A new report from IDTechEx forecasts that the shift to electric vehicles and autonomy will drive the printed electronics automotive market to $12.7 billion by 2031. The technological transitions towards electric vehicles and increased autonomy are creating extensive opportunities for many new technologies, including printed/flexible electronics. For example, the ability... Read more →

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has licensed its award-winning artificial intelligence software system, the Multinode Evolutionary Neural Networks for Deep Learning (MENNDL), to General Motors for use in vehicle technology and design. MENNDL uses evolution to design optimal convolutional neural networks—algorithms used by computers to recognize patterns in datasets of... Read more →

Continental has been manufacturing radar sensors for more than 20 years. In that time, the technology company has launched a total of more than 100 million radar sensors on the market worldwide. Continental is now unveiling its sixth generation of long-range radar and surround radar. Production is scheduled to start... Read more →

The National Transportation Safety Board has released its 2021 – 2022 Most Wanted List of Transportation Safety Improvements; one of the 10 items in the list was “Require Collision Avoidance and Connected Vehicle Technologies on All Vehicles”. These technologies include forward-collision warning and automatic emergency braking, which can warn the... Read more →

Drivers are using adaptive cruise control (ACC) as a tool for speeding, possibly undermining the feature’s potential safety benefits, according to a new study by researchers from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) with colleagues from MIT. Drivers are substantially more likely to speed when using ACC or partial... Read more →

Audi is using high-precision swarm data for the first time to improve its car-to-X service “local hazard alerts”. The new version uses a car-to-cloud application that is based on a novel procedure for estimating the coefficient of friction on the basis of the wheel slip. The technology can detect minute... Read more →

Honda Motor has begun leasing of the Honda Legend EX equipped with Honda SENSING Elite in Japan. Honda SENSING Elite is a variation of Honda SENSING, a suite of advanced safety and driver-assistive technologies currently available on Honda vehicles around the world. One of the “elite” technologies featured is the... Read more →

Micron Technology has begun sampling the industry’s first automotive low-power DDR5 DRAM (LPDDR5) memory that is hardware-evaluated to meet the most stringent Automotive Safety Integrity Level (ASIL), ASIL D. The solution is part of Micron’s new portfolio of memory and storage products targeted for automotive functional safety based on the... Read more →

Recogni Inc., the developers of an AI vision cognition system for autonomous vehicles, raised $48.9 million in a Series B financing round, led by WRVI Capital, a prominent global technology investor. The proceeds will help Recogni bring its perception platform to market and expand its engineering and go-to-market teams. In... Read more →

Israel-based RadSee Technologies Ltd. announced the availability of the automotive industry’s first 4D imaging radar for ADAS (advanced driver assistance systems) and autonomous vehicles able to deliver ultra-high performance and scalability to OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers at up to one-third the cost of previous solutions. By combining the company’s... Read more →

Renesas Electronics Corporation introduced an update of its R-Car V3H system-on-chip (SoC) to deliver significantly improved deep learning performance for smart camera applications, including driver and occupant monitoring systems (DMS / OMS); automotive front cameras; surround view; and auto parking for high-volume vehicles up to Level 2+. The updated SoC... Read more →

Luminar Technologies, Inc., a provider of automotive lidar hardware and software technology, and Volvo Cars released a curated dataset called Cirrus containing unique long range lidar data from Volvo Cars’ test and data collection fleet. This curated dataset is being opened to industry developers and researchers in order to aid... Read more →

The California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) has issued an Autonomous Vehicle Testing Permit (with a driver) to VinFast (a division of Vingroup). VinFast—a Vietnamese company (earlier post)—is the 57th company to be issued such a testing permit. Six companies have received a permit for driverless testing (Autox, Baidu, Cruise,... Read more →

Ford and Google announced a strategic partnership to accelerate the transformation of Ford’s customer experience. Ford also named Google Cloud its preferred cloud provider to leverage Google’s expertise in data, artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning (ML). As part of this new, six-year partnership—and beginning in 2023—millions of future Ford... Read more →

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and General Motors (GM) announced their continued relationship to deliver digital cockpits, next-generation telematics systems and future advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) to upcoming vehicles. For its next-generation vehicles, GM is reworking its in-vehicle experience, using third-generation Qualcomm Snapdragon Automotive Cockpit Platforms. The high-performance digital cockpit systems... Read more →

TDK Corporation announced the availability of the InvenSense IAM-20685, the latest release in the SmartAutomotive product family. The IAM-20685 is a new ASIL-B monolithic 6-axis MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems) IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit) developed in compliance with ISO 26262. Taking advantage of TDK’s proprietary MEMS fabrication platform and technology, the IAM-20685... Read more →

Trusted Positioning Inc. (TPI), a TDK Group Company and leader in inertial navigation software, and Uhnder, a leader in digital radar technology have partnered to develop a localization reference design with world-class accuracy and performance with Uhnder’s software-defined digital radar sensor and TPI’s AUTO positioning software. The partnership between Uhnder... Read more →

Automotive test system supplier AB Dynamics has showcased its capability to replicate simulated swarm tests quickly and accurately in the real world and vice-versa. By using a common toolchain, complex scenario testing can be transferred from one environment to the other with centimeter accuracy. This enables the testing and development... Read more →

Eyeris Technologies, Inc., a developer of vision AI for in-cabin sensing, is collaborating with Texas Instruments (TI) on an industry-first in-cabin sensing AI solution using TI’s Jacinto TDA4 processors and 2D RGB-IR image sensors. D3 Engineering designs products and integrates technologies from TI and Eyeris using its DesignCore platform to... Read more →

Aptiv PLC announced its next-generation Level 1-3 capable ADAS platform. Aptiv’s full-stack capabilities are helping customers realize their technology roadmaps and democratize advanced safety systems faster and at a lower cost. Its award-winning first-generation automated driving satellite compute platform leverages the integration of its Satellite Architecture and active safety software,... Read more →

Magna is collaborating with Fisker to develop an Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS)—FI-Pilot—which will be applied to the Fisker Ocean SUV that is expected to launch in late 2022. This new business win demonstrates Magna’s ability to bring scale and efficiency to the mobility landscape and represents an important expansion... Read more →

Bosch has now won orders worth several billion euros for its vehicle computers—€2.5 billion worth since this past summer alone. Vehicle computers have huge business potential for Bosch. Even now, our high-performance computers mean that automakers view us as one of their leading engineering and technology partners. —Harald Kroeger, Member... Read more →

Renesas Electronics Corporation unveiled the R-Car V3U—a best-in-class ASIL D system on chip (SoC) for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and automated driving (AD) systems. Delivering 60 TOPS with low power consumption for deep learning processing and up to 96,000 DMIPS, the R-Car V3U is built for the performance, safety,... Read more →

The US Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced the progress of 20 automakers toward manufacturing passenger vehicles with low-speed automatic emergency braking (AEB) systems. This is part of a voluntary effort by automakers in collaboration with NHTSA to equip almost all new passenger vehicles with low-speed... Read more →

In China, Buick launched the 2021 GL8 Avenir family featuring industry-leading vehicle-to-everything (V2X) technology and the 2021 GL8 ES with advanced driver assist technology. Both multi-purpose vehicles (MPVs) are available at Buick dealers across China. With the rollout of the 2021 GL8 Avenir, Buick is among the first automotive brands... Read more →

DENSO Corporation, the world’s second-largest mobility supplier, has selected Foretify, Foretellix’s advanced coverage driven verification platform, to enhance safety and reduce both development costs and time-to-market for its new ADAS and automated driving solutions. Foretify includes: A Measurable Scenario Description Language (M-SDL) used to describe both scenarios and coverage goals... Read more →

BASF has developed a modified polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) specifically for radar sensor applications in vehicles: Ultradur RX. With good resistance against media such as splash water, oils or salt, Ultradur offers exceptional protection for sensor housings. In addition, the new material shields the sensitive electronics in the housings against disturbing... Read more →

Volvo Cars is partnering with Waycare Technologies to enable data from Volvo’s Hazard Light Alert and Slippery Road Alert to be shared anonymously with transportation municipalities and the popular Waze navigation app. From model year 2021, Hazard Light Alert and Slippery Road Alert will allow certain Volvo cars to communicate... Read more →

Ride Vision is launching globally the first collision-avoidance technology for motorcycles, an AI-based system for motorcycle safety. Ride Vision is buttressed by $7 million in Series A funding, totalling $10 million to-date, as well as a partnership with Continental AG. There are more than 700 million motorcycles on the road... Read more →

ChargePoint, one of the world’s largest electric vehicle (EV) charging networks, now works with Apple CarPlay, taking another step towards making the transition to electric mobility more seamless for drivers. This new integration brings essential EV charging data inside the vehicle, allowing drivers to easily access charging information directly from... Read more →

Toyota’s Collaborative Safety Research Center (CSRC) announced four new research projects focused on enhancing advanced technology system designs to be intuitive, easy to understand and to safely engage with drivers. The new projects will be undertaken in partnership with University of Michigan, Miami University, University of Nebraska, Texas Transportation Institute... Read more →

Velodyne Lidar introduced the solid-state Velarray H800. The Velarray H800 is architected for automotive-grade performance and is built using Velodyne’s proprietary micro-lidar array architecture (MLA). With combined long-range perception and a broad field of view, this sensor is designed for safe navigation and collision avoidance in advanced driver assistance systems... Read more →

The Volkswagen Touareg can now drive into and out of parking spaces fully automatically and by remote control from outside the vehicle using a smartphone. The luxury-class Touareg SUV is now the first Volkswagen that is capable of assisted maneuvering without a driver on board. The basis of the new... Read more →

Global automotive semiconductor revenue for 2020 will exceed initial expectations, primarily due to an increase in the average semiconductor value per car sold this year, according to a new forecast by IHS Markit. IHS Markit now expects semiconductor revenue to contract in 2020 by -9.6% to just over $38 billion,... Read more →

Ford’s hands-free Active Drive Assist feature will arrive first on 2021 F-150 and 2021 Mustang Mach-E, included as standard on certain models or as relatively affordable option on others, with both vehicles becoming available to customers in late 2020. Ford expects to sell more than 100,000 F-150 and Mustang Mach-E... Read more →

Continental has taken a minority stake in lidar pioneer AEye. The company, headquartered in Dublin, California, has developed a precision, high-performance, long-range lidar technology. Continental plans to industrialize this for passenger cars and trucks. The volume production launch is scheduled for late 2024. The two companies have agreed not to... Read more →

In 2018, Consumer Reports (CR) began ranking active driving assistance systems, with the initial effort focused on systems from Cadillac, Nissan/Infiniti, Tesla, and Volvo. Over the last two years these advanced technologies have become more mainstream, and CR’s testing this year now includes 17 systems, including the original four. For... Read more →

SmartSens, a China-based high-performance CMOS image sensing (CIS) chip design company, launched its SC133GS CMOS 1.3M pixel CMOS sensor with global shutter and fan-out package to further enhance performance in automotive settings. The solution delivers superior signal-to-noise ratio, ultra-high sensitivity, and excellent dynamic range to address growing demand for intelligent... Read more →

Innoviz Technologies, a provider of high-performance, solid-state LiDAR sensors and perception software, is launching a next-generation sensor: the InnovizTwo. The new high-performance automotive-grade LiDAR sensor offers a fully featured solution for all levels of autonomous driving at a significantly lower cost. Although the automotive industry is on its way to... Read more →

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) is a central element of the digital transformation process at the BMW Group. The BMW Group already uses AI throughout the value chain to generate added value for customers, products, employees and processes. The BMW Group continues to follow global developments in terms of... Read more →

Traxen, a metro Detroit-based technology, launched its intelligent adaptive cruise control system, iQ-Cruise, for traditional and electric commercial vehicles. The system will be available to both commercial vehicle aftermarket and OE customers. Through the use of artificial intelligence (AI), advanced algorithms and sensors, iQ-Cruise can reduce fuel consumption by an... Read more →

Audi of America, American Tower Corporation, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., and the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) are collaborating in an initial deployment of cellular vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) communication technology in Virginia. The Virginia C-V2X deployment is a result of the combined efforts of Audi of America, VDOT and Qualcomm Technologies, which... Read more →

FLIR Systems, Inc. announced the results from recent automatic emergency braking (AEB) tests that examined how adding a thermal sensor and fusing the data with a radar, a visible sensor, and a trained neural network can improve pedestrian detection from current AEB systems. Following positive proof-of-concept test results announced earlier... Read more →

The all-new Mercedes-Benz Intouro inter-city and excursion coach features pioneering optional assistance systems such as Active Brake Assist 5 (an emergency braking assistance system) and Sideguard Assist. The Mercedes-Benz Intouro, the new overland bus, is the first bus to feature the unique emergency braking assistance system Active Brake Assist 5... Read more →

Automotive technology company Veoneer, Inc. and Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. have decided to collaborate on the delivery of scalable Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), Collaborative and Autonomous Driving (AD) solutions powered by Veoneer’s next-generation perception and driving policy software stack and Qualcomm Snapdragon Ride™ ADAS/AD scalable portfolio of System on a... Read more →

ams and Ibeo Automotive Systems GmbH announced that they have made progress in bringing to market solid-state LiDAR technology for autonomous driving. ams and Ibeo began joint LiDAR development in 2018 on ibeoNext Solid State LiDAR. Their aim is to provide solid-state LiDAR to the automotive market for advanced driver... Read more →

Ford Motor Company, Bedrock and Bosch are launching a demonstration project with connected Ford Escape test vehicles that can drive and park themselves inside Bedrock’s Assembly Garage in Detroit using Bosch smart infrastructure. This is the first US infrastructure-based solution for automated valet parking where the vehicle will park itself... Read more →

The Hamburg-based LiDAR sensor specialist Ibeo Automotive Systems GmbH will begin worldwide delivery of its new ibeoNEXT LiDAR sensor (earlier post) to partners and customers starting in October 2020. The sensor, which generates a high-resolution 3D point cloud for reliable object detection, is based on a new type of photon... Read more →

Daimler Trucks’ Japan-based subsidiary FUSO recently introduced the eCanter SensorCollect concept truck with a demonstration run at its Kawasaki headquarters. The FUSO eCanter SensorCollect is a concept garbage collection truck based on the all-electric eCanter. The vehicle proposes an application of the emissions-free light-duty truck to make essential garbage collection... Read more →

Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corporation announced that Zhejiang Asia-Pacific Mechanical & Electronic Co. Ltd. (APG), one of China’s leading manufacturers of vehicle braking systems, will deploy the Visconti 4 image-recognition processor in its next-generation advanced driver assistance system (ADAS). This marks the first time that a Visconti family processor... Read more →