Ford in talks with Google to build self-driving cars — Automotive News

Google is said to be in talks with automaker Ford Motor Co (F.N) to help build the Internet search company’s autonomous cars, Automotive News reported, citing a person with knowledge of the project.

The contract manufacturing deal, if finalised, is expected to come during the annual International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas during the first week of January, Automotive News said.

A Google spokesman told Automotive News that the company would not comment on speculation, although Google officials confirmed that the company is talking to automakers.

Earlier this year, Google began discussions with most of the world’s top automakers and assembled a team of traditional and nontraditional suppliers to speed efforts to bring self-driving cars to the market by 2020.

In June, Google began testing tiny, bubble-shaped self-driving prototype vehicles of its own design on public roads around Mountain View. The company has also started testing self-driving prototypes in Austin.

Google is expected to make its self-driving cars unit, which will offer rides for hire, a stand-alone business under its parent company, Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O), next year, Bloomberg reported earlier.

Ford, although lagging behind most competitors, ramped up its pace to develop self-driving cars earlier this year and said it would expand advanced safety technology, including automatic braking, enabling hands-free operation of cars under certain conditions by automating such basic functions as steering, braking and throttle.

This was to be included across its global lineup over the next five years.

Reuters could not independently reach Ford Motor and Google for comment outside regular U.S. business hours.

soure: interaksyon.com

Toyota, Honda and Chrysler involved in new air bag recall

DETROIT/WASHINGTON - The auto industry's air bag troubles deepened on Saturday as U.S. federal safety regulators said three big automakers will recall about 2.1 million older vehicles to fix defects that could cause air bags to deploy when they are not supposed to.

The vehicles involved in the recall announced by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration are made by Toyota Motor Corp, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV and Honda Motor Co.

There have been about 400 reported cases of inadvertent air bag deployments in the recalled vehicles, NHTSA Administrator Mark Rosekind said. The incidents have caused some minor injuries, but no known deaths, he told reporters.

The recall concerned a defective chip in air bag systems and the fix involved replacing the entire air bag module, including circuits manufactured by parts maker TRW Automotive Holdings, Rosekind said.

The automakers involved had issued three earlier recalls to fix the chip problems. But the NHTSA said it had reports that 39 vehicles fixed under those actions had experienced inadvertent air bag deployments, hence the new recall.

It was not related to millions of vehicles recalled over Takata Corp air bags. U.S. safety regulators have said defective Takata air bag inflators in certain vehicles can rupture and spray metal fragments inside the vehicle.

Air bag failures were also central to the controversy last year over General Motors Co's delay in recalling millions of vehicles with defective ignition switches that could unexpectedly cut off power to the safety systems.

Honda said that approximately 374,000 Honda and Acura vehicles are affected in the United States.

"Honda has received a small number of complaints of inadvertent airbag deployment in these vehicles after the original recall repair was completed," Honda said in a statement. "No crashes have been reported to Honda related to this issue."

Noting potential consumer concerns about air bags, the NHTSA said the chances of being involved in a crash in which an air bag could prevent serious injury or death were far greater than the risk of serious injury from an inadvertent bag deployment.

NHTSA blamed the problems it reported on Saturday on "electrical noise" in the air bag system. It said a fully effective solution might not be available until late this year.

The agency said the models affected were: 2002-2003 Jeep Liberty and 2002-2004 Jeep Grand Cherokees (about 750,000 vehicles); 2003-2004 Honda Odyssey; and 2003 Acura MDX (about 370,000 vehicles) and 2003-2004 Pontiac Vibe; Dodge Viper; and Toyota Corolla, Toyota Matrix, and Toyota Avalon (about 1 million vehicles, not all of which were sold in the United States.)

The agency said the affected models had a part called an electronic control unit that controls deployment of its air bags. TRW supplied control units containing the same control circuit to all three automakers.

Although the recalls were not related to the Takata cases, the NHTSA said there was an overlap, in that about 1 million of the vehicles affected were also covered in separate recalls of Takata air bag inflator systems.

The recall highlights the difficulty automakers and regulators have with increasingly complex electronic systems. The agency said in a statement it could take several months for the companies to obtain enough parts to fix all the vehicles involved.

In the Takata cases, Honda on Friday said it has confirmed that a Takata air bag inflator ruptured in a Jan. 18 crash in Texas that killed the driver. Prior to that incident, air bags made by the Japanese company had been linked to at least five deaths.

source: interaksyon.com

GM wins awards, Ford turns heads at Detroit auto show

DETROIT — General Motors’ Chevrolet unit swept car and truck of the year honors but Ford’s use of aluminum in its F150 sparked new debate on the first day of the Detroit auto show Monday.

The show also saw the debut appearance of Mary Barra as GM’s new chief executive — the first woman ever to lead a major auto maker; Fiat-Chrysler boss Sergio Marchionne pledging to oversee the union of the two for at least the next three years; and Ford chief executive Alan Mulally still in his job, after finally scotching talk he was headed to Microsoft.

Automakers, after a hugely successful 2013, forecast more growth and unveiled powerful new trucks, sexy sports cars and luxury models.

General Motors logged an early win after its Chevrolet brand swept the car and truck of the year awards with the Corvette Stingray sports car and the Chevy Silverado pickup truck.

“Chevrolet is in the midst of the most aggressive product transformation in the brand’s more than 100-year history,” Chevy chief Alan Batey said, hailing its wins.

Eyes were on Ford, however, as it gambled with a major change for the best-selling F150 pickup, replacing steel body panels with aluminum to drastically lower body weight and boost fuel economy.

The move, which helped Ford slash the truck’s weight by up to 700 pounds (317 kilos) is seen as a big risk, because truck buyers tend to focus on sturdiness and power.

Toyota, meanwhile, revved up its design credentials with a provocative new concept for a sports car, with a race car pit crew opening a shiny red box to reveal the FT-1 sports concept — Future Toyota 1.

Chrysler unveiled its hotly-anticipated revamp of the 200 sedan, which aims to bring a new level of luxury and styling to its midsized offering with a low entry price of $21,700.

“We designed a car to take on every other vehicle in its class, feature by feature and prove that a quality sedan doesn’t have to cross an ocean to be worthy of an American driveway,” Chrysler brand chief Al Gardner told reporters.

Mercedes got a jump on its competitors by hiring Kelly Rowland of Destiny’s Child to serenade its sleek and luxurious new C-Class sedan, an upgrade from the entry-level position it has held for several years.

Now that role has been taken by the CLA, and the C-Class has been decked out with features from higher-end Mercedes.

Also enjoying the move down from senior models is the diminutive Honda Fit. Honda has reshaped the front, enlarged the inside with generous leg space for a subcompact, boosted horsepower to 130 and worked to smooth the ride, adding a right-side Lane Watch, Bluetooth, rearview cameras, and upgraded smart phone connectivity.

Corvette also generated excitement with its new racing versions of the Corvette Stingray, the street-legal Z06 and the track-ready CR.7.

Kia and Toyota brought in concept pocket-rockets, BMW served up a hat-trick of new models — the 2 series, and an M3 and M4 — and Chrysler revamped its 200 series sedan, hoping some European styling thanks to its new Italian owners will boost its market presence.

Barra, who officially takes the reins of GM on Thursday, will make her presence known at the launch of a new GMC pickup — a statement that she, too, is one of the car guys.

She signaled that the accountants will not be allowed to dominate business plans.

“At today’s GM, our products are the result of putting the customer at the center of everything we do. That has fostered a bold new culture at our company, a culture that promotes innovation and encourages risk taking,” she said.

Executive leadership issues were also settled at Fiat, two weeks after the company bought the remaining 41.5 percent of Chrysler it didn’t own after long, tough negotiations.

Chairman John Elkann said CEO Sergio Marchionne will remain until at least 2017.

With the completion of the takeover of Chrysler — now the main money-maker for the Italian group — Marchionne said the Fiat board would soon meet on strategy for integrating the two, including mulling moving the headquarters to Detroit and listing its shares on a major stock market.

“We’re the seventh carmaker in the world and we aspire to be one of the so-called big guys,” Marchionne said.

At Ford, Mulally and executive chairman Bill Ford Jr both made clear that Mulally’s much-speculated departure was no longer an issue.

“Alan has obviously done a great job, and I’m thrilled that he’s here,” Ford said.

source: interaksyon.com

Car, tech firms must work together to provide Internet, ‘apps’ — Ford

Automakers and technology companies need to cooperate more closely to ensure the rapid and smooth development of cars that are fully connected to the Internet, a top Ford Motor Co (F.N) executive said on Tuesday.

Ford global marketing chief Jim Farley told reporters at the Los Angeles Auto Show that the automotive and technology sectors are “at a tipping point” where they need to work together better than they have to speed the roll-out of the services in cars that allow consumers to drive safely and interact with their favorite apps or other technologies.

“The car companies have to change and the tech companies have to change,” he said to industry officials at the auto show. “For the car companies, it’s pretty clear that the mobile digital economy is not in our hands.”

Farley said automakers must acknowledge that the real value for consumers comes from outside the auto industry and they must create an open architecture that allows outside providers. Meanwhile, tech companies need to stop imposing their user interfaces on drivers in a way that makes driving unsafe.

For example, Google Inc’s (GOOG.O) Tarun Bhatnagar, director of Google Maps for Business, speaking after Farley, described using the navigation app on his smartphone that sat in his lap as he drove a rental car in Los Angeles.

“I can’t help but wonder why is it that beautiful screen in the instrument cluster of my rental car can’t provide me with a connected and safer driving experience? That needs to change,” he said.

Farley said he had no new deals with technology firms to announce, but he expected significant agreements over the next few years as the two sides work more closely together.

He said the navigation system is a natural place to start. “If the navigation system works so well on the phone, who’s going to pay for it in the car?” Farley said. “But it’s unsafe using them in a car and that’s the reality.”

Farley said automakers will have to innovate around how data is used in the car and that Ford is betting first on “brought in,” which refers to people bringing their mobile devices into the vehicle.

The other options are building the services into the car or beaming them in.

Calling the car “the ultimate mobile device,” Farley said certain apps like navigation are endemic to the car experience and automakers will need to incorporate them really well.

Ford’s Sync technology has already had a major impact on consumers’ purchasing decisions and the company has sold 10 million Sync-equipped vehicles, he said. Ninety-four percent of Ford’s 2014 model-year vehicles will be sold with the Sync technology.

source: interaksyon.com