The Affordable New Smart Brand Electric Crossover Designed by Mercedes-Benz Officially Launches in China

The Smart brand, once was synonymous with the ultra-compact and low-priced Smart Fortwo, is getting a new life as an electric auto brand in China. The Smart brand is now a joint venture between Mercedes-Benz and Chinese automaker Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co Ltd (“Geely”) named Smart Automobile Co., Ltd. The company officially launched its new electric SUV in China on June 6 dubbed the “Smart #1”.

FutureCar Staff Jul 16, 2022 1:00 PM PT       

Siemens Invests $25 Million in Wireless Charging Company WiTricity to Develop Interoperable Standards for Cable-free EV Charging

Industrial manufacturing company Siemens has made a $25 million strategic investment for a minority stake in WiTricity, a wireless EV charging technology developer. As part of the investment, the two companies will work together to develop interoperable standards for the rollout of wireless EV charging infrastructure.

Eric WalzJul 16, 2022 10:00 AM PT

New Intelligent EV Company JiDU Reveals its Revolutionary Concept Production 'Robocar'

JiDU, the new intelligent electric vehicle (EV) company backed by China’s internet giant Baidu Inc and Volvo Cars’ parent company Zhejiang Geely Holding Group ("Geely"), unveiled its concept production “robocar” on Wednesday. The company says the futuristic vehicle is set to “revolutionize the automobile industry”, leading the way to an intelligent car era powered by advanced artificial intelligence.

Eric WalzJul 15, 2022 12:00 PM PT      

Reservations for the Electric Fisker Ocean SUV Reach 50,000, The Company Shares New Details About its Second EV Being Built by Foxconn

Demand remains solid for the first vehicle from EV startup Fisker Inc. The electric automaker announced on Wednesday that customer reservations for the battery-powered Fisker Ocean SUV have reached 50,000. Fisker also shared new details about its second vehicle, the PEAR (“Personal Electric Automotive Revolution”), which will be an advanced urban EV.

Eric WalzJul 15, 2022 6:15 AM PT      

Volvo Cars and Epic Games to Partner on a High-Resolution 3D Digital Driver’s Display Powered by the Unreal Engine

Swedish automaker Volvo Cars recently announced that its upcoming vehicles will come with 3D in-car graphics powered by the Unreal Engine from Epic Games. The Unreal Engine is widely used in the film and gaming industries to create photorealistic 3D graphics. Volvo says the high-resolution graphics will offer a less distracting and easier viewing experience.

Manish KharintaJul 14, 2022 8:00 PM PT

Waymo To Partner With Uber Freight on Autonomous Logistics for the Trucking Industry

Alphabet Inc's autonomous technology unit Waymo is partnering with Uber’s logistics business unit Uber Freight, which would see the two rivals working together to transform the trucking industry using autonomous trucks and a greater level of utilization and efficiency. Waymo is connecting its core autonomous driving technology with Uber’s logistics platform and will deploy its self-driving Class 8 trucks.

Eric WalzJul 14, 2022 10:45 AM PT      

Polestar Shares the First Image of the Polestar 3 Electric SUV Ahead of its October Debut

Electric performance automaker Polestar has announced that the world premiere of its next electric vehicle, the Polestar 3 electric-performance SUV, will be in Oct 2022. The company released the first image of the electric SUV on Tuesday, which will be built at Volvo's factory in South Carolina beginning in early 2023.

FutureCar Staff Jul 14, 2022 8:25 AM PT      

Apple Reveals the Next-Gen Version of CarPlay, Which Takes Over a Vehicle’s Entire Dashboard and Screens

iPhone maker Apple Inc. kicked off its 2022 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on Monday with a flood of new announcements, including an all new version of Apple CarPlay that syncs an iPhone with a vehicle for safer and smarter driving. Now that modern vehicles come with much larger screens, including a digital dashboard and center touchscreen display, Apple wanted to take advantage of this screen space that’s currently unused by CarPlay, so the next-gen version will do just that.

Eric WalzJul 13, 2022 2:45 PM PT     

Solid State Battery Startup Solid Power Completes its EV Cell Pilot Production Line

Solid state battery startup Solid Power announced the completion of its pilot production line that will produce the first advanced battery cells for electric vehicles that can deliver longer ranges. The company has dubbed it the “EV cell pilot line”. Solid Power will produce the first energy dense Silicon EV Cells for internal testing before delivering them to its automotive partners BMW and Ford Motor Co. for further automotive qualification testing.

Eric WalzJul 13, 2022 9:30 AM PT     

GM's Cruise Becomes First Company to Receive Permit to Charge for Autonomous Rides

General Motors’ autonomous subdivision will start charging for rides in its self-driving vehicles in San Francisco, California.

Vineeth Joel PatelJul 12, 2022 6:00 AM PT      

Chevrolet Bolt EV, Bolt EUV Get Dramatic Price Cuts

With the new price tag, the 2023 Chevrolet Bolt EV becomes the most affordable electric car in the U.S.

Vineeth Joel PatelJul 11, 2022 7:00 AM PT     

Tesla’s Battery Supplier Panasonic is Close to Selecting the Site of its New U.S. Battery Plant

In March, Japan's public broadcaster NHK reported that Panasonic Corp was looking to purchase land in the United States for a "mega-factory" that will churn out advanced electric vehicle batteries for electric automaker Tesla. Now after two months, the Japanese company is reportedly close to selecting which U.S. state will be the home of its new factory.

FutureCar Staff Jul 10, 2022 12:10 PM PT     

Elon Musk Wants to Cut Around 10% of Tesla’s Global Workforce, Blames Economic Uncertainty

Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk announced that he wants to reduce Tesla’s workforce by 10%, equal to roughly 10,000 jobs. Musk cites economic uncertainty for the plans to reduce Tesla’s workforce and wrote that he has a "super bad feeling" about the economy in the email to executives.

Eric WalzJul 10, 2022 9:30 AM PT      

China’s Geely Launches the First of 9 Low Earth Orbit Satellites That Will Help Guide its Autonomous Cars

Chinese automaker Zhejiang Geely Holding Group ("Geely") conducted its first successful satellite launch on Wednesday, sending nine satellites into orbit that will provide more accurate navigation for autonomous vehicles with centimeter level precision. Geely was granted approval in Feb 2021 to launch a network of LEO satellites that it said would support Vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and Vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications for self-driving vehicles.

Eric WalzJul 09, 2022 11:15 AM PT      

Ford is Investing $3.7 Billion and Adding Over 6,200 UAW Manufacturing Jobs in the Midwest to Produce New Vehicles

Representatives from Ford Motor Company and the United Auto Workers (UAW) announced plans to add more than 6,200 new U.S. manufacturing jobs in the Midwest as the automakers ramps up vehicle production. Ford is investing $3.7 billion in its manufacturing facilities in Ohio, Michigan and Missouri to prepare them to produce the new vehicles, including an all-new Mustang.

FutureCar Staff Jul 09, 2022 8:45 AM PT     

Toyota’s New ‘Intelligent Assistant’ Learns Voice Commands and Gets Smarter Over Time Using Machine Learning

Toyota’s new in-car “Intelligent Assistant” is a highly advanced voice activated assistant that can learn a driver’s commands and get smarter over time. It’s available for both the Toyota Audio Multimedia and Lexus Interface, including the 2022 like the Toyota Tundra and Lexus NX. Toyota says that the rollout of these intelligent connected services will transform it from an automotive company to a mobility company.

Eric WalzJul 08, 2022 3:30 PM PT

Electric Hypercar Developer Rimac Raises $500 Million Euro in Series D Round, Investors Include Porsche, Softbank and Goldman Sachs

Electric sports car maker Rimac Group (“Rimac”) has raised $500 million Euro in its latest Series D funding round. The funding round was led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and the Private Equity business within Goldman Sachs Asset Management, with participation from existing Rimac shareholders InvestIndustrial and automaker Porsche.

Eric WalzJul 08, 2022 11:00 AM PT        

GM’s Buick Division is Getting a Makeover, Will Only Offer Electric Vehicles by the End of the Decade

General Motors division Buick will become a fully-electric brand by the end of the decade. The automaker also announced that the first of these new Buick EVs will debut in 2024. Buick’s future EV products will also carry the "Electra" name, drawing inspiration from the brand’s history.

FutureCar Staff Jul 08, 2022 8:30 AM PT      

Here's One Way Lucid Motors Made the Air Sedan More Spacious for Passengers

Recently, Lucid Group CEO and CTO Peter Rawlinson offered a thorough breakdown of how the Lucid's automotive engineering teams created one of the most spacious vehicle interiors for a vehicle of this size. Lucid had to devise a way to fit all the Air's electrical components into a relatively short wheelbase, without compromising the cabin space or affecting the ride and handling characteristics of the vehicle.

Manish KharintaJul 08, 2022 7:30 AM PT

BMW i Ventures Invests in Vendia, a Next-Gen Blockchain Company Helping Businesses to Securely Share Data With Third Parties

BMW i Ventures announced today an investment in the Series B funding round of next-generation blockchain company Vendia. The company developed a serverless, distributed data and code-sharing platform that allows businesses to securely share data with their partners. Vendia’s blockchain technology can be used by automakers like BMW to securely share vehicle data with its trusted partners in real-time across applications, datastores and the cloud.

Eric WalzJul 07, 2022 1:00 PM PT