Audi, GM, Google, Honda, Hyundai and NVIDIA have joined together to form the Open Automotive Alliance (OAA), a global alliance of technology and auto industry leaders committed to bringing the Android platform to cars starting in 2014.
The OAA is dedicated to a common platform that will drive innovation, and make technology in the car safer and more intuitive for everyone.
China’s auto lobby has fiercely opposed a possible move by Beijing to ease restrictions on foreign ownership in the car industry, saying that the move would seriously weaken the position of domestic carmakers.
“A financial crisis could develop in about three years,” said Jochen Siebert, managing director of consultancy JSC Automotive Consulting in Shanghai. China could soon become a major trouble spot for automakers and their suppliers.
President Akio Toyoda says Toyota is finally ready to go on the offensive again, after being hobbled in recent years by such crises as the global financial meltdown following the collapse of Lehman Brothers, unintended acceleration recalls and Japan’s 2011 earthquake.
A key victory for victims’ lawyers in late October may give plaintiffs extra ammunition in their fight against Toyota when lawyers head to U.S. District Court in Santa Ana in March to argue claims that Toyota vehicles accelerate without warning.
