BYD revenue rises 29% to over $100 billion, glowing spirals from Space X rocket sighted
Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD has reported annual revenue for 2024 that has leapfrogged rival Tesla. The Shenzhen-based firm says revenue rose by 29% to come in at 777 billion yuan ($107bn; £83bn), boosted by sales of its hybrid vehicles. This topped the $97.7bn reported by Elon Musk’s Tesla. BYD has also just launched a lower-priced car to rival Tesla’s Model 3, which has long been the top selling electric vehicle (EV) in China. It comes as Tesla faces a backlash around the world over Musk’s ties to US President Donald Trump, while Chinese carmakers have been hit with tariffs in Western countries. BBC
Would you get in a taxi without a driver? Today Uber made that very offer. It launched autonomous taxis in Austin, Texas and wants to bring something similar to London. According to Noah Zych, Uber’s Head of Autonomous Delivery, this technology “is now becoming more and more real every day”. “The UK is at the top of our list of places we’re looking at where we want to go in the next couple of years. That’s the timeline that the regulatory framework lays out as making that feasible and we’re eager to start working towards that,” he said. ITV.com
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Not quite, says the Met Office. This large glowing spiral was spotted in the night sky across the UK and Ireland on Monday evening. Stargazers from as far north as Denmark and as far south as Milan in Italy noted the cloud-like spiral was visible for several minutes before fading. The Met Office explained in a post on X that the phenomenon was likely caused by frozen exhaust smoke from Elon Musk‘s SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Sky News
UK technology secretary Peter Kyle has urged opponents of a new artificial intelligence copyright regime not to “resist change”, as he prepares to rule on proposals that have enraged British musicians and filmmakers. Thousands of people working in the British creative and media industries have protested against the UK’s proposed system that would require every company, artist or author to opt out of their work being incorporated into AI systems by tech companies. FT.com
Australian authors say they are “livid” and feel violated that their work was included in an allegedly pirated dataset of books Meta used to train its AI. The parent company of Facebook and Instagram is being sued by authors in the United States, including Ta-Nehisi Coates and the comedian Sarah Silverman, for copyright infringement. In court filings in January it was alleged chief executive Mark Zuckerberg approved the use of the LibGen dataset – an online archive of books – to train the company’s artificial intelligence models. The Guardian
Amazon’s Spring Deal Days sale extravaganza has kicked off with a bang. There are plenty of massive savings to be had on everything from vacuum cleaners to smartwatches, with one particular deal on the capable Ticwatch 5 Pro catching our eye. For a limited time, you can pick up the Wear OS-enabled Ticwatch Pro 5 at Amazon for just £131.74 / $139.50 in its sleek all-black finish. That’s a massive drop of £217.26 / $210 compared to its £349 / $349.99 RRP, making it an absolute steal. Trusted Reviews
