Volkswagen has created a new board position: the software board. He sees the autonomous driving still in the distance. June 18, 2019, 7:45 am, Andreas Donath Volkswagen does not expect a quick break in autonomous driving (Image: Pexels /CC0 1.0) Tesla boss Elon Musk thinks autonomous driving is still in to be able to offer… Continue reading Cars: Until the VW robot car it takes “a few more days”
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Domino’s serves up self-driving pizza delivery pilot in Houston
Domino’s really emphasizes its commitment to ‘innovation,’ but even if it’s a marketing tactic, the global pizza brand does indeed walk the walk. Case in point: It’s launching a new pilot for self-driving pizza delivery in Houston in partnership with Nuro. Autonomous driving tech startup Nuro was founded by Dave Ferguson and Jiajun Zhu, two… Continue reading Domino’s serves up self-driving pizza delivery pilot in Houston
VW boss Diess wants to expand cooperation with Ford – even with electric cars: “VW is very strongly influenced by Chinese – we need a counterweight in the US”
DPA “We need a counterbalance in the US”: Ford CEO Jim Hackett (r) and Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess know each other well, they agreed at the beginning of the year, together to develop vans and mid-sized pick-ups The speculation about a close cooperation of Volkswagen and ford Autonomous driving and electric car technology have been… Continue reading VW boss Diess wants to expand cooperation with Ford – even with electric cars: “VW is very strongly influenced by Chinese – we need a counterweight in the US”
Tesla loses key Autopilot engineer to self-driving truck start-up Embark
Embark self-driving truckEmbarkZeljko Popovic, a leader within Tesla's Autopilot team, is leaving for Embark, the autonomous trucking start-up in San Francisco, according to a person familiar with the move. Embark confirmed the hire.
The departure comes at a critical time, as Tesla is promising its electric vehicles will be capable of operating as “robotaxis” by the end of next year — which is to say, they'd be fully self-driving in normal conditions, without human intervention. Tesla also says it plans to start production of its long-awaited electric semi trucks by the end of 2020.
Popovic, whose background is in robotics, built and ran the perception team for Tesla's Autopilot division.
According to people familiar with his accomplishments there, Popovic managed the development of highly accurate maps of U.S. highways for Tesla, and created a “sensor fusion system” which combines data from the many cameras, radars and ultrasonic sensors that Tesla vehicles employ. The sensor fusion system enables Autopilot to “see” other cars on the road.
At Tesla's annual shareholder meeting this week, CEO Elon Musk acknowledged that some Tesla self-driving features still need improvements. “Summon,” which allows a driver to automatically call their car over from wherever it is parked, was supposed to be widely available by now. But at the meeting, Musk said it is still being tweaked.
Founded in 2015, Embark integrates its self-driving systems into Peterbilt semis rather than building its own trucks completely from scratch, and the trucks are generally operated with human supervisors behind the wheel. It now has more than a dozen trucks and 60 employees. Amazon is using self-driving trucks developed by Embark to haul some cargo on the I-10 interstate highway in California, both companies previously acknowledged.
Attrition has been a big issue for Tesla in the last two years as the company has missed some of its production goals and its stock price has swung wildly. Among others, self-driving VP Jim Keller left for Intel, and head engineer Doug Field rejoined Apple to work on that company's secretive self-driving technology.
Popovic and Tesla did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
WATCH: Self-driving trucks are here — here's how they'll transform the trucking industry
VIDEO13:0513:05How the rise in self-driving trucks will transform the trucking industryTech
New Honda e: powertrain details of BMW i3 rival revealed
The firm believes the car’s retro design will give it an Apple-style appeal to customers. It maintains the styling of the Urban EV, albeit with the addition of an extra set of doors. While Honda has yet to reveal full technical details of the car, its designers told Autocar at the Geneva show that it would… Continue reading New Honda e: powertrain details of BMW i3 rival revealed
VW continues to Aurora with Ford
VW ends its collaboration with the US robot car company Aurora – and wants to cooperate with self-driving cars in the future with Ford. Even with a Swedish battery manufacturer, the German group enters. Hauke-Christian Dittrich / DPA Autonomous vehicle “Cedric” Wednesday, 12.06.2019 15:59 clock Autonomous driving is considered a key technology for the future… Continue reading VW continues to Aurora with Ford
Grab said to have discussed buying Asia payments startup 2C2P
Singapore ride-hailing giant Grab held talks to acquire payments provider 2C2P Pte and was turned down, according to people familiar with the matter, a sign of the ambitions Southeast Asia’s most valuable startup has in financial services. Grab was one of multiple possible bidders interested in 2C2P with preliminary offers ranging up to about $200… Continue reading Grab said to have discussed buying Asia payments startup 2C2P
Tesla completing ‘small acquisition’ which will help launch its insurance product
Tesla CEO Elon Musk says that the company is in the process of completing a “small acquisition” that will help it release its own insurance product, something it said in April that it was only around “a month” away from bringing to market. One month is at least two months when translated from Musk-time to… Continue reading Tesla completing ‘small acquisition’ which will help launch its insurance product
Bernstein says Tesla won’t be bought: ‘We struggle to see it being sold as a going concern’
Tesla CEO Elon Musk attends the Tesla Shanghai Gigafactory groundbreaking ceremony in Shanghai, China, January 7, 2019.Aly Song | ReutersIt's looking less and less likely that Tesla will find a buyer to save it from its financial struggles and offer it a source of new funding, Bernstein told clients on Monday.
European autos analyst Max Warburton wrote in a note that while Volkswagen's CEO may take a look, there really wouldn't be much support for a bid to acquire any of Tesla's assets.
“What assets are attractive? Tesla no longer has genuinely differentiated tech. The production plant is sub-par. The Gigafactory is probably not essential (and may be claimed by Panasonic),” Warburton wrote. “The brand still has value, albeit one that is declining fast. The Supercharger network also has some value. Perhaps these get picked up. But at what price?”
VIDEO7:0807:08Technician: Tesla so bad, it's worth buying nowFast Money “We struggle to see it being sold as a going concern,” he added.
Tesla used about $950 million of cash in the first quarter (for a combined $5 billion of cash burn since 2017), prompting renewed concerns over its long-term financial health. A few weeks ago, Tesla managed to raise $2.35 billion in new capital, with $750 million of common stock and $1.6 billion from convertible bonds. Others have suggested that another technology company, like Apple, could swoop in and buy Tesla when its assets cheapen.
Roth Capital Partners analyst Craig Irwin told CNBC last month that the electric car company could have sold to Apple six years ago at $240 per share. The stock is down 48% over the last six months at $185.16 a share.
Even though Warburton isn't Bernstein's Tesla analyst, he does cover a number of European auto companies that could be in for a pop if Tesla fails. The Palo Alto, California-based automaker has put “huge pressure” on the valuations of traditional equipment manufacturers in Europe as Tesla's initial success suggested that the barriers to entry in the electric vehicle market weren't as onerous as once thought.
“Its technology seemed ahead of all other OEMs — damaging the Germans' relative brand position. Tesla took market share from the German OEMs in the US, UK and some other regions,” Warburton wrote.
But “financial failure of Tesla would force a change in investors' views of traditional OEMs. It would show how difficult it is for a new entrant to succeed,” he added. “Most important: it would change views on the size and growth rates of the EV market.”
Bernstein's main Tesla analyst, Toni Sacconaghi, has a market weight rating on shares of Tesla.
Introducing Bay Wheels: New Bikes and a New Name
Big news for anyone who wants to get around the Bay Area on two wheels: Today, the Ford GoBike system has a new name — Bay Wheels. We’re also launching a brand-new ebike that you can access with just two taps in the Lyft app. We’ve been working for many months on this new hybrid… Continue reading Introducing Bay Wheels: New Bikes and a New Name