Hints and tips:
...Smart reads David v Goliath Large consumer goods companies are starting to feel the impact of their smaller, more innovative rivals....
...Waymo and Uber are among a growing range of companies, from existing carmakers such as Daimler and Volvo to start-ups including Starsky Robotics, Embark, Peloton and PlusAI, developing self-piloting technology...
...Volvo went a step further this week, announcing the end of the purely petrol engine in its cars from 2019....
...Photos showed Uber’s 16 specially outfitted Volvo SUVs being loaded onto its Otto fleet of trucks on Thursday morning....
...Uber is already investing in self-driving cars, striking partnerships with Volvo and Daimler, as well as autonomous trucks through last year’s acquisition of Otto....
...Volvo, the Swedish bus and lorry maker, has spent years trying to show that trucks can be at the centre of innovation....
...The executive, who sold his self-driving truck business to Uber for $680m earlier this year, compared the DMV’s approach to forcing someone to use “belts and suspenders if you are wearing a dress”....
...The ride-hailing company has intensified its focus on autonomous technologies in recent months, acquiring Otto, a self-driving truck start-up, and partnering with Volvo to develop its next generation of...
...A month ago, Uber paid more than $600m in equity to buy a driverless truck start-up, Otto, whose team included leading Google engineers....
...One such occasion — when engineers intervened to override the autonomous controls — involved a food truck and a man dressed in a chicken suit as a promotional stunt....
...Six European truck companies — Volvo, Scania, Daimler, Iveco, DAF and MAN — successfully sent connected self-driving convoys along motorways across the continent....
...With sales shrinkage in North America and Japan in 2015, the only major markets to record increases in unit terms were Europe and India....
...Volvo says it will take on liability for its autonomous vehicles — because if it did not, consumers would never trust it enough to ride in one....
...Alongside these will appear a new sports car from Honda’s Acura luxury marque, as well as a luxury compact SUV from Volvo....
...That will help it boost its challenge to rivals Daimler and Volvo. VW’s truck assets comprise Scania, MAN and VW commercial vehicles....
...This may complicate life for makers of driverless cars: because of legal uncertainties and hugely variable driving environments, “self-driving” is likely to be offered as an optional setting for decades...
...General Motors and Ford face similar challenges as both make disproportionate amounts of their global profits from a handful of vehicles in North America....
...True, class 8 truck sales in North America are expected to rebound strongly: IHS is forecasting a 17 per cent increase next year....
...Torotrak is working with Volvo on passenger cars....
...A profit warning last week from Mercedes-Benz maker Daimler and cautious comments from peers including Volvo, a key GKN customer, “served as a reminder that the passenger car and truck markets are not as...
...Volvo said that it expected truck sales to grow by 20 per cent in North America, where many companies are upgrading their truck fleets, and by the same amount in Japan where demand is high because of reconstruction...
...Last week, however, leading bellwether industrial groups including Siemens, 3M and Eaton were among those expressing caution on Chinese sales, joining others such as Volvo and ABB that warned of cooling...
...Honeywell, the US industrial group, highlighted sales of truck components such as turbochargers as a particular area of strength....
...Italy represents about 8 per cent of revenues at Pirelli, which has plants in South and North America, the Middle East, Russia, and China....
...In North America, the weak housing market – both in terms of new build and housing prices – is among the factors that has impacted household spending....
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