Anthony Levandowski Closes His Church of AI

The first church of artificial intelligence has shut its conceptual doors. From a report: Anthony Levandowski, the former Google engineer who avoided an 18-month prison sentence after receiving a presidential pardon last month, has closed the church he created to understand and accept a godhead based on artificial intelligence. The Way of the Future church, which Levandowski formed in 2015, was…

Volkswagen CEO Says He’s Not Scared of Apple

Volkswagen’s CEO Herbert Diess isn’t intimidated by Apple, even though the tech company potentially has an electric car on the way. From a report: “The car industry is not a typical tech sector that you could take over at a single stroke,” Diess said in an interview with German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. “Apple will not manage that overnight.” For years,…

SoftBank Expects Mass Production of Driverless Cars in Two Years

SoftBank Group Chief Executive Masayoshi Son said on Friday he expects mass production of self-driving vehicles to start in two years. From a report: While in the first year the production of units won’t be in millions, in the next several years the cost per mile in fully autonomous cars will become very cheap, Son said, speaking at a virtual meeting…

Kia Will Lead Apple Car Project Work Under Hyundai Motor, Report Says

Hyundai Motor, the parent automaker of Hyundai and Kia, will task the Kia division with Apple Car work. The brand also said on Wednesday it’s looking at cooperation with foreign firms surrounding self-driving and electric vehicles. CNET reports: Kia made no mention of Apple, though the comment follows the reported connections to the tech giant. Earlier this month, various reports pegged…

President Trump Pardons Anthony Levandowski, Ex-Uber Engineer Sentenced To Prison For Stealing Trade Secrets From Google

On his final night in office, President Trump granted clemency to a total of 143 people, ranging from former adviser Stephen K. Bannon to rapper Lil Wayne. One name in particular that stands out in the tech community is none other than Anthony Levandowski, the former Google engineer that was sentenced to 18 months in prison for stealing trade secrets from…

Microsoft Joins $2 Billion Deal With GM To Roll Out Self-Driving Cars

Microsoft is joining GM, Honda and others in a $2 billion investment round in Cruise to help commercialize its self-driving cars. The deal bumps Cruise’s valuation to $30 billion, from $19 billion last year. From a report: The investment is part of a broader commitment by GM and Cruise to use Microsoft’s Azure cloud-computing platform across their companies, especially as they…

EU Must ‘Move At Speed’ On Space Broadband Network

The European Commission says it wants its newly proposed satellite mega-constellation to be offering some sort of initial service in 2024. The BBC reports: The first priority is to fill in gaps in broadband coverage where ground infrastructure cannot reach, but later it will power services such as self-driving cars. The project will in some ways mirror America’s Starlink and the…

Hyundai Motor Says It’s In Early Talks With Apple To Develop a Self-Driving Car

South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor said it’s in the early stages of discussions with Apple over potentially working together to develop a self-driving car. CNBC reports: “We understand that Apple is in discussion with a variety of global automakers, including Hyundai Motor. As the discussion is at its early stage, nothing has been decided,” a representative from Hyundai Motor told CNBC’s…

Apple’s Self-Driving Electric Car Is At Least Half a Decade Away

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: Apple will take at least half a decade to launch an autonomous, electric vehicle because development work is still at an early stage, according to people with knowledge of the efforts. The Cupertino, California-based technology giant has a small team of hardware engineers developing drive systems, vehicle interior and external car body designs…

Volkswagen CEO Says Apple Can Mount Major Challenge With Auto Push

Volkswagen AG Chief Executive Officer Herbert Diess said cash-rich technology giants invading the auto industry pose a much bigger challenge for the German manufacturer than traditional rivals like Toyota Motor. From a report: “We look forward to new competitors who will certainly accelerate the change in our industry and bring in new skills,” Diess said in a LinkedIn post when asked…