VW and Ford to Develop Pickup Truck, Autonomous Driving and Mobility Talks Continue
Volkswagen has signed a contract with Ford to develop a successor to its VW Amarok pickup truck.
Ford has a platform for its Ranger midsized pickup truck, which could help VW lower development costs.
VW and Ford continue discussions about extending its alliance to include autonomous driving and mobility services. Ford bought Argo AI, a Pittsburgh-based self-driving startup, in 2017, but with spiraling development costs for autonomous cars in recent years, the company and other carmakers have sought alliances and outside investors.
Read the article at Reuters.
On Boeing and the Road to Self-Driving Vehicles
By Mark Boada, Executive Editor
In light of the two recent Boeing 737 Max disasters, I’m finding it both ironic and a bit troubling that passenger airlines’ success with automating flights is so often held up as a paradigm for the advent of self-driving vehicles.
OK, so it’s been proven over and over again that we’re all safer flying in a commercial jetliner than driving our cars. I get it. But the Boeing case shows that when big companies rush to outdo the competition, errors in the long chain of events leading to production and rollout can be overlooked not just by manufacturers’ engineers, but by regulators entrusted with our safety.
Trucking Companies Need Flexible Financing Options to Adapt to E-commerce Disruption
The transportation industry is evolving, and it's imperative that fleet companies adapt to remain successful
By Mark Boada, Executive Editor
The e-commerce boom is changing the face of the commercial trucking industry, ever-increasing volumes of consumers’ purchases being delivered to their doorstep. In this interview, Anthony Sasso, head of TD Bank Equipment Finance discusses these trends and offers insights into how trucking companies can respond cost-effectively as they finance the reshaping of their fleets.
Automotive Manufacturers Invest in Digitization, Autonomous and Electric Vehicles
Political pressure or actual need, major investments in manufacturing were announced recently by Ford and GM.
Ford announced a $900 million investment in a new factory for autonomous vehicles and technologies, creating 900 jobs through 2023.
GM announced $1.8 billion in investments that will be spread across six states and add an additional 700 new jobs.
Read the article at Forbes.
Leveraging Fleet Experts: Specialized Teams
Merchants Fleet offers the benefit of leveraging specialized teams of experts, when and where their clients need them. That results in powerful insights that help clients make continual improvements to their fleets.
