An early accomplishment in reducing emissions, a partnership for the reuse of electric vehicle batteries, and an alliance for autonomous vehicle networking technology were among the items promoted by automakers recently.

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[naviga:li]Ford says it has achieved its goal of reducing carbon dioxide emissions from its manufacturing operations eight years ahead of schedule. In 2010, the automaker said it would work to cut emissions by 30 percent per vehicle produced by the year 2025. In its 19th annual Sustainability Report, Ford says it was able to cut emissions by 3.4 million metric tons between 2010 and 2017 by taking steps such as installing LED light fixtures, improving paint processes, and minimizing the amount of lubricant needed in some machining processes. The automaker says it will set a new goal of increasing its use of renewable energy while retaining its more efficient operations.[/naviga:li]

[naviga:li]Hyundai has struck an agreement with the energy systems integrator Wärtsilä to reuse electric vehicle batteries. Once an electric vehicle's battery is considered no longer reliable enough to power a vehicle, it can still be used for energy storage purposes. Hyundai estimates that second-life batteries given to Wärtsilä through the partnership will provide 29 gigawatt hours of energy.[/naviga:li]

[naviga:li]Joining with four other companies, Volkswagen has formed the Networking for Autonomous Vehicle Alliance to promote data transmission in and among self-driving vehicles. Aquantia, Bosch, Continental, and NVIDIA are joining the automaker in the alliance. The alliance's founding objectives include building a consensus and promoting the development of Multi-Gig Ethernet automotive networking technologies, establishing testing procedures for the systems, promoting standardization and interoperability of technologies, and building awareness of autonomous vehicle network requirements.[/naviga:li]

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