General Motors & LG Investing $2.3 billion in a New EV Battery Factory in Tennessee

Ultium Cells LLC, the joint venture of LG Energy Solution and General Motors, today announced a $2.3 billion plus investment to build a second EV battery cell manufacturing plant in the U.S. The new facility will be located in Spring Hill, Tennessee. Construction on the approximately 2.8 million-square-foot EV battery plant will begin immediately GM said.

GM’s Self Driving Unit Cruise Raises $2.75 Billion Led by Retailer Walmart

​General Motors’ self-driving unit Cruise announced this week a long-term strategic relationship with retailer Walmart to accelerate the commercialization of self-driving vehicles. Walmart is joined by Microsoft, General Motors, Honda and other institutional investors in a combined new equity investment of more than $2.75 billion in Cruise, bringing the post-money valuation of Cruise to $30 billion.

Mercedes Benz Unveils the EQS Electric Sedan, the Flagship Model That Represents the Automaker’s Future

Mercedes Benz has teased its upcoming EQS electric sedan for the past two years with the unveiling of various concepts. Now the vehicle has been unveiled in its production form for the first time. Mercedes said its EQS is the world’s first “luxury class” electric sedan. It's also the first vehicle built on a new, dedicated electric vehicle platform.

Electric Brand Polestar Raises $550 Million in its First External Investment Round

Electric vehicle brand Polestar, which is jointly owned by Swedish automaker Volvo and Chinese automaker Zhejiang Geely Holding (Geely), announced it raised $550 million in its first ever outside investment round. The new financing comes as investors pour money in electric vehicle stocks and related companies working on advanced mobility, including EV battery technology and self-driving vehicles.

The FCC Grants Waiver Requests to Six Developers of Radar-based Vehicle Cabin Monitors, Including Tesla

The FCC’s Office of Engineering and Technology granted six waiver requests from equipment manufacturers and automakers to supply and operate in-cabin millimeter wave radar systems operating in the 60 GHz spectrum band. Millimeter wave radar technology is being used to develop advanced occupant monitoring systems designed to prevent a child or pet being left behind in a hot car.

Intel’s Mobileye and Autonomous Vehicle Startup Udelv Plan to Launch a Delivery Service with up to 35,000 Driverless ‘Transporters’

​Mobileye, the autonomous driving unit of computer hardware giant Intel Corp, announced this week that its self-driving system called “Mobileye Drive” will power thousands of autonomous delivery vehicles (ADVs) built by California startup Udelv. The driverless cargo vehicles are called “Transporters'' and the two companies plan to produce more than 35,000 of them by 2028 with commercial operations beginning in 2023.

China’s Tesla Challenger Xpeng Reveals its New P5 Fastback, the World’s First Production EV Equipped with Lidar for Autonomous Driving

Chinese electric vehicles startup XPeng Motors revealed its third production model named the P5, which is the world’s first production EV equipped with automotive-grade LiDAR technology to support the vehicle’s autonomous driving capabilities. The P5 is a fully-electric four door fastback packed with cutting edge technology, including Xpeng’s XPILOT 3.5 autonomous driving system.

Dominos is Delivering Pizzas in Houston Using Small Autonomous Vehicles Built by Silicon Valley Startup Nuro

Silicon Valley startup Nuro announced a new partnership with Dominos to deliver pizza orders using its compact, driverless delivery vehicles. Beginning this week, Domino's is rolling out a robot car delivery service to select customers in Houston. The pizzas will arrive in one of Nuro’s tiny autonomous vehicles.

Apple is ‘Very Near’ to Signing Contract With Magna International & LG Electronics to build its Electric Car, Sources Say

Reports of computer giant Apple Inc building an electric car have been circulating in Silicon Valley for the past 5 years. While Apple has never officially confirmed its plans, CEO Tim Cook has hinted at the project in the past, which is code named “Project Titan.” Now the Korean Times reports that the iPhone maker is very near to inking a deal with contract manufacturer Magna International to build its futuristic Apple Car.

Future Volkswagen Electric Models Will Get Bidirectional Charging Capability

Volkswagen revealed that starting next year, all future MEB-based electric models will get bidirectional charging capability. With bidirectional charging, Volkswagen’s future EVs could be capable of establishing a vehicle-to-grid interface.

Nvidia Announces DRIVE Atlan, its Most Powerful Autonomous Vehicle Processor With 1,000 TOPS of Compute Power

During today’s opening keynote of the annual GTC Technology Conference, NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang unveiled NVIDIA DRIVE Atlan, the upcoming generation of its AI-powered compute platform for autonomous vehicles. Atlan will achieve an unprecedented 1,000 trillion operations per second (1,000 TOPS) of performance to handle the large number of applications and deep neural networks that run simultaneously in autonomous vehicles.

General Motors Launches Maps+, a New App-based Navigation System

General Motors announced the launch of Maps+, a new in-vehicle, app-based navigation system for select model year 2018 and newer Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac vehicles. Maps+ is powered by technology from mapping company Mapbox. It will begin rolling out to approximately 900,000 GM vehicles on April 30.

EPA Chief Claims Tougher Emissions, Fuel Economy Regulations Coming by July

The Biden administration is looking to put new fuel economy regulations and new limits on emissions in place as quickly as this July, as the administration wants to put the Trump administration's regulations in the past.

Some Ford Mustang Mach-E Owners Encountering Battery Bug

A software bug is putting some Mustang Mach-E crossovers into a sleep mode that doesn’t let drivers start the electric vehicle.

Semiconductor Shortage Could Result in 1.3 Million Fewer Vehicles in 2021

The semiconductor shortage brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic is greatly affecting the number of vehicles automakers will be able to manufacture this year.

Autonomous Vehicle Mapping Company DeepMap Named One of the Most Innovative AI Startups by CB Insights

​Silicon Valley-based mapping startup DeepMap has been named as one of the 100 most innovative companies utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) by CB Insights, a National Science Foundation-backed big data company. DeepMap was selected from a pool of over 6,000 companies.

XPeng Motors Valued at Over $8.4 Billion Files for U.S. IPO, the Company is Backed by Alibaba and Xiaomi

As existing shareholders continue to increase investments in EVs and related technologies, new participants are optimistic about China's growing electric vehicle market. As a result, electric vehicle startup XPeng Motors has strong financial backing and stamina for future development. The company has cash reserves of 8.2 billion yuan (US$1.19 billion), and is ramping up its investment in R&D.