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News watch March 2011: today's auto industry news

Welcome to CAR Magazine's news aggregator as we round up the daily stories in the auto industry. Top tip: news summaries are added from the top hour-by-hour Thursday 31 March 2011• US President Barack Obama has strated all US government cars and trucks purchased from 2015 must be alternative-fuel vehicles (Automotive News)• Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn has denied a report in Japan's Nikkei newspaper that he is leaning towards a formal merger of Nissan and Renault (Reuters)• Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne says that Chrysler's share IPO may now take place in 2012, depending on financial progress this year (Bloomberg)Wednesday 30 March 2011• Tesla CEO Elon Musk has called a report that the EV carmaker is a takeover target 'bad analysis' and remains confident the firm will stay independent (Bloomberg)• The BBC denies that it rigged a December 2008 Top Gear TV test of the Tesla Roadster, in response to being sued by the EV carmaker (BBC News)• First Group, the UK's largest public transport operator, has announced a £160m investment in new buses, ordering 955 new buses from UK manufacturers Wrightbus and Dennis over the next two years (BBC News)• Japanese production woes look set to continue into April. Toyota expects the majority of Toyota and Lexus production on 14 April (Automotive News)• Saab production has re-started again, following a half yesterday afternoon.

GM technology chief Tom Stephens to retire

Tom Stephens, GM's vice chairman, chief technology officer and former head of global product operations, will retire on April 1 after a 43-year career with the automaker. His successor will be named later, GM said Sunday. Stephens, 63, has served as GM's chief technology officer--a new position--since Feb.

Tesla planning self-driving car

Tesla are planning a self-driving car Now that car makers have been fitting radar and sensors to their cars for some time, which allow stuff like adaptive cruise – which automatically slows behind traffic and can even bring the car to s stop on its own – the race is on to make cars even more autonomous. We’ve reported recently on the Mercedes Intelligent Drive S-Class that negotiated its way – more or less – on a 60 mile route in Germany, and on Volvo’s self-parking system which will take your car in to a multi storey car park by itself, park, and meet you when you return. Google has also been playing with self-driving cars and has even gained permission to run its autonomous cars in California, and now Tesla are joining the fray with plans for an autonomous car in the next three years.