Source: Dyson’s Aston Martin Hire Fuels Speculation on Electric-Car Push - Bloomberg Home appliances maker Dyson Ltd. has recruited its second Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd. executive in a year, making it the latest hire to fuel speculation that the company is building an electric vehicle. . . . “We have historically recruited from a wide range of backgrounds, as we are a broad church and are developing a multitude of technologies,” the company said in a statement. “We plan to recruit an extra 3,000 engineers and scientists by 2020 and are working with more than 40 universities globally.” The move comes after a government document referenced funding for Dyson to develop “a new battery electric vehicle at their headquarters in Malmesbury, Wiltshire” in March last year. In February, Dyson announced it’s creating a new 517-acre campus in the English countryside to expand its research and development in batteries, as well as robotics and artificial intelligence. The firm, most famous for its vacuum cleaners and hand-driers, acquired solid-state battery startup Sakti3 for $90 million in 2015, and has pledged to spend 1 billion pounds ($1.29 billion) on battery development. Dyson has been steadily hiring researchers specializing in autonomous systems and machine learning, key for developing autonomous vehicles. In November it hired Andrew Watson, former director at Symantec, as its head of machine learning. . . . Without having the burden of engine emissions, a hard problem, making an electric vehicle is relatively easy. The technical threshold to market entry is pretty low and getting lower. That Dyson has a handle on solid-state batteries is a plus. Given the pending EU bans on gas and diesel cars, it is a sensible move. Bob Wilson
it's actually easier to make them than sell them. if this fella's hype works as well as it did for his vacuum cleaners/hand dryers, there will be a lot of people driving expensive electric vehicles that don't live up to it.
Their hand dryers are one of the few with NSF certification. Most of the others are just germ factories blowing coliforms onto your hands.
You're suppose to squigee the water off? The best approach is to speak with the manager and shake hands,"I can't describe how much I like that hand dryer. Let the owner know." Bob Wilson
Maybe Dyson should have started out small with that machine learning stuff . . . . seems like Roomba has the tech jump on Dyson when it comes to advanced learning . . . . .
