BMW M GmbH has begun first test drives with a prototype for innovative high-performance electric drive and chassis control systems. The concept testing focuses on a four-wheel drive system comprising four electric motors and an integrated driving dynamics control system. With the completely new drive concept, BMW M GmbH is... Read more →

Chevron USA, a subsidiary of Chevron Corporation, announced definitive agreements to supply fuel linked to renewable natural gas for a Walmart Inc. demonstration of Cummins’s new 15-liter natural gas engine for heavy-duty trucks (earlier post). As part of the agreements, Walmart will provide heavy-duty trucks for Cummins to integrate with... Read more →

Researchers at the University of California, Irvine have found that autonomous vehicles can be tricked into an abrupt halt or other undesired driving behavior by the placement of an ordinary object on the side of the road. The team recently A box, bicycle or traffic cone may “scare” a driverless... Read more →

CARIAD, the Volkswagen Group’s software company, will look to Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. to supply system-on-chips (SoCs) for CARIAD’s software platform designed to enable assisted and automated driving functions up to Level 4. The SoCs from Qualcomm Technologies’ Snapdragon Ride Platform portfolio will be an important hardware component in CARIAD’s standardized... Read more →

Untether AI, a developer of at-memory computation for artificial intelligence (AI) inference acceleration, announced a collaboration with General Motors, supported by the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Vehicle Innovation Network (OVIN), to accelerate the development of next-generation artificial intelligence perception systems for autonomous vehicles. More than 90% of the... Read more →

DeepRoute.ai, an international autonomous driving technology company, announced a leading-edge Robotaxi fleet comprising 30 SAIC Motor MARVEL R SUVs equipped with DeepRoute’s proprietary L4 Driver 2.0 solution. This fleet distinguishes itself from other Robotaxis in its sleek rooftop design, replacing the traditional bulky sensor suite. With a 360-degree view and... Read more →

NVIDIA has started production of its NVIDIA DRIVE Orin autonomous vehicle computer, showcased new automakers adopting the NVIDIA DRIVE platform, and unveiled the next generation of its NVIDIA DRIVE Hyperion architecture. The company also announced that its automotive pipeline has increased to more than $11 billion over the next six... Read more →

Aeva, a developer of next-generation sensing and perception systems, announced that its Aeries 4D LiDAR sensors are now supported on the NVIDIA DRIVE autonomous vehicle platform. Aeva’s Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) 4D LiDAR sensors detect 3D position and instant velocity for each point at distances up to 500 meters,... Read more →

BMW Group, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and Arriver Software AB announced a long-term development cooperation for the development of Automated Driving technologies. The companies signed an agreement for a strategic cooperation, which will focus on joint development of next-generation AD technologies ranging from New Car Assessment Program (NCAP), Level 2 Advanced... Read more →

Neural Propulsion Systems (NPS), a developer of autonomous sensing platforms, issued a white paper that concludes that new innovations enable vehicles with or without human supervision to see soon enough, clear enough and far enough to eliminate roadway deaths. Achieving zero roadway deaths is necessary for universal adoption of autonomous... Read more →

STMicroelectronics has introduced new automotive microcontrollers (MCUs) optimized for electric vehicles and centralized (domain and zonal) electronic architectures. They enable EVs to become more affordable, drive further, and charge faster. In current EVs, high-efficiency SiC-based (silicon carbide) power modules enable the greatest driving range and faster charging. However, trypical automotive... Read more →

Jaguar Land Rover has formed a multi-year strategic partnership with NVIDIA to develop jointly and to deliver next-generation automated driving systems plus AI-enabled services and experiences for its customers. Starting in 2025, all new Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles will be built on the NVIDIA DRIVE software-defined platform, delivering a... Read more →

TTTech Auto, a Vienna-based technology leader in automotive safety software, raised US$285 million (€250 million) from Aptiv PLC and Audi in its latest funding round. Aptiv is investing US$228 million (€200 million), while Audi is increasing its existing stake by US$57 million (€50 million). With this latest funding round and... Read more →

Toyota Research Institute (TRI) researchers have successfully programmed a vehicle to drift autonomously around obstacles on a closed track—a world first. Combining a deep knowledge of both vehicle dynamics and control design, TRI’s Nonlinear Model Predictive Control (NMPC) approach extends the vehicle’s operational domain to the very limits of its... Read more →

GM’s next-generation hands-free driver assist system, Ultra Cruise, will be powered by a scalable compute architecture featuring system-on-chips developed by Qualcomm Technologies. GM will be the first company to use the Qualcomm Technologies’ Snapdragon Ride Platform for advanced driver assistance technology, which features an industry-leading 5-nanometer Snapdragon SA8540P SoC and... Read more →

Ambarella, an AI vision silicon company, announced the CV3 AI domain controller family at CES. This fully scalable, power-efficient CVflow family of SoCs provides the automotive industry’s highest AI processing performance, at up to 500 eTOPS, representing a 42x increase over Ambarella’s prior automotive family. Featuring up to 16 Arm... Read more →

Chin-based EV maker NIO recently unveiled its fifth mass-production model, the ET5 (earlier post). The mid-size sedan’s AI features are powered by the NIO Adam supercomputer, built on four NVIDIA DRIVE Orin systems-on-a-chip (SoCs), achieving a total of more than 1,000 TOPS of performance. In addition to centralized compute, the... Read more →

IBM and Samsung Electronics jointly announced a breakthrough in semiconductor design utilizing a new vertical transistor architecture (VTFET) that demonstrates a path to scaling beyond nanosheet, and has the potential to reduce energy usage by 85% compared to a scaled fin field-effect transistor (finFET). VTFET Vertical Transport Nanosheet Field Effect... Read more →

ZF has strengthened its automotive software business by acquiring a five percent stake in the software company Apex.AI. In addition to the financial support, ZF will also develop software solutions based on the Apex.OS meta-operating system. ZF’s investment was part of a $56.5 million Series B round led by Orillion,... Read more →

Bosch is taking further strategic steps toward a leading position in the software-dominated future of mobility. In the future, under the umbrella of its subsidiary ETAS GmbH, the company will develop and sell basic vehicle software, middleware, cloud services, and development tools for universal application. A total of 2,300 experts... Read more →

Baidu, Inc., JiDU Automotive and Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. announced that JiDU’s first production vehicle will feature an intelligent digital cockpit system assisted by Baidu and Qualcomm Technologies. This system is based on the 4th Generation Snapdragon Automotive Cockpit Platform from Qualcomm Technologies, together with the next generation intelligent cockpit system... Read more →

Some of today’s vehicles already feature more than 100 control units. This high complexity of electrical and electronic systems and their architecture will further increase, but must remain manageable. The “Software-Defined Car” (SofDCar) project now aims to develop standardized rules and processes to ensure that electronic components of the vehicle... Read more →

Electric automaker Xpeng took the wraps off the G9 SUV this week at the international Auto Guangzhou show in China (earlier post). The intelligent, software-defined vehicle is built on the high-performance compute of NVIDIA DRIVE Orin and delivers AI capabilities that are continuously upgraded with each over-the-air update. The new... Read more →

GlobalFoundries (GF), a global leader in feature-rich semiconductor manufacturing, and Ford Motor Company announced a strategic collaboration to advance semiconductor manufacturing and technology development within the United States, aiming to boost chip supplies for Ford and the US automotive industry. The companies have signed a non-binding agreement that opens the... Read more →

Airflow.aero, Inc., an aerospace startup building a next-generation electric Short Takeoff and Landing (eSTOL) aircraft, and Pipistrel, a world-leading small aircraft designer and manufacturer, announced a partnership through which Pipistrel will supply motors, motor controllers, and batteries for Airflow’s proof-of-concept aircraft. Through this work, the two companies will further explore... Read more →

Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) has developed an intrusion detection and defense system (IDS) to protect military ground vehicles against cyberthreats to embedded systems and connected vehicle networks. While developed for military vehicles, the system can also be used to scan for anomalies in passenger cars and commercial vehicles. The IDS... Read more →

The Eclipse Foundation, one of the world’s largest open source foundations, along with multiple industry leaders, including Bosch, Microsoft and others, announced an open invitation for technology leaders to help define a new working group focused specifically on the Software-Defined Vehicle. The ultimate goal will be the creation of a... Read more →

Autonomous driving company Aurora has released its first commercial beta of the Aurora Driver, which consists of the hardware, software, and data services needed to safely operate an autonomous Aurora-powered vehicle. Aurora Driver Beta is currently hauling loads between Dallas and Houston, TX, in a commercial pilot of Aurora Horizon,... Read more →

Allegro MicroSystems, a global provider of power and sensing solutions for motion control and energy efficient systems, is expanding its QuietMotion product line with the introduction of the new A89307 automotive-qualified gate driver integrated circuit (IC). Designed for battery cooling fans and HVAC systems in electric (EV) and hybrid vehicles,... Read more →

TTTech Auto and Infineon Technologies have developed key components for a fail-operational electronic architecture for highly automated driving of SAE Level 3 and 4. This enables the safe and reliable processing of, for example, radar or LiDAR camera sensor data and is targeting car and technology manufacturers. The fail-operational architectural... Read more →

Wolfspeed announced that ZINSIGHT Technology, an innovator of advanced electric drive systems, will utilize Wolfspeed 1200V Silicon Carbide (SiC) MOSFETs in its advanced motor controller for ultra-high-speed air compressors in fuel cell vehicle (FCV) systems. The use of SiC in battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) and FCVs results in significant cost savings,... Read more →

Renesas Electronics Corporation unveiled an innovative automotive gateway solution with R-Car S4 system on chips (SoCs) and power management ICs (PMICs) for next-generation vehicle computers, communication gateways, domain servers and application servers. Renesas’ new solution meets the automotive industry’s high demands for high performance, high-speed networking, high security and high... Read more →

Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC) will use an evolved version of the Super-All Wheel Control (S-AWC) system in its plug-in hybrid (PHEV) model of the all-new Outlander crossover SUV, which is scheduled for launch in Japan in the second half of this fiscal year and in the US in the second... Read more →

Woven Planet Holdings, a subsidiary of Toyota Motor Corporation, has acquired Renovo Motors, a Silicon Valley-based automotive operating system developer. The acquisition will add depth to Woven Planet’s resources, particularly for Arene, Woven Planet’s open vehicle development platform, by: Adding a team of top-tier engineers with deep expertise in building... Read more →

Embark Trucks, a developer of autonomous technology for the trucking industry, is collaborating with Cummins to accelerate the integration of next-generation truck components and controls in self-driving trucks. Under this collaboration, Embark is testing Cummins’ automated driving system (ADS) powertrain interface to manage powertrain operations. The integration of the platform-agnostic... Read more →

Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corporation has developed a model-based development (MBD) simulation technology that shortens verification times for automotive semiconductors by about 90%. (Verification times for simulation of three-phase inverter circuits in an automotive electric power steering system during a right turn with a duration of six seconds.) The... Read more →

Jacobs Vehicle Systems and Tula Technology have signed a cooperation agreement to accelerate the development of Jacobs Cylinder Deactivation (CDA) valve actuation technology in conjunction with Tula’s Dynamic Skip Fire (DSF) control algorithms (earlier post). Cylinder Deactivation leverages Jacobs’ well-established componentry to disable engine valves in selected cylinders allowing a... Read more →

At IAA Mobility, during his first in-person keynote since taking the helm of Intel in February, CEO Pat Gelsinger predicted that semiconductors will account for more than 20% of the total premium vehicle bill of materials (BOM) by 2030. That represents a 5x growth rate over 2019’s 4% figure. This... Read more →

At IAA Mobility in Munich, ZF is presenting the Moldular eDrive Kit for purely electric drives. Th kit bundles the entire expertise of ZF's e-mobility team for system solutions, components, and software controls in a flexible and modular platform. The Modular eDrive Kit can halve the development time until series... Read more →

SAE International, in collaboration with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), published ISO/SAE 21434™ Standard: Road Vehicles – Cybersecurity Engineering. The standard helps the industry define a structured process to ensure cybersecurity is incorporated into the design of road vehicles, including systems, components software and connections of any external device... Read more →

During the first half of 2021, wafer fab capacity constraints were causing the greatest disruption and getting the most attention as the “semiconductor shortage” affecting automotive production. Now that those have improved, other related constraints in getting leadframes, substrates and resins are getting attention, according to analysts at IHS Markit.... Read more →

Embark Trucks Inc., a developer of autonomous technology for the trucking industry, will use NVIDIA DRIVE autonomous vehicle compute platform solutions to power the Embark Universal Interface (EUI) and the Embark Driver software. By collaborating with NVIDIA and adopting the DRIVE platform, Embark intends to equip its test fleet with... Read more →

Volkswagen is strengthening its expertise in the integration of automotive software. At present, high-performance automotive functions can only be achieved by networking many individual software and hardware components. Integrating these components and testing the resulting assembly is a key development task for Volkswagen. As part of its ACCELERATE strategy, Volkswagen... Read more →

Venti Technologies, a developer of safe-speed autonomous logistics systems, secured approximately $8 million in a seed round funding. The financing round was led by LDV Partners and Alpha JWC Ventures. The investment will further Venti’s production of AI-enabled autonomous logistics transport, including fulfilling new and existing customer agreements with PSA... Read more →

Exro Technologies is introducing a new application for its patented Coil Driver technology—enabling EVs to fast charge seamlessly and provide electricity back to the grid regardless of power source or charger type. Coil Driver is a next-generation dynamic motor controller that expands the capabilities of electric motors by enabling multiple... Read more →

Haldor Topsoe will build a 15,000 ton per year hydroprocessing catalyst plant at the company’s existing Bayport production site in Pasadena, Harris County, Texas. The plant will increase production capacity of Topsoe’s TK catalyst family to meet increasing demand, both in traditional refining and for use with Topsoe’s HydroFlex technology... Read more →

Though EVs represent a small fraction of delivery vehicles today, the number is growing. In 2019, Amazon announced plans to obtain 100,000 electric delivery vehicles. UPS has ordered 10,000 of them and FedEx plans to be fully electric by 2040. Now, a study from University of Michigan researchers shows that... Read more →

China-based self-driving startup AutoX unveiled its full Gen5 self-driving system this week. The autonomous driving platform, which is specifically designed for robotaxis, uses NVIDIA DRIVE automotive grade GPUs to reach up to 2,200 trillion operations per second (TOPS) of AI compute performance. In January, AutoX launched a commercial robotaxi system... Read more →

Volkswagen is taking its next step towards becoming a software-oriented mobility provider; starting this summer, the brand will regularly send over-the-air (OTA) software updates to models in the ID. electric vehicle family. The first model to benefit is the ID.3. The latest software version ID.Software2.3 will be delivered to “First... Read more →

Volvo Cars will take software development in-house as a car’s appeal increasingly becomes more defined by software-driven functions and features, rather than traditional automotive attributes. The next generation of pure electric Volvo models, including the company’s first SUV on a completely new electric-only technology base, will run on Volvo Cars’... Read more →