Hasta La Gadget!

Hyundai will manufacture EVs in the US starting in December this year with the electrified Genesis GV70 crossover model, the company announced at the NY Automotive Forum in a video seen by Automotive News. It’s part of a grand plan to invest $7.4 billion in the US by 2025 to develop a family of EVs and smart mobility technology. 

Hyundai will start electrified production at its Montgomery, Alabama plant in October with the Santa Fe Hybrid, the company announced at a ceremony with Alabama Governor Kay Ivey. It’ll invest $300 million to start with, creating 200 new jobs at the plant (its only manufacturing facility in the US). The company currently builds the Elantra sedan, Santa Fe and Tucson SUVs and Santa Cruz sport adventure vehicle on the Montgomery assembly line.

Genesis

The Genesis GV70 EV was quietly revealed late last year at the Guangzhou Auto Show in China. The company has yet to announce US specs, which may be why it didn’t mention the GV70 EV at all in its press release. However, the Korean version will come with an 800 volt charging system and 77.4 kWh battery good for about 400 km (247 miles) of range according to the Korean testing cycle. 

It also features two electric motors that produce 482 horsepower and 516 pound-feet of torque, considerably more than the ICE version of the GV70. According to photos, the luxury and tech-adorned interior will be similar to the one on the current gas-powered GV70. 

It’s taken Hyundai awhile to establish US EV production dates, and follows recent, similar announcements by Toyota and Volkswagen. All three companies, which operate non-union plants in the US, opposed the Biden administration’s plan to provide extra tax incentives to unionized automakers. At the same time, Hyundai’s unionized workers in Korea want the company to boost domestic EV production rather than investing abroad. It has to balance all that with US vehicle import tariffs, set at 2.5 percent for cars and 25 percent for pickups and SUVs. 

No Man’s Sky is already an enormous game and yet Hello Games isn’t exactly out of ideas about how to expand the universe. The developer has released the Outlaws update, which adds the game’s first new starship in two years, smuggling and much more.

Solar ships are a new class of starships. These are dotted across the universe and have unique tech and procedurally generated variations. Each ship has solar-powered sail and engine tech. You can now own up to nine starships in total (an increase of three), each of which can be outfitted with a high-capacity cargo inventory.

The smuggling mechanic ties into the update’s core theme: the fact you can now play as a space pirate. You can buy illicit goods in outlaw systems and sell them for a hefty profit in a regulated space, as long as you’re able to smuggle them in. Sentinel drones will be on the lookout for illegal wares, however. You might be able to fend them off with a Cargo Probe Deflector.

Hello Games

In outlaw systems, where rebel forces are in control and piracy prevails, there are outlaw stations. Here, you’ll find specialized technology merchants, mission agents and more. There won’t be any Sentinel interceptors as these parts of the universe are unpoliced.

Hello Games says it has also revamped space combat with a focus on speed, challenge and flow. There’s an option that’ll let you automatically lock onto and track enemy ships, for instance. You’ll be able to recruit pilots to join your squadron and help you out in ship-to-ship combat. You can call them in at any time and they’ll appear automatically during space combat.

Elsewhere, there’s a new expedition on the way soon with an array of rewards up for grabs. You can also expect to see revamped explosion and combat effects, forged passports and pirate raids on settlements and buildings. The update includes a slew of bug fixes and optimizations as well.

This is the second big content update this year, following February’s Sentinel patch. The Outlaws update is out now on PlayStation, Xbox and PC. It’ll also give Nintendo Switch players more to look forward to when No Man’s Skyhits that platform this summer.

US District Judge William Orrick has rejected Tesla’s argument that it isn’t liable to Owen Diaz, according to The Wall Street Journal and Reuters. Diaz is a former Black Tesla worker who accused the company of turning a blind eye to the racial abuse he suffered while working at its Fremont, California factory from 2015 to 2016. Last year, a jury ruled in favor of Diaz and awarded him $6.9 million in compensatory damages, as well as $130 million in punitive damages. Orrick has affirmed the jury’s verdict but reduced the award to $15 million.

To be exact, he reduced the compensatory damages awarded to Diaz to $1.5 million from $6.9 million, which he called “excessive.” He also slashed the “unconstitutionally large” punitive damages award from $130 million to $13.5 million. Punitive damages awarded by courts are meant to punish a defendant and deter them from repeating their actions — or, in Tesla’s case, from allegedly ignoring the racial abuse of a Black worker. Tesla has a market value exceeding $1 trillion, however, and $13.5 million is a drop in the bucket for the automaker. Diaz’s lawyer said they plan to appeal the lowered damages award.

Nevertheless, Judge Orrick agreed that Tesla showed a “striking” indifference to Diaz’s plight. In his original lawsuit, Diaz said he wasn’t just subjected to racial slurs, fellow workers (and even one supervisor) also left drawings of swastika and racist graffiti around the plant. He said Tesla’s management neglected to halt the abuse. Judge Orrick wrote in his ruling:

“Not only does the evidence support a finding of recklessness or indifference to Diaz’s health and safety, it supports a finding that Tesla intentionally built an employment structure that allowed it to take advantage of Diaz’s (and others’) labor for its benefit while attempting to avoid any of the obligations and responsibilities that employers owe employees.”

Tesla has faced several racial discrimination lawsuits over the years other than Diaz’s, with workers claiming that they were subjected to constant racial abuse in its factories. In February, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing filed a lawsuit against the automaker after finding evidence that its “Fremont factory is a racially segregated workplace” where Black workers are discriminated against. Tesla denied the accusation, saying it “opposes all forms of discrimination and harassment” and that it has a “dedicated Employee Relations team that responds to and investigates all complaints.”

Amazon has brought its checkout-free “Just Walk Out” technology to airports, grocery stores and other shops, but now it’s coming to a particularly useful place for sports fans: the ballpark. The Houston Astros have teamed up with Amazon to install Just Walk Out systems at two concession stores in Minute Maid Park. Visit 19th Hole or Market and you can buy snacks or souvenirs between innings by inserting your credit card at the entry gate, grabbing things off the shelf, and leaving when you’re done.

There will be staff to greet you and offer help as necessary, and you’ll still have to show ID if you’re buying alcohol. However, you otherwise won’t have to talk to a cashier or use a self-checkout system. As you might guess, that could be extremely helpful given the crowds and lineups that frequently slow you down in stadiums.

The Astros’ stadium is the first in Major League Baseball to adopt Just Walk Out, and they’re using the same slightly modified system Amazon is offering to other retailers. The tech uses computer vision and other forms of AI to track shoppers as they enter and take (or put back) items. Amazon’s own stores just rely on the company’s Go mobile app instead of credit cards.

Amazon didn’t mention whether or not other MLB teams would embrace the zero-checkout offering, but it won’t be surprising if they (and other sports leagues) do. Stadium operators depend heavily on both merch sales and a swift traffic flow to turn a profit — the cost of Just Walk Out could easily be worthwhile if increases the chances you’ll buy an expensive hot dog or replica jersey.

Amazon’s IMDb TV is rebranding. Beginning April 27th, the ad-supported streaming service will be known as Freevee, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Amazon’s Studios division told the outlet the new name is designed to better reflect how much it costs to access the platform.

As part of the rebranding, Amazon said it would also invest more into original programming, with a promise to offer 70 percent more exclusive content than it does currently. Among the shows Amazon plans to debut on the platform is High School, a coming of age series from indie duo Tegan and Sara. The company will announce additional details about Freevee’s upcoming slate of originals at its NewFronts presentation on May 2nd.

We know from reporting from The Information that Amazon had been mulling a rebranding of IMDb TV since at least the start of last fall. At the time, company executives had reportedly considered names like “Zon,” along with “Free TV” and “Free Streaming TV,” as potential options. The thought among executives was that the existing name was too difficult for people to pronounce and was thereby hurting its popularity.