AT&T announced six voice activated apps for its AT&T Drive connected car platform. The apps will be available to auto makers for weather, audio, locations nad parking.
Apps include AccuWeather, Glympse, iHeartRadio, Stitcher, Streetline, Inc. with the Parker app, and Tribune Digital Ventures. AT&T has partnered with TeleCommunication Systems, Inc. at the AT&T Drive Studio.
Continental has put together an international team from the IT and automotive industries to work on Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), called “Continental Intelligent Transportation Systems, LLC”
It will be headquartered in the Silicon Valley and guided by Seval Oz, an expert in vehicle networking and automation. In her previous role she worked on Google’s self-driving car project.
There are more ChargePoint charging stations than Starbucks, McDonald’s, 7-Eleven: 8,160,Dunkin’ Donuts or Wal-marts. BMW’s new fast chargers are supported. EV owners can find charging stations online or via Android and iPhone apps.
When drivers realized there are so many places to charge an EVs, they’re more likely to consider buying EVs. There are many charging stations are at many stores.
With 18,000 charging locations across U.S. and Canada, ChargePoint has more spots than the number of Starbucks: 14,958, McDonald’s: 13,890, 7-Eleven: 8,160, Dunkin’ Donuts: 7,681 and Walmart: 5,256.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced today that the Tesla Model S drive unit warranty has been extended to match that of the battery pack. That means the 85 kWh Tesla S, now has an 8 year, infinite mile warranty on both the battery pack and drive unit. It will cover all the owners of the cars, new or used.
The warranty extension will apply retroactively to all Model S vehicles ever produced.
The 2014 World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) Sept. 7-11 comes to America every three years, this year it will be in Detroit, Michigan. A multitude of industry leaders will be present and presenting at the event.
At Belle Isle, TransCore will demonstrate a viable answer to today’s nationwide tolling interoperability. Using a live test-track, the truck driver will test a multi-protocol tag – GoAnywhere Pass – in a loop using six different readers set up for various protocols. Participants will observe the transactions in the tent on a big screen.
A collaborative open source project Automotive Grade Linux (AGL), first open source software release is available for download from the Linux Foundation. Recently, BearingPoint GmbH and Systena joined the organization and are participating in the Automotive Grade Linux (AGL) Steering Committee.
Linus Auto Grade offers an optimized embedded Linux OS stack as a starting point for engineering work. It builds on Tizen IVI supported by Intel and Samsung.
A new device that will let you see only what is needed from your smartphone on a heads up display, called the Navdy, was announced today. It combines a clear projector screen with voice and gesture controls to create what they call a safer, intuitive connected driving experience.
The driver sees essential information from a smartphone through the display that projects through the windshield (HUD Heads Up Display). A camera sensor allows the driver to use gestures to navigate, communicate or control music. Navdy is available for pre-order right now on for $299.99 with a release date expected in 2015.
Navdy claims that built-in consoles like Android Auto and Apple CarPlay are just bigger touchscreens that do nothing to solve the problem.
Stop signs mean stop, the usual reason for stopping is to look both ways at an intersection to see if anyone else is coming. In areas without a lot of traffic stopping at stop signs burns fuel and wastes time/money.
Researchers at the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute are in the early stages of research in which, instead of putting the road signs on the road, interactive signs appear inside the car. If no other car is present at the intersection, the will driver can drive on through.
Lechal shoes will be offering Bluetooth-enabled smart footwear that pair with an app your phones connected to Google Maps. The Indian company is calling the smartshoes interactive haptic footwear. Some atuomotive journalists suggest that the technology my be used to enhance directions for motorcyclists and even cars.
With the catchy phrases “think shrink”, “smaller is bigger” and “min it to win it”, the Little Box Challenge, sponsored by Google and IEEE will pay a one million dollars to the company or entity that builds and designs a kW-scale inverter with the highest density of at least 50 watts per cubic inch.
Inverters are the boxes that convert direct current from sources such as solar panels or batteries and turns it into alternating current for use in homes, businesses or cars.
The combined average age of all light vehicles on the road in the U.S. stayed at at 11.4 years, as of Jan. 1 2014, reported IHS Automotive. It is the oldest cars have stayed since 1995, when the data was first reported.
In 2003, there were cell phones but no iPhones or Android phones. The older the car, the less connected it will be. There appears to big market for head units and other connected car features for older model cars. Most people keep their cars an average of six years.
Apple CarPlay will be supported by more carmakers that will offer CarPlay in future model cars. The system will only work with lightning connectors for iPhone 5/c/s.
Audi has announced that it will offer Apple’s CarPlay by next year with 2015 models. CarPlay will integrate with Audi’s built-in controls, the Audi MMI touch system, as well as dial controls and voice controls to activate Siri. Other carmakers that have been added to the CarPlay list are Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat, Jeep Mazda and RAM.