TechCrunch : Mercedes-Benz’s vision for autonomy is flexible and fugly

Mercedes-Benz’s vision for autonomy is flexible and fugly

Mercedes-Benz shared on Monday its vision for how people and packages will someday move in dense urban environments. It’s called Vision Urbanetic—an all-electric autonomous concept vehicle that can change from a toaster-looking cargo van to a dung beetle-esque (or it is bike helmet) people mover.

The Vision Urbanetic joins a growing list of fugly autonomous vehicle concepts to debut in the past two years. But that’s not really the point here.

Moving past the hot takes on its looks, the Urbanetic shows where Mercedes and other automakers are headed. This is a concept, not plans for a production vehicle, after all.


Mercedes-Benz Vision Urbanetic.

Mercedes’s vision of a powertrain platform that can house several different vehicle bodies is not unique. Automakers are increasingly moving towards a universal powertrain platform for some of its production vehicles to improve manufacturing efficiencies and reduce costs.

The difference here is that the vehicle bodies could be changed on the fly by a team of workers back at a mobility hub, as depicted in the video below.

The system is based on an autonomous driving platform onto which the respective bodies (people mover or cargo) are fixed. The underlying platform incorporates all the driving functions, which means the autonomous chassis could make its way to its next job location without a body attached, the company said.

The people-mover body type has space for up to twelve passengers, while the cargo module has a storage volume of 353 cubic feet, can be divided into two levels and transport up to 10 palettes.


The idea presents new logistics and infrastructure challenges that any company with plans to deploy a commercial autonomous vehicle ride-hailing fleet will also face. If this vision were ever to become reality, Mercedes would need hubs located near urban centers, where the Urbanetic vehicles would be housed, maintained and charged. This is also where the body type would be swapped out, depending on needs at that time.

Mercedes seems to have thought through some of this. The vehicle bodies could be swapped out automatically or manually, and take a few minutes, Mercedes said. It also outlined a dynamic communications system that would be able to capture and process data in real time to determine what kinds of vehicles are needed, and where. For instance, it could identify a crowd of people gathered in a certain area or capture local information that a concert would soon be over and then deploy more ride-hailing vehicles to that location.

Mercedes said the vehicles could be used in restricted areas such as factory site or airport.

TechCrunch : Apple’s 5G iPhone conundrum

Apple’s 5G iPhone conundrum

Wednesday is Apple’s big product release day, where analysts expect the company to release the next edition of the iPhone. While the usual upgrades to the screen, CPU, and storage are expected as always, one major lingering question is how the company is going to handle 5G, the next-generation telecommunications standard.

The conventional wisdom among analysts is that Apple will ignore 5G in 2018 and 2019 just as it took extra time to rollout 3G and 4G chipsets in its phones. A typical example of this analysis comes from Chris Smith at BGR, who says that “We already saw what Apple did when 4G LTE came out. The company waited for carriers actually to offer decent coverage before launching the first 4G iPhone. That was the iPhone 5, by the way, which launched more than a year after the first Android-based LTE phones came out.”

I’m not nearly as convinced. There are many reasons for Apple to ignore the tech this year, which I will get to in a moment, but one major factor could drive an earlier discussion of 5G than expected: Apple’s growth markets, particularly in China.

China is becoming one of Apple’s most important markets for its smartphones, and particularly for its flagship iPhone X. It’s greater China revenue in the third quarter of this year was $9.6 billion, and its operating income from the region was just shy of Europe’s. More importantly, greater China is just slightly behind the Americas as the fastest-growing region for Apple’s sales.

That makes 5G a particularly challenging issue for the company. China has made 5G leadership a critical pillar of its industrial strategy, and many analysts believe the country will set the pace for 5G rollouts globally. Furthermore, Chinese consumers are deeply interested in buying premium products and experiences, and adoption for 5G is expected to be strong and rapid.

With the technical specifications around the 5G standard complete, companies are racing to build the chipsets and deploy the infrastructure necessary to enable this new standard in smartphones and other devices. Early networks are expected to be deployed in 2019, and chipset maker Qualcomm has publicly unveiled more than a dozen handset manufacturers who are partnering with it on 5G. For instance, Vivo, a Chinese smartphone manufacturer, announced today that it was developing its first “pre-commercial 5G smartphones” for launch next year.

The speed and timing of the 5G rollout is awkward for Apple, which has traditionally timed its iPhone events for September. It almost certainly will make no announcements this week, but its next iPhone launch would likely be September 2019 — giving Chinese handset manufacturers with early 5G devices nearly exclusive access to the local market for the first three quarters of next year.

Apple would find itself falling behind its competitors in a fast-moving and critical growth market. While the company has built a brand in the country with devoted fans, its place in the market is not nearly as secure as in the U.S., particularly as the trade war between the two nations reaches a fevered pitch.

There’s no doubt that the challenges for Apple to include the technology are immense. First is the patent licensing cost, which Jeremy Horwitz at VentureBeat put at roughly $21 per device, up from around $9 for 4G. Second, the leading American company in 5G is believed to be Qualcomm, which Apple has been fighting in a long-running patent war, to the point that the company has been actively trying to remove Qualcomm equipment from its phones. Apple’s name was notably absent from Qualcomm’s 5G partner list.

While some early chip designs are available, they are hardly ready for primetime, and certainly not for a flagship phone like the iPhone X. Nor do I expect that Apple will imply on Wednesday that the company will support 5G in future releases and dampen enthusiasm for its newly-released devices. No one wants to be told that next year’s devices are going to be better than one released just minutes ago.

Instead, I expect Apple will use smoke signals to clearly demonstrate that it intends to remain at the cutting edge of 5G deployment. That could include joining certain industry trade groups, testing the technology in a more public fashion, and potentially releasing a roadmap next year, say at its Worldwide Developers Conference, which is traditionally held in June and thus earlier in the year than its September iPhone events.

What would be concerning though is if we get to the end of 2018 and into 2019 with nary a peep from the company about its plans for the technology. Given its commitment to China, as well as its leading position within the smartphone market, the company has to engage on the technologies around 5G in a public manner in order to prevent a loss in its competitive position.

Ultimately, much will depend on China Mobile and other telcos in China as well as around the world on how fast they can deploy 5G infrastructure (sadly, it looks increasingly like the U.S. faces a bumpy road in that direction). Beyond gold iPhone rumors, 5G may well be the first time that China drives the company’s product roadmaps, and it should be wary of finding itself on the defensive.

>>> US Close Dow -0,23% S&P +0,19% Nasdaq +0,27% Russell +0,25%

Closing Market Summary: S&P Breaks Four-Session Losing Streak

The S&P 500 advanced for the first time this month on Monday, tacking on 0.2%, in what was a range-bound day of trading on Wall Street. Most S&P sectors climbed, but continued concerns over U.S.-China trade relations kept gains in check. The tech-heavy Nasdaq advanced 0.3%, but the blue-chip Dow underperformed, losing 0.2%.

President Trump still hasn't enacted a $200 billion tranche of tariffs on Chinese goods, but the lingering possibility has kept investors cautious as of late. On a related note, the president told Apple (AAPL 218.33, -2.97) over the weekend that it should manufacture products in the U.S. if it's worried about the impact of tariffs.

Shares of Apple -- the world's largest tech company -- slid for a fourth straight session on Monday, losing 1.3%, which helped to keep the top-weighted information technology sector in check, especially in the morning. However, the group did eventually finish in line with the broader market, closing with a gain of 0.3%.

Conversely, three of eleven sectors finished in the red, including energy (unch), financials (-0.1%), and health care (-0.3%). Within the health care space, shares of UnitedHealth (UNH 259.73, -8.55) and Anthem (ANTM 262.59, -9.31) lost more than 3.0% after being downgraded to 'Neutral' from 'Buy' at Citigroup.

Hurricane Florence, which is headed towards the Carolina coast, strengthened to a Category 4 storm on Monday and is on track to make landfall on Thursday night.

The rapidly intensifying storm gave home improvement retailers, like Home Depot (HD 210.69, +4.46, +2.2%) and Lowe's (LOW 112.39, +2.80, +2.6%), a boost on Monday, but weighed on insurance names, including Progressive (PGR 67.79, -1.08, -1.6%), Travelers (TRV 127.60, -2.49, -1.9%), and Allstate (ALL 97.85, -2.18, -2.2%).

In corporate news, shares of CBS (CBS 55.20, -0.86) slid 1.5% following the departure of chairman and CEO Les Moonves, who stepped down shortly after additional sexual harassment allegations. Tesla (TSLA 285.50, +22.26) shares rallied though, adding 8.5%, after CEO Elon Musk told employees that the company is "...about to have the most amazing quarter in our history."

Looking at other markets, U.S. Treasuries were flat on Monday, with the benchmark 10-yr yield closing unchanged at 2.94%, and the U.S. Dollar Index slid 0.3% to 95.13. The dollar was particularly weak against the pound (-0.9%) after the EU's chief Brexit negotiator, Michael Barnier, said a deal is possible by early November.

Reviewing Monday's economic data, which was limited to the Consumer Credit report for July:

  • The Consumer Credit report for July showed an increase of $16.6 billion (consensus $14.5 billion). June credit growth was revised to $8.5 billion from $10.2 billion.
    • The key takeaway from the report is that the credit expansion in July was driven almost entirely by nonrevolving credit.

Looking ahead, investors will receive the August NFIB Small Business Optimism Index, the July Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, and July Wholesale Inventories on Tuesday.

  • Nasdaq Composite +14.8% YTD
  • Russell 2000 +11.9% YTD
  • S&P 500 +7.6% YTD
  • Dow Jones Industrial Average +4.6% YTD

FT Lex : Plus500: subtraction reaction

Plus500: subtraction reaction
Shares have had a great run but the good times may be in the past

A buy signal for index funds looks like a sell signal for active investors in Plus500, which deals in contracts for difference. Last week, the London Stock Exchange said shares in the group, which targets retail investors, would join the FTSE 250 index. No surprises there. The stock has nearly quadrupled since the start of 2017 to about £15. Demand for derivatives on cryptocurrencies turbocharged revenues over the period. Profits upgrades became the norm.

But good times may now be in the past, as with bitcoin. On Thursday, the day after the FTSE news, five of Plus’s founders said they were cashing out 8 per cent of the group’s shares in a sale worth £145m, halving their combined stake. Then on Friday, gambling software company Playtech announced the sale of its whole 10 per cent stake. It has held shares since 2015.

Cynics will raise their eyebrows at sales for “personal reasons” by five founders. One of them, Gal Haber, is a board director. But well-connected private investors rarely make calls whose prescience later looks suspicious, academic studies show. Diversification and family finances are common motives, as with other investors. As if in confirmation, the founders offloaded stock worth £100m in 2016, when the share price was only about 660p.

It is indisputable the founders have the experience to interpret public data shrewdly. So does Playtech, owner of retail CFD brokerage Markets.com.

The crypto bear market is just one reason to sell. Another is a move by European regulators to restrict trading of speculative products to protect the foolhardy. In February, Plus said it believed the rules were “unlikely to have a material adverse effect” on its business. In August, the month the rules came into force, it said they could affect 30 per cent of its revenues.

Last week’s heavy selling should irk passive fund managers. Under index rules they must buy a stock that is already well off the highs of last month. For investors without such obligations, it is time to abandon ship.

REuters : Florence strengthens into major hurricane: NHC

Florence strengthens into major hurricane: NHC

(Reuters) - Florence has strengthened into a major hurricane over the Atlantic, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said on Monday.

The category 3 hurricane is about 1,240 miles (2,000 kilometers) east-southeast of Cape Fear, North Carolina packing maximum sustained winds of 115 miles per hour (185 km per hour), the NHC said.

The center of Florence is forecast to approach the coast of North or South Carolina in the United States on Thursday, the Miami-based weather forecaster added.

(Aegis Cap) SNAP : Khan departs, a negative given ongoing challenges; Hold, $1

Khan departs, a negative given ongoing challenges; Hold, $12 tgt

Aegis: "Snap announced that Chief Strategy Officer Imran Khan will depart to pursue other opportunities. His exact departure date has not been determined and he will continue to serve the company for an interim basis to assist with the transition of his duties. Mr. Khan's announced departure follows the May 4th announced exit of CFO Andrew Vollero, who was then replaced with Amazon exec Tim Stone. Mr. Khan played a pivotal role in taking Snap public. Many ex Snap employees believed he was a quick study, and the one who successfully led the shift to programmatic. Mr. Khan was, in many ways, the public face of Snap and an advocate of the company to advertisers, the media, and to investors...We view his departure as a negative given current challenges."