In connected car news are GM, MapUp, aiMotive, ROHM, CarFax, Utility Trailer and Trio-Tech.
GM Truck Cockpit With Split-Screen Phone Projection
General Motors is overhauling how drivers interact with their trucks, unveiling a redesigned cabin interface that debuts on the 2027 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 and 2027 GMC Sierra 1500. The system runs on a unified, scalable software architecture that GM plans to extend across both its internal combustion and electric lineups, and its signature feature is a split-screen and picture-in-picture layout for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Rather than letting a projected phone screen take over the entire display, the new design renders phone apps inside modular contextual cards that sit alongside native truck telemetry and dedicated trailering graphics.
The redesigned digital cockpit includes a configurable multi-view home screen, telephony banners that no longer interrupt the full display, high-contrast visual themes, and an instrument cluster that adapts its layout to the selected driving mode. For hands-free Super Cruise operation, the architecture adds updated 3D spatial visualization cards that render live surrounding traffic, roadway geometry, and active lane boundaries in real time, particularly useful during towing and highway driving.
Towing itself gets its own expanded ecosystem within the interface. Connecting a hitch automatically triggers trailer profile data, surfacing trailer-aware navigation routing, hitch alignment cameras, and diagnostic sequencing for trailer lights. The system supports over-the-air updates and keeps native Google built-in services running alongside physical controls for climate and core mechanical functions — a nod to drivers who still want tactile buttons for the basics.
MapUp Offers Real-Time Fuel and Infrastructure Data
Fleet navigation provider MapUp has pushed a major update to its NavGuru platform, tying together back-office dispatch, fuel purchase compliance, toll intelligence, and in-cab routing into a single system. The update maps roughly 243,000 commercial vehicle points of interest and infrastructure constraints, including more than 200,000 low-clearance bridges, weigh stations, certified tank washes, and 22,500 truck parking facilities with live capacity data pulled from state reporting feeds.
NavGuru now synchronizes directly with fleets’ back-office fuel files and negotiated fuel card pricing, building purchasing rules directly into turn-by-turn routing delivered through in-cab ELD hardware and mobile devices. When a driver deviates from a planned route, the system automatically recalculates fuel stops and toll costs, feeding updated cost-variance metrics into dispatch dashboards that draw on telematics data from providers including Geotab, Samsara, Motive, and Platform Science. Fleets can also set up speed-aware geofencing for hazmat restrictions, steep grades, and high-theft corridors without needing to push out localized software updates.
On the back end, MapUp’s tools reconcile GPS breadcrumbs against prescribed routes to audit compliance after each trip, distinguishing genuine driver deviations from automated reroutes triggered by state and provincial road-condition data. Carrier deployment figures cited by the company show that building fuel optimization directly into cab-level guidance pushes negotiated fuel compliance above 98 percent while reducing clearance-related safety incidents.
Nexar and Nauto Merge into Empiric Earth
Connected vehicle intelligence platform Nexar and predictive fleet safety company Nauto have completed their merger, combining operations under a new corporate identity, Empiric Earth. Under Chief Executive Officer Zach Greenberger, the newly merged company is positioning itself as a vendor-neutral data source, pooling sensor telemetry into an open dataset for automakers, autonomous vehicle developers, commercial fleets, and insurers.
The scale of that dataset is substantial: more than 350,000 active connected vehicle sensors capturing over 300 million miles of driving each month across 50 countries, built on a historical base of more than 10 billion miles and 60 million documented safety edge cases. By analyzing near-miss patterns and how risk escalates in real time across multiple sensor modalities, Empiric Earth says its predictive models have cut fleet collision losses by 50 to 80 percent. Notably, the company has deliberately stayed out of vehicle manufacturing and automated driving system development, a choice it frames as key to maintaining its role as neutral, shared industry ground truth.
aiMotive’s Ground Truth Validation
Automated driving software supplier aiMotive has introduced two new hardware suites, the aiMotive Rig and the aiMotive Rooftop Box, designed to collect the ground truth data needed to validate ADAS and automated driving systems. Both systems are built around Hexagon NovAtel PwrPak7D-E2 enclosures, which run GNSS and inertial navigation sensor fusion to anchor precise positioning and synchronized timestamping.
The compact aiMotive Rig pairs a Hesai OT128 lidar with the NovAtel positioning core, aimed at static environment reconstruction, high-definition mapping, and lane-level algorithm benchmarking within aiMotive’s aiData processing toolchain. The larger aiMotive Rooftop Box adds a six-camera Sony IMX728 optical array and dual Hesai lidar sensors to the same GNSS and inertial navigation stack, enabling full 360-degree coverage for dynamic actor detection, neural scene reconstruction, and synthetic environment rendering through aiMotive’s World Extractor engine.
Both platforms run aiMotive’s proprietary aiRec recording software, which continuously monitors sensor health and synchronization in real time. Available either as hardware for purchase or as a turnkey data-collection service, the systems feed directly into aiMotive’s auto-annotation pipeline, streamlining the path from raw sensor data to simulation and physical drive validation.
ROHM’s New MOSFET 4 Automotive Safety Circuits
Power semiconductor maker ROHM has released the RS4P063BPHZG, a 100V N-channel MOSFET qualified to the AEC-Q101 automotive standard and built to handle transient power surges in vehicle safety systems. Housed in the industry-standard HPLF5060 package, the device is aimed at protection circuits for airbag inflator ignition loops, seatbelt pretensioners, and high-voltage battery disconnect pyro-fuses — components where a failure under stress isn’t an option.
ROHM’s silicon design suppresses secondary breakdown at elevated drain-to-source voltages, widening the device’s safe operating margin during short bursts of stress. Under a 100V, 100-microsecond pulse, the new MOSFET delivers roughly five times the safe operating area tolerance of standard footprint-equivalent parts, helping prevent the localized current crowding and thermal runaway that can occur during fault-clearing and inductive clamp events. The part carries a continuous drain current rating of 120A, maximum power dissipation of 384W, and a typical RDS(on) of 4.9 milliohms at a 10V gate-source drive.
Mass production began in mid-2026, and ROHM says it is already developing larger wide-SOA variants in HPLF8080 and leaded TOLG packages to handle the higher thermal loads expected in next-generation EV power distribution units.
LoJack Wins Dealers’ Choice Award
LoJack, part of Solera Dealer Solutions, has won the 2026 Auto Dealer Today Dealers’ Choice Award for Vehicle Tracking, adding to its earlier recognition as GPS Tracking Device of the Year at the AutoTech Breakthrough Awards. The recognition reflects how widely dealerships have adopted LoJack’s telematics and asset-protection hardware, positioning the brand against a fragmented field of aftermarket tracking tools.
LoJack’s platform combines lot management and inventory auditing with consumer-facing connected services, all layered on top of a 47-year-old law enforcement recovery network. Working with more than 14,000 law enforcement agencies through its LoJack LE mobile app and National Recovery Team, the company reports a 98 percent recovery rate across more than 200,000 recovered vehicles, backed by a dealer recovery hotline and recovery guarantees of up to $10,000 per vehicle. On the dealership side, LoJack says its system adds $300 to $500 in finance and insurance profit per vehicle sold, cuts inventory audit times by up to 300 percent, and drives a 52 percent response rate on service and retention notifications sent through its MyDealer app.
Solera is now weaving LoJack’s real-time telematics directly into its broader Dealer OS ecosystem, feeding vehicle telematics and lifecycle data into its central Solera AI Engine. That links a single customer and VIN profile across DealerSocket CRM lead intake, service scheduling, titling compliance, and predictive marketing — folding stolen vehicle recovery into the same cloud-based system dealerships already use to run daily operations.
Utility Trailer Integrates Bendix
Utility Trailer Manufacturing Company has rolled out a significant expansion of its TrailerConnect telematics platform across its refrigerated units, dry vans, and flatbeds, aiming to squeeze more uptime out of trailer fleets through better visibility into how each asset is performing. The updated platform adds remote diagnostic layers that pull together system monitoring data and diagnostic trouble codes, helping fleets shift from reactive repairs to preventive maintenance.
To strengthen active safety monitoring, TrailerConnect now integrates with the Bendix iTEBS X braking and electronic control suite, enabling predictive fault isolation that can flag developing problems before they become breakdowns. Utility is routing implementation and ongoing service through its dealer network and that of Cargobull, giving carriers a single path for onboarding, telematics gateway setup, and continued maintenance support — tying the platform’s diagnostic data directly to local parts inventory and dealer service bays.
Trio-Tech’s $4.7 Million EV Semiconductor Testing Contract
Trio-Tech International has signed a three-year production burn-in agreement with a global integrated device manufacturer operating in Europe and North America, guaranteeing at least $4.7 million in billings with potential upside to $6 million. The contract covers high-reliability semiconductor components built for electric vehicle powertrains and related automotive systems.
Under the agreement, Trio-Tech will use its own customized burn-in hardware to put components through automotive-grade qualification, operational life testing, and defect screening — a step that has become more critical as software-defined vehicles, advanced driver-assistance systems, and powertrain electrification push more semiconductor content into every car. The deal marks Trio-Tech’s second dedicated EV semiconductor customer relationship, adding to the company’s back-end testing and qualification business across its Asia facilities and extending its production qualification work with Tier 1 automotive chipmakers.
Carfax Finds More Than a Quarter of Taxis and Rideshare Vehicles Have Open Recalls
A new Carfax investigation examining more than 435,000 vehicle identification numbers found that roughly 27 percent of taxis and rideshare vehicles across 16 major U.S. metro areas are operating with unaddressed safety recalls, well above the 20 percent baseline for the broader domestic passenger fleet. The variance between cities was stark: New York City medallion taxis topped the list at 38.6 percent, followed closely by Seattle cabs at 37.5 percent, while Los Angeles came in at 11.4 percent and Boston at just 9.24 percent.
Commercial transport advocates point to supply-chain delays between when a recall is announced and when repair parts actually become available as a major driver of the backlog, while safety organizations note that many of the unresolved recalls involve serious failure modes, including mechanical components and hazardous airbag inflators. Oversight varies just as widely as the numbers themselves: New York excludes certain critical safety directives from its mandatory inspection process entirely, a gap that helps explain why its taxi fleet posts some of the highest unresolved recall rates in the country.