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A new collaboration between computing powerhouses could further enhance the way motorists interact with their vehicles.

Nvidia Corp., said Monday it has partnered with MediaTek, a Taiwanese company that makes semiconductors for wireless communications, to develop a platform that enhances automotive infotainment and cockpit features.

The two companies disclosed the partnership Monday at the Computex technology conference in Taipei.

Financial terms were not disclosed. Nor were potential automakers who intend to use the chipsets, though Danny Shapiro, vice president of Nvidia's automotive division, said the partners were already working with an automaker.

While one unnamed customer may already be in hand, he said the chips are intended to be used across mainstream and luxury models. The chips are expected to be in production in 2026 for model year 2027 vehicles.

"This is a new era of advanced user experiences for the software-defined car," Sh…

In this week's issue, and also next week's, we offer in-depth interviews with some of the top North American auto executives.

Every year, we sit down with the industry's North American chiefs to give readers a glimpse of the leadership thinking inside key brands.

This week, it's Jose Muñoz, CEO of Hyundai and Genesis Motors North America; Sebastian Mackensen, CEO of BMW North America; Kumar Galhotra, president of Ford Blue; and Pablo Di Si, CEO of Volkswagen Group of America.

That have a lot to talk about because each of their companies is in a state of change.

Hyundai is attempting to create a pipeline of U.S.-made electric vehicles, despite the headwinds the automaker is feeling from the U.S. government in the tax rules of the Inflation Reduction Act.

At BMW, Mackensen posed a question that's surely weighing on the mind of every manager in the auto business: "How do you do even more things simultaneously?" Just to name a few things, he po…

The vice president of homologation, vehicle safety and feature integration at Zoox describes the process the company used for self-certifying that its robotaxi conforms with federal standards and the status of the company’s self-driving deployments.

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North American auto leaders have a lot on their mind — and on their plate

In this week's issue, and also next week's, we offer in-depth interviews with some of the top North American auto executives.

Every year, we sit down with the industry's North American chiefs to give readers a glimpse of the leadership thinking inside key brands.

This week, it's Jose Muñoz, CEO of Hyundai and Genesis Motors North America; Sebastian Mackensen, CEO of BMW North America; Kumar Galhotra, president of Ford Blue; and Pablo Di Si, CEO of Volkswagen Group of America.

That have a lot to talk about because each of their companies is in a state of change.

Hyundai is attempting to create a pipeline of U.S.-made electric vehicles, despite the headwinds the automaker is feeling from the U.S. government in the tax rules of the Inflation Reduction Act.

At BMW, Mackensen posed a question that's surely weighing on the mind of every manager in the auto business…

The BorgWarner employee who has been detained in Russia since 2018 says he thinks progress is being made toward his release.

"I remain positive and confident on a daily basis that the wheels are turning," Whelan said in a phone call to CNN last week from his prison camp. "I just wish they would turn a little bit more quickly."

Whelan, a U.S. Marine who was BorgWarner's security director, was sentenced in 2020 to 16 years in prison on spying charges that he has denied. He was arrested in December 2018 while attending a wedding in Moscow after receiving a flash drive with government secrets that he says he thought contained holiday pictures.

He told CNN that he's more confident in the U.S. government's efforts to bring him home than he was last December, when Russia released WNBA player Brittney Griner.

More recently, however, Russia arrested U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich on charges of espionage, another case that th…

DETROIT — "You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete." — Buckminster Fuller

Fuller's quote was recited by Cheryl Thompson, founder and CEO of the Center for Automotive Diversity, Inclusion & Advancement, during the organization's Rev Up 2030 summit here this month at Wayne State University.

As the editor who has overseen Automotive News' diversity, equity and inclusion coverage during the past two years, this quote resonated with me. It is easy to fall into the trap of arguing with those who dismiss company DE&I initiatives as "woke nonsense" and "unfair," despite a mountain of rigorous, credible research that shows the positive business outcomes of such policies. The anti-DE&I sentiment in emails sent to us criticizing our coverage, as well as on social media and in state political offices, can be discouraging.

The unfortunate…

Ferrari has zero interest in building a car that can drive itself.

That's the word from CEO Benedetto Vigna, who spoke at the Financial Times' Future of the Car Summit this month in London.

"In a cabin, there are four kinds of software," Vigna said, according to Insider. "There is performance software, there is comfort software, there is infotainment software, and there is autonomous. The last one, we don't care."

The ultraluxury brand is, however, working on electric vehicles and has the talent to develop its own software for those, said Vigna, who became CEO in September 2021. He added that it has secured partnerships with battery makers to introduce an EV by 2025.

But as much as Vigna has sworn off self-driving technology, it's always possible the company might change its mind. After all, Ferrari executives said in 2016 that they had no plans to build an SUV or four-door vehicle. The four-door Purosangue, Ferrari's fir…

European auto assembly plants have pulled 42,000 more vehicles out of production this week due to a lack of microchips, according to the newest estimate from AutoForecast Solutions. 

But the North American industry, which has made far more chip-related production cuts so far this year, was able to leave its factory schedules unchanged.

Chinese production plans also were unaffected for this week, the forecasting firm reported, as were the assembly plants of South America.

More than 23,000 of the new schedule cuts involved plants in Eastern Europe, according to the AutoForecast Solutions data.

The new weekly estimate also reports that nearly 11,000 vehicles will be cut from factory schedules in the Middle East and Africa.

Source: AutoForecast Solutions Inc. autoforecastsolutions.com

When Renault reimagined its Espace as a crossover after five model generations as a minivan, it was an acknowledgement that a once-iconic segment had truly run its course in Europe.

Minivans have been declining in popularity among European consumers, much as they have with American shoppers. Since the early 2010s, minivans have been replaced by crossovers and SUVs, as well as small passenger vans with more and more features.

Dataforce, which tracks sales by model and segment, no longer has a minivan category, instead combining passenger van versions of light-commercial vans with the few remaining minivans on the market.

Renault's Espace was the first minivan in Europe when it launched in 1984. Chrysler Corp.'s popular minivans, the Dodge Caravan and Plymouth Voyager, launched in the U.S. nearly concurrently.

The Espace featured plastic composite body panels and seven seats that could be arranged like a living room, w…