Connected Car News: Tesla, GM, Cleantron, VW, Subaru, Veoneer, Humax, Xevo, Nuvve, Fisker, HONK, Polaris & Iteris

In connected car news are Tesla, GM, Cleantron, VW, Subaru, Veoneer, Humax, Xevo, Nuvve, Fisker, HONK, Polaris and Iteris.

Tesla Buys ATW Automation Automates Green Lights

Tesla reportedly is buying German ATW Automation, maker of battery production lines for assembling battery packs.

The next update for Tesla is expected to be able to drive through green lights automatically.

GM Invests in Ohio Plants

General Motors announced plans to invest $71 million into two Ohio manufacturing facilities, including $39 million at its Toledo transmission plant and $32 million at its Defiance casting plant. Work will begin immediately at the two locations. These investments will enable GM to retain 240 good-paying U.S. manufacturing jobs.

The Toledo investment will be used to upgrade and enhance the production of GM’s eight-speed rear-wheel-drive transmission and the Defiance investment will be used to prepare the facility for future engine casting components work.

Cleantron’s New Batt Pack

Cleantron has developed a powerful battery system for light electric vehicles such as electric scooters and minicars. High Power Multi Pack Configuration (HP MPC) technology combines a built-in lithium-ion battery with compact, portable lithium-ion battery units and a DC/DC-converter. With this system, vehicle manufacturers can generate higher capacity, with no extra charging infrastructure needed. The patented system is a revolution in the field of e-mobility and offers prospects for the electric transportation of people and goods as well as commercial use.

Electric driving is ‘in’, but many countries cannot sufficiently expand the charging infrastructure in urban environments. This impedes the further advance of e-mobility with electric vehicles and LEVs (Light Electric Vehicles). What is more, interchangeable batteries are often heavy and difficult to handle, and they limit the vehicle’s performance. So Cleantron has developed modular technology to increase capacity (Multi-Pack Configuration, or MPC) and generate more power (High Power MPC). High Power MPC is a groundbreaking battery system that can facilitate the transport energy transition.

Car.Software Org Buys HELLA Front Cameras

The Car.Software Org of the Volkswagen Group is acquiring the front camera software business area of software specialist HELLA Aglaia Mobile Vision GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of HELLA GmbH & Co. KGaA, including the associated testing and validation departments. Through this transaction, the software company intends to expand its competence in the field of image processing and to forge ahead with the development of automated driving functions for all Volkswagen Group brands. In the course of the acquisition, about half of the employees of HELLA Aglaia are to be transferred to the Car.Software Org. The acquisition, which is still subject to approval by the anti-trust authorities, is expected to be completed at the beginning of 2021.

Subaru Selects Veoneer

Veoneer was selected by Subaru due to its experience in stereo vision systems and opto-mechanical design capabilities. This business is included in Veoneer’s previously announced backlog.  The new generation EyeSight hardware is a variant of Veoneer’s 4th generation stereo vision system, re-engineered to meet Subaru’s original specification.

Humax Mobility Hub Service

Humax has announced that it has entered the vehicle mobility market with a total mobility solution, including a service, device and hub platform.

The company offers a range of core technologies in the field of integrated mobility, including shared mobility, commercial vehicle fleet management, parking lot operation and EV charging, and has strategically acquired and invested in related businesses globally, including Asia and the Middle East.

In the field of shared mobility, RAiDEA, a technology developed within the Humax group, is making significant inroads into the mobility market. RAiDEA is an all-in-one mobility service platform that provides an array of services such as B2C, B2B and P2P. This technology is suitable for round trip, one way and free-floating infrastructures, and is designed for vehicles including cars, motorcycles, bikes and electric scooters. RAiDEA is currently being integrated into Korea’s most advanced business-to-business car sharing service, Humax Carplat Biz.

Lear Corp’s Xevo Partners with REEF

Lear Corporation  a global automotive technology leader in Seating and E-Systems,  announced its Xevo software business has partnered with REEF Technology to allow consumers to find, reserve and pay for parking spaces from their in-vehicle touchscreen.

Integrating REEF with the award-winning Xevo Market cloud-based technology, which is already live in millions of vehicles today, eliminates the need to collect a receipt or push a button on a parking lot ticket machine, avoiding contact with often-touched surfaces during these times of social distancing.

REEF is the largest operator of parking lots and neighborhood hubs in North America with more than 4,500 off-street parking sites in the U.S. and Canada and additional locations in Europe. It is also actively transforming underutilized urban spaces into neighborhood hubs that connect people to locally-curated goods, services and experiences.

Nuvve Corp Works with Enerinet

Nuvve Corporation, a San Diego-based, green energy technology company and the global leader in vehicle-to-grid (V2G)O technology has been performing ongoing frequency regulation service for the Danish grid operator, Energinet, for four consecutive years. The first fleet of vehicles began service in September 2016 at Frederiksberg Forsyning, a municipal water and gas utility company in Denmark.

With early input from Energinet, Nuvve was able to adapt and develop its V2G software to match requirements for market participation and interconnection to the grid. Because EV batteries have a finite capacity, Nuvve’s software is able to ensure a fixed capacity delivery to the FCR-N market from variable assets: EVs that plug in and out at different times with different states of charge. Intelligent aggregation is what turns V2G into a strong case for providing FCR with grid services. After the DTU project ended in January 2019, Nuvve continued operating under a commercial agreement with the customers.

Fisker inc. Ads Bill McDermott to Board

Fisker Inc. (“Fisker”) – developer of the world’s most emotionally desirable, eco-friendly electric vehicles – today announced an important new addition to its board of directors. Bill McDermott, president and CEO of ServiceNow – the leading digital workflow company making work, work better for people – becomes the seventh member of the Fisker Inc. Board, which has been shaped in anticipation of the completion of its merger with Spartan Energy Acquisition Corporation), a special purpose acquisition company sponsored by an affiliate of Apollo Global Management, Inc. The board is comprised of seven members: two executives from Fisker, four external directors and a Spartan appointee.

HONK Tech Connects for Wawansea

HONK Technologies, the platform connecting drivers, towing professionals, and insurers, announced today that it will begin managing one of Wawanesa Insurance’s key customer touchpoints, their roadside assistance program, effective September 29, 2020.

Wawanesa’s company culture is passionate about customer satisfaction, and that focus has paid off. In June, for example, J.D. Power ranked Wawanesa Insurance No. 1 in customer satisfaction among auto insurers in California. With roadside assistance as one of their most frequent insurance claims, Wawanesa wanted to ensure the customer experience during these key touchpoints exceeded their customers’ expectations.

Wawanesa turned to HONK, not only because HONK has maintained a Net Promoter Score (NPS) of near 90 with its customers, but also for its full data transparency into their roadside assistance program. HONK provides an inside view into real-time performance analytics for all service requests, including customer ratings, comments, sentiment, volume trends and time to arrival. Having access to this type of customer touchpoint data better supports Wawanesa’s goal of delivering superior service.

Laird Connectivity New MIMO- Laird Connectivity, a global leader in wireless technology, has announced five new low profile, MIMO vehicular antennas that transform vehicles into 5G-ready communications hubs. The new antennas expand Laird Connectivity’s best-selling Gar & Barracuda family of vehicular antennas, which are widely-deployed in public safety fleets, transportation fleets and aftermarket vehicle implementations.

Polaris Partners with Zero Moto

Polaris has signed a 10-year partnership with Zero Motorcycles, a global leader in electric motorcycle powertrains and technology. This exclusive partnership in off-road vehicles (ORV) and snowmobiles is a cornerstone component of rEV’d up, Polaris’ long-term strategy to position the Company as the leader in powersports electrification. Through rEV’d up, Polaris aims to offer customers an electric vehicle option within each of its core product segments by 2025, with the first vehicle from the Zero-Polaris partnership debuting by the end of 2021.

Iteris Syncs Traffic for the OC

Iteris, Inc. the global leader in smart mobility infrastructure management, announced that it has executed the final contract and received the formal notice to proceed for a $4.7 million initiative with the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) for a regional traffic signal synchronization project.

The three-year project includes signal coordination and timing improvements, with the aim of improving traffic flow, enhancing public safety and decreasing stops.

Under the project agreement, Iteris will provide services that will upgrade traffic signal electronics and communications equipment, and optimize signal timing along Katella Avenue, a major east-west corridor that comprises key signalized intersections spanning eight cities – Anaheim, Orange, Garden Grove, Villa Park, Cypress, Los Alamitos, Stanton and County of Orange – in Orange County, California. On January 7, 2020, Iteris announced that it had been awarded a $3.6 million contract to perform the same services across Orange County’s Main Street corridor.

Iteris’ Intersection-as-a-Service™ end-to-end solution offering, a component of the ClearMobility™ Platform, will deliver proactive monitoring of traffic signal operations at all project intersections. The primary goal of this project is to deploy new intelligent transportation system (ITS) equipment and communication infrastructure to support the management of the cities’ transportation network, implement optimized coordination timing plans to achieve optimal traffic flow, and improve safety for all road users, including vehicles, buses, bicycles and pedestrians.

GM Buys Solar

General Motors announced today a new power purchase agreement for a 180-megawatt solar project, the equivalent of about 47,882 U.S. homes’ electricity use for one year ⁱ. The solar energy will come from a new solar field in Arkansas originally developed by First Solar, Inc. and will use photovoltaic solar modules. With this agreement, GM has the option to store energy for future use, a first for the company.

This deal marks a major milestone for GM – surpassing 1 gigawatt in renewable energy use, which equates to about 110 million LEDsⁱⁱ. General Motors is currently the 11th largest offtaker of renewable power in the U.S., and the largest offtaker in the manufacturing sector.

This power purchase agreement will supply three GM sites in the Midwest: Wentzville Assembly in Missouri and Michigan’s Lansing Delta Township Assembly will be fully powered by solar energy, and the remaining power will be allocated to Lansing Grand River Assembly.