Ford wants to almost double its investments in the electrification of its vehicles to at least 22 billion US dollars by 2025. This was announced by the US carmaker when announcing the new business figures.

General Motors is increasing its spending, launching an “all-out pursuit of global EV leadership,” GM CEO Mary Barra announced. By 2025, the US carmaker wants to have 30 electric models and intends to raise investment from 20 to 27 billion US dollars.

LM Industries, the parent company of Local Motors, has received $15 million in financing. The money will be used to advance product development, production and deployment of the 3D-printed Olli autonomous electric shuttle bus.

The Swedish startup Einride has introduced the next generation of its autonomous electric truck T-Pod, making it commercially available worldwide for the first time. The company is relying on a subscription model for this. Initial customers include Lidl Sweden, Oatly, Bridgestone and Northvolt.

Details are now available on the Artemis task force for highly automated electric cars by Audi. The first project will be a luxury class electric sedan that is in development under the working title Landjet. Audi considers a positioning above the current top model A8, possibly as the A9.

The lawsuit filed by the German competition authority against Tesla for allegedly misleading advertising statements regarding the ‘Autopilot’ was successful. This means Tesla may have to act soon.

Scientists of the Graz University of Technology are developing an autonomous, electric compost turning machine together with the company Pusch & Schinnerl. The development is part of the research project ANTON (Autonomous Navigation for Tracked Compost Turners).

The Swiss company Boschung has announced the launch of a purely electrically driven and fully autonomous sweeper. The 2.3-tonne machine, called Urban-Sweeper S2.0, will be able to work eight hours at a stretch. Five units are already in operation in Gelsenkirchen, Germany.

At the end of May this year, Audi presented its Artemis project for the development of new technologies for electric, highly automated driving. Now it seems that the flagship model developed as part of the project will bear the title of the A9 e-tron and could be launched on the market by 2024.

National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS) has presented a mobility ecosystem for autonomous electric vehicles for sharing services, under the name PONS. At the heart of the ecosystem is the autonomous Sango electric vehicle for up to six passengers.

Volvo Cars, with its Polestar and Lynk & Co. brands, has entered into a strategic partnership with Waymo. They aim to integrate Waymo’s technologies for autonomous driving into a new electric vehicle platform for ride-hailing services.

Volkswagen and Ford have now signed the contracts for their global alliance in the areas of electrification, light commercial vehicles and autonomous driving. This paves the way for a Ford electric vehicle based on Volkswagen’s Modular Electric Drive Box (MEB).

A Japanese news site claims that Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi have a plan that will expand their alliance. In May, the three companies plan to start jointly developing electric vehicles and automated driving technologies.

The Ducktrain is a new innovation from RWTH Aachen University. The Aachen-based company DroidDrive is developing an electrically driven articulated train consisting of trailers that are to swarm out autonomously in the delivery area. A first prototype has now started testing.

Refraction AI is currently testing its autonomous REV-1 e-trike in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Looking like a cargo-bike without the rider, the self-driving electric cargo bot can carry up to 40 kilos of groceries, food, or medicine and has a top speed of about 20 kph. In times of quarantines, this EV may come in handy […]

Many ‘tear-downs’ have already shown that Tesla has a lead of years in electric drive and battery technology. Now the Japanese business paper Nikkei has also had the Tesla Model 3 dismantled.

US Local Motors caught a lot of attention with a 3D-printed autonomous shuttle Olli as early as 2017. Fast-forward to 2020, and we sat down with Local Motors CEO John B. Rogers and his UK partners from Protean.

In the UK, Gordon Murray Design has developed the platform Motiv for autonomous electric vehicles in cooperation with Delta Motorsport and itMoves. The vehicle itself is designed as a small pod that can be adapted for multiple passengers, wheelchair users or for delivery services.

Founded by former Google engineers, the US start-up Nuro is to make goods delivery autonomous and electric. They now launched the next-gen pod, R2, and say they can start testing in Houston within weeks. Regulators have approved a driverless exemption for this purpose.

With a concept that looks like out of a Transformers movie, the Japanese manufacturer Kubota provides a glimpse into the future of agriculture. The company claims to be a pioneer in introducing smart technologies in farming.

The Spanish bus manufacturer Irizar has presented an autonomous version of its electric model Irizar ie. The bus is to be used as part of a mobility project in the city of Málaga set to start in a few months.

Cruise, the General Motors subsidiary for autonomous vehicles, has revealed the production model of the Cruise Origin – an autonomous electric vehicle for ridesharing that offers space for six people and no steering wheel.

Toyota has just led May Mobility’s B round financing totalling $50M, which also included BMW iVentures. The financing should allow the Michigan-based startup to expand every aspect of the company and its autonomous electric shuttle fleet.

StreetScooter has hired former managers from Tesla and Ford to join the executive team of the German electric delivery van manufacturer with immediate effect. German postal services Deutsche Post, however, is again expecting significant losses from its subsidiary this year.

Jeff Dahn and his team, who carry out battery research for Tesla, have published test results for a new battery cell that could have a life of 1 million miles (1.6 million km) and thus be suitable for Tesla’s planned robo taxis. At the same time, Tesla battery cell manufacturing appears to be well underway.

Development service provider EDAG will be presenting a study of a swarm intelligent and multifunctional robotic vehicle with fuel cell drive for the IAA. The EDAG CityBot is to be operational around the clock and can be retrofitted as required using add-on modules.

Siemens, the Institute for Climate Protection, Energy and Mobility (IKEM), the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and Hamburger Hochbahn are all busy to launch a self-driving electric shuttle as part of Hamburg’s public transport offering.

The long-expected alliance between Volkswagen and Ford is official. As part of the deal, VW will become an equal stakeholder in Ford’s self-driving cars venture, while Ford will get access to VW’s electric vehicle technology.

May Mobility that partners with Magna and has select funders such as BMW iVentures or Toyota AI onboard is moving its autonomous electric vehicle concept forward. To be exact, the company is developing a wheelchair-accessible prototype of its self-driving electric shuttle.

Nissan and its China partner Dongfeng are currently in talks with Didi Chuxing to establish a joint venture with Didi’s ride-hailing and car sharing services. The Japanese and Chinese car makers should supply Didi with electric vehicles.