Bosch Hydrogen Powertrain Systems (Chongqing) Co Ltd is the name of a new joint venture company, between Robert Bosch AG of Munich, and Chinese commercial vehicle manufacturer, Qingling Motors Co Ltd of Chongqing, Chongqing Province. The new JV has been established to develop, assemble and market fuel cell power modules for the Chinese market.

Mercedes-Benz do Brasil Ltda has launched a new high floor chassis model for the city bus BRT segment, the O500 R Super Padron.

The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company of Akron, Ohio  has appointed Christopher P Helsel (55) as senior vice president, global operations and chief technology officer. He succeeds Jonathan Bellissimo, who is retiring after a Goodyear career spanning four decades. Helsel is currently SVP and chief technology officer, a role he has held since 2018.

A new multi-billion Euro Digital Europe Programme has been given approval by the European Council (EC) to proceed. The programme is aimed at boosting digital transformation by providing funding for rolling out cutting-edge technology in crucial areas such as artificial intelligence, supercomputing and cybersecurity. With a budget of EUR7,588m, the programme is scheduled to run for the period 2021-2027, starting retroactively from January 1, 2021.

Tyre giant, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, and wheel-end specialist, Consolidated Metco, have announced a strategic collaboration to create combined digital solutions to provide operators better understanding of the health of their commercial fleet tyres and wheel ends.

The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company has agreed terms to buy Cooper Tire & Rubber Company of Findlay, Ohio for approximately USD2.5bn.

Westport Fuel Systems Inc, the Vancouver-based fuel systems specialist has begun initial trials of a heavy-duty internal combustion engine running on hydrogen (H2) fuel, using its patented and proprietary High Pressure Direct Injection (HPDI) 2.0 system.

Bearing specialist, SKF Group of Gothenburg to reduce its use of fossil fuels, is to test a self-driving electric truck together with Stockholm-based technology company, Einride AB, on a public road between the factory and the warehouse in Gothenburg. Einride which builds complete vehicles was the first company in the world to operate an electric self-driving truck on public roads for commercial purposes in 2018.

Daimler Buses, a division of Daimler Trucks AG of Stuttgart, Germany is launching its first Euro VI touring coach for the Taiwanese market. The vehicle is based on the Spanish-made Mercedes-Benz OC 500 chassis built at the Sámano plant.

Ballard Power Systems of Vancouver has received follow-on purchase orders from Ballymena-based Wrightbus for 50 fuel cell modules to power fuel cell electric buses, for deployment in UK cities.

Concentric AB of Linköping, Sweden has won a supply contract for electro-hydraulic steering (EHS) pumps by an unnamed global US truck builder, which will be used in its new electric refuse truck. These trucks are for deployment across the USA, starting in New York’s municipal sanitation department. Production is to start this year and sales revenues from this new contract are estimated at SEK16m over the next five years.

The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company of Akron, Ohio has announced a strategic relationship with TuSimple Inc*, an autonomous trucking technology company based in San Diego, California, to provide tyres and tyre management solutions to TuSimple’s Autonomous Freight Network (AFN).