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EasyMile raises €55 million to scale up its autonomous vehicles business

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EasyMile, a developer of driverless vehicle solutions for material handling and shared passenger transport, has closed a €55 million Series B funding round.

Led by Searchlight Capital Partners, a private investment firm, with McWin and NextStage AM, the round saw all EasyMile’s earlier investors, including Alstom, Bpifrance and Continental, also participating.

The funding will facilitate the completion of EasyMile’s product and technology roadmap while accelerating its international expansion and client service. [Read more…] about EasyMile raises €55 million to scale up its autonomous vehicles business

VW partners with Microsoft to build computing platform for autonomous vehicles

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Volkswagen says it is further strengthening its capabilities in the development of autonomous or highly automated driving (AD) solutions with a new partnership with Microsoft.

The Group’s software company Car.Software Organisation will collaborate with Microsoft to build a cloud-based Automated Driving Platform (ADP) on Microsoft Azure and leverage its compute and data capabilities to deliver automated driving experiences even faster at global scale.

With ADP running on Azure, Car.Software Organisation will increase the efficiency of the development of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and AD functions for passenger cars across Volkswagen Group brands. [Read more…] about VW partners with Microsoft to build computing platform for autonomous vehicles

VW electric vehicle sales increase more than 400 percent

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Volkswagen’s electric vehicle sales have increased more than 400 percent over the past year, according to the German auto giant’s latest figures.

The Volkswagen Group says its “e-offensive is gaining traction”. Deliveries of electric models in the EU including the UK, Norway and Iceland increased “more than fourfold in the year now ended to a total of 315,400 electric vehicles (2019: 72,600)”.

The proportion of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in-hybrids (PHEVs) in the total deliveries rose to 9.7 percent (2019: 1.7 percent). [Read more…] about VW electric vehicle sales increase more than 400 percent

Logistics companies turning to robotics and automation as way out of coronavirus crisis

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Logistics companies are turning to robotics and automation as way out of the coronavirus crisis, according to the a new report by the International Finance Corporation, an arm of the World Bank.

Governments around the world have responded to the crisis by designating logistics and supply chain companies as “essential” business and have exempted them from lockdown measures.

But even though they have been allowed to continue operating, logistics and supply chain companies have struggled, particularly with labor shortages. [Read more…] about Logistics companies turning to robotics and automation as way out of coronavirus crisis

Big investor dumps all its Rolls-Royce stock

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ValueAct, a San Francisco-based investment company with more than $16 billion of assets under management, has sold all its shares it Rolls-Royce, according to a report on the Financial Times website.

ValueAct is said by Reuters to have at one stage held almost 10 percent of Rolls-Royce entire stock, which currently capitalizes at approximately $6.3 billion.

One of the most famous names in the industry, Rolls-Royce is one of the world’s leading suppliers of aircraft engines. [Read more…] about Big investor dumps all its Rolls-Royce stock

Alstom to test fully driverless trains in Germany

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Rolling stock manufacturer Alstom is to trial what could be described as “fully driverless trains” in Germany. 

The company has going ahead with a test project to implement Automatic Train Operation technology in the daily passenger operation of regional trains.

The project will begin in 2021 in partnership with the Regional Association of the greater area of Braunschweig, the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the Technical University of Berlin (TU Berlin). [Read more…] about Alstom to test fully driverless trains in Germany

BMW unveils one of the strangest cars ever designed

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BMW has unveiled what could be described as one of the strangest cars ever designed.

The “BMW i Interaction EASE”, as it’s called, looks from the side to be shaped like a rectangular block with absolutely no aerodynamics integrated into it. But the front and back end do have some aerodynamic contours.

The autonomous weirdo was showcased at this year’s CES, with BMW saying that it “offers a glimpse into a future where autonomous driving has become commonplace”. [Read more…] about BMW unveils one of the strangest cars ever designed

Alstom starts production of passenger locomotives in Kazakhstan

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Alstom has started production of passenger electric locomotives at its 75%-owned EKZ joint venture in Nur-Sultan (Astana), Kazakhstan.

These locomotives are part of a contract signed with KTZ (Kazakhstan Railways) for delivery and maintenance of 302 Prima T8 KZ8A and 119 Prima M4 KZ4AT electric locomotives.

Alstom is expanding manufacturing lines at EKZ including for the construction of Prima T8 freight locomotives KZ8A for Kazakhstan and the production of on-board transformers for AZ8A, for export to Azerbaijan, and now the assembly of Prima M4 passenger locomotives.

[Read more…] about Alstom starts production of passenger locomotives in Kazakhstan

Boom Supersonic and Dassault Systèmes partner to advance development of new supersonic plane

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Boom Supersonic is implementing Dassault Systèmes’ 3DExperience platform to accelerate the design and development of Overture, its Mach-2.2 commercial airliner, with an aim to make supersonic travel mainstream and affordable.

Boom Supersonic is using Dassault Systèmes’ “Reinvent the Sky” industry solution experience based on the 3DExperience platform to support product development from concept through manufacturing and certification.

By using this solution, Dassault Systèmes says Boom Supersonic can cut development time of its first prototype in half and improve product quality by reducing program complexity, inefficiency, costs and resources, lowering the barriers to market entry. [Read more…] about Boom Supersonic and Dassault Systèmes partner to advance development of new supersonic plane

ZF wins major order for new automatic transmission

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ZF Friedrichshafen AG has received a double-digit billion-euro order from BMW AG for its enhanced 8-speed automatic transmission.

The latest version of ZF’s 8-speed transmission has been improved by integrating an electric drive. This also includes a hybrid variant.

The new transmission generation will start series production in 2022 at ZF’s plant in Saarbrücken, the lead production facility for ZF’s automatic passenger car transmissions.

[Read more…] about ZF wins major order for new automatic transmission

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