Toyota, Mazda Narrow Plant Site Options in U.S.

Mazda and Toyota will build their jointly owned and operated U.S. assembly plant in Alabama or North Carolina, sources tell Bloomberg News.

Kobe Steel Will Automate Quality Reports

Kobe Steel Ltd. says it will spend about 10 billion yen ($88 million) to set up a quality control division and automate key inspection systems in the wake of scandals involving falsified data.

VW Expected to Make Zwickau Plant an EV Production Center

Volkswagen AG’s supervisory board is likely on Friday to approve plans to turn its assembly plant in Zwickau, Germany, into a production center for electric cars, sources tell Reuters.

Ford Patents Autonomous Off-Road Driving System

Last week Ford Motor Co. received a U.S. patent for an off-road autonomous driving system.

Nissan Powers Up Series Hybrid Tests in Michigan

Nissan Motor Co. has been spotted testing a hybrid version of its Note hatchback in Michigan.

Study: Slower Demand Ahead for Cars as Ride-Hailing Grows

Carmakers can expect a sharp slowdown in sales growth as more people turn to ride-hailing services over the next 20 years or so, market researchers IHS Markit predicts.

5G for Autonomy

5G for Autonomy

Although there seems to be tremendous concentration (or at least coverage) of autonomous vehicles as independent, stand-alone entities that will roll through the highways and byways depending only on their camera and LiDAR systems, truly effective autonomous vehicles are going to need to communicate with the outside world, and that 4G LTE system that you have running on your cell phone isn’t going to cut it.

Uber Loses Appeal of U.K. Workers’ Rights Ruling

Ride-hailing service Uber Technologies Inc. has lost its effort to overturn a U.K. ruling that says its drivers should be guaranteed a minimum wage and be granted such worker rights as vacation time and work breaks.

Cadillac Expands Vehicle Booking Business

General Motors Co.’s Cadillac unit is extending the vehicle subscription service it launched in New York earlier this year to Los Angeles and Dallas.

Sumitomo, NTT Docomo Test 5G Communications

Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd. and NTT Docomo Inc. are jointly testing the collection and delivery of traffic information using high-definition sensors connected via a fifth-generation (5G) mobile communications system.