Tag: Apple

Faraday Future gets new money from gaming company to build in China, and the US

Faraday Future FF91 prototype
The shame of Faraday Future's financial struggles is that it has what looks to be a viable new electric car, not just on paper, but ready to roll on the road—in prototype form—that may never actually make it to market.

On Sunday, the company revealed a new joint venture with a video-game company in China that could bring it $600 million to build a version of its FF91 in China.

The company will form a joint venture with The9, a Chinese video-game company that launched the first Chinese virtual currency and community in 1999 and once had the exclusive license to operate World of Warcraft in China. It trades on the NASDAQ stock exchange and is reportedly worth $100 million.

READ THIS: With cease-fire agreement, spark flickers toward Faraday's Future

The joint venture aims to produce a new model for the Chinese market based on the FF91, called the V9. The joint company plans to produce up to 300,000 V9s per year for the Chinese market.

In a statement released Sunday, Faraday Future said that The9 will initially invest $5 million, which Faraday Future will use to “overcome its short-term cash flow difficulties and support its ongoing equity financing efforts.”

The balance of the $600 million is dependent on meeting certain investment contingencies.

DON'T MISS: Faraday Future posts “For Sale” signs, as Evergrande backer announces first EV

The company also said the joint venture will help it get the FF91 into production in the U.S.

Faraday Future has a factory in California, where it planned to build the FF91, and had talent from Tesla, Apple, and quite a few automakers to develop the FF91, but it has laid off most of it staff after a funding dispute with its previous backer, Evergrande Health, a large, Hong Kong-based conglomerate intent on getting into the electric-car business. Evergrande also holds a majority stake in National Electric Vehicles Sweden, a Chinese company that builds electric versions of the last Saab 9-3 in China.

CHECK OUT: Faraday Future funder writes its own Saab story

That $2 billion funding deal fell apart in a volley of lawsuits when Faraday Future spent through the first round of funding building running production prototypes of the FF91. The lawsuits were later withdrawn as Evergrande agreed to let Faraday Future seek additional funding from other sources.

The company has since struggled to do so, and The9 represents its first new source of major funding since the $2 billion deal with Evergrande fell apart.

Third Generation Available: New Opel Vivaro on Sale Now

€24,600: Attractive starting price in Germany for Vivaro Cargo For every purpose: Vivaro as Cargo, crew cab, Combi and chassis Right sizing: Three lengths up to 5.30 metres, 1.90m in height for underground parking Heavy duty: Payload rises to more than 1,400 kg, trailer capacity to 2,500 kg Mobile office: Multimedia connectivity, sensor-controlled sliding doors… Continue reading Third Generation Available: New Opel Vivaro on Sale Now

Chinese EV startup XPeng is at the center of major trade secret disputes with Apple and Tesla

Last summer, a former Apple employee was charged by the FBI for allegedly stealing trade secrets related to the company’s secretive self-driving car project. This week, Tesla sued a former employee for allegedly stealing trade secrets related to Autopilot. While they happened many months apart, both sets of allegations have something in common: the employees… Continue reading Chinese EV startup XPeng is at the center of major trade secret disputes with Apple and Tesla

Tesla Accusing Ex-Employee Of Selling Self-Driving Technology To Chinese Rival

Tesla has been renowned as a pioneer in its field, creating incredible, more environmentally friendly cars that run without petroleum gas and working on technology that will one day mean cars will be able to completely drive themselves.

That technology has been improving drastically under the Tesla banner, but the brand has recently had some trouble with Chinese rival Xiaopeng Motors. The California-based company has accused a former employee, engineer Guangzhi Cao, of stealing their self-driving tech, the Autopilot source code, and selling it to the Chinese startup, according to a report by CNN.

The legal complaint filed by Tesla states that “Cao uploaded complete copies of the company’s self-driving source code to his personal Apple iCloud account.”

It is believed that he took a total of “300,000 files and directories” during his time working with Tesla.

But the lawsuit then explains that after Cao was given a job at Xiaopeng Motors, he suddenly deleted 120,000 of those files and even disconnected his Apple account from his work computer. He then proceeded to repeatedly log into his Tesla account and delete his browser history.

In the meantime, Xiaopeng Motors has denied any knowledge of such underhanded business regarding Cao, but state that it has launched an internal investigation within the company to determine if Tesla’s accusation is true.

“XMotors fully respects any third-party’s intellectual property rights and confidential information. The company has been complying and will comply [with] all applicable laws and regulations,” they said in a statement, according to a recent Reuters report.

Tesla’s claim goes back to January, shortly before Cao left Tesla for Xiaopeng officially.

Cao is one of four former employees who Tesla is going after in cases of intellectual property theft, according to the lawsuit filed on Wednesday. U.S. self-driving car startup Zoox Inc. is also part of the lawsuit for stealing “proprietary information and trade secrets for developing warehousing, logistics and inventory control operations.”

Tesla has been working on self-driving technology for a while now and has been testing it on the road already. But competition, particularly of the variety that could be promising the same product for a much lower price, could cause a serious problem for them in the long run.

As Reuters points out, Tesla has also started construction on a production factory in Shanghai, putting it in direct competition if the Xiaopeng Motors company has, in fact, gotten ahold of its coding technology.

Uber ‘picks NYSE’ for huge stock listing

Ride-hailing firm Uber will list on the New York Stock Exchange, according to reports, in one of the most anticipated stock debuts of the year. The decision to opt for the Wall Street exchange over the tech-heavy Nasdaq was first reported by Bloomberg, citing sources. It comes as smaller, ride-sharing rival Lyft prepares to list… Continue reading Uber ‘picks NYSE’ for huge stock listing

Complaints from the industry: Tesla & Arizona

The autonomous driving industry has some legal complaints a week to report. All complaints relate to the US, where the convictions can quickly take on exorbitant sums. So had Tesla announced the startup Zoox to sue and the survivors of the Uber-accident sue against US state Arizona and the city of Tempe. Tesla vehicle The… Continue reading Complaints from the industry: Tesla & Arizona

My Trip To The Tesla Model Y Unveiling: The Day Before The Storm

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Cars Published on March 14th, 2019 | by Paul Fosse
My Trip To The Tesla Model Y Unveiling: The Day Before The StormTwitterLinkedInFacebookMarch 14th, 2019 by Paul Fosse

This article highlights the reasons I came out to California for the Tesla Model Y unveiling and what a saw the day before the unveiling.
Why Did I Come Out Here?There are so many answers to that question, but none of them had to do with the Model Y. You see, modern life is such that I know the best way to see a major event (like a political convention or the Super Bowl or an Apple unveiling) is to sit at home like you and read articles and watch livestreams. The first reason I came to the unveiling is simply because I was invited and I could. My wife recently had major surgery and I wasn’t sure if I should leave her alone. I’m in the middle of training a group of internal customers to use the first data mart that I’ve designed in my career. My son is struggling in his second year of college. I’m halfway done with 4 tax returns that will quickly be due.
But I didn’t overthink it. I knew that I had worked hard to get the invite (from the now defunct referral program) and I shouldn’t waste the chance to be here. When my kids were applying to colleges a few years ago, a presenter from an elite school told me something that has stuck with me. He said you shouldn’t go to our school because our campus is great or our teachers are great (although they are), but because our students are great. He said you spend 15 hours a week with the teachers, but 168 hours a week with the other students. He said they could select all students with perfect SAT scores if they wanted to, but to provide the best outcomes, they selected people who had accomplished something. Maybe they were an Olympic athlete, maybe they had started a company or two, maybe they were on a hit TV show — whatever they had done, they would have learned valuable life lessons they could share with their fellow students. That’s the biggest reason to go to the unveiling, to meet and hang around with exceptional people who share my passion for electric cars and Tesla. Each person has a unique story of how they became a fan of the company that has a news cycle that never seems to slow down. Sometimes it is product related, sometimes it is Elon’s tweets, but we all came together to both be part of this historic product announcement and meet in person so many of the people we feel like we know from YouTube or Twitter or the various EV-focused blogs we all follow.
The second reason to go was to spend some time with my son and introduce him to a new part of the tech world that he may not realize exists.
Tesla Hawthorne Design Center
After landing a day before the event, I went to the Design Center to get some pictures and see the preparations before the big day, and to get an In and Out Burger (animal style) from just down the street.
This is the place the Model S, Model X, Model 3, Semi, and new Roadster had all been unveiled. I found a group of four Norwegian Tesla fans and spoke to them about their expectations. They saw the next-generation Roadster go by twice while I was taking these pictures, so maybe that car will be part of tomorrow’s event. I asked them the size of the area for the unveilings (since they had been to several previous events) and they said it was quite small, so they expect only 500 to 1000 people to be at the event.
HyperLoopAs I left the design center, I had to get a picture of the tube used by the teams at the annual Hyperloop competition.

I also noticed they had put up signs so people couldn’t park here during certain times. This starts a half hour before the event and goes to 2:00 am. Is this an indication that the event will go to 2:00 am?
Orange County Tesla Club MeetupPhoto from Dennis Pascual, organizer of Orange County Tesla Club
Next I got invited to attend the Orange County Tesla Club meetup at the Grimaldi’s Pizza in El Segunda, where in addition to meeting many great members of the local club (including the organizer, Dennis Pascual), we had several special guests! I got to meet my fellow CleanTechnica writers Kyle Field and Chanan Bos. Trevor Page of Model 3 Owners Club helped organize the event and also has a crew here for the event, so make sure you check out their coverage too! Vincent, originally from Beijing, has emerged as a great source of news and insight in the leading EV market in the world, China, over on Twitter. I enjoyed meeting all folks at the dinner and was glad my son found a video game enthusiast to talk to (since he is not as interested in EVs as I am).
ConclusionStay tuned to CleanTechnica, where we will be publishing a flurry of articles on the Model Y and the unveiling event. There is much speculation on whether there will be an Apple-style “One More Thing” at the event. Let us know in the comments below what “One More Thing” you are hoping for.

About the AuthorPaul Fosse I've been a software engineer for over 30 years, first working on EDI software and more recently developing data warehouse systems in the telecommunications and healthcare industry. Along the way, I've also had the chance to help start a software consulting firm and do portfolio management for several investment trusts. In 2010, I took an interest in electric cars because gas was getting expensive. In 2015, I started reading CleanTechnica and took an interest in solar, mainly because it was a threat to my oil and gas investments in my investment trusts. Tesla investor. Tesla referral code: https://ts.la/paul92237

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Uber plans to kick off IPO in April

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A man holds an Apple iPad Mini as he uses Uber app.

Ride-hailing company Uber is planning to kick off its initial public offering in April, putting it close on the heels of its smaller rival Lyft, people familiar with the matter said on Thursday.

Next month, Uber will issue its required public disclosure, known as an S-1, and launch its investor roadshow, the people said.

The IPO is expected to be one of the biggest technology debuts. The Wall Street Journal previously reported that proposals for Uber's IPO valued the company at $120 billion.

The timing for Uber's IPO means it will most likely be hitting the public markets soon after Lyft completes its own public offering, which is expected to happen by the end of March, people familiar with the matter said.

Uber and Lyft join a number of tech companies expected to go public this year, including Slack, Pinterest and Palantir.

Uber declined to comment.

–CNBC contributed to this article.

SoftBank's Masa Son: Tech evolution not slowing down at all
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New Toyota Patent Would Let Cars Spray Thieves With Tear Gas

Unauthorized User In the future, Toyota vehicles may pack a nasty surprise to deter any would-be carjackers. Over the summer, Toyota filed a patent for a personalized fragrance dispenser system. Published online last week, the patent is fairly straightforward: when the car recognizes someone as an authorized user, it can spray their favorite scent. And… Continue reading New Toyota Patent Would Let Cars Spray Thieves With Tear Gas