Promoted as a “smarter, safer way to use your iPhone in the car,” CarPlay allows your iPhone to handle much of the digital controls.

There’s no argument that a phone offers numerous benefits in a car, fron navigation and real time traffic updates to information about a last minute change of plans. But I doubt many people think actually using a phone while driving is safe.

Source: www.cmswire.com

The WWDC apparently revealed that CarPlay will support wireless in the car, a great convenience although we all know how quickly the phone battery runs down when using navigation. Most will plug in anyway.

One of the future prospects for the automobile industry is the recent push for autonomous driving technology, which is obviously causing quite the buzz. But in the point of view and perspective of Jaguar-Land Rover’s R&D chief, Wolfgang Epple, J-LR doesn’t approve of autonomous driving technology because they don’t consider the occupants inside the car, “cargo.” “We don’t want to build a robot that delivers the cargo from A to B,” said Epple, who’s most likely referring to the connection between

Source: www.automotiveitnews.org

In this case the “connected car” is connected to the driver, and not the internet. Autonomous cars will face stiff competition from owners that enjoy driving, and cars that enable you to do that.

The pace of change is such that no forward looking visual can stay static for too long. I have therefore updated the anchor visual that looks at the digital platform, the innovation accelerators, a…

Source: frankdiana.wordpress.com

Connected cars are on the list of disruptive technologies. Cool.

“Every few months, Tesla owners receive a software update that adds new functions to their vehicle. Since the Model S was released, these have included more detailed maps, better acceleration, a hill-start mode that stops the car from rolling backwards, and a blind-spot warning (providing a car has the right sensors). Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, has said a software patch released this summer would add automated highway driving to suitably equipped models.

These software updates can do more than just add new bells and whistles. Toward the end of 2013, the company faced a safety scare when several Model S cars caught fire after running over debris that ruptured their battery packs. Tesla engineers believed the fires to be rare events, and they knew of a simple fix, but it meant raising the suspension on every Model S on the road. Instead of requiring owners to bring their cars to a mechanic, Tesla released a patch over the airwaves that adjusted the suspension to keep the Model S elevated at higher speeds, greatly reducing the chance of further accidents.”

Source: www.automotiveitnews.org

I find it interesting that Tesla’s Operating System, called Tesla OS, is a custom brewed version of Linux and they are also the first to have useful OTA capabilities in market. Soon the rest of the industry players can catch up using some interesting software under development in the open community. What will Tesla be doing by then?  Autonomous Driving?

If Thompson Aero Seating has its way, the days of cramming into the middle seat, engaging in the passive-aggressive skirmish for the armrests, will be long gone. The Northern Ireland seating manufacturer has transformed the infamous center seat into the prime place to park yourself for the duration of your flight, thanks to its staggered Cozy Suite design.

Source: www.travelandleisure.com

I suppose it’ll take another 106 years to get these in all the planes. 

Working remotely is a dream come true, if you understand a few tricks of the trade. Here are five ways to ensure that your work-from-home situation is a success and not a dud.

Source: www.payscale.com

I like the comments about setting up your remote workspace to be hyper-productive. It’s not really much harder to work hard at producing, and much more satisfying than constant interruptions at the office. Why do you think colleagues tend to line up meetings in conference rooms all day, to avoid some of the chatter and take a mental nap?

There is a consensus in the market that despite all promises and forecasts, UBI has not become mainstream, and it is still in its infancy. Therefore, it is about the right time to stop the race for a moment and examine whether insurance telematics is going to be a success story, or is rather a bubble.About a month ago, in May 2015, the British Insurance Brokers Association (BIBA) released a research, showing the figures of UBI in the UK. The research showed that the number of live UBI policies i

Source: www.linkedin.com

I like the approach suggested, and believe one of the issues is the single data source and provider model. Imagine the internet where you decided what website to go to, and they provided the connection and service. Not much value in the long run. What is needed is a truly open connection when aggregators and service providers can compete to obtain your data (in exchange for something you want) and offer it to multiple payers. Also, all the cars need to use the same system for connectivity and communication – an open model. There are plenty of technical solutions to this and if the UBI providers will take a long term approach, they can conclude there is no profit in being a closed architecture.

The third and biggest piece on display was the Movimento OTA solution and the way this worked even with the connectivity issues on the exhibit floor was impressive. Movimento’s solution was integrated on Melco’s head unit and has the ability to update every ECU in the vehicle and this is where both SOTA and FOTA are in action. Users also have the ability to schedule their updates and this is the similarity with the Tesla system. The difference being Tesla vehicles were engineered for updates but the Movimento solution can do it on any other vehicle despite electrical network challenges.

Source: www.linkedin.com

Over-The-Air (OTA) becomes sexy in cars, something phones could not live without due to the frequency of updates needed to fix bugs after shipment and address security issues over time. Phones have a short development cycle whereas carmakers seem to think they can use long cycles to uncover bugs before start of production (SOP). Truth is that many cars ship with hundreds if not thousands of known bugs. SOP date pressure creates a panic at the end of the cycle. Good to see that Volvo and others are discovering a more reasonable approach and one that scales over time.