Category Archives: autonomous vehicles

Autonomous Car Appetizer: Ford and Postmates Link

The Postmates pilot now underway in Miami and Miami Beach has more than 70 businesses participating, including local fast-food pusher Coyo Taco. For residents in the area, when they order tacos , or something else from Postmates, they may be given the option to have it delivered by a self-driving like research vehicle. Continue reading

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Volkswagen and Ford Alliance Under Study

Against this backdrop and with a possible shakeout as devastating as occurred more than a century ago as the automobile emerged, it’s not surprising that long established car companies are seeking collaborative agreements to share the risks, cut the cost of research, development and production and survive as an entity when taking an individual road appears one paved with doom. Continue reading

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U.S. Space Exploration Essential for Climate Monitoring

More than half of Americans say they would not be interested in going into space, citing cost, fear, and age or health concerns. * Therefore, an expanded definition of the automakers quest to transform into mobility companies does not include to go where no man has gone before at this time. Continue reading

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SoftBank Vision Fund to Invest $2.25 B in GM Cruise

The SoftBank Vision Fund investment will be made in two phases. At the closing of the transaction, the Vision Fund will invest the first tranche of $900 million. At the time that Cruise AVs are ready for commercial deployment, the Vision Fund will complete the second tranche of $1.35 billion. Continue reading

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FCA Sells Minivans to Google’s Waymo for Driverless Use

Google’s self-driving wing Waymo – a clear threat to established automakers – will expand its fleet with an agreement to add up to 62,000 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivans. Given Chrysler’s dubious safety record, it’s a risky proposition in AutoInformed’s view. Continue reading

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Transformation to Mobility Company? Ford Returns to Detroit.

As part of an $11.1 billion investment in global electric vehicles announced earlier this year, Ford says it will sell electrified vehicles that “offer exciting experiences and enhanced capabilities based on what people need and want – including the all-new Mustang-inspired battery-electric SUV in 2020.” Continue reading

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Daimler, Deutsche Telekom End German Government Clash

Whether this bodes ill for Daimler’s other car-to-car or car-to-infrastructure/web communications programs remains to be see. It also points to an unknown legal environment facing autonomous car makers with products already on the market – automatic driver-assist systems such as automatic braking, automatic parking, or vehicle-following speed control. Continue reading

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Toyota, KDDI, OYO to Collect Data for Disaster Relief

The project uses technologies in the IoT (internet of things) and big data analysis that will be crucial to the survival of “wanna be mobility companies in the auto industry. Continue reading

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Ford Smart Mobility, Zotye Ink MOU on Chinese Ride Hailing

The Zotye-Ford mobility JV will provide ride-hailing fleet operators and drivers with all-electric vehicle leasing services, data-driven fleet management solutions, in-vehicle digital services, connectivity and vehicle customization. Ford Smart Mobility is a Ford Motor Company subsidiary formed to design, build, grow and invest in emerging mobility services. Continue reading

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Failing Grade for Ford Motor Q1 Earnings

This promised 8% Automotive Operating Margin is normally obtained or surpassed by offshore automakers year in, year out. It gets worse when you consider Ford Motor costs have grown as fast as revenue; Grimmer still when capital spending has grown even faster. Continue reading

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Significant Stories, Trends of 2017. And 2018?

However, journalists staring down a blank screen, an opaque prelude to more 2018 deadlines, do not have the option to Tweet and constantly Run away from the responsibilities of the job. Here is AutoInformed on some significant automotive related stories of the 2017 year, with our wry awareness, as always, that columnists conduct their education – sometimes not perfectly informed – in public. Continue reading

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Protect the American Worker Trump – Says NLA

“As you are aware (debatable, if not refutable – editor), our country was founded on the principal that hard working Americans have a standard set of protections afforded to them by law, and that all reasonable efforts will be made to keep people employed who have a desire and ability to work… Continue reading

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Ford Dropping Car Business – Reallocating $7B in Capital

It’s time for Ford to reorganize yet again. This time around it’s as radical a turnaround plan as ever seen in Dearborn with Ford essentially ceding the car market to other major auto makers and reallocating the $7 billion saved to bets – with wildly uncertain odds – in the connected car and autonomous car areas, as well as the newly emerging interactive road system. Continue reading

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Autonomous Vehicles Buying Stampede – GM and Strobe

LIDAR uses light to create high-resolution images that provide a more accurate view of the world than cameras or radar alone. As self-driving technology continues to evolve, LIDAR’s accuracy will play a critical role in its deployment. Long gone is the original fantasy that State and Federal road markings would be adequate. – they don’t even work for human directed vehicles. Continue reading

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DENSO to Spend $1 billion in Tennessee

Globally, DENSO claims to be a leading developer of electrification systems for automobiles, tasks involved in vehicle safety and security, and newer areas that connect vehicles and society. These systems will play a crucial role in meeting increasing electric vehicle demand, says DENSO. Continue reading

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