CES 2018 has brought an explosion of autmotive, autonomous and connected car news. The show floor is exploding with excitment. What was the most wanted swag? It seemed that the Ford booth with with its alternative impressionic pointelist vison of a beautiful mobile future, and its free liquid nitrogen-made ice cream in either sugar cones or sticky buns was worth the wait. Companies that announced new products include Toyota, Clarion, Hitachi, Qualcomm, TI, Local Motors, Cypress Semi, Quanergy and more.
Alexa Start My Toyota
Toyota announced it will introduce Amazon Alexa, Amazon’s intelligent cloud based voice service, within select Toyota and Lexus vehicles with Toyota Entune 3.0 App Suite and Lexus Enform App Suite 2.0 in 2018. Additional models will be available in 2019. This feature will allow Toyota and Lexus customers in the United States to interact with Alexa in the car.
Once Alexa is enabled, just ask her to do things like adjust your smart home’s temperature so it’s comfortable when you get there, add milk to your shopping list on your way to the store, or listen to your audiobook from Audible.
Hitachi/Clarion Self-Park by Memory
Hitachi Automotive Systems, Ltd. and Clarion Co., Ltd. announced the development of Park-by-Memory autonomous parking technology that remembers the environment surrounding users’ home parking spaces. Moving forward, the companies will aim for the initial adoption of this system through proposals to automotive manufacturers.
In order to memorize parking environments and parking patterns, Park-by-Memory integrates bird’s-eye footage provided by SurroundEye, an original camera system by Clarion that is fitted to the left and right sides of the front and back of the vehicle, with detection data on surrounding structures obtained using sonar signals as well as GPS positional information. This enables vehicles equipped with Park-by-Memory to notify drivers that it is possible to park when the vehicle approaches memorized parking spaces. Drivers can initiate autonomous parking by simply pressing a button in the vehicle, or by using their smartphone app.
Park-by-Memory uses high-precision image recognition data from SurroundEye® so that it can autonomously park in parking spaces of various shapes, including parking spaces only designated by white lines. In addition, the use of existing general vehicle navigation GPS information, rather than using a specialized positional information system, has facilitated the technology’s early introduction.
Maxim Supports NVIDIA
Maxim Integrated Products has collaborated with NVIDIA to support the industry’s first Level 5 full-autonomy system, the NVIDIA DRIVE Pegasus platform, as well as NVIDIA DRIVE Xavier for Level 4 driving.
Maxim’s Automotive Safety Integrity Level (ASIL) solutions and high-performance analog integration, which include next-generation gigabit multimedia serial link (GMSL) serializer and deserializer (SerDes) technology, as well as a power system monitoring solution, provide the flexible foundation necessary to meet functional safety requirements for NVIDIA’s autonomous driving platform.
Maxim’s ASIL rated voltage/power monitoring and SerDes technology will be used by NVIDIA to achieve the industry’s first Level 5 autonomous driving system needed to make self-driving cars a reality.
Maxim’s next-generation 6Gbps GMSL SerDes technology supports the high data rate, complex interconnect, and data integrity requirements of future automotive infotainment, ADAS, and autonomous driving. This technology also provides the safety relevant features and flexibility needed to build autonomous driving systems such as the DRIVE Pegasus and DRIVE Xavier platforms. As part of the high-performance analog integrations, Maxim also supplies low IQ automotive-grade power management solutions.
Genovation GXE Super EV
Genovation Cars Inc., revealed the GXE all-electric supercar.Designed, developed and produced in the USA, the Genovation GXE employs state-of-the-art batteries, inverters and electric twin-motors, producing more than 800 horsepower and more than 700 lb.-ft. of torque. The GXE offers two transmission alternatives deploying power to the rear wheels. Buyers may choose between a seven-speed manual transmission with a conventional clutch pedal – an all-electric supercar category exclusive – and a paddle-shift automatic gearbox. Either transmission enables the GXE to achieve 0-60 mph in less than three seconds and deliver a top speed in excess of 220 mph.
In normal driving operation, the Genovation GXE delivers a range of more than 175 miles on a full battery charge, delivering on the design imperative of ultra-high performance and efficient daily-driver convenience.
Qualcomm & Ford Partner for C-V2X
Qualcomm and Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F), are accelerating the development of connected cars with the extension of their long-standing relationship into the development of advanced connectivity systems for Ford vehicles and upcoming Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything (C-V2X) technology testing. C-V2X is a highly advanced wireless connectivity technology for safety-conscious and automated driving solutions, which has the potential to help cities create more capable infrastructure as they look at how to connect vehicles to their surroundings, and to larger communications systems, facilitating the development and delivery of smart, connected transportation throughout the world. The technology is planned for further field validations beginning in 1H 2018.
Qualcomm Technologies’ first C-V2X commercial solution, the Qualcomm 9150 C-V2X chipset, is expected to be commercially available the second half of 2018. Depending on the results of those field validations, and a change to the current regulatory environment, this technology may be featured in vehicles in the near future. Ford and Qualcomm Technologies are currently working together on the first announced U.S. C-V2X trials in San Diego, along with additional trials in Detroit, with both trials utilizing the 9150 C-V2X solution.
TI DLP
Texas Instruments unveiled state-of-the-art DLP technology for high-resolution headlight systems. The new DLP chipset is the only offering on the market that combines full programmability and the highest resolution –more than one million addressable pixels per headlight — exceeding the resolution of existing adaptive driving beam (ADB) technologies by more than 10,000 times.
Automakers and Tier-1 suppliers can use this new programmable ADB solution to design headlight systems that maximize brightness for drivers on the road while minimizing the glare to oncoming traffic or reflections from retroreflective traffic signs. This new DLP technology works with any light source, including LED and laser illumination, and gives engineers a way to more precisely control light distribution on the road with customizable beam patterns.
Local Motors Acessible Olli
Local Motors has been working with IBM and CTA Foundation to bring #AccessibleOlli to all people, aiming to make transportation accessible for those with impairments and/or disabilities. Since announcing the partnership at CES 2017 last January, Local Motors, IBM and CTA Foundation have crowd-sourced design ideas globally running numerous workshops, hackathons and challenges with a broad range of ecosystem partners.
#AccessibleOlli is a 3D-printed version of Local Motors’ Olli, enhanced with an array of technologies.
CTA Foundation, IBM and Local Motors partnered with companies who could make a difference in a transportation vehicle’s accessibility. Following research, the three companies zeroed in on four personas to identify technological advancements that could be integrated into Olli for a more accessible vehicle experience. The four personas are visual impairment, hearing impairment, physical impairment and cognitive impairment. Since each persona has different needs and different ways of interacting, the three companies brought in partners from all spectrums to showcase how integrating new technologies can better the lives of others.
Innovz Tech Goes Pro
Tech CARS Nominee, Innoviz Technologies, a leading provider of LiDAR sensing solutions, announced today the commercial launch of InnovizPro, a stand-alone, solid-state, MEMS-based scanning LiDAR solution offering the most accurate and reliable performance of any LiDAR sensor available on the market today. A CES Innovation Awards winner in the Vehicle Intelligence and Self-Driving Technology category, InnovizPro leapfrogs other LiDAR systems to deliver groundbreaking 3D sensing at a significantly lower cost. InnovizPro™ is the only LiDAR currently available that delivers on all of the automotive industry’s needs for performance, reliability, cost, compact size and product maturity. Now available for purchase, InnovizPro allows Innoviz’s partners in the automotive industry to test and develop the next generation of autonomous driving programs reliably and affordably. Moreover, the current availability of InnovizPro opens the door for Innoviz to tap into additional markets, including industrial automation, security and surveillance, logistics and others.
The product’s exceptionally high frame rate, combined with its high angular resolution and wide field of view, enables it to create a dense 3D point cloud with high accuracy. Meanwhile, its long detection range of up to 150 meters allows it to see with precise clarity at distance. Combined, these features enable InnovizPro to deliver superior accuracy even in the dark of night, cases of bright sunlight or quickly changing weather, and when the vehicle is traveling at highway speeds. Its advanced design also allows fine-tuning of regions of interest and ensures reliability and resilience to sunlight
Garmin & AccuWeather Infotainment Together
AccuWeather announced AccuWeather Go is being demonstrated by Garmin in its new scalable infotainment platform for Automotive Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) at CES 2018 in Las Vegas. This joint effort is the first public demonstration of the revolutionary AccuWeather Go, with patented MinuteCast, and Garmin routing algorithms to deliver minute-by-minute weather conditions for any road trip.
Excelfore Syncs with ZF
Excelfore, an industry leading enabler of smart mobility networks, is demonstrating its eSync system with ZF. They are showcasing how the eSync over-the-air (OTA) platform for updates and diagnostic data retrieval gives operators greater control over their automotive fleets, providing secure mechanisms for continuous improvements in fleet efficiency.
Major fleet operators increasingly build upon OEM-provided vehicles to meet their own specifications. The eSync platform has a vital role to play at the very heart of this business model, by handling OTA updates and data retrieval for the many electronic devices in modern fleet vehicles, and providing a single mechanism to handle multiple vehicle types across an entire fleet.
Civil Maps Launches Fingerprint Base Map
Civil Maps, the leading developer of cognition software for autonomous vehicles, today announced the availability of Fingerprint Base Map, the industry’s most robust, scalable solution for precise autonomous vehicle localization and navigation. Architected from the ground up to meet the demands of production scale vehicle autonomy, Fingerprint Base Map™ allows self-driving cars to precisely determine their location in six degrees of freedom (6DoF), while evaluating the safest route to travel. This technology serves as the localization layer in the company’s HD Semantic Map.
For self-driving automakers and mobility companies, Fingerprint Base Map leverages Civil Maps’ proprietary fingerprinting process to tackle some of the most significant obstacles related to operating autonomous driving programs at scale. Using the company’s novel algorithms, raw point cloud data collected from self-driving cars is transformed into lightweight voxel-based fingerprints, which vehicles use to find their location within a map. Unlike conventional solutions that are dependent on costly processing hardware, large storage arrays, and third-party data centers, Civil Maps’ Fingerprint Base Map is created and utilized entirely on-the-edge, in-vehicle.
With a data footprint that is up to 10,000 times smaller than traditional base maps, Fingerprint Base Map enables autonomous vehicle developers to radically reduce the costs associated with data processing, computing power, data storage, bandwidth, and energy consumption. For example, a conventional base map of San Francisco requires as much as 4 TB of in-car storage, while a voxel-based Fingerprint Base Map of the same area comprises only 400 MB. Purpose-built for portability, fingerprinted data can easily be transmitted over existing 3G and 4G cellular network infrastructure, enabling Edge Mapping, Civil Maps’ process for map creation, map usage, and crowdsourcing.
SMK HMI Touch Panels
-SMK Electronics one of the world’s leading manufacturers of remote controls and consumer electronics components, today announced a new family of automotive OEM products including advanced in-dash HMI touch-panels, seamless haptic feeling force switches and high-speed LVDS connectivity components to be shown this week at CES 2018 (LVCC South Hall, booth #20851, and Sand Exposition Center, booth #42342).
During CES 2018, SMK Electronics isdemonstrating a variety of advanced automotive touch screen and touch switch, automotive manufacturing capabilities, high-speed signal interface LVDS camera connectors for auto manufacturing applications. Featuring miniaturized low-footprint design, these automotive-grade IPX7/9K-rated components include Fakra and HSD connectors for vehicle ECUs and Antenna sub-systems, as well as rigid and flexible PCB connectors for general automobile technology systems.
MicroVision PicoP Scanning
MicroVision, Inc. is showcasing the capabilities of its PicoP® scanning technology for display, interactive display and 3D LiDAR sensing at CES 2018.
MicroVision has announced plans to offer display and sensing engines based on the ability of its patented PicoP® scanning technology to enable projected displays for personal projection products and AR and VR applications, interactive display that integrates projected display and 3D sensing for touch and gesture recognition, and 3D LiDAR sensing for consumer and automotive applications.
Molex & Aquantia Multi-Gig Ethernet
Molex and Aquantia announced a collaboration to leverage Aquantia Multi-Gig Automotive Ethernet technologies in a Molex 10 Gbps Automotive Ethernet Network designed to accelerate data bandwidth in connected and autonomous vehicles.
The industry-leading Molex 10 Gbps Automotive Ethernet Network incorporates an Aquantia chip optimized for Multi-Gig Ethernet in connected and autonomous vehicles. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, Aquantia has pioneered innovative high-speed, Multi-Gig Ethernet solutions that deliver industry leading performance for automotive applications and in other markets. Aquantia provides the foundation for the secured, reliable in-vehicle network that easily moves the immense amounts of data between Electronic Control Units (ECU).
Guardian Detects Kids & People
Using just one sensor to monitor the entire car interior, Guardian’s stand-alone automatic system detects the smallest heartbeat and the slightest movement. It’s built from the ground up to work with automotive hardware and software, including all built-in safety systems, such as seatbelts and airbags. Drivers are constantly kept aware of conditions in their cars, allowing them to sidestep dangerous human error.
Guardian combines video image recognition (2D), depth mapping (3D), and optical micro- to macro-motion analysis to constantly scan and track occupants and objects anywhere in the vehicle, using low-cost, automotive-grade components—an industry first. The sensor identifies the location and physical dimensions of everyone in the car, distinguishing people from objects. By detecting micro vibrations, the system can register, in some cases, a presence even without a direct line of sight.
The Guardian technology employs machine learning along with its unique optical set-up. Real-time, comprehensive “big data” is collected from the motion analysis and 3D input, and is fused with image analysis of the sensor’s video feed, to provide a complete analysis of a vehicle’s the driver and passengers.
Cognata Cloud-Based Simulation from NIVIDAI & Microsoft
Cognata, Ltd., announced that it is launching the first cloud-based simulation engine for autonomous vehicle validation powered with technologies from NVIDIA and Microsoft.
The Cognata platform leverages artificial intelligence, deep learning, and computer vision to provide the only solution capable of validating autonomous vehicles with unlimited scalability today. The NVIDIA DRIVE platform supports autonomous applications with software that helps developers and researchers optimize, validate, and deploy their work. Cognata will run the combined technologies on the Microsoft Azure cloud-based platform. The collaborative solution represents a major milestone for the autonomous vehicle industry, and promises to bring safer self-driving vehicles to market much faster than anticipated.
Cypress Semi MIMO, Wi-Fi & Bluetooth
Cypress Semiconductor Corp announced production availability of a combo solution that delivers robust 2×2 MIMO 802.11ac Wi-Fi® and Bluetooth® connectivity to vehicles, enabling multiple users to connect and stream unique content to their devices simultaneously. The new Cypress CYW89359 combo solution is the industry’s first to implement Real Simultaneous Dual Band (RSDB) technology, which enables two unique data streams to run at full throughput simultaneously, by integrating two complete Wi-Fi subsystems into a single chip. The solution’s advanced 2.4-GHz Wi-Fi and Bluetooth coexistence engine delivers optimal performance for 2.4- and 5-GHz 802.11ac Wi-Fi and dual-mode Bluetooth/Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) simultaneously.
Cypress Capacitive Touchscreens for Autos
Cypress Semiconductor introduced a new automotive capacitive touchscreen controller family that delivers the market’s most advanced feature set for next-generation infotainment systems. Cypress designed the TrueTouch® CYAT817 touchscreen controller family specifically to meet rigorous automotive quality standards. The family offers an advanced hover capability that can detect a finger up to 35 mm above the screen and a force touch capability that provides accurate measurement of the pressure applied by multiple independent fingers. The family’s integrated acoustic and haptic feedback control provides faster response times for a better user experience compared to systems where the processing of a touch and pressure applied are not measured on-chip.
Automotive TrueTouch
The Automotive TrueTouch CYAT817 controller family implements its Hover and Force Touch features while meeting stringent automotive electromagnetic interference (EMI) and electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) requirements. With a power-efficient 32-bit Arm® Cortex®-M processor and optimized analog front-end, each controller can replace the mechanical on/off button of an infotainment system with a capacitive touch sensor, enabling sleek, modern interior designs. The controllers deliver faster response times by integrating decision and control processing on-chip for acoustic and haptic feedback so that systems are no longer required to transmit data on a touch input via Controller Area Network (CAN) or a Low-Voltage Differential Signaling (LVDS) backchannel for distributed implementations to be processed in the head-unit.
Tantalum Partners with Openbay
Tantalum Corporation announced it has partnered with Openbay to deliver an automotive repair and maintenance services platform to wireless carriers and auto manufacturers. Tantalum’s Connected Car platform integrated with the Openbay marketplace seamlessly connects motor vehicles with a nationwide network of automotive service providers.
Vehicles with an illuminated dashboard indicator (e.g. check engine light) or a maintenance interval due will receive notification from the Tantalum-Openbay solution guiding the vehicle owner to nearby automotive service providers. In the case of a dashboard indicator, the solution will offer an explanation of the issue along with pricing information from local shops to select from and book a service appointment.
The platform also allows vehicle owners to request specific services or describe problems they experience with their vehicle, receive service pricing from multiple automotive service providers nearby, select providers that best meet their needs (e.g. distance, price, reviews), book service appointments and pay online. The platform also maintains a history of service for the vehicle.
The platform will be made available through a host of leading wireless carriers and market leading automotive manufacturers.
Quanergy & Cisco for Smart City
Tech CARS nominee Quanergy and Cisco, announced a Smart City collaboration promoting Cisco’s Connected Roadway efforts. Quanergy’s world-class LiDAR sensors and Qortex perception software will be integrated with Cisco’s advanced networking capabilities to create IoT solutions for smart transportation.
Cisco’s Smart City Connected Roadway solutions, powered by Cisco Kinetic, links people, processes, data and connected devices to create an intelligent network infrastructure that allows cities to use data analytics to gain new insights and make more informed decisions. It can help make streets and highways safer and more efficient for both motorists and pedestrians. Quanergy’s LiDAR sensors and software will integrate with the Cisco Kinetic platform. By working together, Quanergy and Cisco are advancing intelligent transportation systems that examine how cities can improve driver and pedestrian safety as well as traffic flow.
Quanergy and Cisco have implemented a connected roadway experience solution in the city of Las Vegas that focuses on pedestrian safety. The initial intersection is located on E. Clark Avenue between 2nd and 3rd Streets and utilizes Quanergy’s M8 LiDAR sensor to track the flow of pedestrians and, in the future, it will also track cars and buses. The intersection will be live streamed at the Consumer Electronics Show (January 9-12, 2018 in Las Vegas) in the Quanergy booth (#3315) and in the City of Las Vegas booth (#1913), in Las Vegas. In addition to pedestrian safety, Quanergy and Cisco have a number of other proof-of-concept deployments, including vehicle counting, vehicle queue length detection, road worker safety and wrong way driver, in developmental stages throughout the country.
Quanergy introduced Qortex™, a core, proprietary perception software platform compatible with Quanergy’s full suite of LiDAR sensors. With the release of Qortex, Quanergy is now the only LiDAR manufacturer to commercially produce an integrated software and hardware platform solution, enabling a entirely new level of smart awareness for autonomous vehicles and beyond.
Intel’s Mobileye Partners with BMW, Nissan & VW
Intel’s Krzanich announced that 2 million vehicles from BMW, Nissan and Volkswagen will use Mobileye Road Experience Management (REM) technology to crowdsource data to build and rapidly update low-cost, scalable high-definition maps throughout this year. Krzanich disclosed two critical partnerships with leading automotive manufacturer SAIC Motor and digital mapping company NavInfo. In addition, SAIC will develop Level 3, 4 and 5 cars in China based on Mobileye technology. Levels are assigned based on capacity for autonomy – a Level 4 vehicle can drive itself almost exclusively without any human interaction, and a Level 5 vehicle can drive itself without human interaction on any road.
Krzanich also disclosed details for the company’s new automated driving platform, which combines automotive-grade Intel Atom® processors with Mobileye EyeQ5® chips to deliver a platform with industry-leading scalability and versatility for L3 (Level 3) to L5 (Level 5) autonomous driving.
TomTom Partnerships
TomTom ( new technologies for autonomous driving, with the launch of TomTom AutoStream – a game-changing map delivery service that enables vehicles to build a horizon for the road ahead by streaming the latest map data from the TomTom cloud. Also announced today is TomTom MotionQ, a unique predictive driving concept to ensure the comfort of passengers in self-driving transport.
TomTom AutoStream has launched with two initial partners: Baidu and Zenuity, while TomTom MotionQ can be seen in the new Rinspeed Snap, a robo-taxi concept vehicle, which is revealed for the first time at CES.
Finally, TomTom and Qualcomm have announced that they are working together to demonstrate new location technologies for autonomous driving – specifically, fusing the TomTom HD (high definition) Map, with camera technologies and GPS data from the Qualcomm® Drive Data Platform, to power highly precise and reliable localisation for connected car applications and autonomous vehicles.
TomTom also announced the launch of TomTom AutoStream, an innovative map delivery service for autonomous driving and advanced driver assistance systems. Announced today at CES, are the first partners to use the technology: Baidu and Zenuity.
TomTom AutoStream enables vehicles to build a horizon for the road ahead by streaming the latest map data from the TomTom cloud. By ensuring that the map used to power advanced driving functions is always the latest, TomTom AutoStream enhances driver comfort and safety.
Willem Strijbosch, TomTom’s Head of Autonomous Driving, said: “The launch of TomTom AutoStream is a game-changer for OEMs and technology companies that are working on the future of driving. TomTom AutoStream allows vehicles to access the latest, most up-to-date TomTom map data for their driving automation functions.”
TomTom AutoStream is designed in a flexible way, allowing customers to customise the map data stream based on criteria such as sensor configuration and horizon length. It can stream a wide variety of map data including ADAS attributes such as gradient and curvature, and the TomTom HD Map with RoadDNA. This flexibility allows customers to use AutoStream to power a wide range of driving automation functions.