Hello, and welcome to TechScape. I’m your host, Blake Montgomery, writing to you from Barcelona, where my diet has transformed at least half my body into ham. Who will dominate the autonomous vehicles market? We are on the verge of the global arrival of self-driving cars. Next year, major firms from both the US and China will deploy their robotaxis to metropolises around the world, in major expansions of their existing operations. These companies are posturing in the press like male birds fighting for the same mate; the dance sets…
Tag: Elon Musk
The Guardian view on hybrid cars: profitable for carmakers but not very green | Editorial
“Why the future is hybrid,” chirruped the Economist in 2004. While electric vehicles (EVs) looked like science fiction, that prediction looked prescient. Fast‑forward 20 years and battery technology has improved dramatically; EVs are affordable. Last week it emerged that plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) aren’t very green. The sales pitch had been that motorists could use “clean” battery power for city jaunts and dirty petrol for longer trips. This promised sustainable travel without the anxiety of a limited range. But real‑world tests, by the European non-profit Transport and Environment, show that…
Top Starmer aide resigns over explicit Diane Abbott messages in further blow to PM – UK politics live
From 20h ago No 10 director of strategy resigns over revelation about sexually explicit comments about Diane Abbott in private email in 2017 Keir Starmer has been hit by a fresh Downing Street resignation. Paul Ovenden has resigned as director of strategy at No 10 over revelations, first published by the Mail, that in 2017 he made sexually explicit comments about Diane Abbott in a private email. Ovenden was a Labour party press officer at the time. In his story for the Mail, Dan Hodges reports: The Mail understands that…
Tesla sales in Europe slump 40% as BYD new car registrations more than triple
Tesla sales slumped 40% across Europe in July compared with a year earlier as Elon Musk’s electric car company faces increasingly tough competition from its Chinese rival BYD. There were 8,837 sales of Tesla cars last month across the EU, the European Free Trade Association and the UK, according to figures from the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA). That compared with 14,769 at the same point last year. New car registrations for BYD across Europe rose to 13,503 last month, compared with 4,151 a year earlier. BYD now has 1.2%…
‘A billion people backing you’: China transfixed as Musk turns against Trump
Few break-ups have as many gossiping observers as the fallout between the once inseparable Donald Trump and Elon Musk. The ill-fated bromance between the US president and the world’s richest man, which once raised questions about American oligarchy, is now being pored over by social media users in China, many of whom are Team Musk. The latest drama comes from Musk’s pledge to found a new political party, the America party, if Trump’s sweeping tax and spending bill, which Musk described as “insane” passed the Senate this week (it did).…
Tech shares climb after strong Nvidia results despite warning over rise of Chinese rivals
Technology shares climbed on Thursday, buoyed by strong results from Nvidia, despite the AI chip company’s boss issuing a warning about the rise of Chinese rivals. The Stoxx Europe tech index rose by 0.8% on Thursday following Nvidia’s financial report, with the Dutch semiconductor equipment maker ASML rallying by 2.4%. In the US, futures for the tech-focused Nasdaq climbed 2%, and shares in Nvidia itself jumped 6% in pre-market trading. The boost to tech and artificial intelligence stocks came hours after Nvidia beat Wall Street forecasts, with quarterly revenues jumping…
Trump tariffs blocked by US federal trade court – US politics live
From 30m ago US trade court blocks Trump’s tariffs A federal trade court on Wednesday blocked President Donald Trump from imposing sweeping tariffs on imports under an emergency-powers law. The ruling from a three-judge panel at the New York-based court of international trade came after several lawsuits arguing Trump has exceeded his authority, left US trade policy dependent on his whims and unleashed economic chaos. “The Worldwide and Retaliatory Tariff Orders exceed any authority granted to the President by IEEPA to regulate importation by means of tariffs,” the court ruled,…
China’s BYD overtakes Tesla as top-selling electric car seller
Elon Musk’s Tesla has been overtaken by its Chinese rival, BYD, as the world’s top selling electric carmaker. BYD, which has been backed by the US investment billionaire Warren Buffett since 2008, has beaten Tesla’s production for a second consecutive year. BYD, which stands for Build Your Dreams, said it produced 3.02m new energy vehicles in 2023. The American multinational Tesla announced on Tuesday that it made 1.84m cars. However, BYD’s sales figures include 1.6m battery-only cars, and 1.4m hybrids, which means Tesla is still the leader in the production…
Taiwan tells Elon Musk it is ‘not for sale’ after latest China comments
Taiwan is “not for sale”, the island’s foreign minister has said in a stern rebuke to Elon Musk, who asserted Taiwan was an integral part of China, again wading into the thorny issue relations between Beijing and Taipei. His comments came as dozens of Chinese warships and planes were detected near Taiwan for suspected military exercises. Musk, the billionaire owner of the social media platform X formerly known as Twitter, as well as the Tesla electric car company and SpaceX, made the comments to the All-In Summit in Los Angeles…
When Elon Musk’s ‘flying sofas’ give Ukraine internet access, we can’t sit comfortably | John Naughton
In February 2022, as Russian tanks rumbled into Ukraine, a cyber-attack took down the satellite system run by Viasat that was providing high-speed communications for Ukrainian military forces, rendering them instantly blind, deaf and dumb. With his forces knocked offline, the Ukrainian digital minister sent a plea to an American billionaire, one Elon Musk, for help. Within hours, Musk responded that his Starlink system had been activated in Ukraine. Days later Starlink terminals began to arrive. Pause for context update. Musk is the founder and Supreme Leader of SpaceX, an…