Ford Motors, facing an onslaught of competition for its new battery-powered F-150 pickup, unveiled the high-tech factory that will produce the electric truck using self-driving transport sleds and robots collaborating with human workers.
The plant is going up inside Ford’s 92-year-old Rouge complex in Dearborn, Michigan, and will be the “most advanced facility we’ve got in the world”, manufacturing chief Gary Johnson told reporters in a briefing on Wednesday. The autonomous sleds will transport truck bodies from one station to the next, while robots will help to assemble the vehicles. The factory is scheduled to be completed next summer and begin building prototype electric F-150s.
Ford is spending $700 million (Dh2.57bn) to overhaul its Rouge complex as it wages a pitched battle to maintain decades of dominance in the pickup section of the market. Today, it began building a redesigned version of its gasoline-fueled F-150, the company’s biggest money maker. Though it sold almost 900,000 F-Series trucks last year, Ford is playing catch-up with more recently revamped versions of its primary rivals: Fiat Chrysler Automobiles' Ram and General Motors’ Chevrolet Silverado.
The second-largest US automaker also is seeking to stake a substantial claim to the emerging market for electric trucks, which has seen a rash of new entrants, including Tesla’s Cybertruck, Rivian Automotive’s R1T and Nikola Corporation’s Badger.
Ford said its electric truck, set to go on sale in 2022, will be the fastest and most powerful pickup it has ever produced. The car maker cast its competitors as “lifestyle trucks”, saying the electric F-150 will double as a mobile generator capable of powering a job site or the driver’s home.
“This isn’t a gimmick,” chief operating officer and future chief executive Jim Farley was scheduled to say during a ceremony at the plant on Thursday. “It’s a workhorse, not a showhorse destined for a shiny garage filled with four other luxury cars.”
The automaker’s research found “very substantial demand” that “focused on the work customer”, Kumar Galhotra, Ford’s president of the Americas and international markets, told reporters on Wednesday. “It was enough for us to make this investment both in the product as well as the factory.”
The new 500,000 square-foot Rouge Electric Vehicle centre will create 300 new jobs and also produce a gasoline-electric hybrid version of the F-150 that will go on sale sooner than the electric truck.
The two electrified models represent the future of the F-Series, according to the company.
“It sets the Rouge up with a long-term vision with new technology and battery-electric products with our most important vehicle,” Mr Johnson said.
Ford shares pared a gain of as much as 1 per cent to trade up 0.4 per cent to $7.04 as of 5:43pm UAE time on Thursday evening.
ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
The fake news generation
288,000 – the number of posts reported as hate speech that were deleted by Facebook globally each month in May and June this year
11% – the number of Americans who said they trusted the news they read on Snapchat as of June 2017, according to Statista. Over a quarter stated that they ‘rarely trusted’ the news they read on social media in general
31% - the number of young people in the US aged between 10 and 18 who said they had shared a news story online in the last six months that they later found out was wrong or inaccurate
63% - percentage of Arab nationals who said they get their news from social media every single day.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
START-UPS%20IN%20BATCH%204%20OF%20SANABIL%20500'S%20ACCELERATOR%20PROGRAMME
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How Voiss turns words to speech
The device has a screen reader or software that monitors what happens on the screen
The screen reader sends the text to the speech synthesiser
This converts to audio whatever it receives from screen reader, so the person can hear what is happening on the screen
A VOISS computer costs between $200 and $250 depending on memory card capacity that ranges from 32GB to 128GB
The speech synthesisers VOISS develops are free
Subsequent computer versions will include improvements such as wireless keyboards
Arabic voice in affordable talking computer to be added next year to English, Portuguese, and Spanish synthesiser
Partnerships planned during Expo 2020 Dubai to add more languages
At least 2.2 billion people globally have a vision impairment or blindness
More than 90 per cent live in developing countries
The Long-term aim of VOISS to reach the technology to people in poor countries with workshops that teach them to build their own device
Honeymoonish
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Company%C2%A0profile
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Aayan%E2%80%99s%20records
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Tightening the screw on rogue recruiters
The UAE overhauled the procedure to recruit housemaids and domestic workers with a law in 2017 to protect low-income labour from being exploited.
Only recruitment companies authorised by the government are permitted as part of Tadbeer, a network of labour ministry-regulated centres.
A contract must be drawn up for domestic workers, the wages and job offer clearly stating the nature of work.
The contract stating the wages, work entailed and accommodation must be sent to the employee in their home country before they depart for the UAE.
The contract will be signed by the employer and employee when the domestic worker arrives in the UAE.
Only recruitment agencies registered with the ministry can undertake recruitment and employment applications for domestic workers.
Penalties for illegal recruitment in the UAE include fines of up to Dh100,000 and imprisonment
But agents not authorised by the government sidestep the law by illegally getting women into the country on visit visas.
Gulf Under 19s final
Dubai College A 50-12 Dubai College B
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
Champions League Last 16
Red Bull Salzburg (AUT) v Bayern Munich (GER)
Sporting Lisbon (POR) v Manchester City (ENG)
Benfica (POR) v Ajax (NED)
Chelsea (ENG) v Lille (FRA)
Atletico Madrid (ESP) v Manchester United (ENG)
Villarreal (ESP) v Juventus (ITA)
Inter Milan (ITA) v Liverpool (ENG)
Paris Saint-Germain v Real Madrid (ESP)
Central%20Bank's%20push%20for%20a%20robust%20financial%20infrastructure
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Jewel of the Expo 2020
252 projectors installed on Al Wasl dome
13.6km of steel used in the structure that makes it equal in length to 16 Burj Khalifas
550 tonnes of moulded steel were raised last year to cap the dome
724,000 cubic metres is the space it encloses
Stands taller than the leaning tower of Pisa
Steel trellis dome is one of the largest single structures on site
The size of 16 tennis courts and weighs as much as 500 elephants
Al Wasl means connection in Arabic
World’s largest 360-degree projection surface
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
