HYUNDAI, VW PARTNER WITH AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE FIRM
DETROIT» Hyundai and Volkswagen each say they’re partnering with a U.S. autonomous vehicle tech firm led by former executives from Google, Tesla and Uber.
The companies on Thursday announced partnerships with Aurora Innovation, started last year by ex-Google autonomous car chief Chris Urmson and others. VW says its collaboration will help bring self-driving cars quickly to roads worldwide, while autonomous Hyundais are expected to be in the market by 2021.
The partnerships are the latest in a string of tie-ups between traditional auto companies and tech firms as they race to be first with self-driving vehicles.
Sears, Macy’s closing more stores.
YORK» NEW Sears Holdings Corp. will be closing over 100 more stores as the struggling department store chain tries to turn around its business. The Hoffman Estates, Ill.-based company says that includes 64 Kmart stores and 39 Sears stores that will be shuttered between early March and early April. Among the stores is a Kmart in Colorado Springs. Earlier Thursday, Macy’s Inc. announced it was closing 11 stores early this year. None of the stores is in Colorado.
Southwest to pay fine for collusion.
DALLAS» Southwest will pay $15 million to settle lawsuits accusing airlines of colluding to push up prices. American, United and Delta haven’t settled. The lawsuits followed news that federal officials were investigating whether airlines improperly worked together to hold down the supply of seats.
Discount Tire founder dies.
PHOENIX» Bruce Halle, the billionaire founder of the nationwide Discount Tire chain, has died. He was 87.
Officials of the company headquartered in Scottsdale, Ariz., say Halle died Thursday in his sleep. A cause of death wasn’t immediately released.
Halle founded Discount Tire in 1960 in Ann Arbor, Mich., and started with an inventory of six tires including four retreads.
Oregon sues Monsanto overpollution.
PORTLAND,
ORE.» The state of Oregon sued the agrochemical company Monsanto on Thursday over pervasive pollution from PCBs, the toxic industrial chemicals that have accumulated in plants, fish and people around the globe for decades. The company called the lawsuit baseless.
The lawsuit seeks $100 million to use to mitigate pollution, particularly along a 10-mile stretch of the Willamette River in Portland that will be the target of a $1 billion cleanup announced by federal authorities in 2016.
Zuckerbe rgv ows to fix Facebook.
Mark Zuckerberg says his “personal challenge” for 2018 is to fix Facebook.
The Facebook CEO has declared a goal each year since 2009.
Past challenges have included wearing a tie every day and learning to speak Mandarin. Last year, he visited every U.S. state he hadn’t been to yet.
Zuckerberg wrote Thursday that he wants to focus this year on protecting Facebook users from abuse, defending against interference by nationstates and “making sure that time spent on Facebook is time well spent.”