October 25, 2017
The automatic gearbox gains in popularity. Seven years ago only 11,5 per cent of the cars sold in Belgium had an automatic gearbox. Today a third of the cars sold in 2017 are ‘automatics’ while experts predict the disappearance of the manual gearbox. “In family cars the manual gearbox remains the most popular”, says Maarten […]
October 25, 2017
Uber has created a fake city near Pittsburgh (US) on an old industrial lot to test autonomous cars in “real world conditions”. It is also used to train the future security drivers that will be present in Uber’s autonomous cars in case something goes wrong. On an old industrial lot of 17 acres, Uber has […]
October 25, 2017
Belgian federal government blows the whistle on NMBS/SNCB CEO Sophie Dutordoir on her intention of cancelling the project to provide wireless internet on the train. Dutordoir thinks it’s to costly and unnecessary as the entire train network will be covered by 3G and 4G in the near future. But government persists. Sophie Dutordoir, the new […]
October 25, 2017
The sale of Opel to French car group PSA pushed General Motors into losing 5,4 billion dollar. Without the write off of the costs related to this sale, the profit in the third quarter would have been 1,32 dollar per share. Which is more than the analysts expected. When General Motors sold Opel to PSA […]
October 25, 2017
Ex-GM daughter and one of the worlds major automotive suppliers Delphi buys the nuTonomy start-up created by MIT researchers for 400 million dollars. nuTonomy will reinforce Delphi as the most important provider of autonomous technologies. On Tuesday, Delphi announced that it would acquire the American start-up nuTonomy. The company’s 100 employees, of which 70 are […]
October 25, 2017
Without unexpected obstacles, one of Europe’s biggest road construction sites, the Antwerp Oosterweel connection, will start in spring 2018 on the left bank of the river Scheldt (Linkeroever) and Zwijndrecht. A job that will take four and a half years and will cost 386 million euro. The Antwerp Ring will be open for traffic all […]
October 25, 2017
VDL, Holland’s biggest bus, car and lorry builder, announced on Tuesday it received new orders from Belgian logistics group Katoen Natie and German chemical giant BASF for 18 fully autonomous driving lorries. The Antwerp based Katoen Natie will use the 11 new lorries they ordered on its Singapore petrochemical site, where they have already one […]
October 24, 2017
In a document sent to all Ryanair pilots, the European Employee Representative Council explains that they “have to consider the possibility to go on strike to ensure being heard on the negotiation table”. Ryanair pilots want to push the company’s management to offer the same benefits as other airlines. Last week, Madrid and London-Stansted Ryanair […]
October 24, 2017
London mayor Sadiq Khan starts his fight against growing air pollution by making every pre-2006 car driving in the city pay a 10 pound (11,21 euro) ‘Toxicity-charge’, officially called ‘Emissions Surcharge’ in addition to the already existing congestion charge. In the near future, every new bus and taxi will have to be hybrid or electric […]
October 24, 2017
The Flemish government agreed on lowering the threshold for refunding road taxes to transport companies that (partly) use waterways or railway instead of sending trucks on the road. The required minimum of 220 transshipment moves (from truck to boat) is lowered to 100. “After an adjustment of the rules, that were so severe hardly any […]
October 24, 2017
The European Commission opened on Friday an anti-dumping investigation on Chinese electric bicycles, after complaints from EU bike producers. “These Chinese bikes are sold at ridiculously low prices and don’t respect the same quality standards as bicycles built in Europe.” Europe’s electric bicycles market is booming in terms of sales and production. In 2016, 1,1 […]
October 24, 2017
Three days after invading the BMW headquarters in Munich, several other German car makers had a visit on Monday of EU inspectors, accompanied by inspectors of the German cartel authority, in the alleged ‘cartel investigation’. The EU press release did not specify which ones, but sources indicate this time Daimler and Volkswagen were targeted. Big […]
October 24, 2017
The first of 14 new trams of the Albatros-type is delivered in Antwerp. They will offer an extended capacity of 1.600 passengers. If everything goes as planned, nine more will be operational before the end of the year, while the last four are expected at the beginning of 2018. The Albatros-tram is 60 meter long, […]
October 23, 2017
At the age of 59, Toyota’s no.2 worldwide is French, native from Lille, close to the Belgian border: Didier Leroy. He saw Toyota predicting the switch from the combustion engine to electric 15 years ago. Financial newspaper L’Echo interviewed the man on the eve of the Tokyo Motor Show. Leroy’s career at Toyota got a […]
October 23, 2017
Commercial free floating bike-sharing is on its way. Thirteen Flemish cities are approached by companies that intend to install those bicycles. To prevent the situation to derail like in Holland, measures have to be taken before they arrive, Ghent alderman Filip Watteuw (Groen) thinks. Unlike city-bikes such as Velo in Antwerp or Villo in Brussels, […]
October 23, 2017
According to the Wall Street Journal there is an agreement between American electric car maker Tesla and the Chinese government to start the construction of a Tesla plant in the free-trade zone in Shanghai. China is an important market for Tesla. It counts for 15 per cent of Tesla’s turn-over with an expected growth of […]
October 23, 2017
Federal Justice Minister Koen Geens (CD&V) and Mobility Minister François Bellot (MR) proposed a new law aiming at reducing the number of vehicles driving without insurance. Penalties go from a three months driving ban to nine months imprisonment. In 2016, 29.233 drivers were caught circulating on the roads without any insurance for their vehicles. This […]
October 23, 2017
A mere 600 employees of chemical company BASF, which is based in the Port of Antwerp have exchanged their car for a bike. The change is possible thanks to the Commuting Fund of the Flemish government. BASF receives 195,000 euros and invests the money in bicycle infrastructure. “We offer our staff lease bicycles,” explains BASF […]
October 23, 2017
On Saturday, 40 drawn lots of Brussels citizen were invited in the city’s parliament to give their opinion on the capital’s mobility. The government’s objective is to include inhabitant’s recommendations in the future regional mobility plan. On the 8.000 letters sent to Brussels’ inhabitants to ask them if they would like to take part in […]
October 23, 2017
Dutch company Prodrive Technologies introduces a sensor that is capable of detecting PM2.5 particulates entering the car interior and shutting of air intake or filtering it out by the air con. The sensor is developed for a not yet disclosed German car maker, who intends to launch the product in 2018. Prodrive Technologies already developed […]
October 23, 2017
After numerous discussions with Paris city authorities, SeaBubbles won’t introduce it’s autonomous electric hovering boat taxis on the Seine but on the Geneva Lake instead. SeaBubbles is a new type of electric hydrofoil boats created by two French boaters that could revolutionize public transport. In only eighteen months, ex hydrofoil skipper Alain Thébault and windsurfing […]
