In connected car news are Kia, Lightning eMotors, Nexteer, Tactile Mobility, TI, DriveU.auto, Bringg, NACTOY, Tyrata, Kopin and SwRI.
Kia’s New Logo
Lightning eMotors Gets Order from Fairbault
-Lightning eMotors (“Lightning eMotors” or the “Company”), a leading provider of commercial electric vehicles for fleets, today announced a $45 million order for its zero-emission powertrain systems from Faribault, Minnesota-based motorcoach supplier ABC Companies. The first zero-emission motorcoach was delivered in December.
The order includes a mix of new vehicles manufactured by Lightning eMotors, as well as new zero-emission powertrain systems developed by Lightning eMotors to be upfit by ABC Companies into customers’ previously operated vehicles.
Nexteer Invests in Tactile Mobility
Nexteer Automotive expands its growing software capabilities with an investment in Tactile Mobility, the leading tactile virtual sensing and data company based in Israel.
“Nexteer’s collaboration with Tactile Mobility is a perfect complement to our existing global software business model and focus on motion control software. We are looking forward to building-out even more of our software offerings that maximize over-the-air updates and connectivity for even safer, more reliable driving,” said Robin Milavec, Senior Vice President, Executive Board Director, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and Chief Strategy Officer (CSO), Nexteer Automotive. “Software plays an important, central role in the automotive industry and especially in steering features and a driver’s connection to the road. This investment is yet another example of how we are executing our strategy for growth in alignment with key industry megatrends.”
TI Intros New Automotive Battery Monitor
Texas Instruments (TI) introduced a new automotive battery monitor and balancer that reports high-accuracy voltage measurements in systems up to 800 V. In addition, the BQ79616-Q1 streamlines Automotive Safety Integrity Level (ASIL) D compliance in hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) and electric vehicles (EVs).
Filtering system-level noise to accurately measure battery-cell voltage and temperature and reliably reporting this information to the microcontroller (MCU) are key design challenges for automotive manufacturers. The BQ79616-Q1 addresses both of these challenges to help engineers achieve battery safety goals and maximize distance per charge in wired and wireless battery management systems.
The BQ79616-Q1 battery monitor and balancer is the industry’s first to include a patented wake-up-at-fault feature. When paired with the BQ79600-Q1 SPI/UART communication interface, it enables total system shutdown when the vehicle is parked or turned off. This helps design engineers conserve battery power, improve cell balancing and support safety requirement
Texas Instruments released a major advancement in electric vehicle (EV) battery management systems (BMS) – the industry’s highest-performing solution for wireless BMS, featuring the first independently assessed functional safety concept. Through an advanced wireless protocol with the industry’s best network availability, TI’s wireless BMS solution demonstrates how vehicle designers can remove heavy, expensive, maintenance-prone cabling and improve the reliability and efficiency of EVs worldwide.
TI’s solution for wireless BMS empowers automakers to reduce the complexity of their designs, improve reliability and reduce vehicle weight to extend driving range. With the flexibility to scale designs across production models, automakers can advance to production faster with TI’s comprehensive wireless BMS offering, including the SimpleLink™ 2.4-GHz CC2662R-Q1 wireless microcontroller (MCU) evaluation module, software and functional safety enablers such as a functional safety manual; failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA); diagnostic analysis (FMEDA); TÜV SÜD concept report; and more. To learn more, read the blog post, “More miles, fewer wires in future electric vehicles.”
DriveU.auto Teleoperation
DriveU.auto, developer of a software-based connectivity platform for autonomous vehicle teleoperation, announces the objectives and main deliverables of the Andromeda consortium, a multi-disciplinary consortium developing the technological infrastructure needed for teleoperation of large scale autonomous vehicle fleets in urban areas. The group is working together with leading OEMs to implement their stringent demands for the teleoperation market.
The key objective of the consortium is to extend the ratio between a remote human operator and the number of controlled vehicles/robots from where the industry is at today, by a thousand-fold and more. This will be made possible by taking a holistic approach towards addressing the main challenges of teleoperation: low latency, high quality video and data transmission, human-machine interface, cybersecurity, interoperability and scalability.
Over the next three years and with a planned budget of $17M, the consortium, which was established by the Israel Innovation Authority and is spearheaded by DriveU.auto, will lay the foundations for industry and regulators for the widespread deployment of teleoperation of autonomous vehicle fleets, including robotaxis, delivery robots, trucking, and more.
Deliverables will be made within the following domains:
- Scalable Medium Management to overcome situations where many autonomous vehicles require remote assistance at the same time and from the same location. Example: multiple robotaxis exiting a stadium at the end of a sports event.
- Adaptive Distributed Architecture utilizing mobile edge devices to improve network load management of and latency between teleoperation centers. Example: actively switch between long-distance autonomous trucks’ teleoperation centers, taking into account latency and load.
- Heterogeneous fleet control and management optimizing the utilization of remote drivers and teleoperation centers with regard to multiple types of vehicles and multiple remote assistance events. Example: enable specialization of remote operators to specific vehicles or scenarios while optimally managing the virtual queue of events.
- AI-based Smart Assistant reducing the need for remote assistance using real time feedback to the vehicle AI. Example: use ‘Learning from Observation’ to provide vehicles with the correct course of action, with no need for a full remote operations session.
- Smart event management predicting remote assistance events in advance, allowing for proactive interventions with a shorter duration. Example: identify that the vehicle is entering a complex scenario where the confidence level of the AI is decreasing, and since there are available remote operators, proactively request remote vehicle control.
- Advanced Remote Operation assisting teleoperators in the remote driving activity, including safety management, intervention escalation and adaptive restrictions. Example: provide more restrictive speed limits based on the intervention scenario in order to maintain the required level of safety.
Bringg Partners with Uber
Bringg, the leading delivery and fulfillment cloud platform provider, announced it has partnered globally with Uber to improve the retail delivery experience for customers across the world. Through this partnership, which covers retail and B2B sectors, Bringg’s customers now have seamless access to drivers through Uber Direct, which enables them to provide same-day and next-day delivery, without needing to sacrifice key delivery elements like branding, measurement, visibility, or quality.
NACTOY Winners to Be Announced
The North American Car, Truck and Utility Vehicle of the Year (NACTOY) Award™ winners will be announced at 11 a.m. EST Monday, January 11 during a virtual event with representatives from winning automakers.
The Finalists include:
|
Car of the Year |
Truck of the Year |
Utility Vehicle of the Year |
|
– Genesis G80 – Hyundai Elantra – Nissan Sentra |
– Ford F-150 – Jeep Gladiator Mojave |
– Ford Mustang Mach E – Genesis GV80 – Land Rover Defender |
Now in their 28th year, the NACTOY awards are sel
Tyrata Intros Tyrata.io
Tyrata, Inc., a tire sensor and data management company, announces Tyrata.io, a cloud-based, comprehensive data portal for its IntelliTread™ tire tread monitoring products. Tyrata.io is an easy-to-use, interactive portal that works in combination with Tyrata’s Drive-Over System (DOS) to provide direct tire measurement and real-time tread wear analysis for large vehicle fleets. The system fully automates tread depth measurements and analytics needed for efficient tire-management and safe vehicle operation. The solution has no hardware cost and is deployed within hours with no impact to current fleet operations.
The IntelliTread™ Drive-Over System was developed based on the unmet need for low-cost, easy-to-deploy tire tread monitoring in both passenger and commercial vehicle fleets. The Drive-Over System collects tire tread wear data when a vehicle drives over a speedbump-like unit that is now linked to Tyrata.io, a cloud-based data analytics platform to inform service and depot managers about the actual condition of their tires in real time.
By logging into their account at Tyrata.io, fleet operators will open a secure data portal where they can monitor the health of any individual tire with an ability to obtain instant tire history and analytics at a click of a button. Operators can also get comprehensive, fleet-wide tire wear.//
Kopin Ships OLED microdisplays
-Kopin® Corporation (NASDAQ: KOPN), a leading developer and provider of high-resolution microdisplays and display subassemblies for defense, enterprise, industrial, consumer and medical products, announced it has shipped its 720p (1280 x 720 resolution) OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) microdisplays for a production order from a US company for public safety applications. The 0.49-inch-diagonal 720p display incorporates Kopin’s ColorMaxTM technology for superb color fidelity (greater than 90% sRGB average) and a duo-stack OLED structure for high current efficiency (over 10 candela per ampere).
SwRI Evaluates Aftertreatment Catalysts
Southwest Research Institute has expanded its capability to evaluate internal combustion engine aftertreatment catalysts, integrating an existing SwRI technology with a mass spectrometer. To meet emission regulations, engine manufacturers install aftertreatment systems to treat exhaust and reduce harmful pollutants escaping into the environment. Aftertreatment system components undergo stringent testing to ensure they effectively decrease pollutants. SwRI is bolstering the testing process by incorporating a mass spectrometer, enabling a broader range of aftertreatment performance evaluations in real time.
A mass spectrometer identifies a molecule by analyzing its mass-to-charge ratio, detecting chemicals invisible to other instruments. Researchers added the mass spectrometer to SwRI’s Universal Synthetic Gas Reactor (USGR®), a catalyst performance testing solution that incorporates a Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectrometer, which uses IR radiation to identify and quantify molecules present in a gas sample. Different chemical structures absorb light at specific wavelengths, producing unique spectral fingerprints. The combination of technologies provides simultaneous FTIR and mass spectrometry data, allowing accurate and rapid identification of exhaust stream components.