Tag: bmw

BMW taps humanoid startup Figure to take on Tesla’s robot
19Jan By adminNo Comments
Technology

BMW taps humanoid startup Figure to take on Tesla’s robot

[ad_1] Robotics startup Figure said it has signed a partnership with BMW Manufacturing to deploy its humanoid robots in the car maker's facility in the U.S., as more companies turn to human-like robots to take on certain physical tasks. This marks the first commercial deal Figure has signed since it was founded in 2022. While the company didn't disclose how many robots BMW will be using, the partnership will start with small quantities and expand if performance targets have been met, according to Brett Adcock, chief executive at Figure. Figure's humanoids will be deployed in BMW's manufacturing facility in Spartanburg, South Carolina, the largest automotive exporter in the U.S., which currently employees 11,000 people. They will be integrated into the manufacturing processes including ...
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Cadillac, BMW to Mercedes, the best and most frivolous car tech is going to electric vehicles
14Jan By adminNo Comments
Technology

Cadillac, BMW to Mercedes, the best and most frivolous car tech is going to electric vehicles

[ad_1] From regenerative braking to the quiet hum of battery-powered cruising, electric vehicles are upending many a fundamental when it comes to the traditional driving experience. Slide into the cockpit of a contemporary EV, though, and you'll notice another bit of hardware getting an unexpected rethink: the humble interior light. Gone is the jaundiced bulb that blinks on when a car door is opened, the one your parents warned had to stay off while the vehicle was in motion. In its stead? A veritable LED disco. Today the interior of nearly every battery-powered car is veined with lights in the dashboard, door frames, foot wells and ceiling. Drivers of the Cadillac Lyriq, for example, can change the cockpit lights to virtually any hue using a touch-screen color wheel. The BMW XM hybrid,...
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CES 2024: BMW to Ecovacs, here are the ‘Worst in Show’ products, consumer advocates say
12Jan By adminNo Comments
Technology

CES 2024: BMW to Ecovacs, here are the ‘Worst in Show’ products, consumer advocates say

[ad_1] The best CES 2024 products pierce through the haze of marketing hype at the Las Vegas gadget show to reveal innovations that could improve lives. The worst could harm us or our society and planet in such “innovatively bad” ways that a panel of self-described dystopia experts has judged them “Worst in Show.” The third annual contest that no tech company wants to win announced its decisions Thursday.AND THE AWARD GOES TO“From easily hackable lawn mowers to $300 earbuds that will fail in two years, these are products that jeopardize our safety, encourage wasteful overconsumption, and normalize privacy violations,” says the group of consumer and privacy advocates judging the awards. The contest has no affiliation with CES or the trade group that runs the expo. We are now on WhatsApp....
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CES 2024: Amazon partners with BMW to bring Alexa voice assistant to cars; Know all about it
10Jan By adminNo Comments
Technology

CES 2024: Amazon partners with BMW to bring Alexa voice assistant to cars; Know all about it

[ad_1] Artificial intelligence (AI) was the buzzword of 2023, with the world's largest tech companies incorporating this technology into their suite of products. Consequently, we've not only seen the emergence of new AI tools such as AI chatbots, but also its embrace by legacy organizations such as Adobe, and Microsoft. Not just in tech, but AI is making waves in the automotive world as well. At the ongoing Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2024 in Las Vegas, Amazon and BMW have announced a partnership that will see AI come into the fold. Know all about it.Amazon-BMW partnershipAs part of the partnership, a Large Language Model (LLM) with Amazon Alexa will be merged with the vehicle's user manual. This move would allow users to ask anything they wish to know about their vehicle, and Alexa...
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Volkswagen, GM, Ford are being forced to reduce output or delay new electric vehicle models
29Nov By adminNo Comments
Technology

Volkswagen, GM, Ford are being forced to reduce output or delay new electric vehicle models

[ad_1] Bayerische Motoren Werke AG Chief Executive Officer Oliver Zipse was incredulous when asked this month whether the German premium carmaker would respond to a brutal price war in electric vehicles by cutting production. “Do I understand you right that you try to slow us down? Two years ago, it was the other way around,” he told analysts, triggering wry laughter.  Carmakers not called Tesla Inc. have spent the past decade being cajoled by governments, capital markets and journalists like me to speed up the transition to electric vehicles — and for good reason, because the planet is overheating. Now that EV sales aren't growing as fast as anticipated, Volkswagen AG, General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co. are being forced to either reduce  EV output or delay new models and factories. ...
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Porsche to conquer waterways with $655,000 electric speedboat
29Jun By adminNo Comments
Technology

Porsche to conquer waterways with $655,000 electric speedboat

[ad_1] After a stalled bid to join Formula One, Porsche AG is getting into boats. The German automaker announced on June 23 that it would develop an electric speedboat with the Austrian shipbuilder Frauscher.Set for delivery in 2024, the Frauscher x Porsche 850 Fantom Air is an 8.7-meter (28.4-foot) day cruiser based on the Frauscher 858 Fantom Air. Studio F.A. Porsche will design the helm stand and outfit the interior trimmings including seats and upholstery, while the boat will share its drive technology with the upcoming electric Porsche Macan. It will be built in the Frauscher Shipyard in Ohlsdorf, Austria. The vessel isn't Porsche's first foray into watercraft. In 2008, Porsche Design, the studio and brand Ferdinand Alexander Porsche founded in 1972, released the Porsche Fearless 2...
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A second life for EV batteries? Depends how long the first is
26Jun By adminNo Comments
Technology

A second life for EV batteries? Depends how long the first is

[ad_1] Global automakers have touted plans to re-use electric vehicle (EV) batteries when they lose power, but competition for battery packs and cell materials, and the appetite for affordable cars cast doubt on this part of the circular economy.An array of startups offers second-life energy storage using old EV batteries. But creating the viable industry envisioned by carmakers such as Nissan would mean fighting off competition from recyclers, refurbishers and the needs of drivers squeezed by the cost-of-living crisis. "The assumption that EV batteries are only going to last eight-to-10 years and then owners will swap them out is just not true," Hans Eric Melin, founder of consultancy Circular Energy Storage (CES), which tracks battery volumes and prices, said. "It's going to be tricky...
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Chinese EV dominance hastens end of petrol engine era
23Apr By adminNo Comments
Technology

Chinese EV dominance hastens end of petrol engine era

[ad_1] This year's Shanghai Auto Show signaled the end of the petrol engine era in China, as domestic electric vehicle brands drive change across the sector and leave foreign companies in the dust, analysts and industry insiders said.Government support for EVs and growing interest from a vast consumer base has assured Chinese companies' dominance of their home market, the world's largest -- and they are now beginning to set their sights overseas. Shanghai has shown Chinese brands "can compete with all of the legacy automakers in every way -- performance, quality, comfort, there's nothing they can't do", said EV specialist Elliot Richards, joking he had seen "a lot of worried-looking German men wandering around". "I think this show marks the end of the internal combustion engine and the ...
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4 in 10 say next vehicle may be electric: AP-NORC/EPIC poll
12Apr By adminNo Comments
Technology

4 in 10 say next vehicle may be electric: AP-NORC/EPIC poll

[ad_1] Many Americans aren't yet sold on going electric for their next cars, a new poll shows, with high prices and too few charging stations the main deterrents. About 4 in 10 U.S. adults are at least somewhat likely to switch, but the history-making shift from the country's century-plus love affair with gas-driven vehicles still has a ways to travel.The poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago shows that the Biden administration's plans to dramatically raise U.S. EV sales could run into resistance from consumers. Only 8% of U.S. adults say they or someone in their household owns or leases an electric vehicle, and just 8% say their household has a plug-in hybrid vehicle. Even with tax credits of up...
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CES 2023: BMW teases a talking car that shifts colors like a chameleon
11Jan By adminNo Comments
Technology

CES 2023: BMW teases a talking car that shifts colors like a chameleon

[ad_1] BMW teases a talking car that shifts colors like a chameleon and talks like a human being. BMW AG has unveiled a prototype for a car that talks like a human being, changes colors to suit the driver's mood and has no screens on its dashboard.The German luxury automaker's BMW i Vision Dee, revealed at a splashy kickoff on Wednesday evening for the CES conference here, previews technology that Chief Executive Oliver Zipse said would be put into production in 2025. BMW plans to launch a new lineup of electric vehicles, which it is calling the Neue Klasse, or new class. The BMW concept was very much a show car, with elements that could be challenging to put into mass production at competitive prices. But Zipse told a packed theater at the Palms Casino that BMW "will bring this techn...
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