The companies and officials influencing the development of self-driving technology offered a wide variety of reactions to the death last week of a pedestrian struck by an Uber autonomous vehicle. Uber Technologies Inc. suspended the testing of its self-driving cars in Tempe, Arizona, where the incident took place, and in other cities. So did Toyota Motor Corp., citing the emotional toll on the safety drivers who sit in the front seat and monitor for hazards. Meanwhile, Ford Motor Co., Nissan Motor Co. and Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo division kept testing.States also varied in their responses. While Arizona didn’t pause driverless car tests, Massachusetts quietly reached out to local companies and asked them to take a few days off the road, according to Karl Iagnemma, chief executive officer of NuTonomy, a Boston-based subsidiary of auto-parts maker Aptiv Plc.The autonomous car industry is still reeling from the accident, puzzling over the failure of an Uber SUV … [Read more...] about Regulators Are Asleep at the Wheel on Self-Driving Cars
Cars
For Tesla, Cars + Cash + Credit + Convertibles = Crunch Time
Opinions differ on the exact nature of Tesla, ranging from struggling car manufacturer to tech pioneer to something akin to the second coming. Regardless, it is undoubtedly one thing: a money machine.I don't mean that in the sense of Tesla making a lot of money; more that it is a machine for the raising and consumption of money.All companies are this to one degree or another, of course; it's just that Tesla Inc. is more at the "another" end of things. Reliably negative on free cash flow, Tesla depends on a smorgasbord of external funding, from equity raising to vehicle deposits to high-yield bonds to securitized leases to negative working capital. And that smorgasbord rests, of course, on Tesla's famously gravity-defying stock price and faith in CEO Elon Musk.Which is why these four charts deserve more than a glance from even the most ardent Muskovite:We're just over a week away from knowing whether or not Tesla has hit its (much reduced) target for … [Read more...] about For Tesla, Cars + Cash + Credit + Convertibles = Crunch Time
Seoul agrees to more open car market to US
South Korea has agreed to further open its car market to the United States as the two countries prepare to amend their six-year-old free trade agreement, its top trade negotiator says.South Korea's Trade Minister Kim Hyun-chong said the United States will end tariffs on South Korean-made pick-up trucks in 2041 instead of 2021.Each American car maker will also be able to export 25,000 additional vehicles to South Korea each year without having to comply with domestic safety regulations. South Korea also will ease emission standards for American cars shipped from 2021-2025, when the Asian country is due to set new import regulations.Kim said South Korea also won an exemption from increased import tariffs on steel products.The third-largest steel exporter to the United States after Canada and Brazil, South Korea was among 12 countries whose exports of steel and aluminum US President Donald Trump recently said would be hit with heavy tariffs. But South Korea's steel tariff exemption is … [Read more...] about Seoul agrees to more open car market to US
China Wants Its Own Brains Behind 30 Million Self-Driving Cars
China’s aspiration to deploy 30 million autonomous vehicles within a decade is seeding a fledgling chip industry, with startups like Horizon Robotics Inc. emerging to build the brains behind those wheels.The Beijing-based company is taking aim at Nvidia Corp. and Mobileye NV just as the autonomous-driving business takes off and uncertainty looms over international trade. Annual revenue from the chips used in driverless vehicles globally should more than double to $5 billion by 2021, according to Gartner Inc.Horizon Robotics is an example of China’s resolve to move up the manufacturing value chain by focusing less on commodity smartphones and TVs, and more on sophisticated semiconductors and artificial intelligence that can help cars drive themselves or spaceships land on the moon. That industrial policy is meant to help China reduce its 1.75 trillion yuan ($276.4 billion) in annual chip imports, a value dwarfing its oil imports.“China has to spare no efforts to pick … [Read more...] about China Wants Its Own Brains Behind 30 Million Self-Driving Cars
Car bomb kills 2, driver in Somali capital
A car bomb has exploded near Somalia's parliament headquarters in the capital Mogadishu, killing at least two people along with the driver, with several others injured.A huge cloud of smoke could be seen billowing over the area dotted with security checkpoints erected along a road leading to the presidential palace.The car bomb was detonated on Sunday at a checkpoint after soldiers intercepted and stopped a suspicious vehicle, senior police Capt. Mohamed Hussein told The Associated Press.A few hours earlier, another car bomb outside the capital killed one person plus the driver, police said. Officer Mohamed Abdi told the AP that the explosion occurred after soldiers arrived at the scene to inspect the "suspicious" car which had got stuck on a sandy road in the Sinka Dheer area.The car bombings come three days after at least 14 people were killed and 10 others wounded in a car bomb blast near the Weheliye hotel on the busy Makka Almukarramah road. … [Read more...] about Car bomb kills 2, driver in Somali capital