Huawei is reportedly under federal investigation by the U.S. Justice Department

It’s no secret that Huawei and the U.S. government don’t see eye to eye. Between allegations of spying, executives being arrested, and more, you wouldn’t think that there could be any additional bad blood between the two. But according to a report from the Wall Street Journal, the U.S. Justice Department is pursuing a criminal case against Huawei for alleged theft of trade secrets.

Back in 2014, T-Mobile was paying Huawei to produce phones for the carrier. During this relationship, Huawei employees utilized one of T-Mobile’s robots called “Tappy” that was used for quality-control tests on smartphones.

According to a lawsuit filed against the Chinese company, those employees not only stole information about the robot, but they also took the tip off of the machine which was used in the tests.

Photo of T-Mobile’s “Tippy” robot

WSJ

In 2017, a jury in Seattle, Washinton, ruled in favor of T-Mobile and awarded the company $4.8 million for Huawei’s breach of contract. While the company contested the lawsuit, it later conceded that its employees had acted improperly.

Editor’s Pick

Huawei founder breaks years-long public silence to talk company security

The Straits Times

Although 74-year-old Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei is still active within the ranks of the company, he has spent the last three years out of the public eye. Recently, he broke that silence …

It was this lawsuit that reportedly started the Justice Department’s investigation into the company’s alleged theft of trade secrets. A source told the WSJ that the federal probe is still in an advanced stage, but it could lead to an indictment soon.

The Justice Department and Huawei both declined to comment on the WSJ’s report.

Source: Android Zone

The post Huawei is reportedly under federal investigation by the U.S. Justice Department appeared first on TuneMaster.ml.

Volvo’s first electric car will also be the first vehicle with standalone Android Auto

Polestar

Android Auto support has been put in a large number of cars on the road, allowing owners to navigate to their destination with Google Maps, listen to their playlists and more much. However, all of them require the use of a connected smartphone in order to work, either with a cable or, in a few instances, wirelessly. The good news is Google has been working on a standalone version of Android Auto that will work without a smartphone for a while now. This week, we finally got word on the first car that will have it installed.

The vehicle is the Polestar 2 from Volvo, which will also be the first all-electric car from that company. According to a brief press announcement (via Android Police), more information on the Polestar 2 will be revealed “in the coming weeks”, but the actual production of the car will not happen until 2020. The statement does say the car will be the first with “Google Android HMI, which in turn is also the debut of the in-car version of Google Assistant.”

We got a quick preview of what a standalone Android Auto system might look like, and how it will work, at Google I/O in May 2018, via a Dodge Ram 1500 concept car. We saw how this system could be used by the driver with its large tablet-style display and its voice command features. The driver of such a car could ask Google Assistant to lower the inside temperature of the vehicle or ask when they will need to refuel the car. Because this is a standalone version of Android Auto, it will also have its own version of the Google Play Store, so car owners will be able to download and install apps that could be made specifically for cars.

So far, Volvo is the only car maker to announce plans to support the standalone edition of Android Auto. There’s no word on how many Polestar 2 car units will be made, so its availability could be rather limited. Hopefully, we will learn more about Google’s future plans for Android Auto in 2019.

Source: Android Zone

The post Volvo’s first electric car will also be the first vehicle with standalone Android Auto appeared first on TuneMaster.ml.