Former CIT air leasing boss to run Airbus Americas Waymo launching ride-hailing service in Phoenix

Airbus said on Tuesday it had appointed aircraft industry veteran Jeff Knittel to be the next head of its American operations, starting in 2018. Knittel is a high-profile figure in the aircraft leasing industry who until recently served as president of CIT Transportation Finance, up until its $10 billion acquisition by Dublin-based Avolon. He will join the European company on Jan. 12 next year as chairman and chief executive of Airbus Americas, Airbus said. He will combine the roles of Barry Eccleston, the unit's chief executive who plans to retire next February, and Allan McArtor, its chairman who will maintain an honorary role. Knittel joins Airbus at a time when it faces an ongoing trade dispute with Boeing over mutual accusations of unfair subsidies. Alphabet Inc's Waymo selfdriving unit is launching a ride-hailing service for the general public with no human driver behind the steering wheel and has been testing such fully self-driving cars on public roads in Arizona, Chief Executive John Krafcik said on Tuesday. The announcement by Krafcik at the Web Summit technology conference in Lisbon is a major advance in the roll-out of fully autonomous vehicles. While self-driving car companies test their vehicles in public, they routinely have a human in the driver's seat ready to take over if the technology fails. Large tech companies, established automakers and well-funded startups are all vying for what they expect to be a new era for vehicles and a lucrative opportunity.