Europes

The heads of BMW, Volkswagen, and Renault have spoken out against European Union’s emission targets in recent days, arguing that the phase-out rules put too much pressure on the industry and that consumers aren’t buying EVs fast enough. Next year, the policy will tighten ahead of the full ban of gas and diesel cars in 2035, leaving automakers to pay steep fines if they fall short. In 2025, the EU will require a 25% reduction of fleet emissions from new passenger cars sold in Europe, compared to 2021…

It'll likely take years before the U.S. government's massive antitrust lawsuit against Apple is resolved — but the iPhone maker's troubles with European regulators offer a glimpse of what changes American customers may see down the line.The U.S. lawsuit seeks to stop Apple from undermining technologies that compete with its own apps in areas such as streaming, messaging and digital payments. The Department of Justice also wants to prevent the tech giant from building language into its contracts with developers, accessory…

Photo: Ashford International Truckstop bp’s EV charging brand, bp pulse, will electrify one of Europe’s largest and busiest truck stops to power up electric heavy goods vehicles (HGVs). Ashford International Truckstop is in Kent, England. The 21-acre Ashford International Truckstop currently offers 660 parking bays and convenience services for HGV drivers, and it’s got restaurants, shops, bars, and a gym. It’s close to Dover, the UK’s busiest ferry port, and LeShuttle Freight via the…

Six of the largest tech companies will be forced to make changes to their products and services this week as Europe’s new sweeping tech regulation largely goes into effect.   The European Union’s Digital Markets Act dictates how platforms minimize self-preferencing and allow for inter-operability, meaning how they prioritize their services over rivals and how service operate between ones run by other companies, among other measures. Companies that fail to comply will face hefty fines.   Five of the six…

3D printing has made some massive strides. In fact, in recent years, we’ve even started to see architects experimenting with using 3D printing to create entire houses. If you really want to be astounded, though, you should check out the video below, which showcases how Europe’s biggest 3D-printed building was printed in just 140 hours.That’s an astoundingly short amount of time for an entire building to be erected, and The Wave House, a data center located in Heidelberg, is what many consider a significant…

Europe changed the rules of the internet this week when the Digital Markets Act took effect, holding the biggest tech companies to tough new standards. Now the world is waiting to see which giant will be first to fall foul of the law. One of the architects of the DMA says Apple is a strong candidate for the first formal investigation, describing the company as “low hanging fruit.”Apple has faced intensifying pressure in recent years from competitors, regulators, and courts in both Europe and the US, over the restrictions…

Europeans scrolling their phones and computers this week will get new choices for default browsers and search engines, where to download iPhone apps and how their personal online data is used.They’re part of changes required under the Digital Markets Act, a set of European Union regulations that six tech companies classed as “gatekeepers”—Amazon, Apple, Google parent Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, and TikTok owner ByteDance—will have to start following by midnight Wednesday.The DMA is the latest in a series of regulations…

Citizens of the European Union live in an internet built and ruled by foreign powers. Most people in the EU use an American search engine, shop on an American ecommerce site, thumb American phones, and scroll through American social media feeds.That fact has triggered increasing alarm in the corridors of Brussels, as the EU tries to understand how exactly those companies warp the economy around them. Five years ago, Shoshana Zuboff’s book The Age of Surveillance Capitalism neatly articulated much of lawmakers’ critique of…

Europe is suffering from a big hangover after the tech investment party of the 2020-2021 period. That said, compared to pre-pandemic levels, VC investment in European startups is up, historically speaking, and reached $60 billion, according to a new report. However, the anomaly of the surge in investment over the pandemic stands in marked contrast to that growth and has created significant headwinds, even though there are signs of ‘green shoots’. Global law firm Orrick analyzed over 350 VC and growth equity…

The following essay is reprinted with permission from The Conversation, an online publication covering the latest research.Archaeologists have identified what may be Europe’s oldest human-made megastructure, submerged 21 meters below the Baltic Sea in the Bay of Mecklenburg, Germany. This structure – which has been named the Blinkerwall – is a continuous low wall made from over 1,500 granite stones that runs for almost a kilometer. The evidence suggests it was constructed by Palaeolithic people between 11,700 and 9,900…