Thursday Tech News Roundup: Porsche Rakes It In, and More
Your daily mobility technology news roundup, collected by a robot under safety driver supervision.
- The Porsche 911 is the most profitable car of 2019 - Automotive News: The highly profitable 911 will help Porsche to counterbalance expected losses from the just-released Taycan, its first full-electric series production car.
- Apple CarPlay subscription no longer 'free' for new cars - Autocar: A year has passed since BMW released what it called OS7 - the seventh iteration of its iDrive infotainment system - but the first customers are now being asked to hand over money in order for some services to continue. Owners are now seeing the message: "Your free trial of Apple CarPlay is up. Would you like to renew? Please pay £85 for another ye
- Cruise Ship Companies Are Finding It Hard to Quit Carbon - Bloomberg: Mike Kaczmarek, Carnival's marine technology chief, says the two cases and the company's environmental record haven't affected bookings. He cites ...
- 'Tesla of China' Sputters a Year After IPO - Caixinglobal: 'Tesla of China' Sputters a Year After IPO - Sales for Nio have dropped sharply since start of 2019, hit by slumping market and safety concerns.
- Missouri lawmakers consider much higher fees to license electric vehicles - Radio: New and proposed laws do not seem to have a big effect on electric vehicle sales. EVs surpassed two percent of overall sales in 2018, and that was a ...
- Diesel scandal at German carmaker Volkswagen widens: Report - Xinhua | English.news.cn - Xinhuanet: The scandal surrounding illegally manipulated exhaust emissions of diesel cars for the German car maker Volkswagen is widening ...
- US opens probe into Nissan Rogue automatic emergency braking - Washington Post: The U.S. government's road safety agency is investigating complaints that the automatic emergency braking on the Nissan Rogue can turn on for no apparent ...
- Tesla begins retrofits of Hardware 3 Full Self-Driving computer on selected cars - Teslarati: Tesla considers HW3 as a key to achieving autonomous driving, as indicated by the company in its Autonomy Day event this past April.
- Merkel offers to help German automakers with ‘Herculean task’ - Automotive News: While short on specifics, the German chancellor backed efforts to encourage consumers to buy more environmentally friendly products such as EVs fueled by renewable power.
- Commission clears the creation of a joint venture between Toyota Motor Corporation and Panasonic Corporation - Sciencebusiness: The European Commission has approved, under the EU Merger Regulation, the creation of a joint venture between Toyota Motor Corporation and Panasonic ...
- Elon Musk says Tesla's new Model S prototype is a 7 seater - Electrek: After announcing the upcoming new Tesla 'Plaid powertrain' yesterday, Elon Musk said that Tesla had another Model S prototype with 7 seats.
- Singapore's Vertex adds $290 million venture fund for high-growth tech firms - Reuters: Singapore-based Vertex Venture Holdings, the first main backer of Southeast Asia's ride-hailing giant Grab, has added a new $290 million venture capital fund targeting investments in high-growth technology firms, a senior company official said.
- Waymo eyes deploying self-driving technology in trucking -CEO Krafcik - Reuters: Waymo is exploring deploying its self-driving technology in the trucking industry, CEO John Krafcik said on Thursday, as it works with industry partners to seize a commercial opportunity from a looming shortage of human drivers.
- ZF eyes sale of stake in Sweden's Haldex, ending ownership stalemate - Reuters: Germany's ZF Friedrichshafen said on Thursday it would look to sell its 20% stake in brake systems maker Haldex in a move which could break the ownership deadlock in the Swedish firm dating back to a bidding war in 2017.
- Toyota tests solar-powered Prius in quest for plugless electric car - Reuters: Inspired by new ultra-thin solar panels developed for satellites, a project led by Toyota Motor Corp is experimenting with a ...
- Feds award $7.5M to Michigan for self-driving car testing - The Detroit News: Testing will take place at UM's Mcity and the American Center for Mobility in Ypsilanti, as well as the streets of Detroit.
- Chilean lithium producer SQM bullish on white gold demand; shares rise - Reuters: Shares in Chilean lithium producer SQM jumped on Wednesday after it announced plans to invest about $2.1 billion in the next ...