Michael is an editor for Electrek, 9to5Mac, and 9to5Google. You’ll find his articles most often on 9to5Mac where he covers news, reviews, and how-tos. Reach out to Michael with tips, deliberations, and feedback at potuck@9to5mac.com
December 19, 2018
X graduates Malta as non-Alphabet company working on cheap salt-based energy storage
For the past several years, Alphabet’s X has been working on Project Malta to create a new approach for grid-scale energy storage based on salt. Malta is now ready to graduate from the Moonshot Factory as an independent, non-Alphabet company.
December 17, 2018
Apple poaches senior designer Andrew Kim from Tesla, possibly for car or AR project
Apple has recently picked up one of Tesla’s senior designers, Andrew Kim. After spending two years at the automaker working on design for many Tesla vehicles, even unreleased models, Kim is now continuing his design work on undisclosed projects at Apple.
December 5, 2018
Waymo One is Alphabet’s public self-driving car service, culminates nearly decade-long project
Nine years since the Google Self-Driving Car Project began and over 10 million autonomous miles later, the company today announced the launch of Waymo One. The Alphabet division is launching the first public self-driving service in Phoenix, Arizona and fully detailing how hailing an autonomous vehicle works.
November 8, 2018
After making the bold claim last week that the manufacturer will have ‘EVs as good as Tesla’s for half the price by 2020’, a new report from Bloomberg today shares that VW may introduce a subcompact EV to the I.D. Concept lineup with an affordable price point. However, this being a subcompact car gives further evidence that this won’t be a “Model 3 killer” like VW has hyped its lineup to offer…
November 7, 2018
[Update: Axios has updated its report with more sources saying the deal could see Ford spending close to $100M to buy Spin, while another report from the NYT says Ford will invest another $100M into the company. Ford has also issued an official statement on the buyout.]
This week we heard that Lime is reportedly moving beyond electric scooters and may want to offer small electric car rentals. Now, a major auto manufacturer is jumping into the electric scooter share market. Ford has reportedly signed a deal to buy the scooter startup, Spin for a paltry sum…
October 23, 2018
Apple files patent for linking battery packs between moving electric vehicles
Apple has today filed a patent for a set of intriguing new autonomous vehicle features called “Peloton.” The filing describes the ability for multiple self-driving cars to share battery capacity via a “connector arm,” dynamically adjust positions, increase efficiency, and more.
October 16, 2018
Google Maps adds detailed charging station listings for Tesla, other electric cars
Following recent updates focused on upgrading Commutes, Google Maps is now working to improve the experience of finding charging stations for electric vehicles. Optimized search and listings surface more detailed information like ports availability, and supports Tesla, ChargePoint, and several other networks around the world.
October 4, 2018
Consumer Reports is out today with its first ever ranking of automated driving systems. Coming out on top overall was Cadillac’s Super Cruise, but Tesla’s Autopilot earned the highest score for the “Capability & Performance” category.
August 9, 2018
After stint at Tesla, Doug Field returns to Apple to work on Project Titan w/ Bob Mansfield
After leaving in 2013 to join Tesla, Doug Field has now made his way back to Apple. As noted in a report from Daring Fireball, Field is returning to Apple to work alongside Bob Mansfield on Apple’s Project Titan car team…
March 19, 2018
Tesla now accepting Apple Pay for Model 3 reservations along with Model S and X down payments
Tesla now accepts Apple Pay payments for customers making Model 3 reservations. As the company ramps up production of its most affordable vehicle, supporting Apple’s payment platform makes reservations easier and faster than ever. Tesla is also accepting Apple Pay for Model S and X down payments.
August 19, 2017
In this week’s top stories: Autopilot 2.0 gets an update, Tesla Model 3’s aero wheels look awesome without their caps, Tesla creates a tiny house to promote energy products, a glimpse at Tesla’s mobile service capacity, how a 97 year-old grandfather reacts to a Model S, our full review of Hyundai’s IONIQ, and more. Read on for all of this week’s top stories.
December 22, 2016
A new report today from the guardian shared news of the first solar panel road opening in the Normandy village of Tourouvre-au-Perche. The French ecology minister, Ségolène Royal, introduced the new 1 km (0.6 mile) long solar road installation, which consists of 2,800 sq m (30,139 sq ft) of energy-producing panels. expand full story
