Connected Car News: Cohda, Cadillac, AGC, Procon Analytics, Innoviz, Kalray, NextInput, Spireon, Crocus, 5G AA, CSA, Bosch & Sony

 

Embedded Chips and Connected Car News Tips is late this week due to the Memorial Day Holiday. Subscribers to the “Weekly News Summary” will also receive their newsletters today instead of Sunday. In connected car news this week were Cohda Wireless, Cadillac, AGC, Procon Analytics, Innoviz, Kalray, NextInput, Spireon, Crocus, 5G AA, CSA, Bosch and Sony.

Cohda V2X in Cadillac CTS

Cohda Wireless announced that the new 2017 Cadillac CTS sedan contains Cohda’s world-leading V2X software as a standard feature. V2X (Vehicle-to-Everything) uses both vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications to enable cooperation between vehicles and infrastructure to improve safety, mobility, and have a positive environmental impact.

Cohda Wireless will be supplying their Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) solutions for the 2017 Cadillac CTS, sold in the US and Canada.

DSRC is a two-way, short to medium range wireless technology defined by the 802.11p communications standard. Unlike cameras, radars or lidar sensors, DSRC isn’t bound by line of sight, offering car manufacturers a much safer and more reliable communication solution.

AGC Producess 3D Curved Display Glass

AGC Asahi Glass (AGC), a world-leading manufacturer of glass, chemicals and high-tech materials, announced it has started mass production of 3D curved cover glass for car-mounted displays at its Keihin Plant (Yokohama, Kanagawa prefecture) for the first time ever^.

AGC Group’s car-mounted display cover glass accentuates the sense of luxury and design of car interiors. Its anti-reflective surface treatment offers a number of benefits that include improved visibility and operability, which has led to its increasing adoption as the choice material for car navigation systems and information panels.

Procon Analytics  Connected Car Platform

Procon Analytics, announced the rollout of a progressive new platform that powers a new suite of connected car products and services.

Procon’s multi-national suite of products now includes:

• Procon Automotive, a dealer lifecycle management and customer retention solution platform serving new car auto dealers throughout North America.
• Elo GPS, a stolen vehicle recovery and driver monitoring mobile app sold through new car dealerships designed for consumers.
• MyCar, a mobile app allowing drivers to remotely start a vehicle from their smartphone and sold throughout North America.
• Oigo Telematics, a fleet management & vehicle recovery system supporting businesses in Latin America.

Innoviz Produces LiDAR

Innoviz Technologies announced the development of InnovizPro, after-market LiDAR solution for testing and R&D of autonomous driving technology. The company has entered into an agreement with Jabil to mass produce the product. InnovizPro will be available starting Q1 2018.

InnovizPro will deliver a high-definition, solid-state LiDAR device that uses Innoviz’s patent-pending sensor technologies and proprietary architecture to deliver superior object detection and accuracy at lower costs than existing LiDAR solutions. The product will enable auto manufacturers, shared mobility companies, autonomous driving technology companies and Tier 1 suppliers to conduct effective development and testing of autonomous driving technology.

O’Sullivan Joins motormindz

motormindz, Inc., a global automotive professional services and technology accelerator, announced today that Jim O’Sullivan, former President and CEO Mazda North America Operations, will join their globally recognized team as a Managing Partner.

O’Sullivan joins a team of recognized and experienced global automotive industry leaders including the likes of Ray Fisher from the Chrysler Group, Don Johnson from General Motors, John Felice from Ford Motor Company, Peter Miles from BMW, and many more.

Kalray MPPA3 Coolidge

Kalray announced the launch the third-generation of its high performance MPPA processor: the MPPA3 Coolidge. The third-generation of the MPPA will be available for critical embedded applications, like autonomous vehicles, aeronautics, medical devices, robotics and drones. The chip will bring unique data fusion capabilities and will be especially efficient for compute-heavy processing, like deep learning and computer vision.

The MPPA 3 Coolidge will be produced with 16nm FinFet technology and is designed for ASIL B safety functionality. It will be comprised of 80 or 160, Kalray 64-bit time predictable and energy efficient cores and, in addition to the cores themselves, will boast 80 or 160 complimentary co-processors used for the acceleration of computer vision and deep learning. The Coolidge will run at 1.2 GHz of core frequency using less than 20W of power. This superior ratio will be the key to making Coolidge work for high performance embedded applications. Coolidge performances are expected to reach up to 5 Tera FLOPS and 9 TOPS.

The MPPA Coolidge will be compatible with multiple interfaces – PCIe, Ethernet, DDR, CAN, USB and others. It will also contain security and safety blocks to keep the processor running safely and protect systems against cyber-attack.

The MPPA Coolidge will be commercially available in mid-2018. Kalray is currently working with various customers to put the Coolidge at the heart of newly developed critical embedded applications.

NextInput Outputs FT-4500

NextInput announced the FT-4500 Series are the world’s first chip-scale package MEMS force sensors to achieve AEC-Q100 qualification. These solutions are now proven to withstand the rugged environment, and meet the stringent quality standards, required by the Automotive market.

The FT-4500B and FT-4500C are offered in the automotive temperature Grade 3 (-40°C to +85°C) and Grade 2 (-40°C to +105°C), respectively. These highly reliable solutions are ideal for use in numerous in-cabin applications; including controls for the steering wheel, center console, infotainment, climate, door locks, seats, mirrors and remote keyless entry.

Spireon’s GoldStar GPS

Spireon announced the latest version of its GoldStar GPS solution for the vehicle finance industry, offering dealers and lenders an easy and efficient approach to mitigate risk while sustaining growth. The announcement is timed with the National Alliance of Buy Here Pay Here Dealers (NABD) Conference in Las Vegas, where the company’s senior vice president of sales for Automotive Solutions, Reggie Ponsford, is speaking on a panel addressing the challenges and opportunities for dealers in the Buy Here Pay Here (BHPH) space.

Crocus Licenses TMR to NXP

Crocus Technology, a leading developer of TMR magnetic sensor technology and embedded MRAM, today announced that it has licensed advanced magnetic TMR technology to NXP Semiconductors, the global leader in automotive semiconductor solutions. TMR will help enable the next generation of applications like Power steering and Electronic Throttle Control (ETC).

As mobility becomes increasingly autonomous, the need for intelligent sensing and greater efficiency also increases. Crocus TMR magnetic sensor technology provides the design basis, flexibility, and versatility for a wide range of autonomous applications, while its CMOS-friendly integration lends itself to high volume manufacturing.

The Crocus advanced sensor technology will allow NXP to deliver greater sensitivity, performance, reduced power consumption and improved integration for its automotive applications. Crocus makes this possible by offering NXP a viable and robust technology to address a wide range of applications.

AT&T, Jaguar Land Rover, NTT DOCOMO & Samsung Joing 5G AA Board

The 5G Automotive Association announced the election of its new Board members following the General Assembly held on May 11, 2017. Continuing members AUDI AG, BMW Group, China Mobile, Daimler AG, Ericsson, Ford, Huawei, Intel, Nokia, SAIC Motor, Vodafone Group and Qualcomm Incorporated will be joined by AT&T, Jaguar Land Rover, NTT DOCOMO and Samsung Electronics.

The election of AT&T, Jaguar Land Rover, NTT DOCOMO and Samsung Electronics as Board members will strengthen the position of 5GAA as a global, cross-industry association of automotive, technology and telecommunications companies. It reflects the diversity of 5GAA’s membership, both in terms of geographical spread and expertise.

Octo Telematics (Octo), provider of telematics for the auto insurance industry, with 39% of the market in terms of active usage-based insurance (UBI) policies, said today that five million cars are now connected to Octo telematics platform across the globe, a 25% increase since 2016.

To mark the milestone, Octo drove connected cars around London, Rome and Boston, collecting and analysing the telematics data from each trip to demonstrate the importance of safe driving to cut motoring costs and improve road safety. This data analysed every aspect of driving behaviour, including acceleration, braking approach to corners and a range of other actions.

CSA Connected Car Vehicle Security

The Cloud Security Alliance (CSA), the world’s leading organization dedicated to defining and raising awareness of best practices to help ensure a secure cloud computing environment,  released its first ever research and guidance report on connected vehicle security.  Authored by the CSA’s Internet of Things (IoT) Working Group, “Observations and Recommendations on Connected Vehicle Security“ is a 35-page report that provides a comprehensive perspective on vehicle security connectivity design, possible attack vectors of concern, and recommendations for securing the connected vehicle environment.

Bosch & Sony

Bosch and Sony Semiconductor Solutions have partnered to develop innovative camera technology that will enable cars to reliably sense their surroundings even in difficult lighting conditions.

Along with radar and ultrasonic sensors, video sensors are the sensory organs of modern cars. To create driver assistance systems, such as automatic emergency braking for pedestrians, lane keeping support systems, and road sign recognition, cameras are becoming increasingly integral to modern vehicle models. The advantage of video sensors is that they can detect objects and the images produced have a huge information density. For many years, Bosch has been producing video sensors in mono and stereo technology to provide a 360 degree all-round view, and is one of the leading suppliers in this sector of the automotive industry. In the future, video sensors will be a crucial component of the sensor concept for automated driving. This requires cameras that operate reliably when there is a sudden change of lighting conditions from dark to light and vice versa. In addition, they must be able to instantaneously differentiate when there are drastic differences in brightness within a shot.

U-Haul to Houston

Houston remains the No. 1 U-Haul U.S. Destination City for the eighth year in a row, according to the latest U-Haul migration trends report.

While Houston witnessed a 3.4 percent decline in 2016 arrivals compared to 2015, it continued to be the busiest domestic market for incoming U-Haul trucks.

Fatal Facts

he first recorded automobile accident in the U.S. involving two vehicles occurred on this date in 1896 in New York City. Henry Wells of Springfield, Massachusetts, was driving a new Duryea Motor Wagon, the first automobile model to be made and sold in the U.S. Unfortunately, he collided with Evelyn Thomas of New York, riding a bicycle. Thomas went to the hospital with a broken leg, and Wells spent the night in jail. Now, there are close to 6.3 million motor vehicle accidents reported to police per year, with over 35,000 of them fatal crashes. There are nearly 33,000 insurance carriers in the U.S.