In connected car news this week were Telsa, DENSO, HERE, BMW, Zurich Insurance, NXP, Infineon, Mentor, Continental, Ominivision and EPAM. CES will be in full swing with over 400 automotive exhibitors and we will be there. Vote for Tech CARS Awards.
Tesla Tops Lists
The Tesla X received the honor of Forbes “Car of the Year” and singing Tesla X praises “Tesla makes every internal combustion vehicle on the highway seem a clunky, clumsy relic of the 20th century, when men and women replaced their horses with vehicles that belched, burped, roared and required ‘gasoline’ to do their thing.” Forbes also named the Tesla company on the top of list of the World Most Innovative companies.
DENSO Invests in Ridecell
Global automotive supplier and technology leader DENSO continues to re-shape how we navigate everyday life by developing solutions in-house and through strategic investments. Today the company announced it will invest in Ridecell, the leading platform for carsharing and ridesharing operators, as a significant contributor to the company’s recent Series B funding round.
Zurich Insurance Buys Bright Box
Quanergy Starts Production in Sunnyvale
Quanergy, the leading provider of solid state LiDAR sensors and smart sensing solutions, today announced the opening of a new production factory located in Sunnyvale, California. The cutting-edge facility produces Quanergy’s patented S3 solid state LiDAR sensor. With the commissioning of this facility, Quanergy is now the only company to mass produce solid state 3D LiDAR sensors.
Officially opened at a ribbon cutting ceremony on October 6, 2017, the new facility boasts the latest manufacturing technology and features a high-capacity, fully-automated production line in a clean room environment. The line features state-of-the-art semiconductor handling and packaging equipment, including high-precision photonic IC processing tools and a conveyor system connecting the machinery that turns a silicon wafer cassette into finished LiDAR sensors. The facility also includes calibration and final testing, enabling Quanergy to oversee the entire production process and provide high quality and reliability in an industry that has thus far relied mainly on manual labor to build mechanical LiDARs. The manufacturing facility also has the capability to expand to increase capacity based on market demands.
NXP imX8 Runs on OpenSynergy
NXP’s i.MX 8 series of applications processors is a feature and performance scalable multicore platform that includes single-, dual- and quad-core families based on 64-bit Arm® Cortex® architecture. It includes combined Cortex®-A72 + Cortex-A53, Cortex-A35 and Cortex-M4 based solutions for advanced graphics, imaging, machine vision, audio, voice, video and safety-critical applications. One of the target applications is the fully digitized, electronic cockpit (eCockpit) for the car, containing an instrument cluster, head unit, heads-up display (HUD) and rear seat entertainment.
OpenSynergy’s COQOS Hypervisor SDK meets the specific requirements of demanding automotive applications. It supports the hosting of multi-purpose operating systems such as Linux or Android and real-time operating systems (e.g. AUTOSAR), both of them running on a single system-on-chip (SoC). COQOS Hypervisor SDK also provides freedom from interference and controlled communication between guest operation systems.
Running on the i.MX 8 applications processor, COQOS Hypervisor SDK takes advantage of the hardware-based virtualization, system MMU and two GPUs that enable device-customers to develop and upgrade their automotive product to faster time-to-market and lower cost.
OpenSynergy is an independently managed company headquartered in Berlin with further locations in Munich and the U.S. We continue to grow through the strong demand for our products. Our company’s team consists primarily of highly qualified engineers.
Infineon Uses Mentor
Mentor, a Siemens business, today announced that Infineon Technologies AG is using the Veloce emulation platform to meet stringent verification requirements for both the hardware and software components of its automotive chip platforms. Infineon’s implementation is revolutionizing the automotive industry in every aspect of the driving experience.
In particular, Infineon used the Veloce emulation platform to complete pre- and post-silicon verification and validation of their AURIXT multicore microcontroller. The product family forms key components in the automotive market, and the ideal platform for a wide range of automotive applications such as the control of combustion engines, electrical and hybrid vehicles, transmission systems, chassis domains, braking systems, electric power steering systems, airbags and advanced driver assistance systems.
At Infineon, the Veloce emulation platform is used for:
- Tester pattern and test program development
- Validation pattern preparation and silicon debugging at SoC level
- Fault injection for software testing
- Power analysis support
“Our work with Infineon shows that emulation brings a tremendous amount of benefit to the automotive market,” said Eric
DENSO Invests in FLOSIFIA
DENSO Corporation, one of the world’s largest automotive suppliers, and FLOSFIA Inc., a tech startup spun from Kyoto University, are partnering to develop a next-generation power semiconductor device expected to reduce the energy loss, cost, size and weight of inverters used in electrified vehicles (EVs). Through the joint development project, the two companies aim to improve the efficiency of EV power control units, a key to drive widespread EV use, and usher in a future of safer, more sustainable mobility.
In addition to the joint development partnership, DENSO has acquired new shares issued by FLOSFIA in its Series C funding round.
OmniVision Announces CMOS
OmniVision Technologies, a leading developer of advanced digital imaging solutions, announced the OX01B40, a high-performance color CMOS image sensor and an image-sensor processor (ISP), connected together in a single, 8.5 x 8.5 mm package. The OX01B40 system-in-package (SiP) can deliver 120 dB high dynamic range, and is designed specifically for automotive viewing cameras, enabling smaller and simpler camera designs for improved styling.
Many existing sensor solutions for viewing cameras can only support one type of interface, which requires developers to select a different sensor and design a new PCB when a different interface is required. The OX01B40, on the other hand, provides three options: digital video port (DVP), MIPI serial interface, and NTSC analog interface. This enables automotive Tier-1 and OEM engineers to create one design that addresses different applications, thus saving time and money.Built on OmniVision’s 2.8-micron OmniBSI-2™ Deep Well™ pixel technology, the OX01B40 delivers best-in-class low-light sensitivity and high dynamic range (HDR) performance, even in challenging lighting conditions.
The OX01B40 also boasts 1392 x 976 resolution with a 2.8-micron pixel size, streaming at 30 frames per second (FPS) for MIPI or DVP interfaces, or 60 FPS for NTS.
The OX01B40’s features are optimized for all automotive viewing cameras, including HD rearview cameras and surround-view cameras.
The OX01B40 is sampling now, with volume production expected in Q4 2018. This product will be demonstrated at OmniVision’s CES private suite. Please contact your OmniVision sales or marketing representative to schedule a meeting, or for more information.
Continental Buys 5% of HERE
Technology company Continental has signed a definitive agreement to acquire a 5 percent indirect ownership stake in HERE Technologies, a global leader in mapping and location services. The share will be sold by HERE’s current indirect shareholders, AUDI AG, BMW Group and Daimler AG. The involved parties have agreed not to disclose any financial details. The transaction is subject to merger control approval.
In addition to the investment, Continental will sign a collaboration agreement with HERE. The aim is to pave the way for technologies that facilitate the reliable availability of highly accurate data for the efficient transportation of people and their goods. The companies are focused on global solutions to support the needs of the automotive and mobility industries across all major markets.
HERE Launches HERE Safety Services Suite In BMW in Mid-2018
Intelligent and connected vehicle technology took a significant step forward today with the commercial launch of the HERE Safety Services Suite.
This cloud-based services suite, developed by HERE Technologies, is unique because it is the first to aggregate real-time, rich sensor data generated by cars of different brands on the road. HERE then transforms this data into useful live road safety information that is delivered to drivers and passengers through the car’s head unit display, or to the car’s Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) to support automated safety functions.
BMW will be the first automaker to offer HERE Safety Services in production vehicles beginning in mid-2018. The services will first become available to drivers and passengers across North America and Western Europe.
EPAM Partners with HERE
EPAM Systems, Inc. a leading global provider of digital platform engineering and software development services, and HERE Technologies, the Open Location Platform company, announced a new collaboration focused on creating and delivering innovative asset tracking solutions to the transportation, logistics, distribution and fleet management industries.
The combination of HERE location technology for high-accuracy end-to-end tracking of goods, services and content and EPAM’s comprehensive IoT capabilities, including development of a full range of connected devices to infrastructure integration capabilities, will help customers create broad new enterprise business models as well as drive new efficiencies across their organizations.
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