Trade News

At CES 2022, Luminar showcased the superior object detection and collision avoidance capabilities of Proactive Safety™ compared to “L2” ADAS technology in live, on-track demonstrations. In this video, Luminar’s senior director of product, Dr. Matt Weed, explains how Proactive Safety functions to detect, plan and responsibly avoid collisions whether on a neighborhood street or highway. 

Improving ADAS capabilities can not only save lives in the near-term, but can also increase consumer confidence, paving the way to autonomy. Lidar-based sensing gives vehicles more time to make safe, confident maneuvers at higher speeds, which is a critical capability for self driving. 

Dr. Weed commented, “Today’s ADAS is a step in the right direction, but it’s also imperfect and often unreliable. Lidar-based Proactive Safety enables higher-confidence object detection at faster speeds and further distances than today’s camera and radar-based solutions. It underpins the…

Self-driving shuttle manufacturer Local Motors will shutter operations on Friday, according to multiple executives.

Though no formal announcement was made, several employees with the company, which produced the Olli shuttle — accessible for people with disabilities — among other vehicles, detailed the company's demise on social media Thursday. Two Local Motors employees later confirmed the reports.

Founded in July 2007, Local Motors was helmed by founder and CEO John Rogers, who caught attention initially by showcasing 3D-printed vehicles. Rogers departed in August, and the CEO role was filled by Cummins executive Vikrant Aggarwal in September.

In recent years, Local Motors focused on building and deploying low-speed autonomous shuttles, which were used in pilot projects around the world. As the pandemic spread and riders fled public-transit options, many public-transit departments stopped funding mobility projects in favor of shoring up their finances a…

A divided U.S. Supreme Court blocked the centerpiece of President Joe Biden’s push to get more people vaccinated amid a Covid-19 surge, rejecting an Occupational Safety and Health Administration rule that would have required 80 million workers to get shots or periodic tests.

The court let a separate rule take effect requiring shots for workers in nursing homes, hospitals and other facilities that receive Medicare and Medicaid payments from the federal government.

Auto industry vaccine mandates are a bit of a mixed bag, with some automakers and suppliers moving ahead with their own mandatory vaccinations. Others have taken a more cautious, wait-and-see approach, focusing on information-gathering and making workplaces safer through masks, barriers and distancing.

Toyota Motor Corp., with a mostly non-union work force in the U.S., has been more assertive, requiring visible proof of vaccination for workers who don’t want to wear masks.

Other automake…

<!--*/ */ /*-->*/ Self-driving startup Nuro showcases next-gen grocery getter

Nuro, the self-driving startup attempting to capitalize on the delivery boom by working with partners such as 7-Eleven, FedEx and Kroger, unveiled its third-generation vehicle this week.

Instead of following the sequencing of its R1 and R2 prototype predecessors, the vehicle is now simply known as the Nuro, and it offers 22 percent more carrying capacity.

New equipment aboard includes an airbag that deploys outside the vehicle in the event a collision with a pedestrian is imminent. Some features stay the same, though, notably a sensing suite that includes thermal cameras in addition to traditional cameras, lidar and radar.

One important aspect of the vehicle — there's still no room for humans aboard the zero-occupant vehicle.

Production of the new vehicles involves a partnership with BYD North America at a factory in southern Nevada. BYD will assemble the…

DETROIT -- Ford Motor Co.’s market value topped $100 billion on Wall Street for the first time as investors bet on the 118-year-old automaker’s prospects in the dawning electric age.

Ford shares rose 2.2 percent to $25.02 on Thursday in New York, closing just under $100 billion at the end of the day.

The automaker’s new market cap exceeds rival General Motors and EV startup Rivian Automotive Inc. It’s still a far cry from Tesla Inc., which investors have valued at more than $1 trillion.

The automaker hit the milestone as it’s doubling planned production of the electric F-150 Lightning pickup that’s going on sale this spring. The company also is ratcheting up production of the battery-powered Mustang Mach-E at a factory in Mexico.

“I’m proud the company is getting recognized for our commitment to electrification,” CEO Jim Farley said in an interview. “The market is saying we like this Ford move into battery-electric and we have more confidence in …

SHANGHAI – While overtaking General Motors as the top-selling automaker in the U.S., Toyota Motor Co. pulled off a rare feat in China last year — it was the only major global automaker to gain meaningful share in the market.

Toyota is also better positioned than global rivals for profitable growth in China: the competitive fuel economy of its cars and light trucks allows it to roll out more gasoline models with no rush to ramp up electric-vehicle output to comply with local rules.

Toyota only produces vehicles under the Toyota brand in China. It sells Lexus vehicles in the market via imports from Japan and the U.S.

Despite the severe semiconductor chip shortage that put a crimp on output industrywide, the Japanese carmaker’s China sales rose for the ninth straight year in 2021, advancing 8.2 percent to top 1.94 million. 

The growth was driven by the Toyota brand. Some 1.7 million Toyota-badged vehicles were delivered in China last year, a 9.…

Honda Motor Co. expects to announce a decision soon on where it will manufacture EVs for the U.S. market, but says questions remain about how much demand there is for battery-powered cars and trucks.

The Japanese automaker will debut two EVs in the U.S. in 2024 as part of a co-development deal with General Motors, which will supply the batteries. Honda has accelerated plans to electrify its lineup in keeping with industry trends and shifting government policy, but remains cautious about adoption rates.

“We’ve told our Honda dealers that initially this is going to be very regional” for EV sales, Dave Gardner, executive vice president of Honda’s U.S. subsidiary, said at a briefing. “What is the consumer uptake? Right now, I think that’s something that’s a little out of whack” with automakers’ efforts to rush EVs to market, he said.

That cautious assessment comes amid an all-EV push by many rival automakers and just days after a Ford Motor Co. executive sai…

BMW posted record annual sales in China as demand for luxury cars and light trucks and the automaker’s push into electric vehicles helped overcome challenges posed by the global chip shortage and coronavirus outbreaks.

The German automaker delivered more than 846,000 BMW and Mini cars in 2021 with its Chinese partners, up 9 percent from the previous year, it said in a statement Thursday. Sales of new-energy vehicles surged 70 percent to around 48,000.

The figures are reflective of the broader auto market.  While total sales rose 4.5 percent last year for the first annual gain since 2018, deliveries of new-energy vehicles, including electric cars, surged 169 percent to 2.99 million units, China Passenger Car Association data released Tuesday showed. The PCA forecast NEV sales will hit 5.5 million this year.  

BMW aims to bring seven new energy models to the Chinese market this year, including the locally produced iX and iX3.  

The co…

OTTAWA -- Canada intends to sign onto Mexico's complaint against the U.S. over its interpretation of rules of origin in the automotive industry, Trade Minister Mary Ng said on Thursday.

Mexico asked last week for a dispute settlement panel under the terms of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade pact. It wants to clear up disagreements over how to apply automotive sector content requirements under the treaty.

The USMCA, which replaced the longtime NAFTA trade pact in July 2020, says 75 percent of a vehicle's components must originate in the three nations to quality for tax-free status, up from 62.5 percent under NAFTA.

Mexico and Canada favor a more flexible interpretation of the regulations than the U.S., which sought an overhaul of NAFTA in order to protect U.S. manufacturing jobs.

"The interpretation that the United States adopted ... is inconsistent with USMCA and the understanding shared by the parties and stakeholders throughout the negotiations," N…

Honda Motor Co. is gearing up for the launch this year of the next-gen HR-V subcompact crossover in the U.S., and teaser sketches suggest it will have more rugged exterior styling than the outgoing model.

When Honda rolled out a redesigned 2022 model for global markets last year, it said North America would have to wait for a unique version. The subcompact crossover, called the Vezel elsewhere, was launched as a standard hybrid in Japan and Europe.

Honda is calling 2022 "the year of the crossover" in North America, as it seeks to increase light-truck sales to satisfy consumer demand and capture higher transaction prices.

The automaker recently freshened the Passport midsize crossover with more off-road styling.

Honda said the second-generation HR-V will launch in the U.S. this year as a 2023 model. Although the vehicle is uniquely styled for North America, Honda did not offer any mechanical details.

Honda is planning a bigger push in…

The Guinness World Records has awarded a team of drivers in a Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo with the greatest altitude change ever achieved by an EV, Porsche said.

The 3.1-mile vertical trip started on Sept 28 in an underground mine in Michigan and ended on Sept. 29 at the top of a mountain in Colorado, said Porsche spokesman Calvin Kim.

The team of four drivers, led by J.F. Musial, worked with Eagle Mine operators in Michigan's Upper Peninsula to be able to drive through it without any modifications or tire change to the car, according to a Porsche statement.

The team started its journey at 1,774 feet below sea level. To reach the summit of Pikes Peak in Colorado at 14,115 feet, they had to travel across six states and about 1,400 miles. The car stopped only seven times during the trip, Kim said.

The team reached the top of Pikes Peak in 33 hours, 48 minutes. Of the four drivers, the only person to remain in the car the entire time was Musial, P…

California is evaluating whether Tesla Inc.'s self-driving tests require regulatory oversight, following "videos showing a dangerous use of that technology" and federal investigations into Tesla vehicle crashes, a state regulator said.

The California Department of Motor Vehicles had said that Tesla’s “full self-driving,” or FSD, beta requires human intervention and therefore is not subject to its regulations on autonomous vehicles.

But the agency is "revisiting that decision following recent software updates, videos showing a dangerous use of that technology, open investigations by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and the opinions of other experts," the department said in a letter on Friday to Lena Gonzalez, chair of the state Senate Transportation Committee.

The Los Angeles Times first reported the letter.

Tesla did not respond to a request for comment.

The EV company has been expanding the rollout of what it describes a…