Posted Mar 30, 2012, by John Day
How close are we to the reality of autonomous driving? Is it closer than we might think, still years away and dependent on the widespread deployment of V2X technology, or both?
Tier one supplier Continental completed a two-week, 6,000-mile automated driving endurance test on public roads in Nevada. It credited knowledge gained from the car that won the DARPA Urban Challenge in 2007 and from HAVEit, … Read More
Tags:
V2X,
MK 100 electronically controlled braking system,
Advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS),
autonomous driving,
2013 Cadillac XTS,
GM,
HAVEit,
DARPA Urban Challenge,
electric power steering (EPS)
Posted Jul 20, 2011, by John Day
General Motors (GM) was an early adopter of rapid prototyping (RP) technology for parts and subassemblies as well as for electrical/electronic applications. In the latter realm, for example, it developed a two-mode hybrid powertrain control system in less than the expected development time – four years from initial design to vehicle production.
Larry Nitz, executive director of hybrid and electric … Read More
Tags:
selective laser sintering (SLS),
rapid prototyping technology,
stereo lithography apparatus (SLA),
Chevrolet Volt,
Electric Networked Vehicle (EN-V) concept,
3D Systems Corp.,
hybrid powertrain control system,
Materialise Inc.,
General Motors,
GM
Posted May 19, 2011, by John Day
It was fun while it lasted and quite rewarding for Johnson Controls-Saft (JCS), the advanced battery development joint venture (JV) involving Johnson Controls and Saft Batteries, but all good things come an end, and it appears as though the end may come in Delaware Chancery Court, where Johnson Controls filed suit to dissolve the JV the firms formed in 2006.
Saft says it will oppose the suit. It says … Read More
Tags:
Johnson Controls-Saft,
Johnson Controls,
lithium-ion batteries,
Beijing Automotive Industry Company,
Beijing Electric Vehicle Company,
Azure,
Saft Batteries,
Ford,
GM,
SAIC,
Daimler
Posted Feb 23, 2011, by John Day
I thought everybody but me had a smart phone but Tony Kraatz, lead engineer for GM’s new infotainment system, the Chevy MyLink, reminded me that, in fact, not everybody has one, so you won’t need one to use MyLink. Any Bluetooth phone or USB device will work, and if you don’t have either of those you can use the 7-inch color touch screen, steering wheel controls, or voice commands to control the radio, … Read More
Tags:
IHS iSuppli,
Gracenote,
Infotainment,
Bluetooth,
turn-by-turn navigation,
Chevrolet,
Add new tag,
Chevy Volt,
Nuance,
OnStar,
GM,
Chevy Equinox,
Pandora Internet radio,
Stitcher Internet radio,
Chevy MyLink
Posted Jan 16, 2011, by John Day
The year has scarcely begun and it’s already looking like a momentous one for telematics. OnStar announced that it will make its key features available on non-GM vehicles via a standalone rearview mirror bearing OnStar’s trademark blue button.
And then Hyundai announced Blue Link, powered by ATX Group with help from Aeris Communications for cellular connectivity and TeleCommunication Systems for turn-by-turn … Read More
Tags:
OnStar,
iSuppli,
TeleCommunication Systems,
AXT Group,
Blue Link,
Aeris Communications,
Telematics,
Hyundai Sonata,
Hyundai Veloster,
turn-by-turn navigation,
GM,
Hyundai
Posted Nov 29, 2010, by John Day
In-vehicle Internet radio has such an air of inevitability about it that I almost wonder why it isn’t common already, but a moment’s thought and a glance at just one aggregation of Internet stations – iTunes, for example – brings the problem into focus. There must be a gazillion Internet radio stations out there, so once the Internet connectivity problem has been solved, how is the tuning going to work?
Pandora … Read More
Tags:
GM,
iTunes,
Alpine,
Pioneer,
Mercedes-Benz,
Pandora
Posted Nov 9, 2010, by John Day
The folks at USCAR drew my attention to cyber-physical systems (CPS), a discipline of keen interest to the National Science Foundation (NSF) and to a growing number of universities, as well as to Ford, GM, Chrysler, and other automakers.
USCAR thinks of CPS as a network of highly sophisticated electromechanical subsystems autonomously controlling hybrid drive, automated parking assist, crash avoidance, … Read More
Tags:
Ford,
GM,
cyber-physical systems,
Chrysler,
National Science Foundation,
USCAR
Posted Oct 27, 2010, by John Day
Cars today have more electronic content than ever, which means more circuits, more wiring, and more weight. At the same time, automotive semiconductor and networking technologies pack more performance into smaller space. How does that net out?
I posed the question to Paul Geyer, who has design responsibility for connectors, schematics and wiring tools in Chrysler’s Power and Signal Distribution group … Read More
Tags:
GM,
SAE/USCAR 21,
Ford,
USCAR,
Chrysler,
SAE/USCAR-2,
United States Council for Automotive Research
Posted Oct 14, 2010, by John Day
The New York Times published a positive story about Detroit this week (Oct. 12). It referenced the fact that U.S. brands edged imports in J.D. Power’s Initial Quality Study, 108 to 109 PP100 (problems per-100 vehicles within 90 days of purchase).
Ford cracked the IQS top five for the first time, and Lincoln had 23 fewer problems per 100 vehicles than it did last year. Chevrolet, GMC and Cadillac all … Read More
Tags:
New York Times,
J.D. Power and Associates,
Chrysler,
Cadillac,
Chevrolet,
Buick,
GM,
GMC,
Ford,
Ford Sync
Posted Apr 22, 2010, by John Day
I wanted to learn more about AUTOSAR, and so I spoke with two experts from General Motors – Nady Boules, director of GM’s Electrical & Controls Integration Lab, and Massimo Osella, lab group manager for electronic controls and software architecture at GM R&D.
GM doesn’t have AUTOSAR software components in a production vehicle as yet, but as a core partner, the firm has been working with the AUTOSAR … Read More
Tags:
ECUs,
General Motors,
AUTOSAR,
Nady Boules,
GM,
Massimo Osella