Ford raises issue of robot cars' ethics
The great-grandson of Henry Ford called on the auto industry and public institutions to address the ethical issues emerging in a world where robot cars will make life-and-death decisions in roadway crashes -- and to do it soon.
"These cars will have the ability to process data and make decisions much faster than we will as humans," said Bill Ford, executive chairman of Ford Motor Co., which has promised to have robot taxis on the road by 2021. "No individual company is going to program these vehicles with a set of ethics that isn't bought into by society at large."
The discussion to set robot-car ethics must include the auto industry, government, universities and ethicists, said Ford, who made his remarks Tuesday to reporters after a speech at the company's headquarters in Dearborn, Mich. With self-driving cars set to hit the road over the next five years, the need for this discussion is urgent, he said.
"How do you want these vehicles to behave?" Ford asked during his speech. "Whose lives are they going to save?"
Ford, 59, was among the first automaker executives to sound the alarm about the changes that would roil the industry as 60 percent of the world's population migrates to large urban centers over the next 15 years, causing congestion, pollution and mobility challenges.
-- Bloomberg News
Wells Fargo to cut bullish sales goals
NEW YORK -- Wells Fargo announced plans Tuesday to cut its aggressive sales goals for retail bankers, nearly a week after state and federal regulators fined the bank $185 million for allegedly opening millions of unauthorized accounts for its customers to meet those targets.
The product sales goals will be eliminated by Jan. 1, the San Francisco-based bank said in a brief statement.
Regulators said in announcing the fine that Wells Fargo sales staff opened more than 2 million bank and credit card accounts that customers may not have authorized, and money in their accounts was transferred to the new accounts without authorization. Debit cards were issued and activated, as well as personal identification numbers created, without telling customers.
In some cases, Wells Fargo employees even created fake email addresses to sign up customers for online banking services, regulators said.
Wells Fargo has been known for its aggressive sales goals for its employees.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau fined the bank $100 million, the largest fine the agency has levied against a financial institution since it was created five years ago. The bank will also pay $35 million to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and $50 million to the city and county of Los Angeles. It will also pay restitution to affected customers.
Roughly 5,300 employees at Wells Fargo were fired in connection with this behavior, according to the city attorney's office.
-- The Associated Press
Boeing upgrades China's aircraft needs
Boeing lifted its forecast for aircraft demand in China in the next two decades, saying a rising middle class would spur leisure and business travel.
The plane-maker projects demand in China for 6,810 aircraft valued at $1.025 trillion, making the nation the first trillion-dollar aviation market in its forecast, Boeing said in a statement distributed in Beijing Tuesday. The company last year predicted China would need 6,330 new planes worth $950 billion in the next two decades.
In China, "we continue to see very strong passenger traffic growth. We've seen a very strong consumer segment of the market," Randy Tinseth, vice president of marketing at Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said at a briefing in Beijing.
Passenger traffic will expand 6.4 percent annually in China over the next 20 years, Boeing said.
Carriers across Asia are expanding their fleets as economic growth makes air travel affordable to more people, lifting orders for Boeing and Airbus Group. The more-optimistic outlook from Boeing, which last year announced a plan to build an aircraft-completion center in China, comes after it delivered a record number of planes to China in 2015.
-- The Associated Press
Porsche adding station wagon to lineup
Porsche plans to introduce its first station wagon, further stretching the brand's portfolio beyond the iconic 911 sports car into a more utilitarian segment, according to people familiar with the strategy.
A wagon version of Porsche's revamped Panamera four-door coupe is scheduled to be shown at the Geneva motor show in March and go on sale in subsequent months, said the people, who asked not to be identified before an official announcement. The variant would mark Porsche's latest venture beyond its sports-car roots after branching out into sport utility vehicles with the Cayenne in 2002.
The new Porsche is set to be based partly on the Sport Turismo design concept that the Volkswagen AG unit displayed at the Paris motor show in 2012. Porsche declined to comment.
-- Bloomberg News
Freeport-McMoRan sheds Gulf assets
BATON ROUGE -- Freeport-McMoRan will sell its deep-water Gulf of Mexico oil and gas properties to Anadarko Petroleum Corp. for $2 billion.
The Advocate reports the Phoenix-based company said Monday that the sale was part of a broader strategy to shed debt and concentrate on its copper business.
Richard Adkerson, Freeport-McMoRan's president and chief executive, said the company has sold more than $6 billion in assets this year.
The transaction, which also includes a potential $150 million in contingent payments, is expected to close in the fourth quarter.
In 2007, Freeport-McMoRan relocated its headquarters from New Orleans after completing a $25.9 billion buyout of Phelps Dodge Corp. in Phoenix.
-- The Associated Press
Business on 09/14/2016