekognition API, to detect and read text in Mapillary’s… Continue reading Google Street View rival Mapillary collaborates with Amazon to read text in its 350M image database
A New Doppler Lidar Solves Self-Driving Cars’ Need for Speed
As every New Yorker knows, San Franciscans walk painfully slowly. It’s a common observation, and now it’s a measurable one, thanks to the lidar laser scanners stuck on the roof of the van that’s currently steering me though rush hour traffic in downtown SF. I’d been on plenty of these lidar safaris before, but this… Continue reading A New Doppler Lidar Solves Self-Driving Cars’ Need for Speed
Apple’s autonomous vehicle fleet swells 27% in four months
Apple keeps adding autonomous vehicles to its test fleet in California, boosting its ranks 27 percent since May, according to records from the California Department of Motor Vehicles. The company now has 70 autonomous vehicles permitted to test on public roads, Mac Reports first reported. The permits, which are issued by CA DMV, require a safety driver… Continue reading Apple’s autonomous vehicle fleet swells 27% in four months
Homecoming for The “Tree Frog”
*/ ]]> —– The Opel 4 PS What the first car from a German automotive company has been mass produced on an assembly line. —– Under the partly glazed roof of the old factory, the oldtimers stood in the dappled light and cooled down from the morning’s exertions. They are all at least 90 years… Continue reading Homecoming for The “Tree Frog”
Commercial War: Ford does not give Trump gifts
Ford does not intend to offer a symbolic victory to Donald Trump. The automaker showered the US president’s enthusiasm by announcing that he would not manufacture the Ford Focus Active in the United States. ” This is just the beginning. This car can now be MANUFACTURED in USA and Ford will not pay any customs… Continue reading Commercial War: Ford does not give Trump gifts
Hyundai Avante refresh shines for its practicality
By Choi Kyong-ae NAMYANGJU, South Korea, Sept. 6 (Yonhap) — Hyundai Motor Co.’s significantly redesigned Avante compact on Thursday proved it is a really suitable entry-level vehicle for everyday city driving in terms of fuel efficiency and safety features. In a 130-kilometer test drive that took two hours in Namyangju, just east of Seoul, the… Continue reading Hyundai Avante refresh shines for its practicality
Tesla’s real problem isn’t its shareholders
Peter Parks | AFP | Getty Images
Elon Musk
Elon Musk made a wise decision when he withdrew his proposal to take Tesla private. While Musk's external advisors showed him a viable path to privatization, the complexities of the process would have been a great distraction from the real issue facing Tesla: its lack of an experienced leadership team to run the company.
Musk may be the most exceptional entrepreneur of this generation, but he has a long way to go from being a creative innovator to building an organization that can run a global automobile company.
In recent months Musk has become increasingly frustrated with his shareholders and the questions they were asking — so much so that he issued a simple tweet on August 7: “Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured.”
After a flurry of activity with bankers, investors and the Tesla board, Musk announced last Friday that he had changed his mind and Tesla would continue to be a public company.
All this investor focus has been a giant diversion from Tesla's real problems. In fact, Tesla's investors have been its biggest supporters, running its market valuation to $53 billion, higher than either General Motors ($52 billion) or Ford ($40 billion). Meanwhile, Tesla continues to lose billions of dollars with a dwindling cash balance.
In the recent past Musk has lost 40 key executives, including his heads of product development (Doug Field), sales and marketing (Jon McNeill) and finance (Susan Repo), plus Solar City's Peter Rive and Lyndon Rive. As a result, Musk is trying to do it all himself, even sleeping at the factory to try to get the Model 3 up and running.
No one can run a big company like Tesla alone. Leading a global automobile business is an extremely complex task requiring a strong, diverse team of executive leaders at all levels. Building the top team is precisely what Mary Barra has done in restoring General Motors following its 2009 emergence from bankruptcy. That's what Alan Mulally did to lead Ford through the 2008-09 recession.
The playbook that Barra and Mulally each used fostered teamwork, promoted healthy collaboration and created cohesion around one team implementing one plan for the entire company's success.
Musk should stop worrying about beating the short sellers and focus entirely on rebuilding Tesla's depleted leadership ranks. Most importantly, he should recruit a partner with extensive automobile experience to run the business on a day-to-day business.
An ideal candidate would be Mark Fields, who was CEO of Ford from 2014 to 2017 and who has been in the auto business for 29 years. With his vast knowledge of the business and his proven leadership capabilities, Fields in turn can recruit top performers from auto companies all over the world to get Tesla's operations back on track.
In addition, Tesla needs a very strong CFO who can put the company's finances in order. That means stopping the cash drain and getting the company profitable. Doing so will require correcting Tesla's rampant operational problems, getting Model 3 production up and running and bringing down the cost of its vehicles.
Finally, the Tesla board needs to be upgraded to provide wisdom and insights to Musk and his team about the intricacies of the global automobile business. Tesla's current board consists of Musk, his brother, the former CFO of Tesla's Solar City acquisition, three venture capitalists, the COO of Telstra and James Murdoch, CEO of Twenty-First Century Fox. None of these board members has any experience in the automobile business.
Tesla should add two to three experienced executives who understand the business and can advise management as Tesla ramps up and prepares for the next generation of vehicles.
Elon Musk is often compared to Steve Jobs, an equally brilliant entrepreneur with the vision and drive to creative transformative products. Jobs was forced out by the Apple board in 1985 for his erratic behavior. While he was building Pixar, he learned a great deal about leadership from two extraordinary innovation leaders, Ed Catmull and John Lasseter. When he returned to Apple 12 years later, he teamed up with Tim Cook who helped him build the company and turned Jobs' vision into the world's most valuable company.
In the middle of his journey, Musk now finds himself a dark wood. Executive departures continue. The stock price gyrates. The media piles on. In these difficult times, Musk needs to transform himself, much as Steve Jobs did in the 1990s.
There are other examples of entrepreneurs teaming with superb business leaders to create great enterprises; most notably, Google's Larry Page and Sergey Brin recruited Eric Schmidt as CEO and Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg brought in Sheryl Sandberg as COO. In an earlier era, the teams of David Packard and Bill Hewlett of Hewlett-Packard and Intel's Gordon Moore, Bob Noyce and Andy Grove created the signature companies that pioneered Silicon Valley.
Only if Musk is prepared to recruit a partner to build Tesla's leadership team and strengthen his board will he be able to transform Tesla from a breakthrough entrepreneurial company to a rapidly growing automobile company with an enduring legacy.
Commentary by Bill George, a senior fellow at Harvard Business School, former Chairman & CEO of Medtronic, and the author of “Discover Your True North.” He has taught in Unilever education programs in the past decade. Follow him on Twitter
@Bill_George
.
Apple is late to a self driving milestone — its first test car accident
Apple’s secretive self-driving vehicle program has disclosed its first accident, according to a report filed with the California Department of Motor Vehicles. The low speed accident, which occurred August 24, is a milestone of sorts for the company, albeit not one that is being celebrated. These days, as more companies head out onto public streets… Continue reading Apple is late to a self driving milestone — its first test car accident