In connected car news are Fisker, Fleet Complete, Firestone and Protean Tecs.
Fisker Updates Brake Issues
Fisker Inc. (NYSE: FSR) (“Fisker”) has issued the following statement on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Office of Defects Investigation’s (ODI) Preliminary Evaluation of reported braking issues with the 2023 Fisker Ocean:
“Fisker is fully cooperating with NHTSA on this matter.”
The Fisker Ocean brake system uses both friction braking and regenerative braking. In December 2023, Fisker responded to customer feedback and issued an Over-the-Air update (Version 1.10) to the regenerative system that improved the customer experience when traveling over bumps and uneven surfaces, resolving the issue. The Fisker Ocean brake system meets or exceeds all US and international performance requirements.
Fleet Complete for Stellantis
Fleet Complete, a global leader in connected fleet management solutions, is pleased to announce the launch of its original equipment manufacturer (OEM) telematics data support for Stellantis connected vehicles, the automaker behind iconic brands like Dodge, Ram, Jeep and Chrysler, through Mobilisights, the Stellantis Data as a Service Company.
The FC Hub, Fleet Complete’s cloud-based fleet management software, is now seamlessly integrated with Stellantis’ embedded telematics, found in vehicles manufactured from 2019 onward. The data integration between Fleet Complete’s fleet management platform and Mobilisights represents an advancement in next-generation OEM telematics, to help fleets optimize their operations. With Mobilisights data integration, Stellantis vehicles can now transmit data directly to Fleet Complete’s platform, eliminating the need for additional hardware installations.
“Fleet Complete is excited to support Stellantis vehicles by leveraging their data through Mobilisights with enhanced cloud-connected analytics, reporting and dashboards, to help fleet managers drive better business decisions. Our OEM integrations are part of our commitment to continuously innovating and enhancing the connected vehicle experience for fleet managers, especially those with mixed-fleet operations needing a single pane of glass across multiple asset types,” said Frank Friesacher, Chief Product Officer (CPO) at Fleet Complete.
Having a mixed fleet offers businesses significant advantages. It allows fleet managers to choose the most cost-effective and job-specific vehicles and equipment tailored to their needs. However, fleet managers often have few choices for achieving fleet-wide visibility and reporting when dealing with multi-vendor integrations.
What’s more – with multi-vendor, EV hybrid fleets becoming increasingly more common, fleet managers now, more than ever, rely on OEM telematics data support through a common platform for a 360-degree view of their fleet. This underscores the growing importance of adopting seamless data integration through a unified platform for OEM connected vehicles, emerging as the preferred solution for mixed fleets.
Fleet Complete is collaborating with prominent North American automotive OEMs, including Stellantis, to enhance the utilization of connected vehicle data and AI machine learning. This collaboration aims to provide fleet managers with predictive insights into safety and maintenance, streamlining their operations. Through state-of-the-art fleet telematics, fleets gain deeper insights into their safety, compliance and sustainability data – without the need for hardware fees or installation downtime.
Firestone Airide Wireless Controlled Air Springs
Firestone Airide, a subsidiary of Bridgestone Americas (Bridgestone), today announced Firestone Air Command dual-path control for air helper springs at the 2024 King of the Hammers. Air Command allows users to control air helper springs wirelessly from either a new physical remote or smartphone app for iOS and Android and is designed to help make towing and hauling easier, safer, and more comfortable.
Firestone first patented air-spring technology in 1938, 86 years ago, and continues to innovate in the segment. The latest development is the Air Command, which allows users to control air helper springs from a Bluetooth-based smartphone app or wireless remote. Live system monitoring and adjust-on-the-fly capabilities are just a screen tap away, including single- and dual-path controls. When properly optioned with dual-path control, Air Command can inflate left- and right-hand air helper springs individually, helping to level out uneven loads.
“With remote and app-based wireless dual-path controls, and robust product offering, Airide will change the way people think about towing and hauling,” said Justin Monaghan, President, Firestone Airide. “We are excited for heavy-load towers and haulers, like the racers and spectators at King of the Hammers, to test out Air Command for themselves.”
Leveling out the vehicle’s suspension while towing, reducing sag, has more than visual benefits. Leveling the suspension helps increase steering control, levels headlights, enhances ride comfort, balances heavy loads, prevents cargo from bottoming out, and can add trailer braking efficiency.
Air Command is designed to complement air helper springs for most ½-, ¾- and 1-ton trucks, SUVs, vans and Class A RVs, whether they’re hauling a camper, landscaping equipment, horse trailer, boat and beyond. The initial debut of Air Command and the new Bluetooth control technology at King of the Hammers 2024 will showcase the application for the off-road and toy-hauling community of enthusiasts.
In addition to the new dual-path Air Command remote controls, customers also have access to single-path remote and app controls. Easy, no-drill installation is available at any of the 700+ authorized Airide installers in North America.
Firestone Airide is one of the largest suppliers of air springs in the truck/trailer, bus and automotive spaces. As one of the largest suppliers of air springs to the electric vehicle industry, the brand direction aligns with Firestone’s partners and their sustainability goals, including applications on some of the best-selling electric cars and SUVs. In January 2023, Firestone Industrial Products Company (FSIP) was rebranded as Firestone Airide. The Air Command system is the next step of transmogrification of the Airide product lineup.
Firestone Airide aligns with the Bridgestone E8 Commitment, which consists of eight Bridgestone-like values starting with the letter “E” (Energy, Ecology, Efficiency, Extension, Economy, Emotion, Ease, Empowerment). With the development of Air Command, Firestone Airide is delivering on its commitment to “Ease,” “Efficiency” and “Extension.”
proteanTecs Power Reduction
proteanTecs, a global leader of deep data analytics for advanced electronics, announced the launch of its power reduction solution for the datacenter, mobile, communications and automotive markets. Now available, the proteanTecs’ power reduction solution uses on-chip telemetry, machine learning and predictive analytics to enable workload-aware system-on-chip (SoC) power reduction during production testing and in-field operations.
Based on personalized device assessment and the real-time visibility of actual timing margins under functional workloads, the new solution highlights unique offerings—from Power Characterization and inline-testing VDDmin Prediction to the industry first-and-only real time AVS Pro™ application. These capabilities can be used independently or concurrently to maximize power savings by over 10% with a protection layer. To schedule a demo, click here.
“As CPUs, GPUs and AI processors advance and must support increasing performance demands, the need for power reduction has intensified in reliability-critical markets, such as cloud computing, mobile, telecommunications and automotive,” said Evelyn Landman, co-founder and CTO of proteanTecs. “We’ve successfully proven the proteanTecs power reduction solution with multiple customers, and we’re eager to help more customers balance their tradeoffs, reduce guard bands in a safe way, and optimize power and performance without the risk of system failure. Customers can now double down on their power savings with a safety net.”
For significant in-field power savings, proteanTecs introduces AVS Pro, a closed-loop hardware-firmware application for reliability and functional-workload aware adaptive voltage scaling (AVS). Based on timing margin agents, AVS Pro leverages excessive guard-bands to reduce power while guaranteeing failure prevention. This silicon-proven technology has enabled customers to reduce their power consumption by an average of 8-14%. To learn more, download the white paper here.
For power reduction during production, proteanTecs offers applications for prediction-based VDDmin optimization per individual chip and system, with deep data analytics for process grading. These applications are deployed on the tester with advanced analysis on the proteanTecs cloud platform. Partnering with leading automated test equipment (ATE) vendors, the company enables parametric power and performance visibility for inline decision making.
proteanTecs’ power reduction solution offers several key advantages to performance- and reliability-critical markets, including cloud computing, consumer devices, telecommunications and automotive. By optimizing power-hungry components, customers can improve operational efficiencies and prolong the lifetime of their system’s electronics, leading to significant cost savings, and higher system utilization rates.
To learn more about the new power reduction solution, click here. To schedule a product demo or receive a custom quote, click here.