Connected Car News: Lyft, Safe Sense, Mitsubishi, Merritor, Karma & Panasonic

In connected car news are Hayden AI, Lyft, Safe Sense, Mitsubishi, Merritor, Karma and Panasonic.

Hayden AI Releases Safe Sense

Hayden AI Technologies, Inc. announced that they will officially release the beta version of their Safe Sense App for external testing in March 2020.

The Safe Sense App turns your mobile phone into an AI-powered dash cam that automatically detects traffic safety violations and reports them to city agencies — all while earning you rewards.

Lyft Gives Free Rides to Voters

This election year, for the first time, Lyft is giving voters with free and discounted rides to the polls throughout the entire primary calendar and the general election.

Starting with the Iowa Caucus next week and continuing through all primaries and caucuses leading up to the general election, we’ll be offering free rides through a number of nonprofit partners. Our partners will distribute rides directly to people in their networks whom they identify as most in need of transportation. These partners include, League of Women Voters, National Federation of the Blind, Student Veterans of America, National Urban League, and Voto Latino Foundation.

Iteris Up to Pace

Iteris, Inc. (NASDAQ: ITI), the global leader in applied informatics for transportation and agriculture,  announced that it has executed an agreement and received the formal notice to proceed to expand its activities to provide a transit signal priority (TSP) system for Pace, the Suburban Bus Division of the Regional Transportation Authority.

Iteris will provide systems integration management and design services, optimization and monitoring of the new TSP system at major signalized intersections along Milwaukee Avenue. This project represents the first deployment of the Regional Transit Signal Priority Implementation Program to support the future deployment of TSP systems to other corridors in the region.

Pace serves approximately 40 million riders annually across Cook, Lake, Will, Kane, McHenry and DuPage counties.

Mercedes’ Ambitions for CO2

On the road to sustainable mobility, Mercedes-Benz is increasingly focusing on procurement: together with start-up Circulor, Mercedes-Benz is conducting a pilot project for transparency on CO2 emissions in the cobalt supply chain as part of STARTUP AUTOBAHN. The project partners use blockchain technology to track the emissions of climate-relevant gases as well as the amount of secondary material along the complex supply chains of battery cell manufacturers. In addition, the data network documents whether the Daimler sustainability standards are passed on throughout the entire supply chain. 

With “Ambition2039”, Mercedes-Benz Cars aims for a carbon neutral new passenger car fleet in less than 20 years. This transformation requires detailed knowledge of all climate relevant processes associated with the entire vehicle value chain. That is why in a first step, Mercedes-Benz is creating transparency of CO2 emissions and the use of secondary material in the supply chain. In relation to this as part of STARTUP AUTOBAHN, the company has started a pilot project with a key battery cell manufacturer and Circulor, a start-up specializing in blockchain technology.

Laser-Plasma Accelerator

Researchers have developed a new laser-based method that provides an unprecedented view of sprays such as the ones used for liquid fuel combustion in vehicle, ship and plane engines. The technique could provide new insights into these atomizing sprays, which are also used in a variety of industrial processes such as painting and producing food powders and drugs.

In the laser-plasma accelerator, x-rays are generated by focusing an intense femtosecond laser pulse into a gas or a preformed plasma. The researchers also used these femtosecond laser pulses to perform two-photon fluorescence imaging. This fluorescence approach is often used in life science microscopy to provide high contrast images of submillimeter areas but has rarely been used to image sprays, which usually require an imaging area of a few square centimeters.

New Mini EV Power Conditioners

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (TOKYO: 6503) announced that it has developed new miniaturization and energy-efficient technologies for electric vehicle (EV) power conditioners, which will greatly facilitate the domestic use of the electricity stored in EV batteries. The use of these technologies in the creation of a prototype power conditioner allowed its size to be reduced to approximately one half that of comparable existing models* while achieving approximately 30 percent less power loss.** Their compact design will enable the conditioners to be installed in confined spaces such as domestic garages, facilitating their deployment in typical home environments.

The newly developed technology facilitates the domestic consumption of surplus electricity generated by residential photovoltaic (PV) systems as well as offering homes a stable power supply in the event of a blackout. Going forward, Mitsubishi Electric plans to mass-produce small high-efficiency power conditioners for EVs, thereby contributing to the realization of a low-carbon society through the increased use of renewable energy.

Merritor Supplies EV Powertrains

Meritor, Inc. announced that it has entered into an agreement with PACCAR to be its non-exclusive supplier of electric powertrains for its Kenworth T680 and Peterbilt 579 and 520 battery-electric vehicles.

Meritor will be the initial launch partner and primary supplier for the integration of functional battery-electric systems on these refuse and heavy-duty chassis. Production is targeted to begin in early 2021.

GNSS Testbed

A collaboration between AVL and Rohde & Schwarz, two of the world’s leading providers of measuring and automotive testing systems, now permits the reproduction of realistic GNSS reception conditions for testbed vehicle testing. As a result, users can reliably test all aspects of GNSS-based vehicle positioning – a core functionality of autonomous vehicles.

AVL DRIVINGCUBE™ enables the reproducible testing of driver assistance systems and driving features for self-driving vehicles using a real vehicle within a virtual environment in a variety of different traffic situations. For that purpose, test drives are performed with a real, ready-to-drive vehicle on a chassis dynamometer or powertrain testbed. With the help of realistic virtual driving scenarios it is possible to test peripheral sensors, control systems and actuators inside the vehicle in a fully reproducible and reliable manner. Automated vehicle functions are thus sufficiently validated during development and even before testing on the proving ground.

The range of environment simulations carried out with AVL DRIVINGCUBE™ can now be extended to include GNSS signals, bringing simulation closer to reality than ever before. The vehicle’s G

Diodes RTC

Diodes Incorporated (Nasdaq: DIOD) today announced that automotive-compliant versions of its popular, low-power, real-time clock (RTC) solutions, PT7C4363BQ and PT7C4563BQ (with an adjustable timer), are now available. Their wide temperature range makes them suitable for automotive applications, including infotainment systems, dashboard displays, and telematics boxes (T-Box).

The PT7C4363BQ and PT7C4563BQ are qualified to AEC-Q100 Grade 1, covering the temperature range of -40°C to +125°C. They are PPAP capable and are manufactured in IATF16949 certified facilities. A wide operating voltage range of 1.3V to 5.5V enables flexibility in design while a low-backup current of 400nA at 3.0V makes these devices extremely low power.

The parts are designed to interface directly to an external, low-cost 32.768kHz crystal with an equivalent series resistance of up to 100kΩ. As well as providing a real-time clock, the devices can also deliver a square-wave output with a selectable frequency of 1Hz, 32Hz, 1024Hz, or 32,768Hz. Accurate time and date data is accessed through the I2C interface. Adjustments for the number of days in the month is automatic, and an alarm function is also included.

Karma Pickup News

Reportedly, Karma Automotive will reveal a luxury pickup truck this year.

TomTom FCA Mapping

TomTom he leading independent location technology specialist,  announced that it will provide FCA with maps, navigation and live services for the all-new Uconnect 5 in-vehicle infotainment system. Drivers of upcoming Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat, Jeep, Lancia and Ram Trucks vehicles will benefit from a wide-range of innovative features provided by TomTom, including: IQ Maps, traffic, electric vehicle (EV) & connected services, destination prediction, and user interface. The first models equipped with Uconnect 5 will hit the road in 2020.

TomTom is supplying Subaru’s all-new infotainment platform with TomTom Maps, as well as navigation software and a new navigation user interface, allowing drivers to plan their journeys with ease, and enjoy a comfortable and safer drive. DENSO, the leading supplier of advanced automotive technology, is the Tier 1 system provider.

New Blue Laser from Panasonic

Panasonic Corporation announced it has succeeded in demonstrating the world’s highest brightness blue laser. This has been achieved by using the wavelength beam combining (WBC) technology [1] on a direct diode laser (DDL) to produce a high quality output beam [2]. With this technology, power scaling is enabled while maintaining the beam quality by simply increasing the number of laser sources. This demonstration opens the door to laser intensities that could be two orders of magnitude higher than conventional blue laser systems. This technology will contribute to the emerging microfabrication processes, whose demand is expected to grow in industrial applications, such as in the automotive industry.

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