BMW is teaming up with chipmaker Intel and camera-software company Mobileye to bring self-driving cars to the road by 2021, becoming the first major automaker to set a specific date to produce a fully autonomous vehicle.

Spain’s troubled banks could need as much as €62bn in new capital, independent auditors have calculated.

Spain is expected to ask the eurozone for help with recapitalising its banks this weekend, sources in Brussels and Berlin said yesterday, becoming the fourth country to seek assistance since Europe’s debt crisis began.

PLANS to launch a European ratings agency to compete with S&P, Moody’s and Fitch are at an advanced stage and a new private institution could start business as soon as the first half of this year, German businessman Roland Berger told an Italian newspaper over the weekend.

Senior managers in Britain are “deeply pessimistic” about the chances of a sustained economic recovery this year, a new study showed today.

IRISH householders use more gas, electricity and solid fuel to heat and light their homes than consumers in Europe’s coldest and darkest countries, figures have revealed.