Electric car manufacturer Tesla Motors announced on Tuesday (Jun 12) it was cutting nine per cent of its workforce to enhance profitability but said the move would not affect an ambitious production ramp-up of its Model 3 sedan. Tesla to cut 9pc of staff, says layoffs won't affect Model 3 production, (AFP Photo/Johannes Eisele) The job cuts are part of a company-wide restructuring to address excess staff in some areas due to the company's speedy growth, Tesla chief Elon Musk said in an email to employees. The cuts concern salaried staff but not production workers and will not affect Model 3 output targets, said Musk, who characterized the downsizing as an acknowledgement of the need to focus more on costs. "Given that Tesla has never made an annual profit in the almost 15 years since we have existed, profit is obviously not what motivates us," Musk said in the message. "What drives us is our mission to accelerate the world's transition to sustainable, clean energy, but we … [Read more...] about Tesla to cut 9pc of staff, says layoffs won’t affect Model 3 production
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Social News 5/4 (Hourly Updated)
Twenty-seven more communes and wards this year join family medical practice A health staff member takes blood for testing at An Hòa ward health station in Cần Thơ City’s Ninh Kiều District. Source http://soytecantho.vn The Department of Health in the Mekong Delta city of Cần Thơ this year plans to expand a model of family medical practice clinics to 27 more communes and wards. Family medical practice clinics aim to provide comprehensive and continuous health care services to each local individual and family in order to reduce overcrowding of patients at city or central-level hospitals. These clinics are located at health stations in communes and wards. Each commune or ward has one health station. Cần Thơ aims to equip more than 80 per cent of its 85 health stations with these clinics by 2020. According to Dr Bùi Thị Lệ Phi, the department’s head, the city now has 18 commune-based health stations with family … [Read more...] about Social News 5/4 (Hourly Updated)
Tesla says self-driving hardware to be built into all its cars
Chief Executive Elon Musk said on Wednesday all new Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA.O) models will come with hardware to enable them to be fully self-driving, as the Silicon Valley electric car company bids to be the first among many rivals to get autonomous vehicles on the road. The company said that its Model S and Model X electric cars are already being produced with the new hardware, which includes eight cameras, 12 updated sensors, and radar with faster processing. The new hardware package will cost $8,000, Musk told reporters on a conference call. The software to enable fully autonomous operation is still being tested, he said. Musk said he expects that by the end of 2017 a Tesla would be able to drive in full autonomous mode from Los Angeles to New York "without the need for a single touch" on the wheel. He has set ambitious deadlines for Tesla many times, only to see timetables slip. Rival automakers have said they expect to be able to field autonomous driving capability by 2019 or … [Read more...] about Tesla says self-driving hardware to be built into all its cars
Carmakers’ rush to put latest tech in lower-priced models
Rapidly evolving technology is upending the traditional pecking order in the luxury car market, which until now has operated on the principle that bigger is better. Now, Mercedes-Benz and a host of others are quietly changing the rules. Mercedes' new E-Class mid-sized sedan, unveiled at the Detroit auto show Monday, will come with better computer chips, cameras, software and sensors than those in the larger and more expensive S-Class – the flagship that has for decades showcased the automaker's latest technology. "The speed of innovation is so fast that you have to use every launch of a new model to roll stuff out," Dieter Zetsche, head of Mercedes-Benz Cars told Reuters on the sidelines of an event to launch the new E-Class at the Detroit Auto Show. The shift reflects intense pressure on automakers to keep their model lineups on the technological edge, especially to compete for younger customers. Another sign: features that can be updated with software, a tactic used often … [Read more...] about Carmakers’ rush to put latest tech in lower-priced models
Gates widens lead over Slim as richest lose $27 billion
The 200 richest people on the planet erased $26.6 billion from their collective net worth this week as Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) co-founder Bill Gates, 57, extended his lead over Mexico's Carlos Slim as the world's richest person to $4.3 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Almost all of Gates's investments, including a 4.8 percent stake in Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft, have soared this year while Slim's main holding, a 44 percent stake in America Movil SAB, the largest mobile-phone operator in the Americas, has fallen 14 percent. America Movil has struggled as lawmakers in Mexico put together new rules to crack down on the dominance of the company, which has 70 percent of the nation's mobile-phone subscribers. "It's stuck there for a while," said Christopher King, an analyst at Stifel Nicolaus & Co. in Baltimore. "To a certain extent, the regulatory environment in Mexico is a byproduct of the fact that the company has been run so well. It's garnered market … [Read more...] about Gates widens lead over Slim as richest lose $27 billion