I was had planned to do a long post on self-driving cars a quite long time. I was planning to do one this spring, but I might not do that, because it seems that predictions that self-driving cars would be here in 2020 were far too rosy. Five years ago, several companies including Nissan and Toyota promised self-driving cars in 2020. So it may be wise to take any new forecasts with a grain of salt. Hare is a worth to check out article of the current status of self-driving cars:
Surprise! 2020 Is Not the Year for Self-Driving Cars
https://spectrum.ieee.org/transportation/self-driving/surprise-2020-is-not-the-year-for-selfdriving-cars
In March, because of the coronavirus, self-driving car companies, including Argo, Aurora, Cruise, Pony, and Waymo, suspended vehicle testing and operations that involved a human driver. Around the same time, Waymo and Ford released open data sets of information collected during autonomous-vehicle tests and challenged developers to use them to come up with faster and smarter self-driving algorithms.
It seems that the self-driving car industry still hopes to make meaningful progress on autonomous vehicles (AVs) this year, but the industry is slowed by the pandemic and facing a set of very hard problems that have gotten no easier to solve over the years.
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Tomi Engdahl says:
Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge:
Ford will increase its investment in autonomous vehicles to ~$7B over 10 years through 2025, $5B of that from 2021 onward, as part of its Ford Mobility efforts — The Blue Oval is putting more money on its electric bet — Ford is increasing its investment in electric and autonomous vehicles …
Ford is more than doubling its investment in electric and autonomous vehicles to $29 billion
https://www.theverge.com/2021/2/4/22267195/ford-electric-autonomous-investment-29-billion?scrolla=5eb6d68b7fedc32c19ef33b4
The Blue Oval is putting more money on its electric bet
Tomi Engdahl says:
Yhden sirun ratkaisu täyttää auton sisätilojen turvavaatimukset
https://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11707&via=n&datum=2021-02-02_15:23:20&mottagare=31202
Vuodesta 2023 lähtien autojen pitää NCAP-määräysten mukaan tunnistaa lasten läsnäolo auton sisällä. Samoin järjestelmän pitää tunnistaa, että kaikki matkustajat käyttävät turvavyötä. Israelilainen Vayyar on kehittänyt yhden sirun ratkaisun, joka täyttää nämä vaatimukset.
Vayyar tunnetaan 4D-kuvatutkien kehittäjänä. Nyt yhtiön esittelemä alusta tunnistaa myös, jos auto kuumenee liikaa kesällä.
Vayyarin tutka tunnistaa lasten läsnäolon (neljä tunnistuspistettä) ja kolmen lisämatkustajan turvavyön käytön.
. Ennusteiden mukaan uudet turvastandardit vaativat, että autossa on vuoteen 2030 mennessä jo noin 200 anturia.
200 anturin ympärillä olevat laitteistot, ohjelmistot, johdotukset, ECU-yksiköt ja integrointityö lisäävät huomattavasti monimutkaisuutta ja kustannuksia. Tämä tekee huippuluokan turvallisuuden erittäin vaikeaksi saavuttaa edullisemmissa automalleissa.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Auto Chip Shortages Reflect Wider Shortfall
image
The failure of auto companies to secure supplies of chips reflects widespread shortages in the semiconductor industry, and there’s no crystal ball on when equilibrium will return. Two of the world’s top-three foundries, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) and United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) said today that they’re running at full tilt, and the best they can do is to reallocate production …
https://www.eetimes.com/auto-industry-chip-shortages-reflect-wider-shortfall/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Tesla Model 3 is still the best-selling electric car in the world, and no other vehicle program is even coming close. Automakers other than Tesla are going to have to invest more in high-volume electric vehicles….
https://electrek.co/2021/02/04/tesla-model-3-still-best-selling-electric-car-world-not-even-close/
Tomi Engdahl says:
The $4000 Electric Car Dominating China
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ytqr8T05OU&feature=share
Tomi Engdahl says:
GM-Wuling on Kiinan myydyin sähköauto https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2sfFN6viXo&ab_channel=AlJazeeraEnglish
https://youtu.be/11ExTYIEJm0
Tomi Engdahl says:
This Amazing EV is CRUSHING Tesla | Why the Wuling Hongguang Mini EV is the best seller in China
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=r0Ks52wZIFk&ab_channel=CarSavvy
Tomi Engdahl says:
2021 Perspectives: What BEVs, Connected Cars & Software Will Become
https://www.eetimes.com/2021-perspectives-what-bevs-connected-cars-software-will-become/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Carmakers have been hit hard by a global chip shortage — here’s why
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/08/carmakers-have-been-hit-hard-by-a-global-chip-shortage-heres-why-.html
Demand for these chips has soared during the coronavirus pandemic as people snapped up games consoles, laptops and TVs to help get through lockdowns.
Now, many of these products — including certain Chromebook laptops and next-generation consoles like the Xbox Series X and the PlayStation 5 — are sold out, or subject to lengthy shipping times.
It’s just one of a number of factors that has driven demand for semiconductors, but as supply struggles to keep up, it’s the chip-reliant car industry that has been hit especially hard.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Tesla Recalls Cars With EMMC Failures, Calls Part A ‘Wear Item’
https://hackaday.com/2021/02/11/tesla-recalls-cars-with-emmc-failures-calls-part-a-wear-item/
It’s a problem familiar to anyone who’s spent a decent amount of time playing with a Raspberry Pi – over time, the flash in the SD card reaches its write cycle limits, and causes a cavalcade of confusing errors before failing entirely. While flash storage is fast, compact, and mechanically reliable, it has always had a writeable lifespan much shorter than magnetic technologies.
Of course, with proper wear levelling techniques and careful use, these issues can be mitigated successfully. The surprising thing is when a major automaker fails to implement such basic features, as was the case with several Tesla models. Due to the car’s Linux operating system logging excessively to its 8 GB eMMC storage, the flash modules have been wearing out. This leads to widespread failures in the car, typically putting it into limp mode and disabling many features controlled via the touchscreen.
With the issue affecting important subsystems such as the heater, defroster, and warning systems, the NHTSA wrote to the automaker in January requesting a recall. Tesla’s response acquiesced to this request with some consternation, downplaying the severity of the issue. Now they are claiming that the eMMC chip, ball-grid soldered to the motherboard, inaccessible without disassembling the dash, and not specifically mentioned in the owner’s manual, should be considered a “wear item”, and thus should not be subject to such scrutiny.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/11745-yksi-piiri-yhdistaa-kaikki-auton-viihdelaitteet
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sensible 4 tuo markkinoiden ensimmäisen kaupallisen robottibussien ohjelmiston
https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/11746-sensible-4-tuo-markkinoiden-ensimmaisen-kaupallisen-robottibussien-ohjelmiston
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2021/02/12/lisaa-nayttoja-ja-eleohjauksia-uusiin-autoihin/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Äänimaailma vaikuttaa paljon robottiauton luotettavuuteen
https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/11750-aanimaailma-vaikuttaa-paljon-robottiauton-luotettavuuteen
Tulevaisuuden robottiauto vaatii meiltä matkustajiltakin paljon. Autot ovat täynnä elektroniikkaa, mutta voiko siihen silti luottaa? Ruotsalainen äänituotantoyritys Pole Position Production on nyt tutkinut asiaa ja havainnut, että äänimaailmalla on iso vaikutus siihen, miten luotettavaksi koemme autonomisen ajoneuvon.
Pole Position Production kartoitti yhdessä Volvo Carsin ja RISE-tutkimuslaitoksen (Research Institutes of Sweden) kanssa, kuinka ääni voi vaikuttaa robottiautossa koettuun luottamukseen. Lisäksi tutkimus paljasti, että äänen avulla voidaan vaikuttaa myös matkapahoinvointiin autossa.
Tomi Engdahl says:
‘Mode Confusion’ Vexes Drivers, Carmakers
https://www.eetimes.com/mode-confusion-vexes-drivers-carmakers/
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has begun the process of defining what safety is for fully autonomous vehicles, but crash investigators at the National Safety Transportation Board (NTSB) think NHTSA is getting too far ahead of technology and skipping over a more immediate peril. As carmakers continue adding semi-automated features to vehicles, they are likely to trigger “mode confusion” for drivers — an emerging issue little-discussed in the automotive industry, but well-known in aviation.
If any vehicle has any automation — whether it’s a passenger automobile, a delivery truck, a passenger airplane or a fighter jet — it will cycle through different “modes” of automation. Those modes start with no automation at all, when the driver/pilot/operator has full control of the vehicle, and has full responsibility for it. As automation increases, there will be instances when the vehicle takes temporary control — say, for example, a driver on a busy highway checks a dashboard map and inadvertently lets the car drift into a different lane; the vehicle might take control and return the car to its proper lane, but then relinquish complete control to the driver. As vehicles take more control more often and under more circumstances, operators’ responsibility diminishes. Each stage where there’s a shift in the balance of driver control versus automation is a mode.
Fighter jets have long had multiple modes, and pilots are drilled to understand precisely what their responsibilities are at each. Hardly anybody who drives a passenger car that incorporates automated driving features ever gets any training about the different modes of operation.
Automakers today pitch driver assistance technologies as key to save lives and prevent injuries, while promising the continuing evolution of such technologies to deliver, one day, full autonomy.
Drivers who are uninformed or misguided by marketers are unlikely to recognize what mode their vehicles are in, nor what their responsibilities are for any particular mode. The transition from one mode to another is likely to be even less understood. Worse, vehicles might take control or relinquish control unexpectedly. Not understanding the different modes, nor the attendant shifts in responsibility, nor when mode-shifts are likely to occur defines what mode confusion is — and it has the potential to be as dangerous as it sounds.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Why Improving Auto Chip Reliability Is So Hard
Aging, adaptation, and new processes and technology require big changes on every level.
https://semiengineering.com/why-improving-automotive-chip-reliability-is-so-hard/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2021/02/08/autovalmistaja-ottaa-mallia-kannykkakehityksesta/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Autovalmistaja ottaa mallia kännykkäkehityksestä – LiDAR- ja 3D-tietoa tarjolla
https://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2021/02/08/autovalmistaja-ottaa-mallia-kannykkakehityksesta/
Volvo hakee uudenlaista otetta autojen kehitykseen avoimesta ohjelmistojen ja palveluiden kehityksestä. Yritys on tuomassa ohjelmistoportaalin, jonka avulla ulkoiset kehittäjät pääsevät käsiksi myös autojen kojetaulun tietoihin –asiakkaiden suostumuksella.
Volvon autojen uusi avoin API-sovellusohjelmointiliittymä antaa kehittäjille ja muille kolmansille osapuolille pääsyn suostumuksella auton perustietoihin kuten lataustasoon tai polttoaineen määrään ja ajettuun matkaan.
Tuomalla nämä työkalut kaikkien saataville Volvo jatkaa sille ominaista tietojen ja tutkimustulosten jakamista turvallisemman liikkumisen puolesta. Uusi portaali tuo runsaasti erilaisia resursseja ja työkaluja saataville ilmaiseksi. Tosin ne ovat saatavilla ilmaiseksi vain ei-kaupallisiin tarkoituksiin ja kaupallinen käyttö vaatii erillisen sopimuksen Volvon kanssa.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Busy Road Ahead for Automotive Memory
Autonomous vehicle rollout is slower than expected as data growth speeds up
https://www.eetimes.com/busy-road-ahead-for-automotive-memory/
The pandemic has been a speed bump on the road to more advanced transportation as people have been hesitant about ride-sharing and public transportation as well as opting to stay home. Fully autonomous vehicles are moving slower than originally projected, too. However, digitization of the cabin will mean a strong market for memory in the automotive space as cars continue to become servers on wheels.
Micron Technology’s Embedded Business Unit general manager Kris Baxter said even though autonomous driving expectations have scaled back, there’s lots of room for growth in the advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) segment. Tesla has backed away from autonomous claims and is highlighting ADAS Level 2 and Level 3, he noted. “We see an increase in that space — adaptive cruise control, lane keeping, automatic braking, and driver monitoring systems. The overall market is going to be very strong in 2021, not for autonomous vehicles, but digitalization of the cabin.”
Longer term, Micron still expects autonomous vehicles to make it into the enterprise-first areas that can afford the costs associated, such as robo-taxis and long-haul trucking applications, but it the meantime, there will still be an explosion of automotive data, said Baxter. “We’ll also see a shift towards centralizing vehicle computing.”
And there’s a lot of computing to be done even beyond onboard infotainment systems as vehicle, autonomous or otherwise, evolve to interact more with the environment and ecosystem of service providers and vendors that provide specific functionalities that contribute that enable autonomous abilities. Aceinna, for example, makes sensing solutions for a number industries, including aerospace and automotive, so it’s not in the computing business per se, but its technology relies on it.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2021/02/05/scania-toi-lidar-rekan-tietesteihin-mukana-video/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/11707-yhden-sirun-ratkaisu-tayttaa-auton-sisatilojen-turvavaatimukset#ETNartikel
Tomi Engdahl says:
Auto Industry Chip Shortages Reflect Wider Shortfall
https://www.eetimes.com/auto-industry-chip-shortages-reflect-wider-shortfall/
The failure of auto companies to secure supplies of chips reflects widespread shortages in the semiconductor industry, and there’s no crystal ball on when equilibrium will return.
Two of the world’s top-three foundries, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) and United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) said today that they’re running at full tilt, and the best they can do is to reallocate production to meet demand from global automakers like Volkswagen and Toyota, just to name a few. The carmakers will need to take a place in the queue behind big chip buyers like Apple and Qualcomm.
The situation has become so serious that the German government has asked the Taiwan government to urge TSMC and UMC to lend a helping hand, according to media reports. The futility of such a request should be obvious given that the Taiwanese companies answer to customers and shareholders as a priority.
Tomi Engdahl says:
TSMC to increase capacity for manufacture of automotive chips
https://focustaiwan.tw/business/202101280014
Tomi Engdahl says:
TESLA RECALLS CARS WITH EMMC FAILURES, CALLS PART A ‘WEAR ITEM’
https://hackaday.com/2021/02/11/tesla-recalls-cars-with-emmc-failures-calls-part-a-wear-item/
Tomi Engdahl says:
How Covid led to a $60 billion global chip shortage for the auto industry
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/11/how-covid-led-to-a-60-billion-global-chip-shortage-for-automakers.html
Automakers are expected to lose billions of dollars in earnings this year due to a shortage of highly important semiconductor chips.
Consulting firm AlixPartners expects that the shortage will cut $60.6 billion in revenue from the global automotive industry this year.
Semiconductor chips are used in new vehicles for areas including infotainment systems, power steering and brakes.
Automakers across the globe are expected to lose billions of dollars in earnings this year due to a shortage of semiconductor chips, a situation that’s expected to worsen as companies battle for supplies of the critical parts.
Consulting firm AlixPartners expects the shortage will cut $60.6 billion in revenue from the global automotive industry this year. That conservative estimate includes the entire supply chain — from dealers and automakers to large tier-1 suppliers and their smaller counterparts, according to Dan Hearsch, a managing director in the New York-based firm’s automotive and industrial practice.
“All the way up and down the supply chain, everybody is out some portion of money,” he said. “This could be 10% of global demand this year, its impact, which craters the recovery. We don’t think we’re overstating this.”
General Motors expects the chip shortage will cut its earnings by $1.5 billion to $2 billion this year. Ford Motor said the situation could lower its earnings by $1 billion to $2.5 billion in 2021. Honda Motor and Nissan Motor combined expect to sell 250,000 fewer cars through March due to the shortage.
‘Knife fight’
Semiconductor chips are extremely important components of new vehicles for areas like infotainment systems and more basic parts such as power steering and brakes. Depending on the vehicle and its options, experts say a vehicle could have hundreds of semiconductors. Higher-priced vehicles with advanced safety and infotainment systems have far more than a base model, including different types of chips.
“I can’t imagine really anyone getting spared,” Hearsch said. He said the situation could turn into a “knife fight” between companies, industries and even countries for supplies of the chips, which are used in everyday consumer electronics.
One of the only outliers so far is Toyota Motor, which on Wednesday said it has as much as a four-month stockpile of chips and was not immediately expecting the global shortage to hit production, according to Reuters.
Tesla CFO Zachary Kirkhorn told investors during the company’s quarterly earnings call last month that the shortage as well as shipping port capacity “may have a temporary impact” on the automaker.
Automakers are scrambling to get supplies of the chips, which have extremely long lead times due to their complexity. The shortage is far down the supply chain, causing a ripple effect through the entire network.
Some automakers, like GM and Ford, have confirmed plans to partially build products and store them until supplies for the vehicles become available. Others have said they may look to directly purchase the parts from smaller suppliers, cutting out much of the current supply chain.
Research firm IHS Markit anticipates 672,000 fewer vehicles will be produced in the first quarter of 2021 due to the semiconductor shortage, including 250,000 units in the world’s largest vehicle market, China.
Although major semiconductor suppliers such as Taiwan-based Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing and United Microelectronics have announced investment plans to increase production capacities, IHS says such plans will do little to nothing to relieve the short-term shortage.
“Because the cause of these constraints is the result of increasing demand from OEMs and limited supply of semiconductors, it will not be resolved until both forces are aligned,”
One of the automakers most affected is Ford. The company was forced to significantly cut production this week of its F-150 pickup, which is critically important to the company’s profits.
That’s different from crosstown rival GM. The Detroit automaker has temporarily halted production at three car and crossover plants in North America through at least mid-March. The effort is meant to prioritize production of its more profitable full-size pickups and SUVs, according to CFO Paul Jacobson.
How did we get here?
The global automotive industry is an extremely complex system of retailers, automakers and suppliers. The last group includes larger suppliers such as Robert Bosch or Continental AG that source chips for their products from smaller, more-focused chip manufacturers such as NXP Semiconductors or Renesas.
A kink in the supply chain during any part of the process can have a tremendous ripple effect across production.
“This is a classic example of the bullwhip effect,” said Razat Gaurav, CEO of supply chain software and analytics firm Llamasoft. “Small changes in demand, as they propagate further upstream in the value chain, the variability and the volatility grows dramatically.”
Much of the problem begins at the bottom of the supply chain involving “wafers.” The wafers are used with the small semiconductor to create a chip that’s then put into modules for things like steering, brakes and infotainment systems.
A 26-week lead time is needed to build the chips before they are installed in a vehicle, according to Hau Thai-Tang, Ford’s chief product platform and operations officer.
The origin of the shortage dates to early last year when Covid caused rolling shutdowns of vehicle assembly plants. As the facilities closed, the wafer and chip suppliers diverted the parts to other sectors such as consumer electronics, which weren’t expected to be as hurt by stay-at-home orders.
“Those chip manufacturers as well as wafer manufacturers started redeploying their capacity to like consumer electronics, which was growing because of people working from home and virtual working patterns,” Thai-Tang said during an investor conference last year. “Fast forward, if you add 26 weeks to when they made those decisions, the drop-off or the trough in the supply started to hit automotive the latter half of last year, going into Q1.”
But demand for new vehicles was more resilient than expected during the shutdowns, particularly by consumers, so the industry recovered far quicker than anyone expected. As that happened, chip suppliers were continuing to divert resources away from automotive, and they’re attempting to play catch-up with demand from the automotive industry.
“There’s no easy way out of this,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Calif. DMV Data Shows Autonomous Vehicles Improving
https://www.eetimes.com/california-dmv-data-shows-autonomous-vehicles-improving/
The good news is that the performance of autonomous vehicles from many well-known autonomous driving companies is improving. The bad news is that the measure for improvement is flawed, and that the most comprehensive source of information doesn’t include data from many AV companies.
The California Department of Vehicles (DMV) released its yearly data on autonomous vehicle (AV) testing on February 9, 2021. The data cover AV testing for one year from December 2019 through November 2020. The data includes AV test miles driven for each participating company and the number of AVs used. There is also data on how many disengagements were performed by the safety driver. Disengagement means the AV software tells the safety driver to take control of the vehicle. Or the sa
Tomi Engdahl says:
Who’s Actually Driving This Thing? | Really, Really Long Trunks
https://www.eetimes.com/podcasts/ep122/
BRIAN SANTO: I’m Brian Santo, EE Times editor-in-chief. You’re listening to EE Times On Air, and this is your Weekly Briefing for the week ending February 12th.
Automakers are beginning to introduce more safety features that can temporarily take over for drivers, and gradually more and more vehicles will be able to drive themselves. However, there’s little clarity for drivers what each feature actually does, when, and under what circumstances. When it isn’t clear who’s responsible for the vehicle – the driver or the car itself – that’s described as “mode confusion.” The concept is well known to aviators, but to hardly anyone else. This week we talk with former Navy pilot and professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Duke University, Missy Cummings, about the potential dangers to motorists if automakers fail to plan for mode confusion.
Tomi Engdahl says:
CEOs Urge President Biden to Fund Chips, Executive Order Expected
https://www.eetimes.com/ceos-urge-president-biden-to-fund-chips-executive-order-expected/
As CEOs of the leading chip companies signed a letter to US President Biden urging him to prioritize funding for semiconductor manufacturing and research, the White House press secretary Jen Psaki said late last week in a press briefing that industry should except an executive order to be signed within weeks.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://semiengineering.com/week-in-review-auto-security-pervasive-computing-54/
Automotive/Mobility
With the chip supply so tight it is shutting down automotive production lines, U.S. chip company CEOs signed a Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) letter asking the U.S. president to include funding incentives for the chip manufacturing in U.S. economic recovery plans. The letter references the CHIPS for America Act and asks the president to work with Congress to support U.S. chip manufacturing and “to fund these initiatives to make them a reality.” CEOs of AMD, Analog Devices, Cree, Globalfoundries, Intel, Lattice, Marvell, Maxim, Micron, ON Semiconductor, Qorvo, Silicon Labs, Skyworks, TI, Western Digital, and Xilinx signed the letter. Also signing on were Nvidia, Broadcom, IBM, and the SIA’s President & CEO John Neuffer. “We therefore urge you to include in your recovery and infrastructure plan substantial funding for incentives for semiconductor manufacturing, in the form of grants and/or tax credits, and for basic and applied semiconductor research,” the letter said. “We believe bold action is needed to address the challenges we face. The costs of inaction are high. We stand ready to work with you to achieve our shared goals.”
Volkswagen Group and Microsoft are teaming up to build a cloud-based Automated Driving Platform (ADP) for the agile development of automated driving functions. The Car.Software Organisation in Volkswagon will work with Microsoft create the agile development tools for automated driving and ADAS systems. Running on Microsoft Azure cloud services, ADP will use data sets from simulations and Volkswagon’s real-life traffic data gleaned from its test cars. Volkswagen and Microsoft have been working on the Volkswagen Automotive Cloud (VW.AC), since 2018. VW.AC cars have already exchanged data between the vehicles and the cloud through Azure edge services, and VW is using the cloud to deliver car updates, according to a press release. The VW.AC engineering team is based in Seattle, where Microsoft if based.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Car chip shortages a sign of wider demand crunch: ASML executive
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-asml-semiconductors-idINKBN2AB28Z
The chip shortages slowing car production are a symptom of broader increased demand that is placing strains on suppliers across the semiconductor sector, according to Dutch equipment maker ASML.
White House working to address semiconductor shortage hitting auto production
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-autos-semiconducts-biden-idUSKBN2AB2AU
The White House said Thursday administration officials are working to address a growing shortage of semiconductor chips that has slowed auto production around the world.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the Biden administration is “currently identifying potential chokepoints in the supply chain and actively working alongside key stakeholders in industry and with our trading partners to do more now.”
The issue is one reason Biden plans to sign an executive order in the coming weeks to direct a comprehensive review of supply chain issues for critical goods.
General Motors Co on Wednesday said the global semiconductor chip shortage could shave up to $2 billion from 2021 profit. On Tuesday, the largest U.S. automaker extended production cuts at three North American plants and said it would partially build and later finish assembling vehicles at two other factories due to the chip shortage.
U.S. rival Ford Motor Co previously said it lost some production of its high-profit, top-selling F-150 pickup truck. and numerous other automakers have cut production in the United States and around the world.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/11762-hallituksen-sahkoautotavoite-edellyttaa-muutosta-verotukseen
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2021/02/16/yhteiso-kehittaa-autojen-ohjelmistoliitettavyytta-bittium-mukaan/
Tomi Engdahl says:
US senators urge action on shortage of auto chips
CALL FOR FUNDING: A global shortage of chips used in auto production threatens the US’ post-pandemic economic recovery, a bipartisan group of senators wrote
https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/biz/archives/2021/02/04/2003751722
A group of 15 US senators, including US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and US Senator John Cornyn, a Republican, on Tuesday urged the White House to work with the US Congress to address the global semiconductor shortage that is hampering auto manufacturing.
The senators, from key auto states like Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and South Carolina, in a letter to the White House said that the “shortage threatens our post-pandemic economic recovery.”
Automakers around the world are shutting assembly lines because of problems in the delivery of semiconductors, which have been exacerbated in some cases by the former US administration’s actions against Chinese chip factories.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Chip Sector Finished Strong in 2020
https://www.eetimes.com/chip-sector-finished-strong-in-2020/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Chip crunch to impact global auto production into third quarter, says IHS
https://www.epanorama.net/blog/2020/04/23/self-driving-cars-failed-2020/comment-page-8/#comment-1703762
Tomi Engdahl says:
Major Taiwan chipmakers to assign capacity for car use
https://focustaiwan.tw/business/202101270021
Taipei, Jan. 27 (CNA) Four major contract chipmakers in Taiwan have agreed to assign capacity to manufacture chips for car use in a bid to alleviate a global shortage of automotive chips, Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua (王美花) said Wednesday.
Wang made the comments after she met with representatives from the four contract chipmakers — Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC), Vanguard International Semiconductor Co. (VIS) and Powerchip Technology Corp. — at a time when global automakers have urged Taiwan to increase automotive chip supplies.
Wang said the discussions came to the conclusion that Taiwan’s semiconductor industry is willing to do its utmost to help the global auto industry to ease the impact from a supply shortage as they all sensed the urgency of the situation.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The world is dangerously dependent on Taiwan for chips
https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2021/01/27/2003751278
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/11693-qualcomm-tekee-autosta-alypuhelimen-pyorilla
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mass Layoffs Said To Hit Terrafugia Weeks After Its Flying Car Was FAA-Approved
http://on.forbes.com/6183H9aKN
Most of the U.S. employees of flying car maker Terrafugia have been laid off and it will wind down U.S. operations later this year, sources say, a surprising development that comes shortly after the company received an FAA airworthiness certificate for its aircraft late last month.
Two sources with knowledge of the situation say that roughly 80 to 100 employees at the company’s headquarters in Woburn, Mass., have been let go, and that Terrafugia’s intellectual property and further development of the Transition, a light sport airplane designed to be drivable on roads, are being moved to China by owner Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, which bought the company in 2017.
It’s a sad turn for the company, which was founded in 2006 by a group of Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduates whose business plan to develop an airplane with folding wings that could be driven on roads was the runner-up for the 2006 MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition. CEO and founder Carl Dietrich, who departed Terrafugia in 2019, provided initial funding from an MIT student prize. Terrafugia raised $1.5 million in private equity financing in 2008 and over $5.5 million in subsequent rounds through 2012.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2021/02/17/suomalainen-autotietokoneyritys-haluaa-ponnistaa-maailmalle/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/11767-seuraavaksi-hakkerit-murtautuvat-autoosi
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.eetimes.com/time-to-democratize-safety/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Automotive Software Framework Accelerates Safe Development
Elektrobit’s EB xelor combines software platforms like operating systems in a package for automotive developers.
https://www.electronicdesign.com/markets/automotive/article/21152261/automotive-software-framework-accelerates-safe-development?utm_source=EG+ED+Auto+Electronics&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=CPS210120100&o_eid=7211D2691390C9R&rdx.ident%5Bpull%5D=omeda%7C7211D2691390C9R&oly_enc_id=7211D2691390C9R
Tomi Engdahl says:
Tiny 1-Wire Device Delivers Secure Authentication
Maxim Integrated’s 1-Wire authenticator brings security to automotive devices in a much smaller and less expensive package.
https://www.electronicdesign.com/technologies/embedded-revolution/article/21152423/electronic-design-tiny-1wire-device-delivers-secure-authentication?utm_source=EG+ED+Auto+Electronics&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=CPS210120100&o_eid=7211D2691390C9R&rdx.ident%5Bpull%5D=omeda%7C7211D2691390C9R&oly_enc_id=7211D2691390C9R
Tomi Engdahl says:
What’s the Difference Between Frame- and Event-Based LiDAR?
Leading AV manufacturers typically rely on frame-based sensors, but event-based systems offer faster detection of objects in close proximity.
https://www.electronicdesign.com/markets/automotive/article/21152870/terranet-whats-the-difference-between-frame-and-eventbased-lidar?utm_source=EG+ED+Analog+%26+Power+Source&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=CPS210120095&o_eid=7211D2691390C9R&rdx.ident%5Bpull%5D=omeda%7C7211D2691390C9R&oly_enc_id=7211D2691390C9R
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google Maps users can now pay for parking or their transit fare right from the app
https://techcrunch.com/2021/02/17/google-maps-users-can-now-pay-for-parking-or-their-transit-fare-right-from-the-app/?tpcc=ECFB2021
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/11779-pian-auto-tunnistaa-ja-luokittelee-jalankulkijan-muutamassa-millisekunnissa
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://etn.fi/index.php/tekniset-artikkelit/11777-ratkaisu-sahkoauton-pikalataamisen-reiluun-laskutukseen
Tomi Engdahl says:
Bruce Meyers, Creator of the Meyers Manx, Has Passed Away
His creation became popularized as the Dune Buggy and brought off-road joy to thousands
https://www.autoweek.com/news/people/a35567136/bruce-meyers-obit/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://eu.freep.com/story/money/cars/ford/2021/02/18/texas-power-outage-storm-blackout-ford-f-150-generator/6797103002/