In connected car news this week were Waymo, Hertz, BLIC, Nuance and InnoTAD.
No Mo’ Waymo Say Chandlerites
Citizens of Chandler Arizona are mad at Waymo self-driving vehicles to the extent of shooting at them, walking in front of them, trying to drive them off the road more totaling 21 police reported incidents. Residents have called the police on Waymo cars such as being parked in area for way too long watching children. There are also reports of drivers following the Waymo cars, slashing tires and throwing rock.
All Clear Quick Rentals with Biometrics from Hertz
Hertz and CLEAR today announced the launch of Hertz Fast Lane powered by CLEAR – a new service that uses biometrics to drastically speed up the car rental process and get travelers through the exit gate and on the road in 30 seconds or less – a time savings of at least 75 percent.
With CLEAR, members enroll once to enjoy frictionless experiences with greater predictability at more than 40 airports and venues nationwide. Now, Hertz Gold Plus Rewards® loyalty members who sign up for CLEAR and link their accounts will be able to verify their identity and rental reservation with just a look or tap of their finger. Hertz Fast Lane powered by CLEAR marks the first use of biometrics by a major rental car company, and the first time CLEAR’s trusted identity platform is enabling members to verify their identity using their face instead of showing a physical ID.
New Battery Cell Monitoring
BLIC Inc. launched the S-19192 Series of 3-serial to 6-serial cell battery monitoring IC for automotive use. Battery monitoring ICs are mainly used for monitoring the state of lithium-ion batteries.
The new S-19192 Series of products is a 3-serial to 6-serial cell battery monitoring IC for automotive use with the following characteristics: (1) robust standalone monitoring capable of operating without microcontroller software, (2) the capability to operate as a secondary monitoring IC for automotive BMS (*1), which significantly contributes to system safety, and (3) a self-diagnosis function for detecting random failures.
These characteristics deliver solid automotive BMS capability in a simple configuration for greater safety against failures and other issues.
[Major Features]
1. A simple configuration providing standalone monitoring with self-diagnosis function for detecting failures
2. A secondary monitoring IC for automotive BMS that further enhances system safety
(*1) BMS = abbreviation of “Battery Management System
EVgo Adds Fast Charging on Way to Las Vegas
EVgo, the nation’s largest public electric vehicle (EV) fast charging network, announced that it has added four new EV fast chargers to the company’s Baker, CA station, enabling all-electric road trips between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. The launch of these new chargers makes six total EVgo fast chargers under a solar-powered canopy at the World’s Tallest Thermometer, just off of I-15—two 50 kW fast chargers, new super-fast 150 kW and 175 kW chargers, and an ultra-fast 350 kW charger, all backed up with second-life batteries for energy storage.
Mullen to Assemble Cars for Qiantu Motors
Qiantu Motor, a wholly owned subsidiary of CH-Auto and Mullen Technologies Inc. have signed a new cooperation agreement to homologate and assemble cars in the US for sales in North America.
CH-Auto is a leading automotive design and manufacturing company in China, best known for its new electric vehicles as well as the development of traditional automobiles and military vehicles. In November 2018, the Chairman and President of Qiantu visited Mullen Technologies and held preliminary negotiations. Since then, the discussions have resulted in a signed cooperation agreement, where the two parties state their desire to collaborate and that they intend for Mullen Technologies to homologate, assemble and exclusively market the Qiantu K50 in North America.
Mullen Technologies is a Southern California based licensed electric vehicle manufacturer and international distributer which owns Mullen Auto Sales, a fast-growing series of automobile dealerships. Mullen also owns CarHub, a new and unique digital platform that leverages AI and offers a complete, fun to use solution for buying, selling and owning a car. The partnership is positioned to benefit both from Mullen’s direct retail and automotive commerce digital capabilities.
Sino for Green
Sino United Worldwide Consolidated Ltd. as signed the joint venture agreement with InnoTAD Group Singapore to bring greener automobiles to the world through its green automobile products including the InnoTAD Emission Reducer, iER a patent pending device; and adopt Blockchain technology in the auto industry.
Dragon Drive Drives Off Nuance
Nuance Communications, Inc. announced its intention to spin off its Automotive business segment into a new, independent, publicly traded company (“Nuance Auto”). The standalone entity will be a pure-play, next-generation automotive software company. Immediately following the transaction, which is expected to be completed before the end of fiscal 2019, Nuance shareholders will own shares of both companies. The transaction is intended to be tax-free to Nuance shareholders.
The automotive industry is evolving rapidly as new technologies transform the passenger experience through shared mobility, connectivity and enhanced driver assistance. Nuance is the market leader in voice recognition and cognitive assistants for car infotainment and communication systems and delivers critical enabling technology to help realize the future of mobility. Becoming an independent, publicly traded company represents an important step in Nuance Auto’s growth and the continued development of its conversational AI platform.
Nuance intends to appoint an independent management team and nominate members to a separate board of directors for Nuance Auto before the transaction is completed. Nuance expects the business will be headquartered in Boston and maintain a significant presence in Montreal and Aachen, Germany, among other global locations.
iER Innovation
InnoTAD iER Innovation product series will tackle vehicle emissions that cause climate change with harmful Carbon dioxide (CO2) and Nitrogen dioxide (NOx), which can cause respiratory problems and premature death among the population. The InnoTAD® Emission Reducer, iER Innovation product series is the first of its kind and is a patent pending device; the iER is able to resolve all these issues and can achieve up to 99% reduction of emission pollutants of the vehicles.
iER has been vigorously tested since 2015 to achieve better safety, performance and lifetime. It has various TUV certifications on used test vehicles that achieved fuel saving at 39.9%, diesel NOx reduction at 97%, significantly increased power and torque, and reduced engine noise. InnoTAD has since secured exclusive and non-exclusive distributors in USA, China, Middle East, Africa, India, Europe, and some Asian countries in the last few months. InnoTAD® is currently working with distributors to secure two big orders of 5,000pc each from government level and big corporates to kick off the aggressive world-wide marketing.
SUIC and InnOTAD Group will work vigorously with governments all over the world to utilize Big Data analytics to promote environmental protection in a very efficient way. Of utmost importance is the mitigation of carbon emissions and pollution, and this collaboration with government entities will enhance the capacity of countries to use the once-touted siloed structure of data storage in managing the data ecosystem effectively. Beyond this, SUIC and InnoTAD’s partnership will subsequently revolutionze the governments with limited capabilities to operate in a system where Big DATA integration is seamless, the sustainability is continuous, and the environmental impact will be highly advantageous.
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