
Eric Walz
Originally hailing from New Jersey, Eric is a automotive & technology reporter covering the high-tech industry here in Silicon Valley. He has over 15 years of automotive experience and a bachelors degree in computer science. These skills, combined with technical writing and news reporting, allows him to fully understand and identify new and innovative technologies in the auto industry and beyond. He has worked at Uber on self-driving cars and as a technical writer, helping people to understand and work with technology.
Articles
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SK Inc. Invests $100 Million in North Carolina-based EV Charging Hardware Developer Atom Power
Sep 24, 2022 12:15 PM WSTNorth Carolina-based Ev charging hardware developer Atom Power announced a $100 million investment from South Korea’s SK Inc. The investment in Atom Power follows SK’s pledge to invest $22 billion across a broad range of technology and clean tech industries in the U.S. Atom Power invented the first commercial solid-state digital circuit breaker, which the company says is the safest and fastest circuit breaker for smart power distribution.
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China’s Tesla Rival XPeng Unveils its New ‘S4’ 480kW Electric Vehicle Supercharger That Can Add 125 Miles of Range in Just 5 Minutes
Sep 23, 2022 12:00 PM WSTTesla Rival XPeng unveiled its latest S4 EV charger at an event dubbed “Supercharging Media Day” in Guangzhou, China on Wednesday. The S4 charger was able to add 200 km (125 miles) of range to the Xpeng G9 SUV in just 5 minutes with a maximum power output of 480 kW and a maximum current output of 670 amps. By 2025, XPENG aims to open an additional 2,000 supercharging stations across China.
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Volvo’s Brand Polestar Confirms That the Polestar 6 Electric Roadster Will Enter Production and Launch in 2026
Sep 22, 2022 9:00 AM WSTElectric performance car brand Polestar has confirmed plans to put its electric roadster concept into production. The production version of the battery-powered sportscar car is expected to launch in 2026 as the “Polestar 6”. Polestar was able to take the classic look of iconic roadsters of the past and incorporate the design elements into a modern, fully-electric sportscar.
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BorgWarner to Supply its Integrated Drive Module to Hyundai for a New EV That Will Enter Production in 2024
Sep 17, 2022 9:00 AM WSTAutomotive component supplier BorgWarner has secured a second major supply deal with Hyundai Motor Co for an integrated drive module (“IDM146”) that will power a new electric vehicle that will enter production in 2024. The IDM optimizes weight, cost and size for electric vehicles. It integrates the transmission and high voltage hairpin (HVH) electric motor and power electronics into a single compact unit.
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Amazon Customers in Texas and California Will Begin Receiving Packages via Prime Air Drones Later This Year
Sep 16, 2022 11:30 AM WSTOnline retailer Amazon released a new video showing its latest electrically-powered delivery drone in flight and shared some new information on how the aircraft are being tested. The e-commerce giant aims to start the first U.S. drone deliveries of customer packages in Lockeford, CA and College Station, TX later this year.
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AI-Powered Computer Vision Perception Developer StradVision Closes on $88 Million Series C Funding Round
Sep 15, 2022 3:00 PM WSTStradVision, a developer of AI-powered computer vision perception systems for autonomous vehicles and advanced driver assist systems (ADAS), announced today it closed on its latest Series C funding round of $88 million. The latest round brings StradVision’s total funding to $129 million. The company says it's accelerating the deployment of fully autonomous vehicles by providing automakers with powerful perception technology at a fraction of the cost of its competitors.
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Mercedes-Benz is Partnering with Game Engine Developer Unity Technologies to Create Immersive, 3D Infotainment Screens and Displays for its Future Vehicles
Sep 14, 2022 1:00 PM WSTSan Francisco-based game engine developer Unity, which is widely recognized for its immersive 3D graphics for the video game industry, announced a new partnership with automaker Mercedes Benz. As part of the partnership, Unity’s 3D game engine will be used to power the infotainment screens on all future software-based vehicles running the automaker's new Mercedes-Benz Operating system dubbed “MB.OS”.
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Chipmaker AMD to Collaborate with ECARX on a Digital Cockpit, In-Vehicle Computing Platform for Next-Gen EVs
Sep 11, 2022 11:15 AM WSTLeading computing hardware and semiconductor developers continue to expand into the automotive space as modern vehicles are becoming more like connected smartphones. That latest partnership is from Silicon Valley-based chipmaker AMD and mobility tech startup ECARX. The two companies will work together on an in-vehicle computing platform for next-generation electric vehicles (EVs).
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Tesla Rival XPeng and Alibaba Cloud Set Up China’s Largest Cloud-Based Computing Center to Train Machine Learning Models for Autonomous Driving
Sep 10, 2022 10:00 AM WSTElectric vehicle manufacturer XPeng Inc, which is becoming one of Tesla’s biggest rivals in China with its high tech EVs, has set up a data center with Alibaba Cloud to train its autonomous driving systems. The cloud-based data center will be used to train XPeng’s machine learning models to improve the autonomous driving capabilities of its vehicles much more quickly.
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General Motors is Doubling its Super Cruise Hands-Free Driving Network to 400,000 Miles of Roads in North America
Sep 09, 2022 10:30 AM WSTGeneral Motors is expanding its Super Cruise network in North America by doubling the number of roads where drivers can activate the hand-free automated highway driving feature. The expanded network includes a combination of undivided and divided highway roads. GM is also adding the famed Pacific Coast Highway (Route 1) is California, which allows for hands-free driving along the scenic coast from San Francisco to Los Angeles.