We will be AutoMobility LA and the LA Auto Show this week to cover the latest new releases. Even with Thanksgiving on Thursday and a stopping of most business there was connected car news this week from Apple, Tesla, Delphi, NuTonomy, Velodyne, Continental, Audi, Skorpian and Synopsys.
Apple Employees Publish Autonomous Car Paper
A paper published by Apple employees proposes VoxelNet for helping computers detect three-dimensional objects online journal arXiv It helps with determining objects better than LiDAR alone which has low resolution. Adding more sensors is expensive. VoxelNet achieves highly encouraging results in detecting pedestrians and cyclists from LiDAR point cloud note the reports authors Yin Zhou and Oncel Tuzel.
Telsa Semi Truck Priced
Telsa posted the pricing for its semi big rig truck.The base price for the truck with 300-mile range is $150,000, and the 500-mile version for $180,000. Buyers will need to put down $20,000 for a reservation. The limited “Founders Series” of trucks cost $200,000 to buy and reserve and only 1,000 will be sold.
It more than the average cost of these kinds of trucks, about $120,000. Telsa claims it will “provide $200,000+ and a two year pay back period. The truck cabin features four independent motors, centered driver seat, two large monitors and Autopilot software.
Tesla will be the first customer for the truck. The company will use its own truck to carry cargo in the US between different facilities in California and the Gigafactory in Nevada which is 258 miles away. Tesla reported at the reveal that platooning technology to reduce the cost of operation to $0.85 per miles with a three-truck convoy.
VP of Trucks, Jerome Guillen, gave a presentation about the electric truck at a conference in Europe. Tesla plans Megachargers to enable longer routes and destination chargers for its electric trucks. The truck doesn’t have key, it uses a mobile app.
A competitor the TransPower ElecTruck boasts the lowest cost for electric trucks, diesel trucks cost $1.49 a mile to operate, other electric trucks cost .44 mile mile a operate and the TransPower is .23 cents a mile to operate. Tesla has not revealed the cost per mile.
Delphi Closes nuTonomy Buy
Delphi Automotive PLC soon to be Aptiv announced that it has closed its acquisition of nuTonomy, a leading developer of autonomous driving (AD) software solutions. The addition of nuTonomy further strengthens Aptiv’s position as a technology leader in the global autonomous mobility market.
Velodyne Partners with UMS
Velodyne LiDAR Inc., the world leader in 3D vision systems for autonomous vehicles, announced that it is partnering with Unmanned Solution (UMS) of South Korea to integrate its advanced LiDAR sensors into UMS’ expansive autonomous technology development program.
UMS’ autonomous program represents a broad spectrum of activities, including on-road vehicles, agricultural equipment, robots, and autonomous systems integration, as well as the development of an instructional platform for educational programs serving students studying autonomous and robotics technology. The company has deployed over 100 autonomous vehicles in South Korea thus far with more planned, all outfitted with varying combinations of Velodyne’s VLP-16, HDL-32, and HDL-64 LiDAR sensors. With its growing test fleet, UMS is working to develop car control and sensor fusion technologies for safety systems and autonomous vehicles that will usher in new levels of road safety.
DCTO Config App from Continental
The new DTCO configuration app from Continental now makes it possible for fleet managers to communicate with the DTCO 3.0 tachograph and configure it on their own, thus saving valuable time. When new vehicles are added to the fleet, managers no longer have to visit an authorized repair shop and enter settings like license numbers, early warnings and the behavior of the tachograph when the ignition is switched off. “With this new app in our portfolio, tachographs can be configured in just a few minutes instead of a few hours,” says Dr. Lutz Scholten, Head of Tachographs, Telematics and Services at Continental. “New vehicles can go into operation shortly after they are picked up, without a lot of administrative burden. We’ve created a user-friendly solution that simplifies the work of fleet operators, optimizes their processes and thus improves efficiency.”
Fast Skorpian Engineering
Sratasys Ltd, global leader in applied additive technology solutionannounced that specialist automotive service bureau, Skorpion Engineering, is producing complex automotive prototypes 50% faster than would be achievable through traditional methods.
Audi Trains Employees
Audi is making its employees fit for the digital future: Under the “data.camp” motto, the automobile manufacturer has started a further-training campaign focused on big data and artificial intelligence. Expertise in these areas is an essential basis for the development of cars driving in piloted mode, intelligent robots and digital mobility services. One important element here is Audi’s cooperation with the online platform Udacity.///
Synopsys LuciDShape Software
Synopsys, Inc. announced the latest release of its LucidShape CAA V5 Based software product, which allows designers to perform optical simulations and analyses of automotive lighting products within the CATIA V5 environment. LucidShape CAA V5 Based version 2017.09, now available, gives designers the flexibility to simulate multiple lighting functions and optical design variations in the same part or product. This can substantially speed optical analyses and the exploration of design solutions. Other enhancements support efficient troubleshooting of signal lighting optical systems and expand the tool set for constructing and optimizing automotive light guides.
LucidShape CAA V5 Based supports fast, accurate simulations of automotive lighting part-level models and product-level assemblies, providing the most comprehensive CATIA-based optical simulations available. The simulation functionality has been enhanced to support the definition of multiple simulation configurations, allowing designers to specify which sources, actors and sensors participate in each simulation. This makes it easy to analyze different lighting functions, such as low and high beams and signal lighting functions, without having to manually reconfigure the model between simulations.
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