Monthly Archives: June 2019

Daimler ^(history)

Rumoured to be planning a more aggressive electric vehicle strategy that would see 25 models on sale by 2023 (the current target is 25 by 2025) and an annual growth target of 30%. (FAZ)
Recalling about 560,000 5 and 6 series models to fix corrosion problems. (Der Spiegel)
The Quandt family representatives on BMW’s board gave an interview where they explained the great burden of their family wealth. (Manager Magazin)
Doesn’t plan to replace the 2 Series and is developing a plan to get customers to choose SUVs in future. (Autocar)
Enlisted the help of synthesiser guru Hans Zimmer (Beverley Hills Cop / Miami Vice theme tunes) to help develop sounds for BMW’s all-electric vehicles. (BMW)
- Significance: Competitors need to get on the phone to Ramin Djawadi’s (Iron Man / Pacific Rim / Game of Thrones) agent if they want to have any hope of besting the aural sensation Zimmer must have lined up for us.

Issued a profit warning saying that Group EBIT in 2019 would not be higher than the previous year, blaming a “high three digit million” euro cost for actions related to diesel vehicles. (Daimler)
Ordered to recall 60,000 diesel powered vehicles by German regulators because of claimed defeat devices. Daimler maintains that it hasn’t done anything wrong. (Reuters)
Signed an MoU for an Egyptian assembly plant with the national government. There will also be an, as yet unnamed, local partner involved. (Daimler)

A close confidante of FCA’s Chairman has reportedly been spotted in Tokyo making overtures to Nissan about a potential merger with Renault. (Les Echos)

A long puff piece suggested Jim Farley is still very much in contention for the CEO position when Jim Hackett leaves and sought to make a virtue of his outsider’s perspective. Seasoned Farley-watchers will be interested to discover that he has switched from suede loafers to brogues (for reasons that the article did not explore). (Detroit Free Press)

Comments by GM’s president sparked rumours of an electric Hummer. (Fox News)
GM’s electric bikes have gone on sale. (Cycling Weekly)
Reportedly wants the UAW to agree to a greater amount of temporary workers in order to control costs and preserve benefits for the permanent staff members. Experts believe that the unions may be reluctant to cede to GM’s demands in the light of the plant closures / unallocation. (Bloomberg)

Honda ^(history)

Wants to cut about 35% of the UK dealer network over the next two years, seeking a minimum of 200 retail sales annually per site. The company is also changing how sales targets and bonuses are set, relying more on historical data and the dealer’s view than Honda’s sales team. (Automotive Manager)

Unveiled the new Kia Seltos compact SUV. (Kia)

Announced plans to add Renault’s chairman and CEO to two of the new oversight committees. (Nissan)
Renault and Nissan signed an “exclusive” deal with Waymo for mobility services in France and Japan. (Renault)
Nissan is being sued by its partner in a Middle East distribution joint venture, who claims that Nissan didn’t maintain the level of exclusivity it had initially promised. (WSJ)

Started production at the new factory in Kenitra, Morocco. (PSA)
Opel expressed satisfaction with new order levels for the forthcoming electric Corsa but said that exact figures wouldn’t be released until a later date. (FAZ)
Workers at the Kaiserslautern, Germany, plant agreed a series of efficiency actions that will see more early retirements and some new press shop facilities. (PSA)
PSA’s Free2Move brand has started trials of a monthly rental service. Customers can switch cars each month and all running costs are included. Prices seem more reasonable than schemes run by premium brands — around €300 per month for a B segment car. (PSA)
Iran Khodro believes it has the right to use Peugeot logos on locally produced cars because the French manufacturer abruptly pulled out of the country, even though PSA disagrees. (IFP)

Tata (includes JLR)^(history)

Renault and Nissan signed an “exclusive” deal with Waymo for mobility services in France and Japan. (Renault)
CEO Bollore dismissed recent rumours that Renault could reduce its stake in Nissan. (Reuters)
Nissan plans to add Renault’s chairman and CEO to two of the new oversight committees. (Nissan)

Moody’s downgraded Tata Motor’s debt rating, with a negative outlook. (Economic Times of India)
JLR’s CEO said the brands are not for sale, scotching recent rumours of interest from PSA. (Auto Express)

Tesla ^(history)

Leaked documents apparently show that Tesla won’t meet the quarterly production targets CEO Musk set for employees in May, Musk’s recent comments imply he still has faith. (Business Insider)
Reportedly restructuring its Asia Pacific sales operations so that China, Hong Kong and Taiwan will be a distinct division and the other markets will report into head office. (Bloomberg)
Tesla’s Grohmann (manufacturing engineering) division is developing a “giant, giant, giant” machine that will revolutionise manufacturing as we know it, according to the head of automotive. (Clean Technica)

Reportedly concluded that a factory in Saudi Arabia would need a government subsidy covering half the manufacturing costs to be viable. (Reuters)
Brought forward the date that the Japanese dealer network will be integrated to May 2020. (Toyota)

Plans to write 60% of the software in the car, up from 10% today by forming a team of 5,000 software engineers who will write a “vw.os” that all VW Group cars will use. (VW)
CEO Herbert Diess says that about half of VW’s engine and gearbox plants will need to close in the next 10 years, but expects battery production to compensate. (Autocar)
- Significance: It is a startling admission by VW, one very much in line with the findings of the E-FIRST report co-authored with Evercore ISI in late 2018. Diess’s expectation that redundancies will be offset by increases in electric powertrain production seems to be based on Tesla and Panasonic’s labour usage at the Gigafactory, but for this to soak up VW’s surplus labour, the company would need to build a far greater proportion of battery cells in-house than it is currently planning.
VW’s German car sharing brand WeShare will charge its electric vehicles through exclusive overnight use of the facilities in supermarket car parks. (VW)
VW’s newest car factory will reportedly be in Turkey, beating rival bids from Romania, Serbia and Bulgaria. The Turkish government has apparently agreed a three digit million euro support package. A firm decision is expected soon, with Bulgarian officials on standby to scupper the deal if they get a chance. VW’s underperformance in the local market seems a partial justification for the move. (Handelsblatt)
CEO Diess has reportedly told the team delivering the new Golf that he will be very unhappy with them if they don’t start delivering vehicles before the end of 2019. (Automotive News)
Porsche will offer a three-pronged portfolio of all-electric, hybrid and combustion engine only powertrains for at least the next 10 years. (USA Today)
Opened a new data centre in Norway that uses hydropower, letting VW claim it is carbon neutral. (VW)

Other

SAIC intends to start manufacturing cars in Egypt through a joint venture. (China Daily)
Thai firm Energy Absolute says there have already been 4,500 orders for the Mine Mobility all-electric hatchback, 3,500 of them came from a group of taxi drivers in Bangkok. (Electric Drive)
Aston Martin’s forthcoming hypercar, thus far dubbed the 003, will be called the Valhalla. CEO Andy Palmer says his company is learning about mid-engined cars from a variety of methods, one of which is osmosis-by-lunchtime-conversation. (Auto Express)

News about other companies and trends

Economic / Political News

European passenger car registrations in May of 1,443,708 units were up 0.04% on a year earlier. (ACEA)
The Spanish government intends to review a law passed by the Balearic Islands (a group of islands in the Mediterranean Sea) which bans diesel vehicles by 2025 and all internal combustion engines by 2035. Carmakers hope that the law is found unconstitutional. (ANFAC)
Japan intends to introduce measures that will reduce the number of accidents caused by older drivers after a series of high profile crashes, and might force them to only drive cars with emergency braking. (Economic Times of India)
- Significance: Carmakers have always struggled to market cars to older owners because although the group have specific needs that feature-rich (higher revenue) cars could solve, they simply don’t like being reminded that they are old. Could government action make a virtue of expensive added equipment and boost margins, or will they encourage people to drive less (and buy fewer cars)?

Suppliers

Johnson Matthey’s boss says that diesel will be around for ages. (The Telegraph)
Zenuity will be the preferred supplier of autonomous driving technology to Geely — not a massive surprise since Zenuityis part owned by Volvo. (Zenuity)
Axalta announced a “strategic review” of its business. (Axalta)

Dealers

Wholesale auctioneer BCA is reportedly the target of a £1.9 billion takeover offer. (FT)
Used car website Droom raised $10 million. (Deal Street Asia)

Via says it has much better utilisation rates than all other competitors in New York because the company’s cars have passengers in them 87% of the time, whilst the nearest rivals are 58% utilised. (Via)
Careem’s CFO suggested that even after the firm is acquired by Uber in early 2020, both brands might coexist because it is better for competition — although it isn’t clear what evidence the logic is based on. (Reuters)
Ride hailing start-up OnTime is launching in Southern China with backing from Tencent. (Tech In Asia)
Ride hailing network Micab has a new CEO. (Tech In Asia)
Didi Chuxing started offering rides by third party rivals within its app. (Tech In Asia)
VW’s German car sharing brand WeShare will charge its electric vehicles through exclusive overnight use of the facilities in supermarket car parks. (VW)

Lidar developer Velodyne has reportedly recruited investment bankers to prepare for an IPO, with a target valuation in excess of $1.8 billion. (Business Insider)
Insurance underwriters Lloyds of London expect driverless car technologies to change motor insurance within the next five years. (Bloomberg)
Innovusion’s new lidar unit has a claimed detection range of 200 metres and a $35,000 price tag. (Innovusion)
SafeAI came out of stealth mode, after raising $5 million, as a developer of self-driving software for off-highway vehicles. (TechCrunch)
ArgoAI is releasing a public dataset containing map data, object classification and movement patterns of various road users. Since the data covers only 1,000 hours of driving it is unlikely to have a great commercial value. (ArgoAI)
Humanising Autonomy raised $5 million to develop software that predicts the movements of pedestrians, with the results being fed into a self-driving vehicle’s decision making process. (TechCrunch)
- Significance: Given the complexity of the task of developing self-driving vehicle brains, it seems possible that companies which become specialist in identifying particular elements of the driving environment could have a role, both because they can sell their technology to multiple platforms and also because, as companies start to think about redundancy, alternative ways of processing the data could be advantageous.
Renault and Nissan signed an “exclusive” deal with Waymo for mobility services in France and Japan. (Renault)

Before you read the detail, what were my favourite stories of the past week…?

The German government plans to support three battery making alliance. (Reuters)
Charging operator ChargePoint has been acquired by Engie. (Fleet Europe)

Connectivity

Clavister and Tieto will collaborate to offer cyber security products for connected vehicles. (Telematics News)

Other

Scooter rental firm Vogo apparently wants to raise $50 million. (Live Mint)
Motorbike rental firm Bounce raised $72 million. (Deal Street Asia)
SoftBank’s CEO says most of the investors in the firm’s $100 billion Vision fund are ready for more and want to join the second mega fund. (Reuters)
Bicycle rental firm Yulu wants to raise about $20 million and Bajaj Auto might become an investor. (Times of India)
Bajaj Auto took a 27% stake in Maharashtra Scooters. (Autocar)

Find our archive here.

Auto Industry Briefing — week ending 16th June 2019

June 18, 2019 Ad Punctum TeamAd Punctum, Automotive0

Phantom “production-ready” self-driving cars; electric car start-ups struggling to raise money; and why have VW dropped Aurora? Please enjoy our auto industry and mobility briefing for 10^th June to 16^th June 2019. A PDF version can be found here.

My Generation — Uber / Volvo and Ford / Argo AI unveiled “third generation”, “production ready” self-driving vehicles. This continues an unfortunate theme led by GM’s Cruise. No one has a driverless car that works reliably, no one knows what sensor set is therefore required, or whether regulators will want anything on top to provide a safety factor. So how can anyone declare these cars production ready?
Oh Dear What Can The Matter Be — The CEO of Chinese electric car market Xpeng says it is getting harder to raise money from investors as Tesla and Nio have struggled on public markets. How is this a surprise? Hasn’t starting a car company always been a high-risk endeavour? That doesn’t mean don’t do it, but why not have your eyes open to the challenge?
Too Good At Goodbyes — VW has broken off its self-driving partnership with Aurora, implying it is close to a deal with Ford and Argo AI. The question is why? Having multiple partners seems like a no-lose proposition (apart from spending more money, but then you don’t know what you’re spending it on anyway). Join up with Ford, but why not continue to work with Aurora? The most reasonable explanation is that their technology is rubbish, but then wouldn’t FCA (who work with Waymo) know a thing or two about that?

News is arranged by company and topic. Stories that apply to more than one company or topic are duplicated.

Find our archive here.

News about the major automakers

Said that competition was a more powerful motivator than money in persuading drivers of plug in hybrid vehicles to use electric only mode in city centres. (Automotive News)
Ansys and BMW are developing software that will assess the capabilities of self-driving systems and allow various sensors to be compared against one another using example real world data collected by BMW. Ansys will then offer the system to third parties, where they have “exclusive rights” — presumably BMW will still bank some form of royalty fees. (Ansys)

Signed a deal with charging networks Enel and Engie to provide coverage for FCA customers with electric vehicles in Europe. (FCA)

Geely (includes Volvo) ^(history)

Opening a new research centre in Tel Aviv, Israel, mainly to house existing subsidiary SAIPS. (Ford)
Lyft rebranded the Ford GoBike scheme in San Francisco as Bay Wheels. (Lyft)
Issued a series of recalls, including 1.2 million Explorer SUVs (and a smaller number of other vehicles) to correct suspension fatigue; plus 123,000 pick-up trucks to correct an earlier recall for powertrain calibration. (Ford)
VW’s CEO reportedly told managers an autonomous vehicle partnership with Ford was almost complete. (Reuters)
Workers at the Bridgend engine plant voted in favour of being prepared to strike but didn’t pull the trigger. (BBC)

Geely and LG Chem created a joint venture to produce batteries for electric vehicles. The initial investment is $188 million, implying that either operations will start out small or more money will quickly be needed. (Geely)
Volvo said it had developed a production vehicle “ready” for self-driving in collaboration with Uber. (Volvo)
LEVC revealed the long-awaited van based on the London Taxi. The firm claims best in class ownership costs, implying a price point substantially below that of the taxi, given the size of the load bay. (LEVC)

Investing $150 million at the Flint, USA, plant to increase annual capacity for heavy duty pick-up trucks by 40,000 units. (GM)
GM’s VC unit invested in Spring Labs, who are developing a blockchain-based method for sharing and tracking financial transactions. (Spring Labs)

Deepened an existing partnership with Aurora to develop driverless cars by making an investment of an undisclosed amount (rumoured to be sub-$30 million) in the firm. (Kia)
As rumoured, Kia will stop producing cars at one of the three Chinese joint venture plants at the end of June, the factory will instead be used to make electric cars for a domestic brand (said to be Human Horizons). (Yonhap)
Hyundai’s chairman called on G20 energy ministers to support the creation of a hydrogen economy that could support zero emission vehicles. (Hyundai)
- Significance: Japanese and Korean car makers seem particularly convinced of the potential for hydrogen powered vehicles but it seems as though they have not yet done enough to make others feel the same.

Appeared to back down from an earlier stance that Renault executives shouldn’t be on the new oversight committees Nissan intends to establish. (Les Echos)
Off-the-record sources said new Renault chairman Senard has decided that the CEOs of both Renault and Nissan are “irritants” impeding good relationships between the alliance partners. (Reuters)

Opel has supposedly been told by German regulators to recall Adam and Corsa models fitted with oxygen sensors that can give faulty readings under some conditions and lead to excessive emissions. (Bloomberg)
PSA say that electric motors require only about 30% to 40% of the workforce that a comparable small internal combustion engine needs. (Les Echos)

Tata (includes JLR)^(history)

Off-the-record sources said new Renault chairman Senard has decided that the CEOs of both Renault and Nissan are “irritants” impeding good relationships between the alliance partners. (Reuters)
Renault Chairman Senard told shareholders that he was confused about the French government’s attitude towards the proposed merger with FCA because it had been the finance minister’s idea in the first place. (WSJ)
Agreed terms of a wage deal with Renault-Samsung workers in South Korea. They will get a $10,000 bonus but no pay rises. Union bosses wouldn’t agree to Renault’s request to stop striking until at least 2021. (Yonhap)

Recalling I-Pace electric vehicles to fix problems with the regenerative braking. (Inside EVs)

Tesla ^(history)

CEO Musk told shareholders that Tesla had a “decent short at a record quarter on every level” and stressed that there was absolutely no demand problem for the firm’s cars. None whatsoever. The steep drop in Model S and X volumes is not relevant. (CNBC)
In off the cuff remarks, CEO Musk suggested that at very high production levels it could make sense for Tesla to own mines and guarantee supplies of raw materials. (TechCrunch)
- Significance: Whilst Musk’s comments should be taken with a pinch of salt, they imply that somehow the supply chain logic of every other part of the vehicle is wrong and vertical integration is best — why don’t car companies own iron mines and steel companies?
Will enter the insurance market soon, pending an unspecified acquisition that Tesla needs to make. (CNBC)

Announced a reorganisation, mainly affecting the engineering team structure. (Toyota)
Planning to announce more partners for the Monet self-driving vehicle venture this month (currently Toyota, SoftBank, Honda and Hino Motors have stakes). (Reuters)
Reportedly intends to reduce the bonuses of top managers by around 5% because of rising spending. (Japan Times)

Ended the self-driving vehicle development partnership with Aurora. (FT)
- Significance: Since FCA’s deal with Aurora (alongside BMW and Waymo) implies non-exclusivity, it is odd to see VW abandon the relationship — even with Ford waiting in the wings — unless it believed that Aurora’s technology was greatly inferior.
CEO Diess reportedly told managers an autonomous vehicle partnership with Ford was almost complete. (Reuters) He also said that an alliance with Ford was a wise move because the company was becoming too China-oriented in its thinking and a US perspective was a useful counterbalance. (Manager Magazin)
Audi recalled about 540 e-tron all-electric SUVs in the USA saying it needed to repair seals that could allow water into the battery compartment. (Inside EVs)
VW’s partner in Algeria is reportedly under investigation for corruption. (Economic Times of India)
Hopes that an IPO of truck unit Traton will raise about €1.9 billion. (VW)
VW’s plant in Tennessee, USA, voted against unionisation, but given the closeness of the vote (712 to 626), it seemed likely that this won’t be the last try. (Reuters)
Invested €900 million in battery producer Northvolt for about 20% of the firm and confirmed plans to create a joint venture that will have a 16 GWh factory. (VW)

Other

Xpeng’s CEO said the poor share price performance of publicly traded electric car companies (i.e. Tesla and NIO) was making it more difficult for him to raise money, and even harder for anyone not planning to launch a product in the next few months. (CNBC)
Ultima says its new RS model can go faster than 250mph. If you want one, there is a two year waiting list, unless you are prepared to build it yourself in which case that can be cut to a mere six months. (Ultima)
Evergrande is reportedly finding it difficult to bring electric cars into production. (Caixin) but apparently intends to spend $23 billion building three factories that collectively can build vehicle components, 500 GWh of batteries and 1 million cars annually. (Global Times)
- Significance: Unless I’ve got my maths wrong, the 500 GWh of battery capacity number either doesn’t make sense or implies that 80% – 90% of the capacity would be for third parties.
Electric vehicle start-up Aiways invested $253 million in a Changan subsidiary, reportedly in order to get production permits for its new range of cars. (China Daily)
Ares Design showed the production version of the Panther ProgettoUno with 650hp on tap and a €615,000 price tag. The car’s technical specifications are very similar to the Lamborghini Huracán. (Ares Design)
Workhorse raised $25 million, saying it has enough to bring the N-Gen truck to production. (Workhorse)

News about other companies and trends

Economic / Political News

Outgoing UK prime minister Theresa May said the UK would commit to a plant that would see almost nil greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. (BBC)
French ministers said the government would go ahead with plans to end sales of (purely) gasoline and diesel powered vehicles by 2040 via a new mobility law. (Reuters)
The penny is starting to drop in Germany that more expensive emissions legislation and (non-mandatory) safety tests are forcing manufacturers out of smaller, cheaper, car segments. (FAZ)

Suppliers

The head of the Spanish dealer association says a drop in sales of 100,000 units annually equates to around 3,000 staff losing their jobs. (Coche Global)
Continental showed a prototype dashboard that uses clever displays to create a 3D image that doesn’t require special glasses. The new technology will be in production from 2022. (Autocar)
Toyoda Gosei invested $1 million in QBIT Robotics, gaining a 7.6% stake. (Toyoda Gosei)
Yanfeng might soon start making interiors that use materials produced as a by-product from paper making instead of oil-based plastics. (Yanfeng)
Veoneer will buy Nissin Kogyo out of their US joint venture and the two agreed a clearer formula for funding the remaining non-US plants. (Veoneer)
Denso and Honeywell agreed to collaborate on engines for electric air taxis. (Honeywell)

Short term rental firms Zoomcar and Drivezy are said to be in merger talks. (Deal Street Asia)
The CEO of Bolt (formerly Taxify) said the ride hailing service had demonstrated “a few profitable quarters”, but didn’t explain how he was measuring it. (Business Insider)
Citymapper is shutting down its bus routes in London, blaming regulation and the poor economics of offering ridesharing with only a few vehicles. (Citymapper)
French firm Ucar is offering users cars for €105 per month if they agree to rent them out (with some leg work involved for the owner to ferry the car around) and says that if they maximise the service, the net monthly rental could fall to €49. (Ucar)
Go-Jek acquired recruitment start-up AirCTO to help it bring in new staff faster. (Deal Street Asia)

Uber says that self-driving cars will probably still have accidents but that they will never have another crash like the other than killed a pedestrian last year and let journalists tour its test site. (CBS)
Innoviz said it raised $170 million in its latest round ($132 of it was already announced). (Innoviz)
Other road users “bully” autonomous cars, according to Uber which has recorded numerous incidents of drivers cutting across and abusing right of way. Given that these are situations regular drivers are likely to frequently encounter, Uber didn’t offer any statistics about how much worse it is for a driverless vehicle. (V3)
Sense Photonics raised $26 million to develop lidar sensors. (Sense Photonics)
Uber (Volvo XC90) and Argo AI (Ford Fusion / Mondeo) unveiled updated versions of their self-driving cars, claiming to be one step closer to production. Uber drew attention to the integration of Volvo’s underlying safety features so that the car comes to a safe stop if the software (or human driver) disengages. (Uber) / (Argo AI)
- Significance: This idea of a third generation car seems to have been popularised by GM’s Cruise division but notion of cleanly packaging all the sensors to make something look production ready seems slightly odd when set against the absence of a self-driving AI that works. Companies are in effect implying that they have perfected the sensor suite without knowing if it is actually true.
Yandex outlined the differences local weather and traffic signs made to training a self-driving car. (Yandex)
Luminar plans to sell a lidar sensor that enables driver assistance functions such as emergency braking and steering for $500, less clear is whether manufacturers will plump for it over camera based systems. (Reuters)
Ansys and BMW are developing software that will assess the capabilities of self-driving systems and allow various sensors to be compared against one another using example real world data collected by BMW. Ansys will then offer the system to third parties, where they have “exclusive rights” — presumably BMW will still bank some form of royalty fees. (Ansys)
Hyundai and Kia deepened an existing partnership with Aurora to develop driverless cars by making an investment of an undisclosed amount in the firm. Aurora said it raised $600 million in total Series B funding. (Aurora) and made no mention of losing VW as a partner. (FT)
- Significance: Since it was earlier rumoured that Aurora had rebuffed VW’s offers of investment, this seems like a change in strategy.

Before you read the detail, what were my favourite stories of the past week…?

Ford’s ex-CEO Mark Fields said electric vehicle demand would only grow slowly and lots of carmakers were going to look silly in the next 2 – 3 years for making investments in cars no one wants. (Automotive News)
Charging network Fastned filed for an IPO hoping to raise €27 million. (Fastned)
VW invested €900 million in battery producer Northvolt for about 20% of the firm and confirmed plans to create a joint venture that will have a 16 GWh factory. (VW)

Other

Air taxi start-up Lilium says a flight from Manhattan to JFK airport (about 20 miles) will take six minutes and cost about $70. Commercial flights are slated for 2025. That works out at about 8 times faster than a taxi for around 1.5 times the price. (CNBC)
Scooter rental firm Bird confirmed that it acquired smaller rival Scoot. The Scoot brand will remain (presumably to prevent regulators re-appraising Scoot’s operating permits in San Francisco). (Bird)
Uber displayed a mock-up of the interior for its forthcoming air taxi. (Futurism) and says that although at launch per mile costs will be above $5 they will fall to around $2 in the “near term” and match car ownership (e.g. sub $1 per mile) in the “long term”. (TechCrunch)
Uber and AT&T are experimenting with the use of 5G networks for air taxis and drones — in particular they are studying at what altitude the signal becomes unreliable. (ZDNet)
CATL, Hellobike and Alibaba’s Ant Financial are creating a joint venture to build batteries for electric bikes and operate a network of battery swapping stations. (Reuters)
Boeing is buying aerospace interiors company EnCore. (Reuters)
- Significance: The supply chain of aerospace, where companies buy an empty tube (save for some wiring) and use third parties to fit it out to fulfil brand-specific needs likely has some parallels for a world of ubiquitous on-demand transport. This move by Boeing to integrate aircraft supply and fitting could be a hedge against recession (fewer new planes, more refits) or be based on a belief that a firm with combined expertise can offer more; or both.

Find our archive here.

Auto Industry Briefing — week ending 9th June 2019

June 11, 2019 Ad Punctum TeamAd Punctum, Automotive0

Share the past as well as the future; FCA dancing with multiple self-driving suitors; and are Ford staff right to be unhappy? Please enjoy our auto industry and mobility briefing for 3^rd June to 9^th June 2019. A PDF version can be found here.

Future Proof — Toyota and Subaru will develop an electric vehicle together and BMW will share electric motor designs with JLR. The brands believe that there are plenty of areas where components can be shared without the customer noticing. So far, so sensible. But if it is such a great idea to share new-fangled electric vehicle parts, what do manufacturers stubbornly cling to their own internal combustion engine designs?
All The Lovers — FCA will partner with Aurora to develop self-driving vehicles. This is on top of existing agreements with BMW / Mobileye and Waymo. Although the exact investment, package and variable cost implications of using someone else’s system aren’t clear (because no one has a design that works), FCA at least show that fear of missing out is a fiction… providing you have enough volume to bring to the party.
I Have Questions — In 2016, 81% of Ford employees were satisfied with the company, in 2018 it was down to 60%. How are we supposed to reconcile the rapidly dropping morale of the troops with the sunny disposition of executives?

News is arranged by company and topic. Stories that apply to more than one company or topic are duplicated.

Find our archive here.

Apology

Last week I made a stupid joke about Volvo’s efforts to improve safety. It was unfunny, unwarranted and not something I am proud of. This weekly review aims to keep you well informed, with enjoyable moments amongst the detail, and improve Ad Punctum’s reputation along the way. I didn’t do that last week, and I am sorry.

News about the major automakers

Daimler ^(history)

Announced a collaboration with JLR on next generation electric drives, based on the unit that will debut in the BMW iX3 SUV. Both companies will independently produce drives from common designs. (BMW)
Invested in data processing firm Yellowbrick Data. (FINSMES)
Opened a new plant for 3 Series in San Luis Potosi, Mexico. (BMW)
Will make “safety-relevant” European traffic data available without licence feeds from 1^st July. (BMW)

Will start marketing the China-only Denza brand, created in collaboration with BYD, through Mercedes-Benz dealers in China in a bid to increase demand. (China Daily)
Adding a new city to its US subscription scheme pilot, and a new tier for AMG models. (TechCrunch)
The CEO of Torc Robotics — in which Daimler recently took a majority stake — believes autonomous trucks will develop more quickly than robotaxis over the next decade, with the first applications on daily long haul routes of 300 miles or so. (Trucking Info)

Called off the merger proposal with Renault, saying the French government had been unreasonable. (FCA)
Being sued by the executive in charge of US sales, claiming he is victimised for cooperating with a regulatory probe into sales reporting. Although he oversaw the discredited reporting practices for many years, he says that they had been in place long before that. (Reuters)
Recalling almost 300,000 US pick-up trucks to fix problems with seat belts and air bags. (FCA)
Partnered with Aurora to develop self-driving technology. (Aurora)
- Significance: FCA now has relationships with three different self-driving groups: BMW / Mobileye; Waymo and Aurora. Although the impact on variable costs and package of having a third party system remain unclear (because no one has a working system), FCA’s strategy shows that with sufficient volume, doors remain open to collaboration.

Ferrari

Formula 1 teams are reportedly set for a $175 million cost cap in 2021 — excluding engines, drivers and marketing costs. Although this would probably force the Ferrari team to reduce its footprint (and potentially cede some competitiveness), it could be positive for profits if prize and sponsorship income were unchanged. (Motorsport)

Released its latest sustainability report. Revealingly, Ford’s employees appear less than impressed with the current state of the firm. In the 2016 report Ford’s internal surveys found 81% were satisfied with the company. That fell to 71% in 2017 and 60% last year. (Ford)
Will start production of battery packs at the Valencia, Spain, factory. Unions fretted that this was partial compensation in advance for as-yet unannounced workload reductions in other areas of the plant. (Europa Press)
Ford’s Chinese JV with Changan was fined $23.6 million because of the way it set resale guarantees. (Arab News)
Executives said that there had been interest from several companies in Ford’s shuttered Russian sites and the company was keen to sell them. (Economic Times of India)
Confirmed plans to close the Bridgend engine factory in late 2020 once deliveries of engines to Jaguar Land Rover cease. Production of Ford’s 1.5 litre engine will stop in early 2020. (Ford)
- Significance: Ford blamed falling demand and under-utilisation but the decision taken several years ago to only install only a fraction of the plant’s then nearly 1 million units of annual capacity appears to have precipitated an inevitable decline. As with the closure of Honda’s Swindon plant, mainstream national politicians refused to get involved, presumably in case Ford decided to say it was because of Brexit (which it doesn’t appear to be).
The head of Ford’s automotive division believes that if fuel prices rise, US customers will switch to hybrid SUVs rather than passenger cars and so the company’s decision to exit car segments won’t be impacted by economic factors. He also denies that the firm is behind competitors in developing battery electric vehicles. (Ford)
Ford has three major suppliers for steel in North America and negotiates yearlong contracts, with renewals staggered so that they take place once per quarter (with one quarter off so the purchasing team can rest). (Ford)

Expanded the amount of US and Canadian highway mapped for the Super Cruise hands-off driving system from 130,000 to 200,000 miles, and added some ability to drive through intersections. (Detroit News)
GM’s president says forthcoming all-electric vehicles will be profitable despite intending to charge “very average” transaction prices and that cost parity between electric and conventionally powered cars will arrive “sooner than people think”. (Bloomberg)

Kia’s new compact SUV will be called the Seltos. (Kia)
Will use sensors and algorithms developed by Israeli firm MDGo in a pilot project to assess occupant condition after an accident. (Hyundai)
Released the first images of the new XCeed Crossover model. (Kia)
Although Kia is exploring new business models relating to mobility and transportation and a service, the company is struggling to see a route to profitability and is especially troubled by how to cope with residual value risk when providing new cars in alternative schemes. (Forbes)

Mazda

Mazda executives admitted that the firm may have to pay some fines in 2020 for missing European fleet CO₂ targets but says everything will be sorted out by 2021 when the company launches a new BEV. (Automotive News)
The new Mazda 3 sports an internal combustion engine augmented by a 24V electric motor — 48V is becoming de rigeur, 12V is old money. (Mazda)
- Significance: Cheaper than 48V, Mazda appears to be taking a partial regulatory cost hit to electrically augment engines now, with the potential to go to a more capable 48V system should regulatory demands force the firm’s hand. The 24V also suffers from relatively poor NEDC to WLTP performance compared to many 48V systems.

Renault complained that it was under-represented in Nissan’s new corporate governance plan, but didn’t object to the new framework, threatening to abstain from any shareholder vote (and effectively block the move). Nissan called the stance “regrettable”. (Nissan)
Nissan could refuse to support any revamped merger proposal between FCA and Renault unless the latter sells some of its Nissan stake. (Reuters)

Launched Free2Move Rent, a service offering online booking for short term rental. PSA says that by the end of the year, 20,000 cars and commercial vehicles will be on offer. (PSA)
The all-electric Corsa clearly isn’t aiming to make too much of a sales impact. Opel has set the car’s price at almost €30,000. (Opel) The car Opel really hopes people will buy is the Grandland X plug-in hybrid. (Opel)
Peugeot’s UK boss said the brand had walked away from 5,000 fleet deals since 2017 to protect margins and that he wants to weed out loss-making dealers, threatening any site that makes a loss in 2019 with the cancellation of its franchise agreement. In the event of a no-deal Brexit, PSA intends to immediately pass through tariff costs via increased wholesale prices. (Automotive Manager)

Tata (includes JLR)^(history)

FCA called off the merger proposal with Renault, saying the French government had been unreasonable. After agreeing to job guarantees, improved financial terms and governance structures, it seems as though demands to get Nissan’s buy-in were the final straw. (FCA)
- Significance: Given that FCA called off talks less then two weeks after going public, in the face of entirely predictable French government demands, the question seems to be, were they poorly advised or unrealistically optimistic? Renault’s management, FCA’s advisers and FCA’s own globetrotting executives should surely have expected some degree of government arm-twisting given the state’s large shareholding and similar manoeuvres in other industrial M&A.
Said an audit concluded that some of the expenses by Renault-Nissan’s jointly-owned Dutch subsidiary raised “concerns” and that it would work with Nissan to take action against Carlos Ghosn. (Renault)
Threw a spanner in the works of Nissan plans to change the corporate governance structure, complaining that Renault was under-represented in the new plan, but not objecting to the new framework. (Reuters)
As wage negotiations with Renault Samsung bosses faltered, many line workers appeared to break ranks with union calls for an all-out strike. Union leaders said it was gossip spread by malicious managers. (Korea Times)
The French government is prepared to reduce its stake in Renault if it helped to safeguard the future of the alliance with Nissan. (AFP)
Nissan could refuse to support any revamped merger proposal between FCA and Renault unless the latter sells some of its Nissan stake. (Reuters)

Announced a collaboration with BMW on next generation electric drives, based on the unit that will debut in the BMW iX3 SUV. Both companies will independently produce drives from common designs. (JLR)
JLR’s design chief is moving on professionally, but will remain as a consultant. (JLR)

Developing a dedicated electric vehicle platform for mid-sized and large passenger vehicles,. The first project will be a C-sized SUV that both companies will badge and market separately. (Subaru)
Said that electric vehicles were more popular than it had anticipated in 2017 and product plans had therefore been revisited. Amongst the vehicles now planned is a mini car with heavily restricted performance (e.g. maximum speed of 60 km/h) and various standing and sitting electric scooters. Toyota will have six global BEVs (including the Suzuki, Daihatsu and Subaru collaborations) and will expand the range of battery suppliers it works with. (Toyota)

Agreed with unions that 4,000 German jobs can be eliminated by 2023 in VW’s digitalisation initiative, but only in exchange for guarantees that there will be no involuntary redundancies until 2029. VW executives had previously talked about up to 7,000 posts going. (VW)
After months of rumours, the sale of transmissions maker Renk is reportedly imminent. (Reuters)

Other

NEVS acquired electric hub motor developer Protean. (Protean)
Gordon Murray plan to build 100 V12-powered T.50 supercars, with deliveries starting in 2022 and prices in excess of £2 million. (Gordon Murray)
Great Wall started production at a new factory in Russia. (Great Wall)
Chinese electric vehicle maker Bordrin Motor raised $361 million. (Deal Street Asia)

News about other companies and trends

Economic / Political News

President Trump abruptly called off his threat to implement US tariffs on Mexican imports, citing improved anti-immigration practices. (Reuters)
US light vehicle industry SAAR in May reached 17.31 million units, up 3% on prior year. (Wards)
May passenger car registrations in the UK of 183,724 units fell (4.6)% compared to a year earlier. (SMMT)
German passenger car registrations in May of 332,962 vehicles rose 9.1% from a year earlier. (KBA)
In May, France had 193,948 passenger car registrations, an increase of 1.2% from prior year. (CCFA)
Spain saw 125,625 passenger cars registered during May, a drop of (7.3)% from prior year. (ANFAC)
Passenger car registrations in Italy during May totalled 197,307 units, a (1.1)% decrease versus prior year. (UNRAE)
China’s government will encourage new car sales in rural areas and has told cities to stop restricting the number of permits available to electrified vehicles. (Economic Times of India)

Suppliers

Bharat Forge increased its holding in electric motorcycle company Tork Motors to almost 49%. (Autocar)
Michelin enlisted GM to help testing airless tyres. The main claimed benefit is that tyres will not need to be replaced because of punctures or damage, and that fuel economy deterioration due to inconsistent tyre pressure will be a thing of the past. (Michelin)
Joyson simplified operations in India by combing two separate joint ventures. (Autocar)
ZF has developed an airbag that uses input from crash sensors to determine that a side impact is imminent and then opens on the outside of the vehicle to provide additional cushioning. ZF claims a 40% reduction in accident severity, although it isn’t clear how this is determined. (ZF)

Hertz announced a “subscription” scheme that offers a wide range of vehicles, with up to two changes per month for $999, or a posher selection for $1,399. (Hertz)
Uber’s COO and marketing chiefs lost their jobs because the CEO wants greater day-to-day control. (ZDNet)
Uber said its accounts were under review by US tax authorities and a write down in unrecognised tax benefits of $141 million is expected. (Reuters)
India’s government will reportedly demand that ride hailing companies convert at least 40% of their fleets to electric vehicles by 2026. (Reuters)

Interest in autonomous technology by the United States Parcel Service (USPS) led industry observers to wonder whether the firm might specify some degree of future-proofing in a much anticipated order to replace its mainly 90’s era fleet of short distance delivery vans. (Trucks)
Quanergy said it would not accept the patent ruling in Velodyne’s favour, and that the Velodyne puck wouldn’t work if it were not for Quanergy’s intellectual property. (Quanergy)
Apple is reportedly in talks to buy self-driving start-up Drive.ai. (The Information)
Self-driving vehicle developer Gatik.ai emerged from stealth mode, saying Walmart are an early customer for a pilot program. (TechCrunch)
FCA partnered with Aurora to develop self-driving technology. (Aurora)

Before you read the detail, what were my favourite stories of the past week…?

Industry insiders appear concerned at the lack of a transparent pricing mechanism for lithium, a key raw material in most electric vehicle battery designs. (Reuters)
NEVS acquired electric hub motor developer Protean. (Protean)
India’s government will reportedly demand that ride hailing companies convert at least 40% of their fleets to electric vehicles by 2026. (Reuters)

Connectivity

A group comprised of HERE, TomTom, Daimler, BMW, Ford and Volvo are undertaking a vehicle to everything (V2X) test program across Germany, Spain, Finland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Sweden. (Daimler)
Cohda Wireless and Sasken technologies will jointly develop V2X hardware and software. (Telematics News)

Other

Bus maker TEMSA has a new owner. (TEMSA)
Flying car builder NFT showed off the Aska and claims people could subscribe to partial ownership for between $200 to $300 per month. (CNET)
Scooter rental firm Bird plans to launch electric mopeds, a higher speed offering with room for two. (The Verge) The company has reportedly agreed to acquire smaller rival Scoot. (TechCrunch)
10,000 surplus bicycles, discarded by Ofo and oBike as they abandoned operations in Singapore have found a new lease of life as transport for students in Myanmar. (Tech In Asia)
Bicycle and scooter rental service Grow Mobility merged with payments start-up Flinto. (TechCrunch)
Amazon’s CEO believes that within ten years, robots will be able to reliably grip objects with a similar dexterity to a human hand. (Reuters)
- Significance: Contrary to popular belief, the assembly stage of a car is still almost entirely manual, with little philosophical difference between a Rolls-Royce Phantom and a Ford Fiesta (from a manufacturing engineer’s viewpoint — conveyor method and production tempo notwithstanding). Robots that could grasp and assemble nuts, bolts and cables, would be a significant productivity step (and be bad news for low-skilled jobs).

Find our archive here.

Auto Industry Briefing — week ending 2nd June 2019

June 4, 2019 Ad Punctum TeamAd Punctum, Automotive0

Smaller pay packets for fat cats; saving money by thinking differently; and how loyal will young customers be? Please enjoy our auto industry and mobility briefing for 27^th May to 2^nd June 2019. A PDF version can be found here.

Apparently Nothin’ — Nissan’s CEO had his pay slashed for failing to control Carlos Ghosn and Suzuki’s chairman will have to work for free after the inspection scandal. Would US and European executives contemplate doing the same?
The Weight — Hyundai has developed a commercial vehicle that weighs itself and chooses the most efficient powertrain settings. The idea isn’t new, but Hyundai’s system saves money by using differences in acceleration as a proxy for weight, rather than measuring it properly, which needs an expensive suspension set up. How many other parts of the vehicle are we over-complicating?
Forever Young — Honda says that automakers cancelling passenger cars and pouring money into SUVs are making a big mistake because hatchbacks and saloons are the vehicle of choice for 70% of younger American customers. Granted, many of them might make a different choice if they had more money, but they don’t. Will customers switch to US OEMs as they get a bit richer, or stay with Honda et al?

News is arranged by company and topic. Stories that apply to more than one company or topic are duplicated.

Find our archive here.

News about the major automakers

Daimler ^(history)

Unveiled the 3^rd generation 1 Series, now front wheel drive. Sales will start in September. (BMW)
Released an updated X1 small SUV. (BMW)
The all-electric Mini derivative will start production in November 2019. (BMW)
Perhaps inspired by their former colleagues at Byton, BMW will put a massive screen in the iNEXT. (BMW)

Says that it will cost more than €500 million, and take up to ten years, to develop self-driving trucks that can operate within geo-fenced areas. Daimler sees the US as the most lucrative initial market. (Daimler)

FCA’s code names when developing the merger offer for Renault were apparently: Fermi (FCA); Rutherford (Renault) and Newton (the combined entity / deal). (Detroit Free Press)
Reportedly may sweeten the merger deal in Renault’s favour by offering a special dividend and basing the new company’s headquarters in France. (Reuters)
France’s finance minister said the government would have several conditions, including job guarantees, to agree to a Renault-FCA merger, but was cautiously supportive. (Reuters)

Ferrari

Announced the SF90 Stradale, a forthcoming PHEV model that will boast a combined 1,000 hp output from a V8 engine and three electric motors. (Ferrari)
Ferrari F1 sponsor Philip Morris’s COO said that anyone who thinks the Mission Winnow branding on Ferrari’s cars reminds them of the Marlboro cigarettes logo should “see a doctor”. (Telegraph)

Geely (includes Volvo) ^(history)

Stopped selling the Edge in several European markets, including the UK. (Fleet News)

Lotus will unveil the Type 130 all-electric hypercar on 16^th July and says the model will be limited to 130 examples and built at the Hethel, UK, factory. (Lotus)
Volvo invested in virtual reality company Arjo. (Volvo)
Volvo developed a new way of simulating crashes between cyclists and cars, to reduce accident severity. (Volvo)

Increasing pick-up truck production at the Ford Wayne, USA plant. (GM)
Will produce Chevrolet Trailblazer SUVs in South Korea, and export them to the USA. (Yonhap)
US regulators said they were checking whether GM had properly implemented a 2014 seat belt recall. (Reuters)

Honda ^(history)

Honda’s research says that younger buyers in the USA prefer passenger cars over minivans, and the brand believes that staying in the segment whilst rivals leave will protect the future. (Forbes)
The Honda e electric city car will have camera wing mirrors as standard. (Honda)

Hyundai and Kia are developing an electric commercial vehicle that weighs itself so that it can select the most efficient motor settings. Because the system uses accelerometers, it can avoid costly air suspension. (KIA)
Hyundai is opening a mobility research centre in Russia. (Hyundai)
Hyundai wants to sell hydrogen fuel cell systems to rivals, rather than have them develop their own. (FT)

Nissan will dock the CEO’s pay by 50% because of his role in the Ghosn scandal. (Nissan)
Nissan’s CEO said the firm wasn’t opposed to FCA’s proposed merger with Renault. (Nissan)
The Infiniti brand’s will move from Hong Kong to Japan as part of cost-cutting measures. (Nissan)

CEO Tavares reportedly told senior PSA executives that the FCA-Renault proposal would be a virtual takeover of the French manufacturer with the benefit mainly accruing to FCA. (Bloomberg)
Faurecia took a stake in cyber security firm GuardKnox. (Autocar)
Lucky Motors expects to finalise a deal to produce PSA vehicles in Pakistan from knock down kits within the next two months and says the project will cost $15 million. (Dawn)

FCA may reportedly sweeten the merger deal in Renault’s favour by offering a special dividend and basing the new company’s headquarters in France. (Reuters)
France’s finance minister said the government would have several conditions, including job guarantees, to agree to a Renault-FCA merger, but was cautiously supportive. (Reuters)

Suzuki

Took away the chairman’s salary for a year and slashed the president’s as punishment for their failure to identify and rectify improper conduct in end of line inspections. (Japan Times)
Maruti Suzuki scheduled plant shutdowns to reduce inventory. (Bloomberg)

Tesla ^(history)

CEO Musk exhorted employees to catch up on vehicle deliveries and help Tesla to achieve a record quarter. (Reuters)
Rumoured to be combining Model S and X production onto a single line to make room for facilities to make the Model Y. A refreshed Model S is rumoured to be on the way for September. (CNBC)
Elon Musk implied that the forthcoming Tesla pick-up truck will have a retail price of under $50,000. (Inside EVs)
Started to take orders for Chinese-built Model 3 vehicles, which will be cheaper than the imported version. (Reuters)

Launching a new plant in Myanmar to build pick-up trucks. (Toyota)
Unveiled an updated Lexus RX SUV. (Lexus)

Rumoured to have concerns that a 20 GWh battery supply deal with Samsung will ultimately only deliver 5 GWh because of differences over production volumes and point in time demands. VW said that it still regarded Samsung as a major supplier. (Bloomberg)
Showed a concept interior with infotainment controlled via a holographic interface. (VW)
Audi advertising executives were presumably so exhausted by the process of securing the rights to Tomoyasu Hotei’s “Battle Without Honor or Humanity” that afterwards they paired it with an underwhelming e-tron advert. (YouTube)
Workers at the Chattanooga, USA, plant will vote on whether to unionise. (Reuters)
The Traton truck division will have a dual-listing on the Frankfurt and Nasdaq exchanges. (VW)
SEAT and JAC signed the detailed cooperation agreement that will see the two develop electric cars together and experiment with new mobility services in Hefei, China. (VW)
Porsche used 7,654 different suppliers in 2019. (VW)
Porsche believes that by the time the all-electric Macan becomes available, public perception will have moved enough that it can be a sales success. The US-market subscription program is apparently going so well that it will be expanded to more cities, and that the average customer age is lower than car buyers. (Automotive News)

Other

NIO announced Q1 2019 sales of 3,989 units and revenue of $228 million, with an operating loss of $(390) million, substantially worse than Q4 2018. NIO is in the final stages of agreeing detailed terms to receive 10 billion RMB (about $1.45 billion) from investment firm Beijing E-Town, hoping it will help find a factory. If the deal closes, NIO will have three different joint ventures. (NIO)
Isuzu and Cummins announced a collaboration to develop diesel engines. (Cummins)

News about other companies and trends

Economic / Political News

UK car production in April fell (44.7)% versus a year earlier as plants took shut downs planned for the original Brexit timing cut production. (SMMT)
US president Trump announced a series of automatically escalating tariffs on Mexican imports, unless the country reduces the flow of migrants, to his satisfaction. (CNBC)
Carmakers complained that a regional court in Russia had been making corrupt decisions by awarding excessively high damages in consumer protection cases. (Moscow Times)
China may respond to US tariffs with restrictions on exports of rare earth metals, according to well-informed local newspapers. (Reuters)

Suppliers

Saint-Gobain acquired acoustic and thermal insulation supplier Pritex. (Autocar)
Chipmaker NXP will buy Marvell’s wireless connectivity business. (Reuters)
Consultancy Ricardo says that using fewer, more powerful, electronics controllers in cars, rather than the multiple units in today’s models, will save $500 per unit. (Autocar)
Infineon agreed terms to acquire Cypress Semiconductors in a $10 billion deal. (Reuters)

Dealers

Chinese used car dealer Uxin is raising $230 million in debt. (TechCrunch)
Scout24 is interested in buying EBay’s car listings business. (Reuters)

Uber announced financial results for Q1 2019. Net revenue of $3.1 billion rose 20% on a year-over-year basis whilst the operational loss of $(1.03) billion was more than double the loss in the same period a year earlier. Uber says it now has 93 million monthly users and that one day it will make money. (Uber)
Ideanomics and iUnicorn (Shenma Zhuanche) formed a joint venture to provide financing to ride hailing drivers, underpinned by almost 110,000 of existing iUnicorn orders. (Ideanomics)
Bus operator FirstGroup said it will sell the Greyhound coach service, citing “limited synergies” with the rest of the business. (Reuters)

Waymo will start testing self-driving trucks alongside the existing minivan fleet in Phoenix, USA. (Detroit News)
Lyft and Aptiv’s pilot robotaxi program in Las Vegas has passed 50,000 journeys. (Lyft)
An MIT study concluded that robotaxis would have higher per mile costs than Uber today. (Business Insider)
Chinese firm Neolix says it is ready to start mass production of small driverless delivery vans and aims to produce 1,000 vehicles in the first year, quickly rising to 30,000, selling for around $30,000 each. (SCMP)
Velodyne trumpeted winning a patent case against Quanergy. (Velodyne)
Sensor company TriEye raised $17 million. (Reuters)
Daimler says that it will cost more than €500 million, and take up to ten years, to develop self-driving trucks that can operate within geo-fenced areas. Daimler sees the US as the most lucrative initial market. (Daimler)