Automotive and tech firms are poaching each other’s talent to pull ahead in the driverless car race October 3, 2016 Automotive and IT firms are poaching each other’s talent in a bid to nudge ahead in the driverless car race, according to research by CPA Global. Its analysis found that more than 20 patent inventors have made the switch from automotive to IT companies or vice versa since 2008, with Google’s self-driving car programme serving [...]
Yanis Varoufakis has some advice for the UK, Theresa May and Labour September 28, 2016 Academic, EU-tormenter, former Greek finance minister and leather-jacket-wearing big thinker Yanis Varoufakis has blasted George Osborne and told the UK to get a move on with triggering Article 50. In an interview with the Today programme, Varoufakis, who resigned from the Syriza-led government last summer after he helped prime minister Alexis Tsipras take Greece to the [...]
Ford engineers have invented these three crazy contraptions to make life in the city easier September 22, 2016 It used to be Silicon Valley types who were obsessed with innovation – but it seems the bug has spread, after car giant Ford unleashed some of its engineers' craziest inventions. The company said it had set engineers a challenge: create a device which helps people handle city life. It received more than 4,500 submissions [...]
This consulting firm has created an “editable” blockchain and people are puzzled September 20, 2016 Blockchain, heralded in part for keeping an immutable record of transactions, could soon become editable. Accenture has patented a prototype for making changes to it in "exceptional circumstances" to take into account errors recorded such as so-called fat finger moments, or, human error. “As we focus on new uses for blockchain technology beyond the realm of cryptocurrency, absolute immutability will become both [...]
Barack Obama just welcomed driverless cars September 20, 2016 The US President Barack Obama is on board with driverless cars, welcoming the technology's potential for increasing safety and reducing pollution on roads across the US as the country announces new rules for the vehicles. "In the seven-and-a-half years of my presidency, self-driving cars have gone from sci-fi fantasy to an emerging reality with the [...]
Cars will go the way of DVDs in a decade and more predictions for the future of transport according to Lyft founder John Zimmer September 19, 2016 A transport revolution is coming thanks to technology – that's according to the founder of ride sharing startup Lyft, a rival to Uber, John Zimmer. In an ambitious manifesto, the entrepreneur has predicted the third transport revolution will arrive with the development of driverless cars, one of the hottest, most talked about and potentially disruptive developments in [...]
Before the bell: What you need to know before the US market open September 14, 2016 US seeds company Monsanto has accepted a takeover offer from German chemicals company Bayer, marking the biggest deal of 2016. Meanwhile, stocks are floating on a sea of green. Here's what you need to know before the US market open at 2:30pm London time. US stocks are pointing higher in the pre-market. The S&P is up by 0.2 per [...]
Ford warns on profit for 2017, blaming increased spending on electric vehicles and driverless cars September 14, 2016 Ford Motor said today that its profit in 2017 will decline from its result for this year, because it has ramped up spending. The car manufacturer said it has increased spending on emerging opportunities and other costs – including electric vehicles and driverless cars. Last week, the company lowered its 2016 pre-tax profit forecast to [...]
HM Revenue & Customs corporate asset seizures spike by 145 per cent September 12, 2016 The taxman has cracked down on collecting outstanding tax from UK businesses. The number of businesses whose assets were seized by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) in 2015/16 was 1,592, up a staggering 145 per cent on the prior year of 649 seizures. The increase reflects the fact that amount of tax overdue hiked from £15m to [...]
New car sales accelerated in August as the fleet sector stayed strong September 5, 2016 The UK's car buyers went haywire for hatchbacks and crazy for convertibles last month, figures published today have shown. The report, by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), showed new car registrations rose 3.3 per cent year on year in August – up from a measly 0.1 per cent rise in July. Some [...]