Profit pressed car makers are increasingly turning to technology to grow business.
Renault-Nissan will begin hiring at least 300 tech experts this month, joining other automakers in trying to lure staff away from Silicon Valley.
Most recruits will be software engineers with experience in vehicle connectivity and mobility services, a category that includes car-sharing, the alliance said. They will join a team led by Ogi Redzic, an executive from Nokia Oyj’s former HERE maps unit hired in January to lead Renault-Nissan’s connected-cars initiative.
Volkswagen is looking at on-demand mobility services such as smartphone ride hailing to earn a “notable share” of future revenues as the carmaker pushes a strategic shift in the wake of its emissions scandal, CEO Matthias Mueller said.
VW, which posted $237.90 billion in revenue last year, last week signed a cooperation deal with ride-hailing company Gett after announcing a $300 million investment in the firm last week.
Cooperation with Gett may lead to business models involving car sharing, limousine rides and taxi services in the fast-growing ride-hailing market — which in Europe alone may yield 10 billion euros ($11.2 billion) of sales by 2025 and could grow more than 30 percent annually, Mueller said.
Toyota Motor Corp. is close to buying two robotics divisions from Google’s parent company in a move to boost the carmaker’s fledgling robotics business, a report said.
Toyota would buy Boston Dynamics, a U.S.-based firm, and Schaft, founded by a University of Tokyo graduate, Japan’s Nikkei business daily reported today. Both are divisions of Google-parent Alphabet Inc.
The purchases would be made through Toyota’s new artificial intelligence and robotics unit, the Toyota Research Institute, or TRI. Toyota invested $1 billion to establish TRI last year as an r&d incubator for technologies that can be deployed in autonomous cars and helper robots for work and home.
Audi is now equipping its new models that use the second-generation modular infotainment platform with the Audi connect SIM. The factory-installed SIM card offers customers the advantage of being able to immediately use the wide range of Audi connect services with the accompanying data flat rate both domestically and abroad.
