Surcar North America : 1st International Conference on Automotive Body Finishing in North America

Anthony Levandowski is a genius, albeit a flawed one, some say. After a career marked by technology triumphs and a generous dose of controversy at Uber and Google, the autonomous-driving pioneer now faces his greatest obstacle yet: possible prison time.

Mid-April appears to be the earliest that most North America production could resume, but the deaths of at least eight UAW members at Ford and FCA underscore the worries many workers have about returning to the factory floor.

When one of his employees' siblings tested positive for coronavirus, the chairman of a Michigan Ford dealership acted quickly, shuttering the store and switching commissioned workers to a daily pay rate. 

Japan and South Korea carried on as business-as-usual in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, keeping their auto factories open until now. But the economic contagion is finally catching.

Many auto companies waited for customers to start the chain of reaction of production halts, but vehicle software supplier StradVision moved early to protect its chief assets — its people.

New standards of cleanliness are emerging at dealerships and public transit centers to help protect customers and employees from exposure to the coronavirus.

With factories furloughed and showrooms shuttered, automakers are having to rethink go-to-market strategies for several key models.

Suppliers are scrambling to evaluate what tooling, worker retraining and quality control assurance they need to start producing medical items quickly.