News

DETROIT -- Federal prosecutors on Thursday charged ex-UAW President Dennis Williams, who led one of the nation's most powerful labor unions from 2014 to 2018, with conspiring to embezzle funds from rank-and-file workers for nearly a decade.

Court documents say Williams and others spent hundreds of thousands of member dollars on trips to Palm Springs, Calif., golf outings, fancy dinners and other luxuries.

Williams, 67, becomes the 15th person charged in the ongoing corruption scandal. He's also the second former union president to be charged; his successor, Gary Jones, pleaded guilty to embezzlement and racketeering charges in June and awaits sentencing.

Williams was charged in a criminal information, which means he's likely to plead guilty. He faces a maximum of five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

"The charges today are further steps forward in our relentless effort to ensure that the over 400,000 men and women of …

Electric-truck startup Rivian Automotive Inc. has hired a former Tesla Inc. executive to lead its engineering as the Amazon.com Inc.-backed company’s debut electric vehicles near production, a person familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.

Nick Kalayjian, who spent more than a decade at Tesla, will join Rivian as executive vice president of engineering and product, said the person, who declined to be named. Most recently he was a senior vice president at San Francisco-based Plenty Inc., according to his Linkedin profile.

Kalayjian replaces Mark Vinnels, who until this week had been Rivian’s executive director of engineering, the person said. Vinnels joined Rivian in late 2017 and was previously an executive at McLaren Automotive Ltd.

A Rivian spokesperson confirmed Vinnels has left the company, but did not specify how recently. Neither Kalayjian nor Vinnels could be reached for comment.

While Kalayjian is not a direct hire from Tesla, the move co…

NHTSA has launched a mobile app that automatically checks for safety recalls and alerts users when a recall has been issued, the Department of Transportation announced Thursday.

The agency's SaferCar app allows users to type in or scan their VIN and receive recall notifications on their iOS or Android devices. Users can save information for their vehicles, car seats, tires and other equipment in a "virtual garage" on their devices to get critical safety information and access other NHTSA online tools. If a recall is issued, the app directs the user to a local dealership handling repairs.

To inform the public of the app, there will be a paid digital campaign, organic social media push and outreach to safety partners, a NHTSA spokesperson told Automotive News.

"In today's world, smartphones are the tool of choice for many tasks and the updated SaferCar app is a new safety tool at the public's disposal," NHTSA Deputy Administrator James Owens said in a stat…

Veoneer will partner with Qualcomm Technologies on developing software for its driver assistance systems, the auto technology supplier said Thursday.

The Swedish supplier of vision systems, radar and software for advanced driver-assistance systems said it had signed a non-binding letter of intent with the U.S. technology company and expected to finalize a definitive agreement in the second half of this year.

Veoneer's software development strategy, increasingly important with the auto industry in the midst of a rapid transformational shift, has been under scrutiny since it ended its Zenuity software joint venture with Volvo Cars in April.

"This is a significant event for Veoneer which we are very happy to announce," CEO Jan Carlson told Reuters, adding that he expected the integrated software and system-on-a-chip platform would generate major interest from customers.

Veoneer, which competes with companies such as Aptiv , Bosch and Continental, has…

HAMBURG/BERLIN -- Continental played a big part in the Nazi's armaments and war economy, using forced laborers to make products such as gas masks, a study presented by the company showed on Thursday.

Continental commissioned the independent research by historian Paul Erker to explore the darkest chapter of the company's history. It provides an opportunity to learn from the past to create a better future, the company said.

"The study shows that Continental was an important part of Hitler's war machine," Continental CEO Elmar Degenhart said.

The research, which included units VDO, Teves, Phoenix and Semperit, which were not part of Continental at the time, exposed how corporate culture was distorted and how the company shifted from making products for the Nazi's consumer society to arms.

The supplier used 10,000 forced laborers during World War II from occupied Belgium and France as well as Soviet prisoners of war, showed the study entitled "Supplie…

Join Automotive News Publisher Jason Stein for a daily podcast series about the coronavirus crisis. He’ll speak with industry experts, insiders and Automotive News reporters about how the virus is impacting and reshaping the automotive industry.

Colorado Automobile Dealers Association President Tim Jackson discusses life on the ground in Colorado, clean-air initiatives and plans for the 2021 Denver auto show.

How do I subscribe?

Can't wait to hear the next episode of "Daily Drive"? Subscribe through a podcast app to receive episodes days in advance. If you don't have a podcast app already, here are some options. 

iPhone / iPad

“Daily Drive” is available on the iTunes Store and through the ‘Podcast’ app pre-installed on all iOS devices. Click here to subscribe to "Daily Drive"

Android

“Daily Drive” is available on the Google Play store. Click here to subscribe to "Daily Drive"

Spotify

"…

Louisiana auto dealers woke up to the devastation that Hurricane Laura left behind after making landfall overnight.

Laura hit Cameron, La., at 1 a.m. Thursday as a Category 4 hurricane. It was later downgraded and, as of midday, was listed as a Category 1 hurricane. Major damage was visible throughout southern Louisiana.

About 609,000 homes and businesses were without power in three states, The Weather Channel reported. So far, one death attributed to the storm has been reported.

Will Green, president of Louisiana Automobile Dealers Association, said in an email that many of his members closed their dealerships Wednesday and Thursday as the storm continues to make its way up the state.

"Many I have talked to have lost power and have damage to their buildings, especially those in the Lake Charles area," he said.

The Louisiana Independent Auto Dealers Association said it is still waiting to hear from dealers in the impacted areas. Typically,…

TOKYO -- A Japanese mobility venture has unveiled two adapted vans, one which can serve as a workspace or a mobile shop, and another that pumps fresh air through the vehicle to reduce the risk of COVID-19 spreading between passengers.

It is the first commercial offering from Monet, a joint venture between SoftBank Corp. and Toyota Motor Corp. In one version, the adapted Toyota Hiace van takes in outside air and circulates it through the interior, which is also fitted with screens and curtains to limit virus transmission. It can seat eight passengers in the back. The other version of the van allows users to fix fittings to the floor and arrange the interior as a shop or work space.

The Monet joint venture was first announced in October 2018 with the goal of becoming a platform for driverless services.

Neither design incorporates self-driving technology and, in the case of the multi-purpose design, Japan's road rules require fittings such as tables to be s…

Chinese autonomous driving startup Pony.ai and German megasupplier Bosch's Automotive Aftermarket division in North America are teaming up to develop and test a maintenance and repair system for future AV fleets.

The partnership, announced Wednesday, capitalizes on Bosch's Car Service network, which provides automotive repair and maintenance through independent operators. The network has more than 20,000 locations across the world, more than 1,000 of which are in North America.

As vehicles become more automated, fixed operations require service technicians with expertise in self-driving technology.

Bosch and Pony.ai started a pilot of their robotaxi fleet maintenance program at an undisclosed Bosch Car Service location in the San Francisco Bay area in July, according to the statement.

The companies are testing "the readiness and operational efficiency to steer a fully autonomous multiplatform fleet," the statement said.

"High operational ef…

A pair of self-driving car startups are offering a solution to commuters shunning shared transportation in the midst of a pandemic: ultraviolet rays.

Voyage and May Mobility, two autonomous-vehicle companies that charge riders to go on simple, specialized routes, are putting UV-light emitters in their shuttles to help keep their services running. The rays are already used in ambulances and can destroy viruses, fungus and bacteria between rides.

The effort echoes Avis Budget Group Inc.’s move to market its partnership with Lysol maker Reckitt Benckiser Group to boost disinfection protocols for its rental cars. Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. also have taken steps to keep riders safe, though both are transporting far fewer people than before COVID-19.

Voyage’s service offers low speed trips on predictable routes to riders in two massive retirement communities in California and Florida. The company is putting the UV system in its third-generation vehi…

Credit unions ceded market share to automaker lenders wielding aggressive incentives in the spring. But used-vehicle lending remains a bright spot for credit unions amid the coronavirus pandemic as used-car values skyrocket.

All non-captive auto financing companies forfeited market share to automaker lenders boasting 0 percent interest, seven-year car loans in the first and second quarters, J.D. Power and credit bureau Experian noted in reports. Yet credit unions are benefiting from high consumer demand on a dwindling supply of new vehicles.

More shoppers are turning to used vehicles, leading to record-high auction prices as dealers lock horns over limited inventory. Used-vehicle lending, an area in which credit unions long held an advantage, improved this summer for those financial institutions on Credit Union Direct's lending network.

Used-vehicle loan volume at credit unions connected through CU Direct decreased by about 1.1 pe…

Safe-Guard Products International, one of the largest finance and insurance product providers in the U.S., is launching branded products for Prime Automotive Group, both companies announced last week. The agreement with Prime is Safe-Guard's second-largest with a retailer after its relationship with AutoNation Inc.

Prime Automotive, which ranks No. 11 on Automotive News' list of the top 150 U.S. dealership groups based in the U.S., formally launched its Prime Automotive Protect brand this month. Prime signed onto Safe-Guard, which supports a cadre of automaker white label F&I solutions, to launch its name brand and to add manufacturer-branded products to its offerings.

A branded-product strategy is among the ways Prime anticipates raising F&I profit per vehicle retailed by $200 by the end of this year, according to Paul Monarch, a senior consultant for Prime. Monarch said he was hired nine months ago to raise finance profits and increa…