Cars have the ability to connect with apps such as Spotify or Apple Music, but what’s next for in-auto entertainment?
Volvo says it’s all about the apps.
“The best apps...making those super easy to use,” Atif Rafiq, the company’s Chief Digital Officer, told Cheddar. “That’s what we’re focused on.”
But it doesn’t stop there.
Volvo plans to make all of its fleets “at least” hybrid by 2019, an effort to build on its electric and self-driving car initiatives. The company recently announced that it will provide Uber with 24,000 XC90s, for its self-driving fleets.
Rafiq says that the Uber partnership is reflective of where the car industry is moving: autonomous driving as a service.
“We’re focused on both the consumer and these B2B markets when it comes to autonomous driving,” he said.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/how-volvo-is-driving-innovation-in-2018).
The Federal Reserve announced that it will raise its interest for the first time in more than three years to fight record inflation. Cheddar News spoke with Mark Hamrick, Senior Economic Analyst at Bankrate how the move will impact the wallets of everyday Americans.
Paul T. Murray, president at PTM Wealth Management, joined Cheddar News to break down the implications of the Starbucks CEO shakeup, as the coffee company faces issues of unionization and pandemic-related closures. "Well, shareholders love Howard Schultz returning. I mean he's an iconic CEO, a visionary, a guy who made coffee as American as apple pie and shareholders are gonna continue to love that," Murray continued. "But he's got an uphill battle, frankly, because, this unionization push has now spread to 26 states, 100 stores, and the COVID pandemic is going to continue to be a headwind, especially in China where Johnson really made a lot of headway."
Social audio app Clubhouse reached $1 billion valuation milestone this January, and Fadia Kader, head of strategic media partnerships at Clubhouse, joined Cheddar News to talk about what its been doing to keep the drive going. "We are the category first leaders. We are 100 percent focused on social audio. It's not just a feature that we've just like bottled up and put on there. We are a medium that is 100 percent focused on community and social audio," she said.
European antitrust regulators gave Amazon approval for its MGM acquisition deal. Amazon expects MGM's collection of content will help it compete in the increasingly crowded world of streaming services.
Online retailer Boxed reported a significant growth in its latest earnings, and CEO Chieh Huang joined Cheddar News to talk about its Q4 report, what's upcoming for the company, and how the business avoided the mass labor shortages dubbed the great resignation. "We've been really lucky when it comes to what we're known about as a company. Half of what comes up if you search us on the internet is how we treat our frontline team even before, I guess, it was the kind of soup du jour to do so," he said. "We treat them extraordinarily well."
