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Geely plans to launch hundreds of satellites to guide autonomous cars

BEIJING — China's Zhejiang Geely Holding Group said on Tuesday it was investing 2.27 billion yuan ($326 million) in a new satellite manufacturing plant, where it plans to build low-orbit satellites to provide more accurate data for self-driving cars. Geely, one of China's most internationally-known companies due to its investments in Daimler, Volvo and Proton, is building the facilities in Taizhou, where it has car plants. It aims to produce 500 satellites a year by around 2025, with around 300 highly-skilled staff, it said in a statement. Geely's technology development arm, Geely Technology Group, launched Geespace to research, launch, and operate low-orbit satellites in 2018. Geespace will begin the launch of its commercial low-orbit satellite network by the end of this year, Geely said. Geely said low-orbit satellites would offer high speed internet connectivity, precise navigation, and cloud computing capabilities to cars with autonomous driving technology. Geely, which sold 2.18 million cars last year, is among global automakers from Tesla to Toyota to pursue autonomous driving technologies. It is building low-orbit satellites to meet demand for high-speed connectivity capabilities that can deliver fast software updates. From around 2025, Geely's cars will have more functions to connect to the satellites. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.     Green Plants/Manufacturing Mercedes-Benz Volvo Emerging Technologies Autonomous Vehicles

Volvo adds 48V hybrid system to a bunch of 2022 models

In 2019, Volvo announced an updated powertrain fitted with a 48-volt mild hybrid system. The integrated starter-generator and regenerative brake-by-wire refilling a small battery could increase fuel economy by up to 15% in real-world driving. There are three layouts, dubbed B4, B5, and B6 that the Swedish automaker's already been rolling out globally. Next year two of them, the B5 and B6, come to the U.S. for the first time under the 2022 Volvo S60, S90, V90 XC, and XC60. The EPA's fuel economy site shows all of those models making small fuel economy gains, too. The B4 and B5 powertrains contain both gas and diesel mild-hybrids, the B6 is gas-only. All of the gas options (Volvo doesn't offer diesels here) will start with a 2.0-liter four-cylinder, the B5 adding a turbocharger, the B6 adding a turbocharger and a supercharger.  Per the EPA, the front-wheel drive 2021 Volvo S60 returns 23 miles per gallon in the city, 34 on the highway, and 27 combined. The new 2022 Volvo S60 B5 betters that with 26 city, 35 highway, and 30 combined. The 2022 S60 B5 AWD bests the 2021 model with the both versions of the non-hybrid 2.0-liter engine by one to three miles per gallon in nearly every category. The only model that does better, for obvious reasons, is the 2021 S60 AWD PHEV, which has been renamed S60 T8 AWD Recharge. The 2022 Volvo XC60 comes in AWD B5 spec with the turbocharged 2.0-liter, and AWD B6 spec with the turbo- and supercharged 2.0-liter. Gains are smaller here, the EPA showing a one-mpg increase in the city when comparing the 2021 XC60 to the 2022 B5 model. With the B6 powertrain, the 2022 XC60 improves by one mpg in the city and combined compared to the 2021 model. The EPA site doesn't show a front-drive XC60 for next year, and the XC60 AWD PHEV is already referred to as the XC60 T8 AWD Recharge. It's possible horsepower ratings will change slightly for the mild-hybrid rigs next year, but not enough to change the driving experience. Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Regulators consider adding more carmakers to Takata recall

Volkswagen's diesel emissions scandal has been getting a lot of press recently, but the Takata airbag inflator affair could be grabbing headlines again soon. According to Bloomberg, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is contemplating an expansion to the campaign that could add seven automakers to the 12 already affected. They are Jaguar Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, Spartan Motors, Suzuki, Tesla, Volvo Trucks, and VW Group. To be clear, there's no recall for any of these automakers, yet. The government is simply asking for a full list of vehicles that each of them have with Takata-supplied inflators containing ammonium nitrate propellant. The agency is concerned this substance could play a roll in the ruptures. "NHTSA is considering not only whether to issue an administrative order that would coordinate the remedy programs associated with the current Takata recalls, but also whether such an order should include expansion of the current recalls," the letters say. All seven can be viewed, here. From a report supplied by Takata, the government already knows that the company supplied 887,055 inflators with ammonium-nitrate propellant to VW and 184,926 of them to Tesla. In an incident during the summer, a side airbag allegedly burst in a 2015 VW Tiguan. In early September, NHTSA put out a revised report that there were 23.4 million inflators to be replaced in 19.2 million vehicles in the US. An earlier accounting from the agency had about 34 million of the parts in 30 million cars. High humidity is still believed to be among the biggest risk factors for the ruptures. Although, if ammonium nitrate also gets the blame, some already recalled models might need to be repaired again. Related Video: