EV firm Volta Trucks goes bust, WhatsApp goes passwordless on Android

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Kurfürstendamm, Berlin’s famous boulevard. The Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche (Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church) is visible in the distance – Berlin, Germany. Image: Volta Trucks 

Electric truck start-up Volta Trucks will file for bankruptcy in the UK having gone bust in its home country of Sweden. The firm, which has a base in the UK, has had difficulties in raising enough funds to stay afloat “ in an already challenging capital-raising environment for electric vehicle players” due to uncertainties around battery suppliers, it said. This, in turn, stalled production. This follows key parts supplier Proterra going bust in August which “has had a significant impact on our manufacturing plans, reducing the volume of vehicles that we had forecast to produce”. Autocar

Israel has said it will boycott Europe’s biggest technology conference after the event’s founder accused the country’s government of “war crimes” in its response to Hamas’ attacks.  Dor Shapira, Israel’s ambassador to Portugal, said his country would not participate in the Web Summit conference after its chief executive Paddy Cosgrave suggested Israel had broken international law. Mr Shapira said “dozens” of tech companies had also pulled out of the event and encouraged more to do so. Web Summit, which attracts more than 70,000 visitors from around the world, is scheduled to take place in Lisbon in a month’s time. Telegraph 


WhatsApp users on Android can say goodbye to insecure and annoying SMS two-factor authentication. The Meta-owned company announced on X (formerly Twitter) that it’s rolling out support for a passwordless passkey feature to all Android users. The new security option allows WhatsApp users to use their device’s face, fingerprint, or pin security to unlock and access their accounts — following Google’s lead when it began prompting users last week to create passkey.

 

 

A new set of government figures for charger installations has arrived. They’ll soon be out of date, because contrary to popular myth, charger installation is proceeding at pace. In April to July this year, the number of public charge points went up by 10 per cent. It’s about the same percentage for AC (7–22kW) as for rapid points. In the past year, the total rise has been 25 per cent. So the speed of rollout accelerated the last quarter. Critically, in the past year, the total number of EVs on the road has risen by slightly less than 25 per cent. So public charger installation continues to outpace the number of EVs. Top Gear 

Xiaomi has announced a new operating system called HyperOS. The company has confirmed that it will be available globally and debut on the upcoming Xiaomi 14 series. HyperOS will also gradually replace Xiaomi’s legacy MIUI operating system, which has been around for 13 years. HyperOS is designed to cater to Xiaomi’s wide product range that goes beyond smartphones. The company says the new software will tie in its entire ecosystem of products across 200 categories, including smart home devices, cars, and more. Android Authority 

The AI chatbot ChatGPT could be better at following treatment standards for depression than human doctors, a study suggests. The technology could improve decision making in primary care, researchers said, as it is capable of following recognised treatment standards without any gender or social class biases that are sometimes a factor between humans.But more work is needed to assess any potential risks or ethical issues that could stem from its use in practice, the researchers added. Sky News 

Chris Price
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