On 1 November Li Fenggang, general manager of Beijing Hyundai, chose to leave after a year in the job. It was one month after the launch of the brand’s strategic electric model. For Beijing Hyundai, executive turnover is unremarkable when the Chinese market moves this fast. But across the joint-venture sector, his departure poses a … Read more
Tesla’s new-car registrations rose sharply across several European markets in October, extending a recovery, though performance diverged widely between countries and Chinese brands continued to take share. Tesla registrations rose 248 per cent year on year in Sweden, 131 per cent in Norway and 34 per cent in Denmark, according to data from Mobility Sweden, … Read more
Volkswagen Group has paused development of the battery-electric Golf at its Wolfsburg plant because the factory failed to meet cost-control targets. The plant is short of a EUR 300 million (about USD 336 million) cost-reduction target, according to the internal case reported by Chinese automotive press. The electric Golf, expected to be named ID. Golf, … Read more
Volkswagen Group is weighing assembly of China-developed models in Turkey as a way to expand exports and offset a shrinking home market in China, according to people familiar with the plan reported by Chinese automotive press. The group has signed an agreement with Turkish distributor Dogus Otomotiv covering the production plan. The two sides intend … Read more
Two chipmakers in Fujian province made RMB 1.174 billion of profit between them last quarter while the robot companies they supply are still hunting for orders. Rockchip of Fuzhou reported third-quarter revenue of RMB 1.573 billion, up 43.57 per cent, and net profit of RMB 473 million, up 90.49 per cent. SigmaStar of Xiamen reported … Read more
Lens Technology can now assemble a humanoid every nine minutes in Kunshan. Its net profit fell by half over the same nine months. The Apple glass supplier told investors on 1 November that its Kunshan robot base reached 100 units a day, after moving into the site in late August and rolling the first unit … Read more
Three funding rounds closed on the same day in China, and none of the companies involved builds a robot. On 2 November, Jianshi Robotics disclosed a USD 100 million A+ round, GenRobot AI disclosed USD 100 million at the same stage, and RoboScience closed a Series A2 in the hundreds of millions of renminbi. All … Read more
Meta built a working humanoid in about three months, and it did not build it in California. The prototype, internally called Max, was developed with Shanghai robot maker Fourier Intelligence, according to The Information. It stands roughly 1.5 metres, weighs 48 kilograms, runs on Nvidia’s Jetson Thor, carries five-fingered hands and wears a display face … Read more
Physical Intelligence is raising again, and the number it wants has no precedent in robotics. Bloomberg reported that the two-year-old San Francisco company is in talks to raise at least USD 1 billion at a valuation of about USD 20 billion, with existing backers Avenir and Lux Capital expected to lead the round. Physical Intelligence … Read more
At the 140th Canton Fair, a humanoid wearing a black bow tie took drinks off a retail shelf. Another carried coffee to guests in the VIP lounge. Both came from Guangzhou Zhidong Weilai, the fair’s humanoid service partner, running five scenarios at once. The detail worth noticing is smaller: a staff member stood beside every … Read more