In connected car news are ChargeHub, Mattel, Li-Cycle, Infinenon, Samsung, AImotive, EVgo, AWS and Synopsis.
More ChargeHubs
ChargeHub by Mogile Technologies Inc., a leading electric vehicle (EV) mapping service that displays data on more than 100,000 public charging stations in North America, announced that SemaConnect is the largest network to date to join its electric vehicle (EV) charging payment solution—ChargeHub Passport.
Carbon Neutral Matchboxes
Today, Mattel, Inc. (NASDAQ: MAT) announced Drive Toward a Better Future, its product roadmap to make all Matchbox die-cast cars, playsets and packaging with 100% recycled, recyclable or bio-based plastic by 2030. This is in line with Mattel’s goal to achieve 100% recycled, recyclable or bio-based plastic materials across all its products and packaging by 2030.
To illustrate these principles, Mattel is unveiling the Matchbox Tesla Roadster, its first die-cast vehicle made from 99% recycled materials and certified CarbonNeutral®*. The Matchbox Tesla Roadster will be available starting in 2022.
Li-Cycle Phoenix Facility
Li-Cycle Corp. (“Li-Cycle” or “the Company”), an industry leader in lithium-ion battery resource recovery and the largest lithium-ion battery recycler in North America, today announced that the Company will build its third commercial lithium-ion battery recycling facility, to be located in Gilbert, Arizona, within the Phoenix metropolitan area.
When complete, Li-Cycle’s “Spoke 3” facility will be capable of processing up to 10,000 tonnes of end-of-life batteries and battery manufacturing scrap per year, bringing Li-Cycle’s total recycling capacity to 20,000 tonnes per year. The construction of Spoke 3 builds on Li-Cycle’s existing North American Spokes, located in Rochester, New York and Kingston, Ontario, and is part of Li-Cycle’s strategic roadmap to construct twenty Spokes globally over the next five years. The Phoenix metropolitan area is strategically located close to Li-Cycle’s existing battery supply network, as well as being at the nexus of where there will be continued growth in the quantity of lithium-ion batteries available for recycling.
Infineon Tech XENSIV
Infineon Technologies AG announced the launch of the XENSIV™ IM67D130A. This new device combines the Company’s expertise in the automotive industry with its technical leadership in high-end MEMS microphones to address the need for high performance, low-noise MEMS microphones for automotive applications. The XENSIV™ IM67D130A is the first microphone in the market to be qualified for automotive applications, which will help simplify the design-in efforts for the industry and reduce the risk of qualification fails.
The microphone has an increased operating temperature range from -40°C to +105°C to enable various use cases in harsh automotive environments. The high acoustic overload point (AOP) of 130 dB SPL allows the microphone to capture distortion-free audio signals in loud environments. Because of that, it can be placed inside or outside of the vehicle. IM67D130A is ideal for in-cabin applications such as hands-free systems, emergency calls, in-cabin communication and active noise cancellation (ANC). The microphone is also suited for exterior applications such as siren or road condition detection. These features enable the use of sound as a complementary sensor for advanced driver assistance systems and predictive maintenance.
The high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 67 dB combined with an exceptionally low distortion level leads to optimum speech quality and superior speech intelligence for applications based on speech recognition. Additionally, the microphones have tight sensitivity matching allowing optimized beamforming algorithms for multi-microphone arrays. The XENSIV MEMS microphone IM67D130A is fully qualified for the AEC-Q103-003 standard for automotive applications.
Samsung’s PixCell LED
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., a world leader in advanced digital component solutions, announced PixCell LED, a new automotive LED module optimized for intelligent headlights, such as adaptive driving beam (ADB) systems. ADB headlamps powered by Samsung’s PixCell LEDs will help improve driver visibility and safety to enhance the overall driving experience at night and in poor weather conditions such as fog or heavy rain.
ADB is an advanced driver assistance technology designed to help secure maximum driving visibility. In order to prevent glare to other drivers, ADB automatically adjusts headlight beam patterns when it detects any object near a moving vehicle, thereby preventing any unnecessary glare. Recent developments in future automotive technologies, such as autonomous and connected driving, have been raising the bar for vehicle safety standards and ultimately boosting demand for ADB systems.
Leveraging Samsung’s longstanding expertise in semiconductor technology, the new PixCell LED can monolithically integrate more than 100 ultra-small segments into a single LED chip, while making the light-emitting area significantly smaller.
ADB is an advanced driver assistance technology designed to help secure maximum driving visibility. In order to prevent glare to other drivers, ADB automatically adjusts headlight beam patterns when it detects any object near a moving vehicle, thereby preventing any unnecessary glare. Recent developments in future automotive technologies, such as autonomous and connected driving, have been raising the bar for vehicle safety standards and ultimately boosting demand for ADB systems.
Leveraging Samsung’s longstanding expertise in semiconductor technology, the new PixCell LED can monolithically integrate more than 100 ultra-small segments into a single LED chip, while making the light-emitting area significantly smaller.
AIMotive Goes Neural
AImotive, the world-leading supplier of scalable automated driving technologies and Nextchip Co., Ltd., a dedicated automotive vision technology company, today announced that AImotive has successfully demonstrated automotive NN (Neural Network) vision applications executing at up to 98% efficiency on the aiWare3P™ NPU (Neural Network Processor Unit) used on Nextchip’s latest Apache5 IEP (Imaging Edge Processor). Also featuring an advanced ISP supporting imaging sensors up to 5.7Mpixel resolution, quad-core Arm A53 CPU and small package size of only 9mm by 9mm, Nextchip’s Apache5 is designed for demanding automotive edge vision applications to full AEC-Q100 Grade 2.
Thanks to rapid bring-up of all key functions on Apache5, complemented by aiWare Studio’s unique offline NN optimization tools, AImotive and Nextchip were able to demonstrate to lead customers the Apache5 IEP executing demanding automotive AI applications using the aiWare NPU within weeks of receiving first samples. These confirm that Apache5’s aiWare3P 1.6 TOPS NPU can deliver up to 98% sustained real-time efficiency for a wide range of NN workloads. Only minimal optimization effort was required, which was completed prior to receipt of the first devices.
“We are excited that thanks to the close collaboration between Nextchip and AImotive, we have been able to demonstrate Apache5 executing compelling automotive AI applications with exceptional efficiency within weeks of receiving first samples,” said Young Jun Yoo, CMO at Nextchip.
“With Apache5 we have demonstrated that we can deliver 2x to 3x higher CNN performance for the same claimed TOPS of other NPUs,” said Márton Fehér, senior vice-president hardware engineering for AImotive. “Furthermore, our aiWare Studio SDK enabled our aiDrive team to bring up multiple well-optimized NNs within days of receiving Apache5 silicon.”
Nextchip has commenced shipping samples of Apache5 to lead customers, and is now accepting production enquiries.
EVgo New Lab in El Segundo
EVgo, the nation’s largest public fast charging network for electric vehicles (EVs) and only platform powered by 100% renewable electricity, announced it has opened a new EVgo Lab in El Segundo, California. The 4,000 square foot facility provides the company’s team of engineers, technologists, and partners a space for testing hardware, software, and vehicle technologies for the current and next generations of charging infrastructure and EV models.
AWS & Formula 1
Amazon Web Services (AWS), an Amazon.com, Inc. company (NASDAQ: AMZN), and FORMULA 1 (F1) (NASDAQ: FWONA, FWONK) are introducing six new F1 Insights powered by AWS that will roll out through the 2021 racing season. The new additions mean a total of 18 AWS-powered stats will be available to fans by the end of the season. F1 Insights powered by AWS are real-time racing statistics, displayed as on-screen graphics, that transform the fan experience before, during, and after each race by providing the data and analysis fans need to interpret driver and team race strategy and performance. The first new stat, Braking Performance, will debut at the GRAND PRIX in Italy, April 16-18. The new set of statistics for 2021 will use a range of AWS technologies, including machine learning, to help fans better understand and highlight potential race outcomes and compare their favorite drivers and cars.
Synopsys DSO.ai
Synopsys, Inc. announced the adoption of DSO.ai™ (Design Space Optimization AI), Synopsys’ award-winning autonomous artificial intelligence (AI) design system, by Renesas into its advanced automotive chip design environment. With DSO.ai’s reinforcement learning technology, Renesas can augment its ability to search vast design spaces for better performance-power-area (PPA) solutions, pushing the envelope on energy efficiency for advanced automotive ICs without forgoing operating frequency. This enables Renesas to explore a larger scale of choices in existing chip design workflows, paving an accelerated path to meeting PPA targets.
“Our collaboration with Synopsys on DSO.ai exemplifies how AI can lead to disruptive design solutions, revolutionizing the way we design automotive products,” said Satoshi Shibatani, director, Digital Design Technology Department, shared R&D EDA division at Renesas. “We expect that DSO.ai will identify better PPA solutions, and going forward, we are excited to expand our collaboration with Synopsys to unlock higher productivity for our design teams.”
Synopsys’ DSO.ai solution demonstrates AI technology advantages and accelerates the process of searching for optimal solutions by enabling autonomous optimization of broad design spaces. The DSO.ai engines ingest large data streams generated by chip design tools and use them to explore search spaces, observe how a design evolves and adjust design choices, silicon-technology parameters and workflows to guide the exploration process towards multi-dimensional optimization objectives. AI makes it possible to standardize reuse across the organization, enabling design teams to consistently operate at expert levels and maximize compute resources’ efficiency. With Synopsys DSO.ai, design teams can reimagine the chip design workflow to achieve better PPA, maximize the benefits of silicon process technologies, and slash lead times to bringing new or derivative products to market.