Automakers and researchers say a new simulated city at the University of Michigan could help speed the development of driverless and connected cars.

Source: www.wirelessweek.com

Ann Arbor is a pretty good idea for testing real world conditions of autonomous cars. A prior project in that city called Connected Vehicle Proving Grounds was not able to gather much momentum or paying customers. With the catchy title of self-driving, marketing savvy may prove a site like this will be good for interoperability testing if the millions of funding can be captured from future customers.

Hoffmann-Krippner is working with Guttersberg Consulting to bring its SensoFoil sensing technology to the connected car market. This technology will allow the drivers touch on the steering wheel to be ‘sensed’ to ultimately alert the driver and/or the vehicle itself to take corrective action if an unwarranted change in pressure is identified. During the normal course of driving, the pressure on the steering wheel changes and the driver’s hands are constantly moving. SensoFoil allows the tracking

Source: www.automotiveitnews.org

I wonder what happens when you start steering with your knees so you can send text messages. Ok, admit it… 

Currently, two projects are in progress, the Mobility Transformation Centre and theConnected Vehicle (CV) Pilots Deployment project. Both are spin-offs of the recently completed Connected Vehicle Safety Pilot programme carried out in Ann Arbor, Michigan, which tested the readiness of dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) in a connected vehicle for use in vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), and involved approximately 2,800 cars, trucks and transit vehicles equipped with V2V systems.

Stepper explained that the Mobility Transformation Centre, which is hosted by the University of Michigan, is a “significant expansion” of the Safety Pilot project, including using 9,000 vehicles with V2V and V2X technology, using a far greater testing area and, eventually 20,000 vehicles at 500 nodes, such as traffic lights and intersections, and to broaden the scope of testing to include, for the first time, automated vehicles.

The testing will be carried out in several counties in south-eastern Michigan and will include equipping non-vehicle road users, such as pedestrians and cyclists, with DSRC devices. “They will be communicating with cars and the infrastructure by sending out signals that they are there,” Stepper said. “The target of this model is to avoid crashes or to mitigate the consequences of a collision, including those involving pedestrians and cyclists.”

“A similar model deployment for automated vehicles and this project will be carried out in and around Ann Arbor and involves 2,000 vehicles and some 27 square miles of densely instrumented infrastructure. We at Bosch are extremely excited by it.”

Source: www.automotiveitnews.org

V2X is HOT, finally!

Regardless of any critics concerns is being deployed in large scale tests. There is no other auto technology that can see around corners, so adds a lot of value to safety systems. A big opportunity for silicon suppliers, Renesas is already underway on a 2nd generation chipset that will appear in these tests. Now more OEMS and Tier1s are standing up to see the revenue coming.

“The transportation industry is ripe for disruption. Either we kind of drive that disruption and gain from the new business models that will emerge, or we let someone else do it.”
BMW, Volkswagen AG’s Audi and Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz compete head-to-head on everything from new models to passenger comforts. But the threat of an Apple car has helped prod them to make a joint bid to acquire Nokia Oyj’s HERE digital map business, which may fetch as much as $4 billion, people familiar with the matter have said.

Source: www.bloomberg.com

Do you really think not owning HERE is preventing the car industry from establishing digital payments with Starbucks? They’ve have about 15 years to get it going and have yet to see any kind of apps in cars, let along competing ones from the German 5. HERE is critical to their supply chain and legacy vehicles while Google Android and Apple move in with maps customers like. Meanwhile the car industry can work on adding value to them, such as the open W3C defined vehicle interface API and new UX creation that really streamlines smartphone integration.

Now for automated vehicles you will need good maps, and if HERE is the source, not Google, this would be a good deal. Let Apple scoop the coffee while making sure cars give people what they want, less crashes.

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.