In connected car news this week were Tesla, Delta, Parkopedia, Parkmobile, Luxoft, Socionext, YourDrive, LDRA and On Semiconductor.
Sweet Swiss Tesla Reveal
On September 5 at the Grand Bales in Switzerland, Tesla is expected to reveal its new super car. Tesla’s supporters were invited via email to compete for a chance to win tickets to the event.
Delta Super Fast Charging
Delta, a global provider of power and thermal management solutions, today announces it has commenced work on a trend-setting research program, with 50 percent cost-share by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), to develop a solid-state transformer (SST)-based extreme fast EV charger (XFC) with industry-leading capacity up to 400 kW to provide capable EVs a 180-mile range with less than 10 minutes of charging. Moreover, the proposed XFC design is expected to offer grid-to-vehicle efficiency up to 96.5 percent, four times less weight and half the size of conventional DC fast EV chargers (DCFC), as well as a high voltage direct current (HVDC) port to utilize energy storage and renewable energy systems, minimizing demand on the power grid. All these unique features will accelerate the ubiquitous adoption of EV charging and enhance Delta’s leadership within the e-mobility sector.
This market transformation initiative will be supported and led by a program development team consisting of industry experts based out of Delta’s automotive division, located in the greater Detroit area (Livonia, MI), and researchers from the Delta Power Electronics Laboratory (DPEL), located in North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park. Delta’s partners for this ground-breaking 3-year, US$7 million project, include General Motors LLC, DTE Energy, CPES Virginia Tech, NextEnergy, the Michigan Agency for Energy’s Energy Office and the City of Detroit’s Office of Sustainability.
The novel SST power cell topology directly utilizes medium voltage alternating current (MVAC) at 4.8-kV or 13.2-kV, eliminating conventional line frequency transformer (LFT) technology, which converts low voltage alternating current to a direct current (DC) to charge the high voltage battery in an EV. Combined with a new silicon carbide (SiC) MOSFET device, the proposed SST enables a 3.5 percent improvement in grid-to-vehicle efficiency to industry-leading levels up to 96.5 percent, a 50 percent reduction in equipment footprint, and four times less weight than today’s DCFC EV chargers. Moreover, the 400kW XFC prototype, which is expected to be ready in 2020, will boast a power level enabling ground-breaking 3C charging speed on tomorrow’s long-range EVs. With this technology, EV drivers will need close to 10 minutes to achieve an additional 50 percent of vehicle range on their vehicle. For example, a 360-mile EV could achieve a 180-mile range in approximately 10 minutes of charging.
Parkopedia & Zhitu
Parkopedia, the world’s leading parking services provider, announced a joint venture with Zhitu Map – China’s leading geospatial surveying company. This joint venture will provide hundreds of millions of Chinese drivers with up to date on-street parking data, including space availability information, which will allow drivers to go directly to an open parking space instead of circling the block searching for one.
10M ParkMobile Parkers
ParkMobile, the leading provider of smart parking and mobility solutions in North America, announcedthat the company has surpassed the 10 million user milestone. Launched in 2008, the company’s growth has accelerated in recent years with ParkMobile now adding about 1 million users every 80 days. Today, approximately 1 in 20 drivers in the U.S. has registered with ParkMobile and the app ranks #3 in the “Navigation” category of the Apple App Store, just behind Google Maps and Waze.
Luxoft/LG WebOS for Automotive
Luxoft Holding, Inc, a global IT service provider, has partnered with LG Electronics Inc., a multinational electronics company, to help create the next generation webOS as part of a strategy to extend its capabilities and ecosystem into the automotive, robotics and smart home vertical markets.
Luxoft will lead the deployment of webOS into the new, targeted sectors, beginning with automotive. Initially focusing on digital cockpit development which includes infotainment, navigation, and other features that are human-car interaction-centric. Luxoft and LG Electronics also plan to introduce the new platform into the robotics and smart home sectors.
Socionext Improves Sound
Socionext announced a lineup of acoustics solutions now available under the “ForteArt™” family of software IPs. ForteArt enhances sound-related user experience, with applications including consumer products, public signage and automotive infotainment systems. The software IPs can be implemented with other vendors’ hardware, as well as with Socionext’s SoC products.
ForteArt has been organized as a family of solutions to address the increasing amount of broadcast and network video distribution that includes multiple sound channels such as 5.1ch, 7.1ch and 22.2ch. Because many home-use systems include only two speakers, sound effects are often compromised and not full quality. The current ForteArt lineup includes a variety of technologies and solutions, such as “3D Surround Sound Solution” for reproducing “pseudo surround effect” with a two-speaker system, and “Bass Boost Solution” which allows listeners to experience the deep, rich bass sound even with low-cost speakers, by generating signals based on human hearing characteristics and adding those signals to the original sound.
Blockchain for Financing
Korea’s first blockchain project BOScoin CEO: Yezune Choi, Company name: BlockchainOS) announced that it has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Nature Mobility (CEO: Jusang Lee) to carry out public financing for an innovative rideshare project for all transportation options including bicycles, rental cars, cars, buses, and vans on BOScoin’s mainet using its blockchain technology.
As a unified platform for implementing smart and fair mobility aligned with the blockchain era, Nature Mobility is committed to providing a safe, reliable and convenient mobility service.
Partnering with BOScoin, Nature Mobility plans to launch a platform based on reliable data and address the information asymmetry issue which occurs in the entire cycle of buying a new car, renting, sharing, selling a used car and scrapping. As the mobility market is connected with many industries, public financing on BOScoin’s mainnet will help the company build an ecosystem fast and make it sustainable.
YourDrive Vehicle Subs
YourDrive Texas announced all new vehicle subscription service plans that let customers have a sedan to get to work during the week, an SUV to drive around the kids, or a truck to get the job done on the weekend — all for a flat fee that includes insurance, roadside assistance, a personal concierge, and much more.
YourDrive is a new Dallas based subscription vehicle service offering car buyers an alternative to the traditional ownership model. YourDrive allows subscribers to pay a monthly fee to access a wide selection of predominantly Toyota vehicles, with the ability to swap out whenever they choose.
LDRA for Software Validation
LDRA— software quality experts in the areas of functional safety, security, and standards compliance—has worked with General Motors for more than two years to implement new technologies used by GM for software component validation and verification. The specification enables suppliers to more easily and cost-effectively develop high assurance software by automating the process of complying with coding standards most appropriate for the end user applications ranging from multimedia and infotainment to powertrain and body electronics. These application areas have very different demands on the software development and verification teams, as well as the desired technology and software development languages used to realize these applications. The LDRA tool suite automates and simplifies the process of software quality analysis and verification in each of these domains and as a result, reduces the qualification time frame and effort while reducing risk and cost.
The LDRA tool suite for Automotive helps address the challenges suppliers face in developing software that meets such stringent automotive standards. It does this by automating the process of complying with industry and coding standards to ensure that progress from one stage to another is seamless. By providing GM suppliers a tool suite that fully integrates the GM coding standards, LDRA enables GM suppliers to streamline their verification process, improve communication with GM itself, and reduce potentially thousands of hours of documentation effort.
GPS Insight FedRAMP Ready
GPS Insight, a leading provider of tailored fleet management solutions for organizations with fleets of vehicles, trailers, and other mobile assets, has attained FedRAMP Ready status from the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP).
FedRAMP is a program by which the U.S. federal government determines whether cloud software products and services have the necessary security assessments and monitoring in place to be used by federal agencies.
The FedRAMP Ready designation required GPS Insight to apply over 300 security controls to ensure system security for customer data. GPS Insight is one of just over 200 organizations in the entire world that have received any sort of FedRAMP designation.
Foresight Sales of QuadSight
Foresight Autonomous Holdings Ltd. an innovator in automotive vision systems, announced the additional sale of a prototype of its breakthrough QuadSight quad-camera vision system. The QuadSight™ multi-camera vision solution targets the semi-autonomous and autonomous vehicle market and is designed to allow near-100 percent obstacle detection with near zero false alerts under any weather and lighting conditions. The stereoscopic technology system was ordered by the truck division of one of Europe’s largest vehicle manufacturers. Revenue from the prototype system sale is expected to total tens of thousands of dollars.
This is the second sale of QuadSight™ prototype system to a leading European original equipment manufacturer (OEM) demonstrating the company’s clear strategy to cooperate with leading European OEMs. According to a Mordor Intelligence report earlier this year, the long-term market potential for autonomous vehicles and advanced accident prevention systems is projected at $60 billion by 2030, with automotive vision and V2X technological solutions playing a key role in reaching that target.
On Semi Optimal Plus
ON Semiconductor is collaborating with Optimal Plus to gather, analyze and build actionable insights out of the company’s manufacturing data. As a leading supplier to the automotive industry, ON Semiconductor is pioneering innovative technologies that enable all aspects of automated driving and vehicle electrification. The company is also committed to developing the semiconductor technology capable of supporting the rigors of IoT and empowering businesses to capitalize on their investments to drive profitability and ultimately success.
Following an initial pilot project that demonstrated new levels of control and visibility into the company’s manufacturing operations, ON Semiconductor and Optimal Plus will further leverage their solutions to connect the ON Semiconductor global manufacturing footprint as demand continues to grow for the company’s complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) and charge-coupled device (CCD) image sensors and other technologies that are powering disruptive applications in strategic growth markets.
Duncan Automotive Flexdrives
Virginia-based Duncan Automotive Network is the latest dealership to move forward with a partnership with Flexdrive, a car subscription technology and services company that enables dealers and fleet owners to offer on-demand car subscriptions to consumers via mobile devices.
Flexdrive’s app-based consumer marketplace will enable the dealership to connect with consumers in the surrounding areas and showcase available subscription cars.
Quanergy Expands
Quanergy Systems Inc., a global leader in the design and development of LiDAR sensors and smart sensing solutions, announced the expansion of its current manufacturing facility located in Sunnyvale, California. The expanded factory doubles the size of the facility and is part of Quanergy’s strategy to increase its global manufacturing capacity to meet the increasing demand for the company’s products.
Four Venture for ECU Software
Aisin Seiki Co., Ltd , ADVICS Co., Ltd. , JTEKT Corporation and DENSO Corporation (DENSO) announced that the four companies have reached a basic agreement to establish a joint venture company to develop integrated ECU software for automated driving and vehicle dynamics control. The company will be capitalized with the participation ratio of DENSO 65%, AISIN 25%, ADVICS 5% and JTEKT 5%.
The integrated ECU manages components, such as sensors, brakes, and steering, which are basic driving functions and critical for automated driving. Through this joint company, DENSO, AISIN, ADVICS and JTEKT will focus on expediting the development of more sophisticated software required for larger and more complex integrated ECUs.
The four companies bring unique strengths to this endeavor and will work together to develop and provide software for integrated ECUs which best fit each car makers’ needs.
Aisin & DENSO Venture for Electrification
Aisin Seiki Co., Ltd (AISIN) and DENSO Corporation (DENSO) announced that they have reached a basic agreement to establish a new joint venture company to develop and sell electrification driving modules. The company will be capitalized with the participation ratio of AISIN 50% and DENSO 50%.
New High Voltage Cabin Heating
BorgWarner, a global leader in clean and efficient technology solutions for combustion, hybrid and electric vehicles, supplies its advanced high-voltage positive temperature coefficient (PTC) cabin heating technology for the latest pure-electric ES8 SUV from Chinese electric car maker NIO. The advanced heating solution quickly warms the cabin and defrosts windows for maximum comfort and driving visibility.
Combined, the heater rod and fin designs provide dual-zone functionality, allowing the precise and quick delivery of individual temperatures for the driver and passengers and eliminating the noise and waste caused by single-zone heaters. The cabin heating system features ceramic PTC components that have very low electrical resistance at low temperatures, facilitating full current flow and high heat delivery.
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