Written by Yu-Ting Song

Monday: Toyota's assembly plants in China all back to work, running at about half the previous rate

On Feb. 24, Toyota restarted production operations at its fourth and final assembly plant in China.

Toyota, a joint venture with domestic automakers, is known to have vehicle production plants in four cities -- Guangzhou, Changchun, Tianjin and Chengdu. Previously, the outbreak of the epidemic led to Toyota's factories are responding to the country's needs to stop work.

Toyota's Chengdu plant eventually resumed production on the 24th, taking into account the arrival of employees and the progress of work such as parts procurement.

All of Toyota's vehicle plants in China have now resumed work after a month-long shutdown.

But almost all of the factories are operating at a controlled rate because the logistics network and parts supply have not been fully restored.

The same is true of Toyota plants, most of which are running at about half their normal production rates, and it's not clear when they will be able to return to full capacity.

The situation will likely have an impact on Toyota's production and sales in China, the world's largest auto market.

Tuesday: Ride-hailing services increase carbon emissions, platforms like Uber, Lyft disagree

A study by the Union of Concerned Scientists, a nonprofit advocacy group, showed that ride-hailing services are increasing carbon emissions, generating more pollution than private cars and causing riders to move further and further away from public transportation, according to a report on the website of Reuters on February 25th. compared to private cars and are driving commuters away from public ****transportation.

The study, which examined the impact of ride-hailing trips in seven U.S. cities - Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington - called on companies such as YouTuber and Lyft to electrify their fleets, increase carpooling, and improve connectivity to public ****transit hubs.

The study is the first attempt to quantify the pollution caused by online carpooling. The researchers found that, on average, single-occupant date car trips emit nearly 50 percent more carbon dioxide than private car trips.

Soon Lyft responded to this, saying in a statement that the report made misleading claims about online carpooling, and that the company was encouraging carpooling and electric vehicles.

And while it didn't comment on the study, Lyft said it wants to be part of the solution to climate change "by working with city authorities. The company also added that it will continue to promote carpooling and other transportation options.

Both companies are understood to have fleets of electric motorcycles and bicycles and have begun to integrate public **** transportation information into their apps, and they are also promoting the electrification of cars in some cities.

WEDNESDAY: Pony.ai deepens partnership with Toyota as self-driving firms become more popular in China

On Feb. 26, Pony.ai officially announced it had raised $400 million from Toyota?Motor?Corporation to deepen and broaden the two companies' partnership in the mobility sector.

This is an extension of the business partnership the two companies established in 2019. Building on that foundation, the two companies will further accelerate the development and commercialization of self-driving applications, aiming to create products and services that will benefit everyone.

Pony Smart's new round of financing totaled $462 million, and its valuation has quickly risen from $1.7 billion to more than $3 billion, growing to become one of the top three autonomous driving startups in the world in terms of valuation.

In fact, in 2019, the two sides announced that they would ****together start a pilot program on open roads in China. The timing of this "deep tie" is more subtle than before.

Through the deep binding with the world's largest car manufacturers, as the technical level of the industry recognized the first echelon of the pony, undoubtedly consolidated its position as the world's leading automated driving industry, but also for the future development of China's intelligent networked vehicles injected a new kinetic energy.

Just two days before the official announcement of Pony Intelligence, 11 ministries and commissions, including the Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, jointly issued a document entitled "Intelligent Vehicle Innovation and Development Strategy," which points out the direction of the future development of the intelligent automobile industry, and proposes that, by 2025, China will aim to "realize the intelligent automobile with conditional self-driving to achieve large-scale production, and the intelligent automobile with a high degree of self-driving will be marketed and applied under specific environments. marketable applications in specific environments".

This undoubtedly creates more favorable conditions for self-driving companies such as Pony Smart to develop in the Chinese market.

Thursday: taxi service gradually opens up, urban transportation steadily resuming

On Feb. 27, Tik-Tok Travel officially released that it has resumed cab and hitchhiking services in Chengdu, Chongqing, Kunming, Hefei, Shijiazhuang, Yiwu, Tongling, Kaifeng and Taizhou, and resumed taxi and hitchhiking services in Xi'an and Bengbu, according to the latest deployment of the localities for intra-city, intra-provincial and inter-provincial transportation. cab and hitchhiking operations in Xi'an and Bengbu.

Previously, Fan Zhenyu, deputy director of the Ministry of Transport's Comprehensive Planning Department, said that according to the deployment of the Central Committee*** and the State Council, the transportation industry has actively cooperated with the public security and other relevant departments to implement differentiated policies in accordance with the level of risk in different areas, to ensure the smooth operation of the road network, and is restoring road transportation and urban public***transportation in an orderly manner.

As of February 24, 27 provinces nationwide have resumed inter-provincial and intra-provincial passenger lines or chartered buses. In terms of urban public **** transportation, 115 prefectural-level cities and 158 county-level cities resumed ground buses, and 505 cities continued to provide ground bus services, accounting for 71.3 percent of the total number of cities. rail transportation in 35 cities operated normally to meet residents' travel needs as much as possible under the prerequisite of good prevention and control of the epidemic.

"Tik-Tok Travel will cooperate with the deployment and make timely adjustments to the platform's cab and hitchhiking business, and at the same time, cooperate with the epidemic prevention and control blocking war through product and technological innovation, user advocacy initiatives, protective behavior supervision, external linkage and other means." Tic-Tac travel related person in charge said.

Friday: Geneva auto show emergency called off, exhibitors were caught off guard, each looking for a way out

February 28, the Swiss government announced that due to the seriousness of the epidemic in the country, the decision to cancel all large-scale activities of more than 1,000 people, which means that the upcoming March 3 opening of the 2020 Geneva International Motor Show will not be able to be carried out as scheduled.

In response, a spokesman for the Geneva Motor Show Palexpo Exhibition Center said, "We regret that the 2020 Geneva Motor Show will be canceled. But the health of all participants is our top priority and that of our exhibitors, and this is the result of force majeure, which is a huge loss for those manufacturers who have invested heavily in Geneva."

It is understood that 660,000 people attended the Geneva show last year, which generated an estimated $205-$256 million in business value.

And with more than 160 exhibitors scheduled to show their cars and services at this Geneva show, the loss is incalculable, but car companies can't afford to sit on the sidelines.

Among them, BMW and Mercedes-Benz said they would use Webcasts to show off the BMW i4 concept and a revamped Mercedes-Benz E-Class.

French brand DS, on the other hand, said it was looking for a place near Paris to show off its new concept cars and would reschedule interviews with executives by phone.

Audi, the premium brand of Volkswagen Group, said it will look to use digital channels to launch its Audi A3 sports car and Audi e-Tron?S.

Meanwhile, the organizing committee of the Geneva Motor Show said the organizers will handle ticket refunds as soon as possible for visitors who have already purchased tickets.END

This article was sourced by the author of the Automobile House Car Family, and does not represent the Automobile House's The viewpoints of the position.