BERLIN: The chief executive of Volkswagen , the world’s largest vehicle maker by sales, expects autonomous vehicles to be ready for sale between 2025 and 2030, he told a magazine.

Herbert Diess cited the improving performance of computer chips needed in autonomous cars while developments in artificial intelligence are also speeding the process.

“It is foreseeable that the systems will soon be able to master even the complex situations of autonomous driving,” Diess told the Wirtschaftswoche weekly magazine.

Diess defected from BMW in 2015 and has helped Volkswagen to reform after its diesel scandal with a €73 billion (US$87 billion) electric vehicle investment plan.

The results for one of the most prestigious car awards in the country are out – the Indian Car of the Year 2021. Among the nine contenders on the list, the Hyundai i20 has come out on top to win by a close margin.

Police are investigating a suspicious car fire at a Stratford property early Thursday morning.

Firefighters from Stratford were called to the blaze, at a Titania St property, about 12.30am, Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) communications shift manager Murray Dunbar said.

Two crews were called as the car was parked near a house but the fire was under control within 15 minutes of the firefighters’ arrival, he said.

Dunbar said the fire was suspicious and police had been alerted.

A police central communications spokeswoman confirmed officers had been told of the blaze and it was being investigated as an arson.

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SINGAPORE: Twenty-two people were taken to the hospital after a car and a bus collided on Jurong Island Highway on Sunday (Dec 6) morning.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said it was alerted to a road traffic accident along Jurong Island highway at about 7am on Sunday.

The accident happened towards the end of the highway, said the police.

Twenty-one bus passengers, all men, were taken to Ng Teng Fong General Hospital (NTFGH), Singapore General Hospital (SGH) and National University Hospital (NUH), said the police.

The driver of the car, a 42-year-old man, was also conscious when taken to NUH.

All of them were conscious when taken to hospital, said the police.

SCDF said eight people were taken to Ng Teng Fong General Hospital, 11 people to NUH and three people to SGH.

Video circulating on social media showed a bus toppled on its side and the front half of the car crushed.

Police investigations are ongoing.

COTABATO, Philippines: Dozens of militants aligned with the Islamic State group opened fire on a Philippine army detachment and burned a police patrol car in a southern town but withdrew after troops returned fire, officials said Friday (Dec 4).

There were no immediate reports of injuries in Thursday night’s brief attack by the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters in Datu Piang town.

Nevertheless, it sparked panic among residents and rekindled fears of a repeat of a 2017 militant siege of southern Marawi city that lasted for five months before being quelled by government forces.

“We are on top of the situation. This is just an isolated case,” regional military commander Lt Gen Corleto Vinluan Jr said in a statement.

Security officials gave differing statements on the motive of the 30 to 50 gunmen. Some said the militants targeted Datu Piang’s police chief over a feud but others speculated that the militants wanted to project that they are still a force to reckon with by attacking the army detachment in the center of the predominantly Muslim town.

Officials denied earlier reports that the militants managed to seize a police station and burn a Roman Catholic church.

When reinforcement troops in armoured carriers arrived and opened fire, the militants fled toward a marshland, military officials said.

The Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters is one of a few small armed groups waging a separatist rural insurrection in the south of the largely Roman Catholic nation.

The groups opposed a 2014 autonomy deal forged by the largest Muslim rebel group in the south with the Philippine government and have continued on and off attacks despite being weakened by battle setbacks, surrenders and factionalism.

The armed groups include the Abu Sayyaf, which has been blacklisted by the United States and the Philippines as a terrorist organization for kidnappings for ransom, beheadings and bombings.