Stellantis is recalling an estimated 32,125 US-market plug-in hybrid SUVs to resolve a potential fire risk. A routine review of customer data led to an internal investigation that discovered eight vehicle fires. All were parked and turned off, while six were connected to chargers. Stellantis is unaware of any related... Read more →

Seoul Robotics , a 3D perception solutions company building a platform that uses deep learning AI, is partnering with ALP.Lab, an Austria-based test laboratory for automated driving systems, to provide 3D perception traffic safety systems for the DACH region (Germany (D), Austria (A), and Switzerland (CH)) and Central Europe. The... Read more →

LG Chem and LX Hausys have developed a material delaying battery thermal runaway which can withstand a flame at 1,500 ˚C for more than 20 minutes. The Special Flame Retardant Continuous Fiber Thermoplastic (Special Flame Retardant CFT) can withstand strong flames and high pressure for more than 14 times longer... Read more →

The California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) notified Cruise that the department is suspending Cruise’s autonomous vehicle deployment and driverless testing permits, effective immediately. The DMV has provided Cruise with the steps needed to apply to reinstate its suspended permits, which the DMV will not approve until the company has... Read more →

Nineteen leading innovators in the automotive, bicycle and technology sectors have launched the Coalition for Cyclist Safety to work towards advancing and deploying connected transportation solutions to help reduce the risks facing cyclists and e-bike riders on North American roads. According to the US Centers for Disease Control, bicycles constitute... Read more →

Hyundai Motor North America (HMNA) and Hyundai America Technical Center, Inc., (HATCI) opened their $51.4-million Safety Test and Investigation Laboratory (STIL) at a ribbon cutting ceremony in Superior Township, Mich. The STIL is supported by 160 employees and is planned to be operational by mid-October. The new safety facility is... Read more →

Audi of America and Navistar are demonstrating the role direct communication via Cellular Vehicle to Everything (C-V2X) technology can play to provide potentially life-saving safety technology for the 26 million children riding school buses every day in the United States. C-V2X technology offers the potential to unlock the next substantial... Read more →

Regular maintenance of hydrogen high-pressure storage systems is mandatory to prevent hazardous situations from occurring. However, the tank inspection that is currently required every two years consists merely of an external visual inspection. Damage inside the tank cannot be detected using this conventional inspection method. In the joint research project... Read more →

The National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) has published The Hydrogen Safety Review for Gas Turbines, SOFC, and High Temperature Hydrogen Production to review and summarize the unique safety challenges involved with the production, transportation and storage of hydrogen. The Review is part of NETL’s Hydrogen Safety Field Work Proposal to... Read more →

Freudenberg Sealing Technologies has developed thermal barriers that help to slow down thermal runaway in Li-ion batteries by increasing resistance to propagation. The new 3D thermal barriers can be used at various positions within the battery and have already proven reliable in their initial series productions, according to the company.... Read more →

ACCURE Battery Intelligence, a developer of predictive analytics software to ensure battery safety, performance and extended life for energy storage, electric vehicles, and other applications, secured a €7.2-million ($7.8-million) investment. The round was led by Blue Bear Capital and HSBC Asset Management, and included Riverstone Holdings and Capnamic Ventures. The... Read more →

Nikola provided the preliminary results of third-party and internal investigations into a previously reported battery pack thermal event in its Class 8 Tre battery-electric vehicles (BEVs). As a precautionary measure, the company announced a voluntary recall of approximately 209 Class 8 Tre battery-electric vehicles (BEVs). Nikola is currently in the... Read more →

Israel-based ParaZero Technologies Ltd., an aerospace company focused on drone safety systems for commercial drones and urban air mobility aircraft, has received a second order for its custom safety system for drones by one of the world’s largest automotive manufacturers. The repeat order follows an agreement previously signed with the... Read more →

Vehicle occupant protection starts with the occupants in the correct seating position with a properly fitting seat belt. Using the vehicle’s sensors, ZF’s new, networked seat belt can actively shift occupants into a more optimal seating position prior to a potential collision. If the system is alerted to a potentially... Read more →

Toyota’s Collaborative Safety Research Center (CSRC) today announced plans to launch three new projects as part of its next phase of research, dedicated to advancing safety in mobility technologies. The research projects include an investigation on driver support features for vehicle lane centering; the creation of an in-vehicle intervention prototype... Read more →

TTTech Auto, a leader in automotive safety software, and ZettaScale Technology, a developer of communication technologies and protocols, have launched Zetta Auto. Zetta Auto is a data-centric communication solution focusing on safe, performant, and predictable Serviced-Oriented Architecture (SOA) communication. Extending the scope of the collaboration, Zetta Auto is also paving... Read more →

General Motors has acquired substantially all the assets of Israel-based battery software startup ALGOLiON Ltd. for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition was led by the newly formed Technology Acceleration and Commercialization (TAC) organization, a group within GM that works to identify emerging technology that can support GM’s leadership position in... Read more →

A joint study into ammonia safety onboard ships undertaken by the Lloyd’s Register (LR) Maritime Decarbonization Hub and the Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping (MMMCZCS) has found that a range of mitigation methods, from ship design to crew training and operations, are required to keep toxicity risks... Read more →

The US Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) announced a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that would require heavy vehicles to have automatic emergency braking (AEB) systems that will mitigate the frequency and severity of rear-end crashes. An AEB system... Read more →

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) released its first projections for traffic fatalities in 2023, estimating that 9,330 people died in traffic crashes in the first three months of the year. This represents a decrease of about 3.3% as compared to 9,645 estimated fatalities during the same time in... Read more →

Drivers struck and killed at least 7,508 people walking in the United States in 2022—the most pedestrian deaths since 1981—according to a new report released today by the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA). The report also includes an analysis of 2021 data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)... Read more →

Peachtree Corners—one of the US’ first smart cities powered by real-world connected infrastructure—and Audi of America Inc. are collaborating to advance cellular vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) practical deployment pathways as part of the city’s Curiosity Lab ecosystem. Both Audi and Peachtree Corners see this as an opportune time to further deployment of... Read more →

Volvo Group is the first truck manufacturer to launch an Augmented Reality (AR) safety app for electric trucks, designed specifically to support first responders in an emergency. The app is developed to deliver instant, valuable information from the electric truck to the emergency services team arriving on the scene to... Read more →

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing a ban under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) on most uses of methylene chloride (CH2Cl2). Methylene chloride, also known as dichloromethane and DCM, is a volatile chemical used in a wide range of industrial, commercial, and consumer applications such as adhesives,... Read more →

Toyota’s #32 ORC ROOKIE GR Corolla H2 Concept (hydrogen-powered Corolla) (earlier post), which was scheduled to participate in the ENEOS Super Taikyu Series 2023 Powered by Hankook Round 1 Suzuka to be held on 18 and 19 March 2023, will not be racing. During a private test run at Fuji... Read more →

The US Coast Guard has issued a Marine Safety Alert (01-23) recommending that shippers avoid loading EVs with Li-ion batteries that have been damaged by saltwater. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), residual salt within the battery or battery components can form conductive “bridges” that can lead... Read more →

A team from University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf in Hamburg, Germany examined the various aspects of e-scooter associated injuries using one of the largest cohorts to date, and reported their findings and recommendations in an open-access paper in Scientific Reports. E-scooter rentals became widely available in Hamburg starting in June 2019;... Read more →

During a keynote speech to the Transportation Research Board annual meeting Wednesday, National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Chair Jennifer Homendy questioned the safety impact of electric vehicles. I’m concerned about the increased risk of severe injury and death for all road users from heavier curb weights and increasing size, power,... Read more →

Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) has been awarded a two-year, $650,000-contract from the US Department of Transportation to study the risks posed by gases dissolved in hazardous liquids during transport. The federal government has well-defined quantitative criteria and regulations for distinguishing hazardous liquids and gases as well as how and in... Read more →

Derq, an MIT spin-off and provider of real-time artificial intelligence (AI) analytics solutions for intelligent roads and connected vehicles, released at the Transportation Research Board’s (TRB) 102nd Annual Meeting an industry-first Automated Safety Performance Monitoring solution to help agencies with safety scoring and prioritization across various road networks in the... Read more →

The US Department of Transportation’s (DOT) National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) released its latest statistical projections for traffic fatalities in 2022, estimating that 31,785 people died in traffic crashes in the first nine months of the year. This represents a marginal 0.2% decrease as compared to the 31,850 estimated... Read more →

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized revisions to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) risk determinations for n-methylpyrrolidone (NMP) and 1-bromopropane (1-BP). The EPA determined that NMP and 1-BP, as whole chemical substances, present an unreasonable risk of injury to human health when evaluated under their conditions of use.... Read more →

TTTech Auto, the Vienna-based provider of automotive safety software, is expanding its operations with a dedicated subsidiary in China. The new TTTech Auto branch in Shanghai will bring its expertise and the series proven safe vehicle software platform, MotionWise, to car manufacturers, Tier 1 suppliers and partners to the rapidly... Read more →

Honeywell is expanding its strategic alliance with Nexceris, developer of Li-ion Tamer lithium-ion gas detection solutions, to help make electric vehicles (EVs) safer. Honeywell and Nexceris will co-develop sensor-based solutions to help prevent conditions leading to thermal runaway in EV batteries. Global sales of EVs doubled in 2021 from the... Read more →

KULR Technology Group has achieved operational readiness for its Fractional Thermal Runaway Calorimeter (FTRC) within its suite of battery safety and thermal management solutions after finalizing a commercial licensing agreement with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for the agency’s patent-pending FTRC solution. Originally developed by NASA and refined... Read more →

Honda plans to expand the capabilities of its previously announced Honda Sensing 360 and Honda Sensing Elite advanced safety and driver assistive systems. The improved Honda Sensing 360 system will begin rolling out in the second half of the decade and will be standard on all new Honda and Acura... Read more →

Gig-economy workers are four times as likely as other drivers to use smartphone apps regularly while driving, according to a new survey from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). Parents are also nearly 50% more prone to routinely making video calls, checking weather reports and other types of smartphone-enabled... Read more →

Researchers from the Senseable City Laboratory at MIT report that crowdsourced data from the smartphones of vehicle passengers crossing bridges may help monitor bridge structural integrity. An open-access paper on their demonstration is published in the Nature journal Communications Engineering. Monitoring and managing the structural health of bridges requires expensive... Read more →

Ascend Performance Materials has developed two materials for electric vehicles that improve safety and passenger comfort. The company’s Starflam X-Protect and Vydyne AVS tackle two unique challenges automakers face when developing their EV platforms. Starflam X-Protect is a flame-retardant nylon 66 that withstands exposure to 1,100 °C direct flame for... Read more →

Audi recently held demonstrations of Connected Vehicle to Everything (C-V2X) technology in Oceanside, California. The demonstrations showcased a variety of C-V2X use cases which offer the potential to reduce the likelihood of collisions between vehicles and cyclists. C-V2X is the use of cellular communications technology between a vehicle and its... Read more →

A new research report released by the Transportation Research Board (TRB), E-scooter Safety: Issues and Solutions, finds that amid a rapid rise in the use and prevalence of electric scooters (e-scooters) on US roads and sidewalks, more must be done to address regulatory, infrastructure and educational deficiencies that are putting... Read more →

​​​ An investigation into a California crash that killed nine—including seven children—has led the National Transportation Safety Board to call for alcohol detection systems to be included in all new vehicles, according to new recommendations released Tuesday. The crash, on New Year’s Day 2021 in Avenal, California, was caused by... Read more →

Ford Motor Company is researching new smartphone-based communications technology that could potentially help warn drivers of pedestrians, bicyclists and more—even those approaching a vehicle’s path but blocked from a driver’s view. The concept smartphone app, which would run on a pedestrian’s phone, uses Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) messaging to communicate... Read more →

Power management company Eaton’s eMobility business has introduced a single-stage vent valve for electrified vehicle (EV) batteries. The valve acts as an overpressure relief for the vehicle’s battery pack. As the electrified vehicle market continues to grow, battery packs are becoming progressively more powerful and create more heat. OEMs are... Read more →

Electric vehicles are booming, with more than a million on German roads as of this year. This, in turn, means that an increasing number of alternative-fueled vehicles are transported on roll-on/roll-off (ro-ro) ferries. However, there are particular conditions associated with traveling at sea, such as the sea state, salt levels... Read more →

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) is introducing a nighttime test of pedestrian automatic emergency braking (AEB) systems to address the high percentage of pedestrian crashes that occur on dark roads. Four of the first 23 midsize cars, midsize SUVs and small pickups tested earn the highest rating of... Read more →

Toyota’s Collaborative Safety Research Center (CSRC) announced four additional research projects are being added to the next phase of its pioneering automotive safety research. The projects include a study of human diversity in injury biomechanics; a look at technologies that can help prevent impaired drivers from endangering themselves or others;... Read more →

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that 9,560 people died in motor vehicle traffic crashes in the first quarter of 2022. This is an increase of about 7% as compared to the 8,935 fatalities projected for the same quarter in 2021. This would be the highest number of... Read more →

UL Solutions announced the Battery Enclosure Thermal Runaway (BETR) evaluation, the first material screening test method at UL Solutions to evaluate electric vehicle (EV) battery enclosure material. The offering is based on UL 2596, Test Method for Thermal and Mechanical Performance of Battery Enclosure Materials. Battery performance has continually presented... Read more →

At the end of Q2, Aurora Innovation, Inc. delivered its Beta 3.0 product update and demonstrated its Fault Management System—specifically the Aurora Driver’s ability to detect system issues and respond by safely pulling over to the side of the road without any human involvement. A reliable Fault Management System is... Read more →