| Sign up:With one click, get this newsletter delivered to your inbox. The race to outfit vehicles of all kinds with automation technology is heating up, though trucking appears to be taking a back seat to cars. Delphi Automotive PLC and Mobileye NV are partnering to provide sophisticated automation platforms that can be inserted into a wide variety of passenger vehicles, the WSJ’s Mike Colias reports. The partnership indicates parts makers are looking to take a more active role in developing driverless technology, a field where automakers have sought to take the lead. Their platform also won’t be deployed in commercial trucks, the latest sign that many of the technology’s biggest backers see smaller, passenger-oriented vehicles as more promising, at least in the short run. Another example: last week’s acquisition of Ottomotto, one of the highest-profile developers of automation technology for big rigs, by Uber Technologies Inc., which is looking to fast-track driverless taxis, not trucks. China’s domination over the aluminum market is extending deeper into the metal’s supply chain. The country’s smelters have flooded global markets with aluminum, but Chinese manufacturers are rapidly gaining ground in markets for finished products as well, the WSJ’s John W. Miller reports. Thin foil used to wrap cigarettes and seal yogurt cups increasingly comes from China, forcing factory closures in the U.S. that echo the widespread shutdown of American aluminum smelters. U.S. buyers of aluminum foil say they can’t resist China’s cheap prices and seemingly limitless production capacity. The slow death of the U.S. foil industry also shows there’s more at stake in trade disputes brought by Western steel and aluminum industry groups than the commodities themselves. Target Corp. is the latest global retailer to find trouble deep within its supply chain. The Minnesota-based company cut ties with textile supplier Welspun India Ltd., saying the firm’s claims that some of its products contained premium Egyptian cotton were false. The incident demonstrates how difficult it can be for companies to guarantee that quality and ethical standards set at headquarters will be followed throughout complicated, multi-layer supply chains. Welspun has a strong reputation as an Indian manufacturing success story, and Target was one of the firm’s biggest customers. None of that appears to have stopped Welspun from misidentifying the type of cotton in the fabrics it sold. Welspun counts two-thirds of its business from American companies. Now it must try to keep Target decision from cutting into its trade with other big-brand U.S. retailers, including Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which says it’s probing the authenticity of the Egyptian cotton sheets it buys from Welspun. |
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