Connected Car News Tips: Infor, car2go ZG, Faurecia, Visteon, Wind River, Maven, nuTonomoy,Toyota & Porsche

In connected car news this week were Infor, car2go ZG, Faurecia, Visteon, Wind River, Maven, nuTonomoy, Toyota and Porsche.

 Infor CloudSuite

Infor announced a significant update to Infor CloudSuite Automotive to incorporate certification from American Honda Motor Company as an approved electronic data interchange (EDI)/barcode software solution to simplify the manufacturing process. This latest update delivers the application on the Infor Xi technology stack, which provides a more robust design and is infused with big data analytics. Infor CloudSuite Automotive provides enhancements for shipment fulfillment, line side labeling, repetitive manufacturing and quality management in addition to the Honda certification.

car2Go Drive on Road to Zero

car2go NA, promoted road safety goals with the launch of a pilot program that rewards car2go members who take online road safety education courses provided free-of-charge by car2go. The largest one-way carsharing service made the announcement today at the annual Vision Zero Cities conference in New York City.

car2go also announced it has joined the Road to Zero Coalition, a body composed of private companies, nonprofits, city, state and federal government agencies dedicated to driving traffic deaths down to zero within the next 30 years.

Magna Technology Advisory Council

Magna has assembled a Technology Advisory Council to contribute to future innovation projects, provide direction to Magna’s technology road maps and identify additional business opportunities.

The Advisory Council is led by Swamy Kotagiri, Magna Chief Technology Officer (CTO), and consists of some of the most recognized and respected experts in the global automotive and tech industries. The council brings a wider circle of insight, knowledge and experience from various industries that ultimately helps accelerate the execution of Magna’s technology and business objectives.

ZF Partners with Faurecia

ZF and Faurecia, both leading global systems suppliers for cars and trucks, will cooperate in a strategic partnership for the development of disruptive and differentiating interior and safety technologies for autonomous driving. Within this special advanced engineering partnership the two companies will identify and develop innovative safety and interior solutions linked to different potential occupant positions.

Visteon Wins CAM Prize

Visteon Corporation has been awarded The German Center of Automotive Management’s (CAM) 2017 top innovation prize in the “strongest innovation from automotive supplier – interface and connectivity” category for its market-leading SmartCore cockpit domain controller solution. The presentation took place at the automotive INNOVATIONS award ceremony hosted by the CAM and Pricewaterhouse Cooper (PwC) Automotive, at Frankfurt’s Tower 185 on May 4.

Wind River’s Titanium Cloud

Telco clouds based on Wind River’s Titanium Cloud architecture have been proven to address the critical challenges presented by deployments in a wide range of core, edge and access use cases.

The primary CPU-related challenges are all about contention. Multiple guests contending for the same resources can result in unpredictable performance for all, so various techniques must be employed to prevent this situation. These include reducing or disabling CPU overcommit, setting the correct CPU thread policy and using dedicated CPUs for each guest. CPU cache contention can be avoided by the use of an appropriate CPU thread policy and also by leveraging Intel’s Cache Allocation Technology. CPU contention between host and guest(s) should be eliminated by avoiding System Management Interrupts (SMIs) as well as by controlling CPU “stealing” by host processes and kernel threads.

Maven Expands for Gigs from GrubHub, Instacar, Roadie & Ridesharing

Maven is expanding its flexible mobility platform to accelerate the gig economy. Maven Gig drivers are provided access to vehicles they can use for independent gigs that they choose, such as package delivery, food or grocery delivery, and ridesharing. The program is live in San Diego and will launch in San Francisco and Los Angeles later this year. Initial partners include GrubHub, Instacart, Roadie and ridesharing services.

Maven recently deployed more than 100 Chevrolet Bolt EVs with an EPA-estimated range of 238 milesi into car-sharing and ridesharing services in California

With no penalty for early returns after one week, Maven Gig is a low-risk way to test out the freelance economy and get your side hustle on. Potential drivers who do not own a vehicle or are unable to use their personal vehicle can now generate income by participating in the sharing economy. Maven Gig serves as a singular portal allowing access to vehicles that could be used for multiple sharing services with endless possible gigs.

nuTonomy & PSA Partner

nuTonomy, the leading developer of state-of-the-art software for self-driving cars, and Groupe PSA today announced a strategic partnership through which nuTonomy will seamlessly integrate its sophisticated software system into customized PEUGEOT 3008 SUVs for on-road testing of fully autonomous cars in Singapore.  The PEUGEOT 3008 SUV was recently named 2017 European Car of the Year.

Under the initial phase of the partnership, nuTonomy will install its software, along with specialized sensors and computing platforms, into PEUGEOT 3008 SUV vehicles that have been customized by PSA’s innovation teams. nuTonomy expects to complete the integration of its autonomous vehicle (AV) system this summer, with on-road testing of the self-driving 3008s beginning in Singapore in September.

Toyota Project Portal for Port of LA Trucks

Toyota’s ‘Project Portal’ is designing a heavy-duty hydrogen fuel cell system for class 8 truck use at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Ricardo provided technical assistance to the project, including areas of design, vehicle build, testing and development, and is currently supporting vehicle trials.

Project Portal is the next step in Toyota’s effort to broaden the application of zero-emission fuel cell technology that can serve a range of industries. It is a fully functional heavy duty class 8 truck with adequate power and torque capacity to conduct port drayage operations while emitting nothing but water vapor. Heavy duty vehicles make up a significant percentage of the annual emissions output at the San Pedro Bay ports, and the Portal feasibility study may provide another path to further reduce emissions.

The Project Portal platform is designed to provide the target performance required to support port drayage operations. The truck generates more than 670 horsepower and 1325 pound feet of torque from two Mirai fuel cell stacks and a 12kWh battery, a relatively small battery to support class 8 load operations. The concept’s gross combined weight capacity is 80,000 lbs., and its estimated driving range is more than 200 miles per fill, under normal drayage operation.

Porsche Pulls Plane

A completely standard Porsche Cayenne has successfully towed an Air France Airbus A380 weighing 285-tonnes. The Cayenne, driven by Porsche GB technician Richard Payne, towed the aircraft over a distance of 42-metres at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, to set a new Guinness World Records title for Heaviest aircraft pull by a production car, by a margin of 115-tonnes.

Pravin Patel, Adjudicator, Guinness World Records: ‘I’ve verified some amazing record attempts during my time as a Guinness World Records adjudicator – watching a Porsche Cayenne tow one of the largest aircraft in the world definitely ranks as among the most spectacular. My congratulations go out to all those involved in achieving this remarkable feat.’