Bankrupt EV startup Lordstown Motors could be on the hook for $45 million for violating federal securities laws.
The SEC first started probing Lordstown Motors in 2021, just days after short-selling research firm Hindenburg Research published a report laying out a number of allegations of fraud.
Lawyers for Lordstown Motors revealed early on in the bankruptcy process that it had held confidential settlement talks with the SEC.
Lordstown Motors and a lawyer for the SEC did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Some investigations — like the one into Lucid Motors, or struggling EV startup Workhorse — have been dropped without any enforcement action.
Vietnamese EV startup VinFast is trying to get into the electric pickup truck game, as it revealed a new concept called the VF Wild at CES 2024 in Las Vegas.
The company announced it also plans to start selling its smallest EV, the VF3, outside of Vietnam as previously hinted.
The VF3 is a plucky little EV that VinFast announced in Vietnam earlier this year.
Developing a truck and globally launching a compact EV aren’t even the biggest things on VinFast’s plate.
Globally, the overwhelming majority of VinFast’s EV sales have been to a taxi company owned by Vuong.
Google announced Tuesday at CES 2024 a new feature for EV drivers that will track and display real-time battery information in Google Maps.
The new Android Auto feature will rollout today on Ford Mustang Mach-E and F-150 Lightning.
Google built-in adds Chrome, Weather ChannelGoogle also added new trip planning capabilities, the Chrome browser and the Weather Channel app to Google built-in.
The company said that starting today drivers of vehicles with Google built-in can send the trip they’ve planned on their smartphone using Google Maps directly to their car.
Cars with Google built-in will also get, starting today, PBS KIDS and Crunchyroll and the Weather Channel app.
The new venture will launch this summer in Mercedes-Benz’s electric EQ models, will.i.am told TechCrunch during a press event.
That car had 16 Sound Drive tracks loaded, some familiar and others created especially for the experience.
Sound Drive is not quite a performance as such, Will.i.am likens being a conductor or DJ, but that’s just the beginning.
Down the road, Sound Drive will let you geotag samples, linking auditory cues with memories.
Mercedes-Benz is the first partner, where the technology will launch with 10 tracks this summer as MBUX Sound Drive.
Kia is following up a strong year for its passenger EVs by sharing what it wants to do for businesses looking to go electric.
The Korean automaker just unveiled at CES 2024 a forthcoming lineup of electric vans and other similar vehicles all set to be built on a new modular platform.
What that looks like in practice, according to Kia, are vehicles with fixed driver cabs that can have the rest of the vehicle’s cabin swapped out.
These cabins (Kia calls them “life modules”) connect to the chassis using both mechanical couplings and electromagnets, though Kia was light on the details about how that will work.
The first model to be made will be the Kia PV5, a three-row van with futuristic styling.
Eye-tracking tech has been making its way into cars for years as a safety feature, especially with the rise of driver assistance software.
Now, Bosch thinks the tech could offer some other benefits – and it’s showing off two ideas this week at CES 2024 in Las Vegas.
The first scenario is pretty straightforward (and very European): You’re driving home and the car recognizes that you’re looking pretty drowsy.
The other is far more complicated: Eye-tracking tech could be used during your drive to figure out what points of interest you’re looking at, and the car could offer contextual information.
Since Bosch is merely a supplier here, it’s up to the automakers to decide if – and more importantly, how – it wants to implement these ideas.
Waymo is about to start testing its driverless passenger vehicles on the highway later this month, a critical milestone for the company that, if successful, will unlock expanded commercial operations.
Bringing its autonomous cars to the highway is just the latest in a series of big steps for Waymo, especially in the Phoenix area.
Just a few months before that, Waymo made its autonomous vehicles available in the Uber app.
The GM autonomous vehicle subsidiary recently slashed a quarter of its staff and pushed out a number of executives after a crash in October where one of its robotaxis dragged a pedestrian.
Last year, the company backed away from its autonomous trucking effort in order to focus more on ride-hailing.
EV sales remained strong in Q4.
They could have been stronger All automakers, including Tesla, are at a crossroadsIf you’ve only been reading headlines these past few months, you’d think demand for electric vehicles has fallen off a cliff.
In some countries, like Norway, where 82% of new vehicles are electric, it has already landed.
That jibes with other forecasts that predict EVs will make up around 25% of the market in 2026.
The demand will be there, but to make the most of it, automakers have some work to do.
VinFast, Vietnam’s electric vehicle manufacturer, plans to initially invest $500 million to set up an integrated facility in India and break into the world’s third-largest automobile market.
The memorandum of understanding with the state government of Tamil Nadu, unveiled on Saturday, earmarks an investment of up to $2 billion, the company said without giving a concrete timeframe.
“We are delighted that VinFast has chosen to invest in Tamil Nadu to establish its integrated EV facility.
Nonetheless, India has been an attractive market for global EV players as the country aims to have 30% electrification by 2030.
Its India deal announcement follows VinFast naming its founder and biggest backer, Pham Nhat Voung, as CEO earlier on Saturday.
Aurora and automotive supplier Continental have wrapped up the first phase of a more than $300 million project to mass produce autonomous vehicle hardware for commercial self-driving trucks.
The two companies said Friday that the design and system architecture of an autonomous vehicle hardware kit is now complete.
Importantly, the hardware system has to be reliable, easy to maintain and produced cheaply.
Initially, these driverless trucks will carry freight between Dallas and Houston, a route the company has been using for testing.
While these first 19 driverless trucks won’t be equipped with the Aurora-Continental hardware kit, they are designed to automotive standards and to operate safely without a driver, according to Aurora spokesperson Rachel Chibidakis.
