In connected car news are Fisker Inc., Mass, UL Ventures, Aurora Labs, Toyota, KDDI, Mentor, Maxim, Lordstown Motors, and DiamondPeak Holdings.
Henrik Fisker Rings NYSE Bell
Fisker Inc. designer and manufacturer of the world’s most emotion-stirring, eco-friendly electric vehicles and advanced mobility solutions – today announced that Henrik Fisker, chairman and CEO, will virtually ring the Opening Bell® at the New York Stock Exchange on Monday, Nov. 9, 2020 to celebrate the company’s recent listing on the exchange.
New Mass Law Gives Car Owners Data Rights
Massachusetts’s “Right to Repair Law” Vehicle Data Access Requirement Initiative, passed on Tuesday. It demands that carmakers allow owners and repair shops to access their own cars’ repair data, starting with model year 2022.
Corynne McSherry of the Electronic Frontier Foundation commented that includes the right to fix it yourself or take it to the repair shop you choose. Manufacturers want to keep consumers tied to them long after the sale is done, and they are not afraid to use false security and privacy claims to scare consumers into agreeing.”
UL Vent Invests in Aurora Labs
UL Ventures, the exploration and investment arm of UL, announced that it has made an investment in Aurora Labs, a developer of an embedded software management platform for connected vehicles and the Internet of Things (IoT). The UL Ventures investment was part of a $23 million Series B funding round that also included LG Technology Ventures, Marius Nacht, Porsche SE and Toyota Tsusho.
“Aurora Labs is proud to partner with UL Ventures and support UL’s mission to make the world a safer place,” said Zohar Fox, co-founder and CEO, Aurora Labs. “There is a growing need to continuously improve the quality of software, keep it safe, secure and updated in all devices, with particular emphasis on vehicles as the car becomes electrified and connected and the amount of vehicle software grows exponentially,” said Fox.
Modern vehicles have up to 150 electronic control units and 100 million lines of software code that are expected to increase to 300 million lines of code by 2030. Aurora Labs offers technology that has the ability automatically to detect bugs in car codebases – key to the security of today’s connected cars.
Toyota & KDDI Partnership
Toyota Motor Corporation and KDDI Corporation have agreed on a new business and capital alliance today with the purpose of further strengthening the relationship between the two companies. Details of the agreement follow.
Details of the Business Alliance
The companies are also accelerating new initiatives that go beyond the borders of their core business of mobility and telecommunications in anticipation of the coming future society in which towns, homes, people and cars are all connected.
The companies will continue working to develop services that enrich people’s lives to solve social issues mainly through the use of big data and to promote R&D in the areas of telecommunications and connected car technologies.
The Two Companies’ Initiatives Going Forward
– Jointly conducting R&D focused on telecommunication platforms that enable optimal communications between towns, homes, people and cars as communication technologies evolve, including 4G, 5G, and 6G
– Jointly developing an operations and management system for next-generation connected cars to enable sophisticated operations by integrated management of devices, networks, platforms, and services
– Jointly developing services and service platforms that aim to enrich people’s lives and ensure their safety and security not only inside or outside of vehicles but also in every scenes
– Jointly working to address social issues arising between urban and rural areas and regional communities using big data about towns, homes, people, cars, and more
Mentor Intros VCO2S
Mentor, a Siemens business, today introduced the VCO2S solution (Vehicle Cockpit Consolidation Solutions) – an innovative offering that helps automotive OEMs and their suppliers design and develop next-generation cockpit systems on a single high-compute electronic control unit (ECU) system. With VCO2S, automotive engineering teams can reduce cost, speed time to market and enhance user experience, all while meeting the automotive industry’s stringent cybersecurity and functional safety requirements.
VCO2S helps enable customers to integrate instrument cluster and In-Vehicle-Infotainment (IVI) systems on the same ECU, which saves space and cost. The fusion of instrument cluster and IVI functionalities running separate operating systems within a single ECU eliminates latencies associated with data sharing between distributed ECUs, while supporting multiple safety domain levels (ASIL and QM) and offering features such as graphics, video and audio sharing.
To help customers jump-start their consolidated cockpit system designs, Mentor’s new VCO2S solution is available in three separate options:
- VCO2S Base, which delivers basic features including software IP and services for a consolidated cockpit design. VCO2S Base is delivered as a reference design which can be ported to the customer’s target hardware.
- VCO2S Flex, which delivers a flexible solution — up to a fully customized cockpit consolidation system – and features IP, systems, software and hardware engineering services, all optimized to run on the customer’s target hardware.
- VCO2S Unique, which extends the VCO2S Flex offering with technical management and integration services between SoC vendors and tier-one hardware suppliers, with Mentor serving as a tier-one software supplier. The VCO2S Unique option is intended for automotive OEM customers.
All three versions of the VCOS2 solution include safety libraries (ASIL-B), safety features and architectures for shared graphics, as well as video and audio between ASIL and QM domains. All versions also incorporate CAN and Ethernet connectivity to the vehicle, as well as support for Bluetooth, WiFi, FM/DAB radio, 4x cameras, and automotive audio. QM to ASIL-B domain communication is implemented by the Mentor™ Communication Framework including safety certification processes. Additional features can be added to the VCO2S Flex and VCO2S Unique solutions upon customer request.
MAX LED Controller Saves $$$
The MAX25605 sequential LED controller from Maxim Integrated Products, Inc. (NASDAQ: MXIM) allows easy and cost-effective addition of automotive sequential LED lighting features. It saves development time and reduces design complexity by eliminating the need for a microcontroller or software. In addition, the MAX25605 reduces design space by up to 50 percent and slashes bill-of-materials (BOM) costs by up to 25 percent compared to the closest competing solution.
Advantages
Reduces Design Space: Space savings up to 50 percent and high integration simplifies design
Lower Cost: Reduces component count to save BOM costs up to 25 percent
Saves Time: Eliminates need for a microcontroller or software which cuts design complexity and improves time to market.
Lordstown Motors Merges with DiamondPeak Holdings
Brown Gibbons Lang & Company (BGL) is pleased to announce the merger of Lordstown Motors Corporation (Lordstown Motors), an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) of the world’s first all-electric pickup truck serving the commercial fleet market, with DiamondPeak Holdings Corporation (DiamondPeak), a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). BGL’s Industrials team served as financial advisor to Lordstown Motors. The combined entity will trade on the NASDAQ exchange under the ticker symbol “RIDE.
“The $1.6 billion transaction provides Lordstown Motors with $675 million of gross proceedsBrown Gibbons Lang & Company (BGL) is pleased to announce the merger of Lordstown Motors Corporation, an original equipment manufacturer of the world’s first all-electric pickup truck serving the commercial fleet market, with DiamondPeak Holdings Corporation, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). BGL’s Industrials team served as financial advisor to Lordstown Motors. The combined entity will trade on the NASDAQ exchange under the ticker symbol “RIDE.”
Lordstown Motors is an Ohio-based OEM that designs and manufactures all-electric, light duty fleet vehicles. In November 2019, the company acquired the Lordstown Complex, formerly a General Motors Corporation (GM) factory. Lordstown Motors will use the site to build the Endurance™, its flagship product believed to be the industry’s first fully-electric full-size pickup truck designed specifically to serve the commercial fleet market.