Connected Car News: Cartivator, Ridecell, AAA, Faraday, u-blox, HARMAN, NextInput & NexisLexis

After the Memorial Day holiday, connected car news is a little shorter this week. However, Cartivator, Ridecell, AAA, Faraday Tech, u-blox, HARMAN, NextInput, NexisLexis and Cars.com offered news.

When Toyotas Fly?

Cartivator in Japan, a company partially funded by Toyoted  tested a 1/1 scale experimental machine which will developed later into a flying car. The parts production team repaired perfectly the propeller which was slightly damaged with stone and sand .

Ridecell Proples AAA GIG Car Share.

Ridecell is providing the technology infrastructure for GIG Car Share, a new mobility service launched by AAA Northern California, Nevada & Utah. GIG Car Share is an innovative one-way carsharing service and is the first of its kind in the San Francisco Bay Area. Launched recently in Oakland and Berkeley, Gig enables people to find a nearby car, get in, and go—demonstrating the auto club’s ongoing commitment to meeting the needs of a new generation of drivers. The collaboration on the Gig service expands Ridecell’s customer portfolio and further affirms its leadership in the new mobility space.

Faraday Tech’s ASIC

Faraday Technology Corporation a leading ASIC design service and IP provider, announced  that it has completed the first-ever automotive ASIC device qualified for AEC-Q100 and AEC-Q006 as defined by the Automotive Electronics Council (AEC). This milestone achievement demonstrates Faraday’s readiness to participate in this quality-driven marketplace bringing considerable ASIC/SoC design and manufacturing capability to automotive applications.

This AEC-qualified ASIC device on UMC 40nm was co-developed with a World-Class automotive IC provider. It is packaged in a standard 324BGA with copper bond wiring for maximum cost effectiveness. During the development phase, Faraday played a key role in managing and coordinating all constituent suppliers to ensure conformity to all corresponding reliability methods and standards. In addition to guaranteeing the outgoing quality of the shipped devices, Faraday also provided all of the testing methodology and circuits, with strict test patterns based on typical automotive operating environments. The first silicon sample out of UMC Fab was successfully verified in system and passed all AEC-Q100/Q006 reliability testing.

u-blox VERA-PI V2X Mods

u‑blox announced the VERA‑P1 series, the latest in its range of V2X modules designed to accelerate the development of safer and more automated vehicles. The goal of developing safe and reliable self‑driving cars can only be realized through technology. The automotive industry, governments and standards bodies all agree it will require vehicles to be in constant contact with other vehicles and their surroundings, known respectively as Vehicle‑To‑Vehicle (V2V) and Vehicle‑to‑Infrastructure (V2I), but collectively as Vehicle‑to‑Everything (V2X).

The VERA‑P1 module is the latest in a range of automotive-grade transceiver modules from u‑blox that complies with the IEEE 802.11p standard, enabling the next generation of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) which will deliver the autonomous driving experience.

Samsung/HARMAN Joins 5GAA

Samsung and its subsidiary HARMAN, have become the latest member of the 5G Automotive Association (5GAA). Together, both companies will leverage their deep expertise in high speed connectivity and telematics to contribute to the wireless networking community, focusing on vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure communications, cloud computing, and more.

NextInput 2nd Gen Force-Sensing

NextInput, Inc., announced their 2^nd generation force-sensing solutions for a wide range of applications, including Automotive and Industrial buttons. The NextInput FT-5388 and FT-5588 enable designs that are gapless and an order of magnitude more reliable than mechanical switches. NextInput’s innovative FT-5000 Series simplifies mechanical integration and increases system longevity by eliminating elastomers used to absorb mechanical tolerances.

“There are billions of buttons in the Automotive, Industrial and IoT markets,” says Ali Foughi, NextInput CEO and Founder. “NextInput’s ability to work with diverse materials such as metal, glass, plastic, wood and leather, places us in the leading position to capture advanced industrial designs in these large markets.”

NextInput has sampled the FT-5000 Series solutions and is currently engaged with leading OEMs on various applications

Insurance Premium Increases

InsuranceQuotes reporeted the average national premium increases for the five most expensive violations:

1. DUI — 95.6%
2. Reckless driving — 87.5%
3. Careless driving — 33.0%
4. Speeding 31+ mph over the limit — 30.7%
5. Speeding 16 to 30 mph over the limit — 29.2%

Insurance Premium Deductions LexisNexis UBI in Mitsubishi

LexisNexis Risk Solutions and Mitsubishi Motors are working together to promote safer driving and enhance customer ownership experience by allowing its owners to enroll and easily participate in UBI to potentially help lower their insurance premiums and further reduce the cost of vehicle ownership.

Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC) ithe first auto manufacturer to connect its vehicles directly to the LexisNexis Telematics Exchange.

The goal of the proof of concept is to design seamless usage-based insurance (UBI) solutions for Mitsubishi automobile owners and drivers. A vehicle equipped with this technology in its head unit coupled with the Mitsubishi telematics app will automatically integrate the driving behavior data enabled and collected through the connected technology of Mitsubishi vehicles into the LexisNexis Telematics Exchange to automate and expedite the reporting process.

LexisNexis Risk Solutions and Mitsubishi Motors Corporation are working together to design seamless usage-based insurance (UBI) solutions for Mitsubishi automobile owners and drivers

Cars.com Spun-Off

TEGNA Inc.announced that it has completed the previously announced spin-off of Cars.com, creating two publicly traded companies: TEGNA, an innovative media company with the largest broadcast group among major network affiliates in the top 25 markets; and Cars.com, a leading digital automotive marketplace. TEGNA will continue trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol TGNA. Cars.com will begin “regular way” trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol CARS.