The US Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has released proposed guidance for improving motor vehicle cybersecurity. The proposed cybersecurity guidance focuses on layered solutions to ensure vehicle systems are designed to take appropriate and safe actions, even when an attack is successful. The guidance recommends risk-based... Read more →

Divergent 3D, a manufacturing technology company focused on the automotive sector, has entered into a global development partnership with engineering research and development (ER&D) firm Altran. The partnership comes shortly following Divergent 3D’s signing a strategic partnership letter of intent with top-ten global automaker PSA Group. Divergent 3D is commercializing... Read more →

Layers of graphene separated by nanotube pillars of boron nitride (PGBN) may be a excellent material for on-board hydrogen storage in vehicles, according to a computational study by a pair of Rice University scientists. The study by Rouzbeh Shahsavari and Farzaneh Shayeganfar appears in the ACS journal Langmuir. Shahsavari and... Read more →

Recently appointed by The Volkswagen Group’s Sustainability Council, recently appointed and comprising nine members from several nations—including Margo Oge, former director of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Transportation Air Quality—set the agenda for its work at its inaugural meeting on Monday. The Council elected Georg Kell, Founding... Read more →

Long-term exposure to air pollution is linked to a greater incidence of high blood pressure, according to the largest study to investigate the effects of both air pollution and traffic noise by following more than 41,000 people in five different countries for five to nine years. The study, published in... Read more →

Axalta Coating Systems, a leading global manufacturer of liquid and powder coatings, has developed a new one-component self-bonding electrical steel varnish called Voltatex 1175W-1K. Self-bonding characteristics have become increasingly important in the production of high-quality magnetic cores for stators and rotors. The new varnish offers longer shelf life and significantly... Read more →

The Honda Clarity Fuel Cell sedan (earlier post), launching later this year, received an EPA driving range rating of 366 miles (589 km) and fuel economy rating of 68 mpg of gasoline-equivalent combined, giving it the best range rating of any electric vehicle without a combustion engine, including fuel cell... Read more →

The Energy Department (DOE) recently announced $10 million, subject to appropriations, to support the launch of the HydroGEN Advanced Water Splitting Materials Consortium (HydroGEN). (Earlier post.) This consortium will utilize the expertise and capabilities of the national laboratories to accelerate the development of commercially viable pathways for hydrogen production from... Read more →

Morphic Technologies’ subsidiary, Cell Impact, signed a collaboration agreement with PVD surface coating company Impact Coatings AB concerning new types of surface treatment material for fuel cell flow plates. The arrangement will add coatings from Impact Coatings to the products on offer. Cell Impact’s main operation involves the cost-effective production... Read more →

A team at Columbia University, with colleagues from Institute Recherche d’Hydro-Québec (IREQ), has developed a new pre-lithiation method to increase the energy density of lithium (Li-ion) batteries by utilizing a trilayer structure that is stable even in ambient air. This makes the battery both longer lasting and cheaper to manufacture.... Read more →

Daimler subsidiary ACCUMOTIVE has begun construction of a second Li-ion battery factory at its site in Kamenz. With an investment of about €500 million (US$545 million), the site in Kamenz will be one of the biggest and most modern battery factories in Europe. The new production facility is planned to... Read more →

A research team from Empa (Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology) and the University of Applied Sciences Bern, Laboratory for Exhaust Emission Control, reports that ethanol blending appeared to reduce genotoxic emissions from a flex-fuel Euro-5 gasoline direct injection (GDI) vehicle (a Volvo V60 with a 1.6 L... Read more →

A new study by a team at the University of California Irvine highlights the importance of intelligent plug-in vehicle (PEV) charging for minimizing the scale of infrastructure required to meet renewable utilization targets. In the study, published in the Journal of Power Sources, the UC Irvine team examined how the... Read more →

Analog Devices, Inc. introduced a tactical grade Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) featuring industry-leading precision and stability in the smallest, lightest and lowest power solution available. The high-performance ADIS16490 IMU paves the way for high-accuracy navigation, guidance, and positioning in applications ranging from aviation and unmanned systems to machine control and... Read more →

Infineon Technologies AG launched the next generation of its AURIX microcontroller family. The TC3xx microcontrollers offer the highest level of integration on the market and real-time performance that is three times higher than that available today. With a high-performing hexa-core architecture and advanced features for connectivity, security and embedded safety,... Read more →

FuelCell Energy, Inc. is developing a solid oxide electrolysis cell (SOEC) system to convert excess electricity during periods of low power demand into hydrogen efficiently. The US Department of Energy (DOE) is supporting this development with a $3.0 million cost-share contract to advance SOEC system design that will be added... Read more →

A new analysis from Argonne National Laboratory, funded by the US Department of Energy’s Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO), shows the potential of an algae fractionation process to produce renewable diesel fuel with 63%–68% lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions than conventional diesel. The study is published in the journal Algal Research.... Read more →

Total petroleum deliveries in September increased 1.0% from September 2015, but were down 2.6% from August to average 19.6 million barrels per day, according to figures from the American Petroleum Institute (API). These September deliveries were the highest deliveries for the month in nine years, since 2007. For the third... Read more →

Microturbine manufacturer Capstone Turbine Corporation announced that the US Department of Energy (DOE) will provide $335,000 in funding for one year to Argonne National Laboratory to conduct hydrogen and syngas testing on Capstone’s C65 and C200 microturbines. In October 2015, Capstone partnered with Argonne National Laboratory for participation in the... Read more →

From the end of 2016, diesel variants of the Renault Scénic and Grand Scénic models will be equipped with Continental’s 48-volt hybrid drive—the first application of the 48V “Hybrid Assist” in production vehicles. The first production solution combines an efficient, water-cooled induction motor with an integrated inverter. The electric motor... Read more →

SAE International will host a three-day symposium during which the technologies, regulations, testing and applications of automated driving technologies will be discussed, in-depth. The SAE 2016 From ADAS to Automated Driving Symposium will be held 29 Nov to 1 Dec at the Hilton Munich City in Munich, Germany. As industry... Read more →

A new study by researchers from Imperial College London(ICL) of 39 new Euro 6 diesel passenger cars has found “huge variability” in the on-road NOx emissions of Euro 6 diesel passenger cars, with results ranging from 1 to 22 times the type approval limit. All but 2 exhibited higher NOx... Read more →

Scientists at Imperial College London have demonstrated a highly efficient inductive method for wirelessly transferring power to a drone while it is flying. Theoretically, this wireless power transfer (WPT) technology could allow flying drones to stay airborne indefinitely by simply hovering over a ground support vehicle to recharge. The team... Read more →

Toyota Motor Corporation will begin to sell fuel cell buses (FC buses) under the Toyota brand from early 2017. After repeated field tests of the hydrogen-powered buses for practical use, the Bureau of Transportation of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government plans to utilize two of the Toyota FC Buses as fixed-route... Read more →

Tesla Motors announced on Wednesday that all Tesla vehicles—Models S, X, and 3—will be equipped with an on-board “supercomputer” that can provide full self-driving capability. (Earlier post.) This in-vehicle supercomputer is powered by the NVIDIA DRIVE PX 2 AI computing platform. (Earlier post.) The computer delivers more than 40 times... Read more →

In Europe, Ford is trialing its implementation of “Green Light Optimal Speed Advisory” (GLOSA) technology, which uses information on traffic light timings from a roadside unit to display to the driver the best speed to travel to get a green light. GLOSA applications have been of prominent interest for intelligent... Read more →

Samsung Electronics hosted the first Silicon Valley 5G Summit, held at Samsung Research America in San Jose, California. The summit, expected to become an annual event, brought together global telecommunications industry leaders from across the value chain to lay the foundation for an open end-to-end ecosystem for fifth generation (5G)... Read more →

China-based automaker Geely has launched Lynk & Co—a new global car brand designed and engineered in Sweden; every model will feature an electrified powertrain. First in the range will be the Lynk & Co 01—an SUV featuring full premium specifications and characteristics as standard. Full mobile connectivity will also be... Read more →

The California Air Resources Board has adopted a revised funding plan for proceeds from the cap-and-trade program that includes putting more clean vehicles in disadvantaged communities. The investments range from supporting increased numbers of zero-emission heavy-duty trucks and buses to rebates for low- and zero-emission passenger vehicles. The revised plan... Read more →

SGL Group, a leading manufacturer of carbon-based products and materials, will sell its graphite electrode (GE) business to Showa Denko (Japan). The two parties have agreed on an enterprise value (cash and debt free) of €350 million (US$384 million), which, after deduction of standard debt-like items (mainly pension and restructuring... Read more →

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, has introduced the Qualcomm Snapdragon X50 5G modem, making Qualcomm the first company to announce a commercial 5G modem chipset solution. It is designed to support original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) that are building the next generation of cellular devices, as well as... Read more →

Researchers at the universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Cardiff in the UK, and the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) in Saudi Arabia have shown that benign, readily-available heavy alkane hydrocarbon wax is capable of rapidly releasing large amounts of hydrogen—sufficient to meet the 7 wt% target set by... Read more →

Toyota Motor Europe will start production of a hybrid transaxle in 2018 at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Poland (TMMP) in Walbrzych, and add two gasoline engines—a 1.5L in 2017 and a 2.0L in 2019—at Toyota Motor Industries, Poland (TMIP) in Jelcz-Laskowice. Combined, the new projects represent an additional investment of approximately... Read more →

Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. has completed an acquisition of a 34% equity stake in Mitsubishi Motors (MMC) (earlier post) and has become its largest shareholder. As indicated in May, when Nissan outlined the deal, MMC is also becoming part of the global Alliance with Nissan and Renault. With the addition... Read more →

Nexar, developer of a vehicle-to-vehicle network app that turns smartphones into connected AI dashcams, will join the Berkeley DeepDrive (BDD) Industry Consortium, a research alliance bringing together private industry sponsors, faculty, and researchers from multiple departments and centers. The BDD Consortium investigates advanced technologies in computer vision and machine learning... Read more →

The Health Effects Institute (HEI) will soon publish a study by Frank Gilliland and his colleagues at the University of Southern California the findings of which suggest that US and California regulations directed at reducing emissions of mobile-source pollutants were likely contributors to improvements in air quality between 1985 and... Read more →

Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s Enterprise Services business will help National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS) accelerate the setup of its global electric vehicle production. As part of the project, HPE will create a global manufacturing IT platform for NEVS that will operate across plants in Sweden and China. NEVS, a Swedish holding... Read more →

Audi of America is offering a new 2.0-liter TFSI four-cylinder engine on 2017 Audi Q7 models. This new model, when equipped with the 2.0-liter engine, is half a second faster on the 0-60 mph sprint; nearly 500 pounds lighter; and up to 22% more fuel-efficient than the previous generation Q7... Read more →

Consumer Watchdog urged the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to prohibit autonomous vehicles without a human driver capable of taking control until the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) enacts enforceable standards covering safety performance. Consumer Watchdog notes that NHTSA’s proposed voluntary safety checklist contains no enforceable standards. The... Read more →

Tesla announced that effective immediately, new Tesla vehicles—including Model 3—will have the hardware needed to support full autonomous driving. The required software for full autonomous driving is still under development and will need validation and regulatory approval. In fact, Teslas with the new hardware will temporarily lack certain features currently... Read more →

Daimler Buses will offer electrohydraulic power steering (EHPS) to reduce fuel consumption in coming bus models. The fully integrated system replaces the conventional power steering pumps used currently in all buses with a gross weight of more than 7.5 t. Conventional hydraulic power steering (HPS) is driven directly by the... Read more →

Chevrolet will introduce more than 20 totally new or refreshed products in China, its second-largest market, by the end of 2020. Nearly 30% of the models will be SUVs; nearly half will be new nameplates for the China portfolio. They will feature a variety of efficient and powerful advanced propulsion... Read more →

Driven by Artur Prusak and Thierry Benchetrit, the hydrogen-powered Toyota Mirai from Toyota France took first place in the first e-Rally Monte-Carlo, which was held between Fontainebleau and Monaco. The three Mirai cars entered by Toyota France, one of which was driven by Georges Marsan, the Mayor of Monaco, all... Read more →

At the VDI Kongress in Baden-Baden this week, Infineon Technologies AG and cyber security company Argus will demonstrate an integrated cyber security solution for connected and autonomous vehicles. The system is based on an Infineon AURIX multicore microcontroller with the Intrusion Detection and Prevention System (IDPS) and remote cloud platform... Read more →

Oryx Vision has emerged from stealth with a veteran team from the Israeli high-tech industry to build a novel depth-sensing solution for autonomous vehicles that overcomes some of the limitations of current LiDAR systems. Oryx has raised $17 million in Series A funding led by Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP), with... Read more →

Renesas Electronics Corporation announced a highly automated driving (HAD) solution kit that delivers high computing performance targeted at automotive functional safety to reduce development time of electronic control units (ECUs). The HAD solution kit is based on two Renesas R-Car H3 Starter Kit Premier and the automotive control RH850/P1H-C microcontroller... Read more →

BMW has won the Bavarian State Award for E-mobility / eCar TEC Award for the innovative cooling concept used for the electric traction motor in the BMW 225xe plug-in hybrid. The BMW 225xe pairs a 100 kW/136 hp 1.5-liter three-cylinder gasoline engine with 65 kW electric traction motor and a... Read more →

NextEV, a China-based designer and developer of high-performance electric vehicles (earlier post), has been issued an Autonomous Vehicle Testing Permit by the California DMV. NextEV now joins the elite group of companies in Silicon Valley permitted to test autonomous vehicle technology. Senator Bob Wieckowski, the chair of the Senate’s Environmental... Read more →

Xebec Adsorption Inc., a provider of gas purification, generation and filtration solutions for the hydrogen, natural gas, field gas, helium, oxygen and nitrogen markets, has introduced a complete range of high-performance, Fast Cycle Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) Systems capable of ultra-pure hydrogen purification of up to 6.0 hydrogen grade (99.9999%).... Read more →

A team at the University of Michigan (U-M) has used operando video microscopy to develop a comprehensive understanding of the voltage variations observed during Li metal cycling, which is directly correlated to dendrite growth. Specifically, they observed the evolution of the morphology of the Li electrode through operando high-resolution video... Read more →