| Volvo bets big on electric, Baidu take the Android approach to autonomous cars and Samsung eyes a 'me too!' move in the Alexa market. All that and more in The Daily Crunch for July 5, 2017. 1. Volvo will go electric and hybrid-only by 2019 Volvo's actually going to stop making cars with exclusively internal combustion engines, and it's going to do that within the next two years. By its 2019 model year, the car company will only offer electric and hybrid vehicles for sale, which is a huge industry shift. The news is an even bigger bombshell because Volvo has been on the upswing of late, growing sales globally, with a lot of that growth coming from the U.S. It's a bold move, and it'll be very interesting to see if it pays off. 
2. Baidu wants to make Android for the self-driving auto industry Baidu has committed to open sourcing big parts of its autonomous car platform Apollo, and it hopes to create what will eventually become "the Android" of the self-driving industry. Given the potential market size for connected cars and other in-vehicle services, this could be a very wise approach. 3. Baidu acquires Kit.ai Meanwhile, Baidu acquired Seattle-based startup Kitt.ai, which creates chatbots and voice-based assistances for a range of platforms. The acquisition gives it more U.S. expertise, and helps it continue its huge AI push, which includes automotive applications like the one mentioned above. 4. U.S. lifts laptop ban on some airlines Three major Middle Eastern airlines have been removed from the list of flight operators that have a laptop and tablet ban in place on flights to the U.S. These include Etihad Airways, Emirates Airlines and Turkish Airlines. The relaxing of the rule is a good sign that it could eventually be revoked. 5. Samsung could soon throw its own smart speaker in the ring Samsung is looking to join in the increasingly crowded smart speaker space, but the company is already lagging considerably in the virtual assistant race, so it's difficult to see what it can do here. It did acquire Viv, which could help it leapfrog ahead once it brings that expertise to bear on the in-house developed Bixby, which is not so smart. 6. Apple looking at face scanning tech for iPhone Apple could be getting ready to incorporate smart face scanning tech in the next iPhone, in addition to or in place of Touch ID. The tech is still in development however, so it's up in the air at this stage, as are all rumors, of course. 7. Worldpay agrees to be acquired by Vantiv for around $10 billion Payments is a lucrative space, and one point-of-sale and payment terminal company just proved that by getting acquired by Vantiv for $10 billion (pending deal approval). 
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