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Transport Topics has partnered with Spoken Layer to make one-minute daily briefings available on all your smart devices. Simply say “Alexa, play Transport Topics” or “Okay Google, talk to Transport Topics” to get the day’s biggest trucking headlines.

SAN FRANCISCO — Paccar Inc. CEO Ron Armstrong said the trucking industry is moving toward ever-cleaner and more energy-efficient vehicles and will adopt increasingly advanced automated driving technology to assist drivers.

LANSING, Mich. — Google self-driving car spinoff Waymo said Jan. 22 that it will bring a factory to Michigan, creating up to 400 jobs at what it describes as the world’s first plant “100%” dedicated to the mass production of autonomous vehicles.

Organizers for this year's gathering of the Transportation Research Board in Washington have come up with a list of a dozen topic areas that policymakers need to address to ensure a sustainable transportation network.

LAS VEGAS — Amid a sea of gadgets, drones, robots and virtual reality demos, commercial trucking carved out a significant niche for itself here at the Consumer Electronics Show, the world’s largest technology event.

To deliver an electric vehicle that’s cheaper, safer and capable of traveling 500 miles on a single charge, the auto industry needs a breakthrough in battery technology. Easier said than done.

Infrastructure and trade loom large for trucking in the year ahead as freight carriers adjust to a slower, but still positive, rate of economic growth in 2019, according to industry experts interviewed by Transport Topics.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk says he will walk the entire Model 3 production line Nov. 27-28. From battery cells to finished vehicles, all assembly areas need to be able to support making 1,000 cars per day, he said.

FRANKFURT, Germany — Automaker Volkswagen says it will invest $50 billion (44 billion euros) in developing autonomous and electric cars and expand the appeal of battery-powered cars by selling its upcoming ID compact for about what a diesel-powered Golf costs.

Albemarle Corp., the world’s largest lithium producer, is planning to expand production in Australia, chasing the market for a form of the metal increasingly being used by the makers of electric car batteries.