News

Volkswagen to Invest in Mines in Bid to Become Global Battery Supplier

Volkswagen plans to invest in mines to bring down the cost of battery cells, meet half of its own demand and sell to third-party customers, the carmaker’s board member in charge of technology said. Its strategy aligns with a wider trend of carmakers seeking greater control over parts of the supply chain traditionally left to […]

Baidu Wins Permit to Offer Driverless Robotaxi Service in Beijing City

Chinese search engine giant Baidu said on Friday it had won a permit to provide a fully driverless ride-hailing service in the Chinese capital of Beijing. With the permit, Baidu’s Apollo service will deploy 10 fully autonomous vehicles in a technology park developed by the government of Beijing, it said in a statement. The permit […]

Baidu’s Hong Kong Shares Rebound as Users Test ChatGPT-Like Ernie Bot

Hong Kong-listed shares in China’s Baidu rebounded 15.7% on Friday as users told of their experiences with the Ernie bot, recouping losses from a day earlier prompted by the chatbot’s launch, which failed to impress. On Thursday, viewers of the Chinese search engine giant’s presentation panned the company’s lack of a live demonstration and a […]

India’s TCS CEO Gopinathan to Exit, President Krithivasan to Take Over

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) CEO Rajesh Gopinathan is resigning in an unexpected move to pursue other interests, adding to worries for India’s largest IT services provider amid slowing tech spending and challenges in its key markets. The company named its president and head of global financial services business K Krithivasan as the CEO-designate, effective March […]

GM CEO Meets with Senators on Self-Driving Cars

General Motors CEO Mary Barra met with two key senators on Thursday as the Detroit automaker pushes for legislation to speed deployment of self-driving vehicles on U.S. roads. Barra met with Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell and Senator Gary Peters, a fellow Democrat and a Commerce Committee member, the company confirmed. Congress has been […]

Wall Street Closes Higher as First Republic Helps Lift Banks

A strong rebound by financials helped Wall Street’s main indexes close firmly positive on Thursday, after some of the country’s largest lenders came to the rescue of embattled First Republic Bank. The technology sector also contributed to the gains, helping to boost the Nasdaq Composite to its strongest performance since Feb. 2, 2022. The latest […]

Grubhub, Uber Eats, Postmates Cannot Arbitrate Diners’ Claims Over High Prices

A federal judge in Manhattan on Thursday said Grubhub, Uber Eats and Postmates cannot force diners who have used their platforms into binding arbitration over claims they conspired to drive up prices for restaurant meals during the COVID-19 pandemic. The lawsuit accused the meal delivery companies of entering illegal agreements that prevented restaurants using their […]

Toronto Stocks Recover After First Republic Rescue Package

Canada’s main stock index closed higher on Thursday, rebounding from initial losses on news that First Republic Bank received $30 billion in deposits from several big banks as part of a rescue package. Shares of First Republic and other banks have slumped on fears of a contagion after the collapse of SVB Financial Group and […]

Microsoft Unveils AI Office Copilot in Fast-Moving Race with Google

Microsoft Corp on Thursday trumpeted its latest plans to put artificial intelligence into the hands of more users, answering a spate of unveilings this week by its rival Google with upgrades to its own widely used office software. The technology company previewed a new AI “Copilot” for Microsoft 365, its product suite that includes Word […]