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SAN FRANCISCO -- The former head of Uber Technologies Inc.'s self-driving technology unit, Anthony Levandowski, filed for bankruptcy protection on Wednesday, shortly after a court confirmed that he must pay $179 million to Google to end a legal battle over his split from the Alphabet Inc unit.

Levandowski, who had been a key engineer in Google's self-driving project, and colleague Lior Ron engaged in unfair competition and breached their legal obligations by starting a rival company and bringing over Google employees, an arbitration panel ruled in December.

Uber, which later acquired the startup co-founded by Levandowski, indemnifies workers under its employment agreements. But Uber has said in financial filings that it expects to challenge paying the big judgment against its ex-employee Levandowski, who is fighting a federal indictment on charges of stealing trade secrets from Google.

Uber declined to comment. Levandowski's attorney Neel Chatterjee…

DETROIT — The UAW has listed a $1.3 million lakefront home originally built for Dennis Williams, the former UAW president implicated in the union's ongoing corruption scandal, according to The Detroit News.

Amid the federal investigation, President Rory Gamble put the home up for sale as part of a series of reforms announced in recent months.

Last fall, the home was part of a nationwide series of raids, as were Williams' Los Angeles home and former President Gary Jones' home, according to The News. Neither Williams nor Jones have been charged with a crime in the probe.

To date, 13 people have been charged with federal crimes in the investigation and all 13 have pleaded guilty. This week, Edward Robinson — the former top aide to Jones — pleaded guilty in federal court in Detroit to conspiring to embezzle more than $1 million in union funds.

During the broad investigation, the home slated for Williams immediately raised red flags with the FBI, The…

DETROIT -- General Motors CEO Mary Barra said on Wednesday the automaker's North American vehicle production should be secure from parts shortages caused by the coronavirus outbreak "quite far into this month."

Parts manufacturers in China and other countries have had production disrupted as governments imposed quarantines and travel restrictions to contain the Covid-19 respiratory virus outbreak that began in China's Hubei province.

GM's profitable North American truck and SUV assembly plants so far have kept rolling, while Chinese manufacturers have struggled to get production back to normal.

Meanwhile, car sales in China, GM's biggest market, plummeted 80 percent in February, as consumers fearful of infection or restricted by government quarantine measures stayed away from showrooms.

"The market will come back" in China, Barra said, in comments to reporters at GM's design center in Warren, Mich., near Detroit. 

General Motors' self-driving unit Cruise said its test vehicles experienced a rapid rate of improvement in the second half of 2019, enabling it to edge past Google affiliate Waymo in data reported to California's Department of Motor Vehicles.

Data released last week by California showed Waymo and Cruise had the greatest number of test miles between "disengagements," when a human driver must intervene to take control from a self-driving system during testing on public roads.

The disengagement data is widely used as a yardstick to compare companies testing self-driving vehicles on California roads, and is often cited as evidence that Waymo leads the sector.

Both companies last week criticized the disengagement data. Waymo tweeted that the disengagement metric "does not provide relevant insights" nor does it distinguish Waymo's "performance from others in the self-driving space."

While the annual data showed that Waymo had the greatest average n…

Uber Technologies Inc.'s self-driving unit is open to using technology from competitors in the space, the company's CEO said on Wednesday.

"If any of those competitors want to put their tech onto our platform, we’re open," Dara Khosrowshahi said at the Morgan Stanley 2020 Technology, Media & Telecom Conference in San Francisco.

The CEO said Uber was already talking to third parties, but did not provide further details.

Khosrowshahi added that Uber's Advanced Technologies Group, the autonomous driving unit, had "very significant structural advantages," among other things due to its knowledge of the most revenue-generating routes thanks to its ride-hailing business.

DETROIT — Gordon Fournier has been named CFO and COO of suburban Detroit auto supplier Piston Group.

The Southfield, Mich.-based supplier, privately owned by former Detroit Pistons basketball star Vinnie Johnson, said in a statement Wednesday that Fournier will take the titles effective March 16.

Piston Group — which is comprised of Piston Automotive, Irvin Automotive Products, Detroit Thermal Systems and nonautomotive business AIREA Inc. — primarily supplies chassis, electronics assemblies, electric batteries, cooling modules and other automotive components.

Piston Group's worldwide sales to automakers hit $2.8 billion in 2018.

Ford Motor Co. is Piston Group's largest customer, bolstered by the supplier's launch of cooling modules for the Ford F-150. Piston is also assembling lithium-ion battery packs from LG Chem and Panasonic for use in Ford's plug-in-electric vehicle lineup and has plans to extend production into its battery-electric vehicles…

DETROIT — General Motors on Wednesday said it plans to spend $20 billion on electric and autonomous vehicle programs in the next five years and expects its battery costs to fall below the level that analysts say would make EVs competitive with internal-combustion vehicles.

GM's proprietary Ultium batteries will cost less than $100 per kilowatt-hour and allow for a driving range of up to 400 miles on a full charge, GM said. That's about 50 percent more than the 259-mile range for the 2020 Chevrolet Bolt.

The GMC Hummer EV, expected to go into production in fall 2021, will be the first vehicle to use the new battery technology, GM said. The automaker gave previews of 10 other upcoming EVs to analysts and reporters Wednesday, including a Hummer SUV, a midsize Chevy SUV, a Buick SUV and crossover and three Cadillacs.

"Our team accepted the challenge to transform product development at GM and position our company for an all-electric future," GM CEO Mary Barr…

FRANKFURT -- Mercedes-Benz is embarking on a sweeping cost-cutting plan to free up cash to build electric and self-driving cars, a step which could see entire engine families and platforms eliminated, Daimler board member Markus Schaefer said.

"We will review our current lineup and the idea is streamlining the portfolio," Schaefer said on a conference call on Tuesday.

Potential cost-cutting measures at Daimler could see the company reducing the many variants of Mercedes' vehicles together with entire platforms and powertrains, Schaefer said.

"Yes we will have fewer platforms in future," Schaefer said in response to a question about whether Mercedes will build cars on fewer more flexible vehicle underpinnings.

Some products may get eliminated by tightening emissions standards, such as the introduction of so-called Euro 7 exhaust emissions standards.

"The question is how many engines you take through the gauge, through Euro 7," Schaefer said…

BEIJING -- China's car sales had the biggest monthly plunge on record as the coronavirus kept shoppers away, intensifying the pressure on automakers already battling an unprecedented slump before the outbreak.

Sales fell 80 percent in February, the China Passenger Car Association said on Wednesday, without giving a full sales figure for the month. Average daily sales improved toward the end of the month compared with the first three weeks.

"Dealers returned to work gradually in the first three weeks of February and their showroom traffic is very low," CPCA said, adding it expects February's sales drop will be the steepest of this year.

Toyota, the first major global automaker to report its February sales in China, said it sold 23,800 Toyota and premium Lexus cars last month, down by 70 percent from a year earlier.

General Motors said the industry will face "serious challenges" in the first quarter, but anticipates the situation will ease in the s…

Aston Martin has joined the recent parade of roofless vehicles from ultraluxury and exotic brands with the V12 Speedster.

The British brand called the V12 Speedster a "living show car" and design elements peppered throughout the exterior and interior help it look the part.

For example, in addition to not having a windshield, a narrow bar begins at the dash and runs between the shoulders of the two seats and above the center armrest, giving the model a unique, dual cockpit look.

It rides on its own platform, Aston Martin noted, and the body is largely built of carbon fiber.

The front and rear of the vehicle share similar design elements with other models in the lineup, including the Vantage sports car and the upcoming DBX SUV.

Originally set to be unveiled at the Geneva auto show, the V12 Speedster is to debut via a streamed press conference at the brand's headquarters.

Aston Martin said it wi…

FRANKFURT -- Daimler is working on a strategy to push sales during the remainder of the year to make up for lost volume in China, where BMW expects March demand to continue to suffer from the steps being taking in the country to slow the coronavirus outbreak.

"The Chinese market was down in February. We want to come up with a recovery plan," CEO Ola Kaellenius told journalists in a conference call on Tuesday.

China production at Daimler's Mercedes-Benz brand is currently stable, supply chains are secure and and three-quarters of the automaker's retailers in the country have re-opened, sales boss Britta Seeger said.

Seeger said it is too early to forecast the effect of the coronavirus outbreak on the automaker's overall sales, which are forecast to be slightly below last year's level.

Meanwhile, rival BMW said on Tuesday said its China sales have taken a hit because of the coronavirus, but the company stuck to its target for increasing passenger car sa…