As automotive demand falters in Europe, Bosch said 450 of it’s employees (primarily in Stuttgart and Gerlingen) would get reduced hours, and equivalently reduced pay, starting March 1, 2025. In Oct, they also announced plans to lay off 7,000 employees
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The end of speeding as we know it?
The NTSB is calling on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to mandate the use of speed control technology in every new car. It uses a mechanism called ISA (intelligent speed-assist).
ISA technology uses the car’s GPS location and matches it to a database of posted speed limits and onboard cameras to come up with the legal speed limit. Passive ISA systems warn a driver when the vehicle exceeds the speed limit through sound, visuals or haptic alerts. Active systems might make it more difficult to increase the speed of a vehicle, or even fully limit it from going, above a posted speed limit.
Europe already mandated such systems in all new vehicles starting in 2022.
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CES 2024 showed off a lot of new automotive tech and was focused on AI – but largely gone were the earth-shattering predictions of fully autonomous driving. So if driverless cars aren’t ready to fully replace human drivers for some time – what’s the alternative?
Instead we saw other things like around improving driver-car control. Distractions surrounding using and correcting existing map/audio/infotainment systems can cause accidents. To help, Mercedes decided to add ChatGPT to it’s in-car voice control in the MBUX Virtual Assistant to promote more natural interaction with the car. VW and BMW also announced it was also adding ChatGPT to it’s in-car voice control.
Perhaps fully autonomous driving is a bridge too far right now, but we can greatly improve the driving experience in countless little ways like this. Like many have said, I don’t need an AI that does all the things I want to do – I want an AI that does all the little, dumb things I DON’T want to do (like laundry and dishes).
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Instead of ear-splitting roar of an engine, this Tesla cybertruck quietly pulls as far as 2500-3500 diesel engines.
Honestly, it’s probably inevitable. I mean, trains use diesel-electric combo where the diesel engine powers the electric motors that do the actual pulling. If someone hooked a few train motors into a frame, slapped a auto/truck body on it and took it to a pull, it would likely out-pull anything out there…
Apple has halted its long-rumored “Project Titan” that was developing an electric car (Bloomberg). The company reportedly announced the news internally on Tuesday and said many people in the 2,000-person team behind the car will shift to other AI efforts instead.
Despite hiring industry leaders like Tesla’s former Autopilot director, the project has been plagued by high turnover (including chief Doug Field in 2021), constantly changing plans, and internal skepticism. More recent rumors suggest that the $100,000 car would likely not have self-driving capabilities.
Given this, it likely makes sense apple is re-directing the efforts of the automotive team to more established AI plans.
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The motorcycle race on the Isle of Man is legendary.
Peter Hickman just obliterated the lap record onboard his FHO Racing BMW M 1000 RR and average 136.358 mph. Ride along for the whole 17 minutes of utter madness. You couldn’t pay me enough to even try this at 1/2 the speed – in a car.
The $1 Trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (text) passed by President Biden in Nov 2021 included a little clause that I think might surprise everyone.
ALL cars sold from 2026 onwards must include a drunk driving detection system in order to use the vehicle. It might mean a passive system of some sort that analyzes your driving – or could include something as invasive as a breathalyzer. There’s increasing evidence this may not be possible by 2026, but it’s something to keep in mind.
SEC. 24220
(1) Advanced drunk and impaired driving prevention
technology.--The term ``advanced drunk and impaired driving
prevention technology'' means a system that--
(A) can--
(i) passively monitor the performance of a
driver of a motor vehicle to accurately identify
whether that driver may be impaired; and
(ii) prevent or limit motor vehicle operation
if an impairment is detected;
(B) can--
[[Page 135 STAT. 832]]
(i) passively and accurately detect whether
the blood alcohol concentration of a driver of a
motor vehicle is equal to or greater than the
blood alcohol concentration described in section
163(a) of title 23, United States Code; and
(ii) prevent or limit motor vehicle operation
if a blood alcohol concentration above the legal
limit is detected; or
(C) is a combination of systems described in
subparagraphs (A) and (B).
In Sierra Leone, there is a step in learning to drive – playing a board game. The game is called The Driver’s Way and is a “Roll and Move” type game where players to roll traffic-light-themed dice and move model cars around a board. The game aims to teach learners the rules of the road in a more entertaining way than standard textbooks.
Makes me wonder if there’s an opportunity for a board or teen-oriented video game like this for learners – even children to learn how to drive, walk, and bike in shared traffic spaces. Maybe it could be structured like the Oregon Trail or something quite fun.
Absolutely amazing this was caught on dash cam, even more amazing they lived. Emergency responders had to deploy a rope system to carry the driver 200 feet up the hill.
Modern vehicles are marvels of electronics. Many contain over 200 controllers in domains from infotainment to ride management to engine control. But the software behind our driving experiences has been treated largely as afterthoughts.
Audi is trying a new approach in the Q6 e-tron SUV’s. It allows over-the-air upgrading of the software to all those different domains and controllers.
This involves a new way of working with component suppliers, dealing with regulations that differ country-to-country, and how to get cars certified in all these geos.
The article is a good quick read on the current state of affairs.
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