Technology

Bloomberg Mapbox Inc., backed by SoftBank Group Corp., says it has a role to play in Masayoshi Son’s vision for ride-hailing and autonomous cars. The provider of mapping data for Tinder, Evernote and Facebook Inc. in October raised $164 million in a funding round led by the SoftBank Vision Fund. The infusion was aimed at helping Mapbox go beyond maps ...

Bloomberg The Farnborough air show, best known as the year’s biggest marketplace for passenger planes, also acts as a testbed for the aviation industry’s wilder imaginings. Vying for attention with billions of dollars in jetliner deals at this year’s expo is a smorgasbord of new technologies, many seemingly intent on eliminating the human from the equation. Boffins at UK engineering ...

Bloomberg Niu, the Chinese company that sells so-called smart electric scooters in 27 countries, is pursuing an initial public offering that could raise about $300 million, people with knowledge of the matter said. The startup, founded in 2014, is working with advisers on the potential IPO, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. ...

Bloomberg It took a mere decade for airborne web surfing to shift from novelty offering to essential airline service. Yet for Gogo Inc., the largest provider in the field, selling an amenity that almost everyone wants has oddly become a business that stinks. The company operates two units, one focussed on business aviation and the other on commercial airlines. The ...

Bloomberg Apple Inc. released an upgraded MacBook Pro line that’s faster and has more features, targeting its loyal base of professional users like app developers and movie editors. The new laptops, which come in the same 13-inch and 15-inch sizes as last year’s models, include pro-focused upgrades like additional memory and storage, the ability to compile code faster, brighter screens, ...

Bloomberg SoftBank Group Corp. is rolling out a new app that will let drivers find and reserve parking spaces across Japan. The new service, called BLUU Smart Parking, will let drivers find open parking spots, reserve them in advance and pay fees using smartphones. Each location will have cameras and magnetic sensors to monitor cars as they enter and leave, ...

Bloomberg It’s premature to regulate the self-driving vehicles being tested by companies such as General Motors Co. and Waymo LLC, the US government’s top auto safety official said. “At this point the technology is so nascent I don’t think it is appropriate today to regulate this technology,” Heidi King, deputy administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), said. ...

Bloomberg Snaking through Western Australia’s Outback, a driverless train has made the first autonomous delivery of iron ore from a Rio Tinto Group pit to a coastal port, as the No. 2 miner looks to reap the benefits from a $940 million plan deploying the world’s biggest robots. The maiden 280-kilometre journey was completed carrying a cargo of 28,000 metric ...

Bloomberg The day after Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com Inc.’s mid-year sale, a company drone took off from a playground in the city of Xi’an to deliver one of the orders in a football-sized box to a village in the mountains to the south. The six-rotor craft is one of about 40 JD.com designed to cut delivery times for items such ...

Bloomberg Fully digital screens are replacing speedometres and dials in vehicles, making industry leader Japan Display Inc. optimistic about boosting sales to global carmakers. While most new models usually have a centre information panel for maps, entertainment and other functions, manufacturers are also increasingly replacing the dashboard facing the driver with a flat screen. Look inside the latest BMW or ...