Industry

A person claiming to be a current Cruise employee raised concerns with California regulators about the self-driving tech company’s safety culture and readiness to begin commercial operations in San Francisco. The letter arrived at the California Public Utilities Commission’s inbox for whistleblowers May 19, two weeks before the regulators cleared Cruise’s robotaxis for those commercial

More than half a century after Neil Armstrong landed on the moon, the next vehicle to explore the lunar landscape could be powered by the same Ultium batteries underpinning General Motors’ coming lineup of electric vehicles and share off-roading characteristics with the GMC Hummer EV. GM and Lockheed Martin’s lunar terrain vehicle, if selected, would

Stellantis, in its second year of existence, views itself as a startup. And it wants to help other startups along the way. The automaker is looking to foster innovation within its ranks and be a venture capitalist that supports promising outsiders. It’s doing so not only to benefit those companies, says CEO Carlos Tavares, but

A person claiming to be a current Cruise employee raised concerns with California regulators about the self-driving tech company’s safety culture and readiness to begin commercial operations in San Francisco. The letter arrived at the California Public Utilities Commission’s inbox for whistleblowers May 19, two weeks before the regulators cleared Cruise’s robotaxis for those commercial

Ford Motor Co. and South Korean battery maker SK On Co. along with its subsidiary on Thursday finalized setting up a joint venture for building and operating battery production facilities in the United States. The JV, BlueOval SK LLC, will establish a battery plant for EVs in Tennessee and two other facilities in Kentucky, the

Walmart Inc.’s deal backing an electric-vehicle startup has some strings, including a provision preventing sales to rival Amazon. The retail giant’s agreement to purchase as many as 10,000 battery-powered vans from Canoo Inc. provides a lifeline for the fledging auto manufacturer, and Canoo shares surged more than 50 percent on the news Tuesday. The caveat

WASHINGTON — Regulatory uncertainty is delaying the widespread deployment in the U.S. of a technology that could improve road safety and provide environmental and efficiency benefits, according to the Alliance for Automotive Innovation. In a webinar Tuesday, John Bozzella, CEO of the alliance, said the private sector is “heavily investing” in vehicle-to-everything — or V2X

Self-driving tech startup May Mobility has added to its Series C investment round, and now raised funding totalling $111 million. The money will enable the company to add engineers and incorporate its system on a new vehicle platform. The fresh funds will underpin the company’s ongoing work with Toyota Motor Corp., which has been a

LAKEWOOD, Colo. — When they first came together during a college competition at the University of Wisconsin, three friends eschewed the school’s three decades of internal combustion racing history and instead formed its first electric racing team. Their inexperience was no hindrance. “We threw ourselves into the deep end,” said Max Liben. “It was, ‘All

A $60 million project that will feature garage condominiums along a 2.2-mile European-design driving circuit is getting underway in Michigan. The developer of an “automotive country club” called Motorsports Gateway Howell says 75 percent of the 92 garage condos are reserved and that it aims to have the track ready for members to drive on

Doug Newcomb has joined Automotive News as a mobility reporter covering technology and trends reshaping transportation. Newcomb, 60, has a wealth of experience in the connected-car and mobility realms. He is based in Hood River, Ore., and has been reporting on car technology since 1988. His work has appeared in Wired, Automobile and WardsAuto and

SALZGITTER, Germany — Volkswagen Group said it will invest more than 20 billion euros ($20.38 billion) in a battery cell business jointly with partners, creating 20,000 jobs and reaching annual sales exceeding 20 billion euros by 2030 as it seeks leadership in the growing market. The PowerCo unit will manage VW’s global battery production and

Vietnamese automaker VinFast, which expects to launch two electric vehicles in the U.S. market this year, is partnering with Taiwanese battery startup ProLogium Technology on solid-state EV batteries for delivery as early as 2024, VinFast said in a statement. VinFast, through parent company Vingroup, is investing “tens of millions of U.S. dollars” in ProLogium to

A new center for electric vehicle teaching, training and development is in the works at the University of Michigan’s Ann Arbor campus. The Michigan Electric Vehicle Center is expected to be built in collaboration with the state and university, according to UM spokesman Rick Fitzgerald. “The creation of the Michigan Electric Vehicle Center will allow

By 2030, Stellantis expects to boast more than 25 electric vehicles across its U.S. portfolio. Ram will offer buyers the ability to haul loads with versatile electric pickups. Dodge will have performance enthusiasts burning rubber with zero-emission muscle cars. Jeep will have moved beyond its 4xe plug-in hybrid technology to full EVs still capable of

Software company WirelessCar is at the forefront of a global push to find new ways to use connected-vehicle data. Founded in 1999, the Swedish company provides connected services in more than 9 million vehicles in more than 100 countries. WirelessCar works with nearly a dozen automakers, with its most robust services featured in Volkswagen, Volvo

WASHINGTON — The new chief of the nation’s top auto safety regulator said the agency hasn’t been holding back as it works through a backlog of regulatory to-dos, sorts through first-of-its-kind crash data and steps up an investigation into Tesla Inc.’s Autopilot. “I think we’ve probably increased the scrutiny on all automakers since last year,”

WASHINGTON — When President Joe Biden set a nonbinding target last August for half of all new vehicles sold in the U.S. to be zero emission by 2030, major automakers backed the goal with a caveat: They can’t do it alone. While automakers including Ford Motor Co., General Motors and Stellantis — whose executives stood