In connected car news are Mcity, Mercedes-Benz and Audi.
Safety Testing at Mcity
Humanetics and Mcity are collaborating to spearhead mobility innovation by providing access to leading-edge active safety testing technologies at the University of Michigan’s Mcity Test Facility for joint development of advanced software and robots for new mobility applications.
These tools will make it easier for commercial and academic researchers at the Mcity Test Facility to conduct comprehensive and accurate evaluations of emerging autonomous and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) technologies.
“By combining the resources and expertise of Humanetics and Mcity, this partnership will accelerate the development and deployment of connected and automated vehicle technologies,” said Mark Westen, president, Humanetics Safety. “This relationship will contribute to ongoing efforts focused on creating a safer, more efficient, and sustainable transportation ecosystem.”
Humanetics will provide Mcity with a variety of its Active Safety robotic test platforms, which can mimic a range of road users – such as pedestrians, bicyclists, motorbikes and children. In addition, Humanetics will provide training services and TrackBase Connect, a holistic software solution to help manage complex test scenarios and co-ordinate the execution of the different vehicles, traffic lights and pedestrian platforms on the proving ground.
“A major goal of the partnership is to fully integrate Humanetics’ dynamic test system into the Mcity Test Facility environment, which will simplify test setup and support running complex tests more quickly and easily,” said Mcity Managing Director Greg McGuire.
“The most critical part of testing automated systems is safely dealing with other people on the roads – in cars, trucks, buses, on bikes, etc., – and how they use our road network,” McGuire said. “That’s what Humanetics is good at and that’s where we need to be innovative as a state and as a country if we’re going to improve road safety more broadly.
Last year, traffic deaths fell slightly in Michigan but remained stubbornly high at more than 1,100, representing a 15% increase since 2018, according to the Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning. The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration’s latest projection for 2022 fatalities estimated that more than 42,000 people died on U.S. roads last year, down less than 1% compared to 2021.
McGuire said Humanetics’ robots will also be incorporated into Mcity’s Safety Assessment Program, a two-part protocol for testing the safety of automated vehicles before widespread deployment on public roads. The Safety Assessment Program exemplifies the kind of testing that could be conducted using Mcity 2.0. Mcity is adding digital infrastructure to the physical infrastructure of the Mcity Test Facility to create Mcity 2.0, a cloud-based, augmented reality test bed for connected and automated vehicles that will be available to academic researchers nationwide. The National Science Foundation is funding the work.
In addition, the robots could be used inside the Mcity Test Facility to explore infrastructure safety applications as they relate to cities of the future.
As part of their collaboration, Humanetics will become an affiliate member of Mcity, a public-private mobility research partnership led by U-M that funds academic research and works with partners to deploy mobility innovations in addition to operating the Mcity Test Facility.
Mark Westen said, “Humanetics and Mcity are excited about the potential impact of their collaboration on the future of connected and automated vehicles. By working together, we are committed to advancing the boundaries of safety testing and supporting the adoption of innovative technologies that will shape the transportation landscape for decades to come.”
Mercedes-Benz Invests in Global Workforce for Digitization & AI
With digitalization and the increasing use of powerful artificial intelligence (AI) systems, every job profile at Mercedes-Benz is changing. As part of the Turn2Learn qualification initiative, Mercedes-Benz is investing more than €2 billion in the qualification of its global workforce until 2030. The Turn2Learn initiative focuses specifically on digitalization and AI. For example, in the two pilot programs D.SHIFT and Data Worker, more than 600 employees from production, production-related areas and administration are currently undergoing dedicated qualification to become data and AI specialists. The first graduates, including team members from Mercedes-Benz USA in Atlanta, GA, Mercedes-Benz U.S. International in Tuscaloosa, AL, Mercedes-Benz Financial Services USA in Farmington Hills, MI, Mercedes-Benz Vans in North Charleston, SC and multiple locations of Mercedes-Benz Research & Development North America, will receive their certificates in the next few days. Due to the strong employee interest in this area, Mercedes-Benz is now expanding these programs.
Audi New OLED Rear Communication Lights
This innovation will permanently change automotive light design and car-to-X communication: With second-generation digital OLED rear lights, the Audi Q6 e-tron is taking light design, range of functions, and road safety to a new level. Audi is gradually developing the technology into intelligent displays that can communicate with other road users by displaying information via the exterior lights – this is the new communication light. The active digital light signature is another world first making its debut in the Audi Q6 e-tron. It makes an entirely new and vibrant impression, pointing the way to the future of Audi lighting technology. For the first time, customers can optionally select digital light signatures for this new evolution of digital daytime running lights in the Matrix LED headlights and the new generation of digital OLED rear lights. In addition, customers may book digital light signatures on demand.
The Q6 e-tron not only marks a new chapter in electromobility at Audi; lighting technology is an important part of Audi’s DNA. With the world’s first active digital light signature, the Audi Q6 e-tron ushers in a new era characterized by distinctive design and aesthetics unique to Audi.
The second-generation of digital OLED technology shapes the look of new Audi models and increases their range of functions many times over. This, in turn, improves road safety, as impressively demonstrated by the communication light in the digital OLED rear lights. The Q6 e-tron also sets new standards in personalization: With a total of eight optional digital light signatures in the redesigned daytime running lights in the Matrix LED headlights and digital OLED rear lights 2.0, customers can design the look of their Q6 e-tron like never before. This is possible via the MMI and, for the first time, via the myAudi app. Customers are also able to buy digital light signatures after purchasing their car.
The headlights and rear lights look alive at first glance – this is how customers should imagine the active digital light signature, a world first from the brand with the four rings. It comes as part of the optional package of digital light signatures. “The Audi Q6 e-tron marks the first time in a production model that we are designing both the shape of the lights and their entire movement. Thanks to a perfect symbiosis between lighting design and the new technology, the new Audi Q6 e-tron lights look more vibrant and intelligent than ever before. We’ve given the light signatures their own personality and the digital world its own aesthetics at the same time”, explains César Muntada, Head of Lighting Design. “With the world’s first active digital light signature, the Q6 e-tron is ushering in a new era of distinctive design and aesthetics unique to Audi.”
A software module in one of the Audi Q6 e-tron‘s domain computers, jointly developed by Audi and the Group’s software company CARIAD, makes this type of light signature possible. In the case of the second-generation digital OLED rear lights, the six 360-segment OLED panels generate a new image every ten milliseconds using a specially developed algorithm. This algorithm lets the active digital light signature demonstrate the car’s vibrancy and ability to interact personally by making the Q6 e-tron’s “brain activity” visible through constant movement. The active digital light signature at the front is created via the interaction of the algorithm with 12 dimmable segments, while at the rear, all the digital OLED segments are used. The individual light segments interact so that the light signature’s overall image does not vary in luminous intensity.