Tag Archive for Automobile

| July 27, 2012
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Bill Ford Wants to Turn Michigan into “Silicon Valley of Mobility”

Bill Ford Wants to Turn Michigan into “Silicon Valley of Mobility” Ford Motor Company (F) Executive Chairman Bill Ford Jr. believes Detroit and Michigan can shed their rust belt persona. In a speech during the annual Mackinac Policy Conference, on Mackinaw Island, Mr. Ford said the Motor City can shed its rust-belt image and take on high-tech communities like San Francisco, Palo Alto, California, or Seattle. The Ford Chairman contends Michigan can be repositioned as the “Silicon Valley of Mobility.”

Ford logoThe Detroit Bureau observes this is a matter of been-there-done-that. In its heyday, in the early years of the 20th Century, Detroit was the quintessential American boomtown, much like Silicon Valley is today. It was dubbed by many the “Paris of the Midwest” because of its art, architecture, and sophisticated lifestyle. But things began to rapidly decline in the post-War years and today some old industrial sites are being converted back to farmland.

Chairman Ford insisted continuing decline is not inevitable, especially if Detroit and Michigan embrace new “green, smart technologies.” Mr. Ford continued, “To address this issue, we will once again need new technologies, as well as new ways of looking at the world. We will need to view the automobile as one element of a transportation ecosystem.”

DetroitThe automobile, Bill Ford has noted on several occasions, can no longer be viewed as a standalone machine. Industry leaders need to accept and respond to such challenges as fuel economy, emissions, safety, and highway gridlock.

Bill Ford – Ford Motor Company Chairman

“This technology is in varying stages of development and deployment, but it promises to radically transform the experience of driving,” said Ford during his speech. “As it develops, I believe Michigan must become the Silicon Valley of the mobility revolution.”

The Ford Chairman noted the automaker has so far invested nearly a billion dollars in battery technology in Michigan. That includes upgrades to the Michigan Assembly Plant in the Detroit suburb of Wayne that recently began producing the new Ford Focus Electric. The factory will also add a plug-in hybrid version of Ford’s new C-Max “people-mover” later this year.

As TheDetroitBureau.com recently reported, there has been a significant turnaround in terms of high-tech job opportunities in Michigan. According to the Society of Automotive Engineers and other groups, there is now a shortage of trained specialists, especially with more advanced skills in areas such as fuel economy and emissions controls. And Detroit’s Big Three aren’t the only ones hiring. Virtually every major automaker and supplier now has a significant tech presence in Metro Detroit, including Toyota which has set up a major test track and engineering center near Ann Arbor.

In his speech, Chairman Ford noted a recent study by TechAmerica Foundation (which I also noted here) that found that despite the deep recession Michigan had added more high-tech jobs in 2009 and 2010 than any other state.

The turnaround of the Great Lakes State will require a significant effort, the Ford Chairman acknowledged and will take steps that make sure its competitiveness according to the article. He concluded his speech by calling on lawmakers to take several steps, including the elimination of personal property taxes and investment in upgrading the electrical grid – which many see as a significant impediment to both expanded industrialization and the growth of the electric vehicle market.

“We can keep this momentum going if we are frank about the areas in which we can improve and we build upon our advantages,” Ford added.

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I think there are more fundamental problems that Michigan is going to have to solve before it can take on Silicon Valley. The labor supply pool in Michigan is very thin even for the most basic IT positions like field technicians. Where I am working now, it is a constant struggle to find staff that have some enterprise experience and people skills. I think that anybody with some good skills is either working or has left Michigan.

 

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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

Category: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
| May 10, 2011
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Wireless Electricity for Car Charging Coming

Wireless Electricity for Car Charging ComingThomas Lee at Xconomy reports that Delphi and WiTricity of Watertown, MA demo’d a wireless  electricity charging system for cars at the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) annual World conference in Detroit. The demo was the result of a seven-month partnership between the firms to use WiTricity’s technology to wirelessly transmit electricity via magnetic waves to charge electric cars.

Delphi logoThe charging system developed by Delphi and WiTricity would enable cars powered with electricity to reboot without having to plug into a power source via a cord according to Xconomy. It would only need cars to park over a wireless electrcity source on the floor of a garage or embedded in a paved parking spot, which would then transfer the power to the vehicle’s battery charger.

WiTricity, founded by MIT physics professor Marin Soljacic in 2007, has designed a transmission coil that connects to a small electronics module and converts the traditional electric current found in a home or office to a higher frequency and voltage, to create an oscillating magnetic field around the coil. The article says if a separate coil designed to resonate to the same frequency is close enough to the source, power is transferred between the two coils.

The article quotes Mr. Sumner who says the prototype generates about 95 percent efficiency, meaning only five percent of the power being generated gets lost in transmission. Delphi hopes all cars equipped with the technology will get at least 90 percent. The pad powering the Chevy prototype was transmitting about 2.6 kW, or 16 amps, of electricity, about the equivalent of Delphi’s current Level 2 wired chargers.

Randy Sumner Delphi’s director of global hybrid vehicle business development says WiTricity’s technology enabled Delphi to design much smaller coils and achieve greater distance between the bottom of the car and the charging pad. In theory, this could allow bigger trucks and vehicles to also use the technology. In an interview, Andrew Brown, Delphi’s executive director, and chief technologist says wireless charging will go a long way to boosting the popularity of electric cars. Wireless charging pads could be installed in home garages, parking lots, offices, shopping centers, he says.

“It will eliminate this range anxiety,” says Mr. Brown, referring to consumers who worry they will run out of juice before finding the next charging station. Also, he says, “The average consumer is not accustomed to electric cars. [They worry] ‘Am I going to get dirty?’ or “Will I get electrocuted?’” Wireless charging helps with both those issues. All consumers have to do is “park and charge,” Mr. Sumner says in the article.

The author notes that Delphi still faces a long road from lab prototype to mass production. The company needs to work with OEMs to figure out how to best integrate WiTricity’s technology into cars. Delphi envisions a car that can be charged both by wired and wireless charging stations. The company also needs to find ways to shrink the electronics and reduce overall cost. Delphi officials estimate the first cars using it will roll off the assembly lines in 2014 or 2015. “This is real,” Mr. Sumner says. “This works.”

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The idea of wireless electricity is not new. I have followed wireless electricity since 2008, here and here. Look Ma! No wires!

What do you think?

Can a car be wirelessly charged like an iPod?

 

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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

Category: Cars | Tags: , , , , , , , ,
| April 23, 2011
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Car Tech

Car TechThe self-interests of the auto industry and the electronics industry have aligned. The car has become the ultimate mobile computing platform. The carmakers and OEMs have begun competing to add better Internet-computing applications. These are some of the most interesting to me.

Ford Seeks to Make Cars That Talk to Each Other

Ford logoXconomy Detroit reports that Ford Motor Company (F) based in Dearborn, MI is designing vehicle-to-vehicle communication systems designed to prevent accidents. Ford’s “intelligent” vehicles can wirelessly transmit data between each other, such as location, speed, proximity, and brake status. Guided by sensors and cameras, the system can alert drivers to nearby accidents, or signal if they risk colliding with another vehicle at an intersection. “It’s like having a 360-degree pair of eyes,” says Mike Shulman, technical leader for Ford Research and Advanced Engineering.

Ford’s goal is to have intelligent cars on the road by 2016. “We kind of like to get it out as soon as we can,” Mr. Shulman says. CBS News reports that Ford’s demonstration vehicles will hit the road this spring, starting at major technology hubs across the country.

Ford’s work is part of an effort spearheaded by the U.S. Department of Transportation called IntelliDrive (Which I first wrote about in 2009). IntelliDrive’s goal is to develop a common communications platform for all vehicles to talk to each other, using 3G and 4G broadband technologies. IntelliDrive also envisions building infrastructure across the country that allows cars to “communicate” with roads, highways, and bridges, exchanging information on traffic patterns, road conditions, and weather. “IntelliDrive will help drivers bypass congestion, and it will cut crashes by providing advanced safety warnings,” according to a report by the Center for Automotive Research (CAR), a research group based in Ann Arbor, MI. “It will even be able to take over the vehicle when there is not enough time for the driver to react.”

Eventually, the technology could lead to cars that drive themselves, Mr. Shulman says. Google (GOOG) is already testing such a car.

Microsoft Wants to Be in Your Car

Microsoft logoRon Miller at Internet Evolution recently posted an article that shows how Microsoft‘s (MSFT) reputation in the auto industry has changed. Several years ago, there was a joke being emailed around about what would happen if Microsoft built cars the way it built Windows. At the 2011 CeBIT technology fair, there were examples of Microsoft in cars according to Mr. Miller.

The author points out that MSFT was showing off a Microsoft-centric, fully electric Smart Car with its control center as an app on your Windows 7 phone and not on the dash. The WP7 devices would display metrics such as the amount of power left in your battery, the expected distance you can travel for the amount of power on your battery, even the distances based on current battery life that are safe to reach, possible to reach, and questionable — all color-coded on a Bing map. Since it’s a phone the car can be monitored from anywhere there is a cell signal.

The Internet Evolution article points out a second example of bringing Microsoft to the car. At CeBIT, Ford (F) CEO Alan Mulally was touting Ford SYNC, powered by Microsoft, the communications solution now being installed in Ford cars. Mr. Mulally wants to see the Ford automobiles be the “ultimate mobile device” according to the article.

Mr. Mulally described a system based on Microsoft’s next-gen unified communications product Lync using Nuance (NUAN) voice recognition to enable users to interact with the car and the mobile telephone sitting in the car’s cradle via voice commands, letting drivers keep both hands on the wheel while accessing features. It will also eventually offer direct access to emergency services, not a call center as with GM’s (GM) OnStar service.

Mr. Mulally says Ford made a conscious decision not to embed the Microsoft Lync system with the car’s other systems. He was careful to point out that the systems that run the car are separated from Lync by a firewall. The author says that most of us who have used Microsoft software appreciate that separation continues I don’t think we are ready to go there just yet.

Automakers Want Vehicles Talk to Each Other

Talking carsThe Detroit Bureau reports that a consortium of eight manufacturers has set up shop in Farmington Hills, MI to work on car-to-car “Intelligent Vehicle” communications systems that would help stave off accidents. “If every car had it, it would be like another pair of eyes,” Ford Motor Co.’s (F) Mike Shulman, a technical research leader, stated.

The technology consortium would work to supplement, not replace, other high-tech safety systems. While Ford and others have worked on car-to-car communications systems for a number of years, the consortium reflects the fact that vehicles from different brands must be able to speak the same digital language. “We need to get messages from Hondas, Hyundais, Kias and send them all messages,” said Mr. Shulman.

Each of the eight makers will build eight new vehicles each equipped with the latest technology. Another 2,000 vehicles on the road will be retrofitted with the gear as part of a test program partly funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Transportation experts suggest Intelligent Vehicle systems could also move cars closer to an era of autonomous driving, where motorists would simply plug in a destination and settle back and text or make calls or reading the paper, on put on makeup since the vehicle itself would handle the driving duties.

Autonomous Road Trains

Road trainTraffic Technology Today, reported in January 2011 that the EU-financed SARTRE project has carried out the first successful demonstration of its vehicle platooning technology at the Volvo Proving Ground in Sweden. Vehicle platooning is a convoy of vehicles, where a driver in a lead vehicle drives a line of other vehicles.

SARTRE will use a forward-looking camera and 76 GHz radar. Each vehicle must also be equipped with a local control system. To achieve global control over the platoon, a communication system, probably using the 5.9 GHz radio channel would interconnect the vehicles.

Project backers say that platooning is designed to improve and cut fuel consumption and CO2 emissions while it reduces traffic congestion.

The technology development is underway but public acceptance of the system and legislation by 25 EU governments will likely hinder acceptance for a while.

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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

Category: Cars | Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
| April 20, 2011
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GM Saves Energy Through Smart IT

Andrew Winston at the Harvard Business Review writes that opportunities for improving energy efficiency and saving real money are everywhere. The proverbial low-hanging fruit are actually, in the words of energy guru Amory Lovins, fruit on the ground. GM (GM) recently announced a new way to find easy pickings, a shockingly straightforward change in how it runs its manufacturing plants. The Detroit-based auto giant is saving $3 million annually in energy costs across 10 plants by shutting down equipment when it’s not needed.

General MotorsMr. Winston says the man in charge of the program is Mike Durak, the Global Program Manager, IT. According to the article, GM is using General Electric (GE) Proficy Software to automate the shutdown and restart of its equipment. It started simply enough, GM set the lighting in one plant to synch up with the conveyor. When the manufacturing line stopped, for breaks or between shifts, the lighting would shut off. Seeing the quick payback, the managers added all energy-using systems to this automated network, from heating and cooling systems to pumps and compressed air units. The investment in connecting an entire plant is paying back through energy savings alone in just 6 months.

HBR says that previously GM shutdowns equipment multiple times a day with a combination of manual shutdowns and unconnected, or “dumb”, automation. Basically, energy use would gradually ramp down after production stopped as equipment was shut off, and then it would ramp back up before the next shift. “Energy use was in a ‘V-shape’,” Mr. Durak said, “and now it’s more like a U.” (The author says, the difference between a V-shape and a U-shape is what’s saved).

EnergyMr. Winston calls these sudden wins “headslappers” because they’re so obvious…in retrospect. The reasons we miss these easy wins are varied — from inertia to not being incentivized to find them to the classic problem of always addressing what’s urgent (something broken or a new process) over what’s important (getting leaner). Or perhaps a simple, cheap technological fix was not available until recently. In GM’s case, the big change is economically networking a whole range of equipment that wasn’t connected before. So with the new systems in place, managers can use the GE software to monitor and control the plant to a much finer degree.

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Maybe GM is getting smarter; they are figuring out what a “smarter” factory looks like. the Chevy Volt seems to be a “smarter” car.

What do you think?

What is your organization doing to get smarter?

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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

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| February 19, 2011
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Hackers Can Target Cars

Hackers Can Target CarsWired reports that over 100 drivers in Austin, TX found their cars disabled or the horns honking out of control. This happened after an intruder ran amok in a web-based vehicle-immobilization system called Webtech Plus (PDF). Webtech Plus is normally used to get the attention of consumers delinquent in their auto payments. The app is operated by Cleveland-based Pay Technologies system. It allows car dealers to install a black box in the vehicle that responds to commands issued through a central website and relayed over a wireless pager network.

How he got in

Austin police claim the perpetrator was Omar Ramos-Lopez, a former Texas Auto Center employee who was laid-off. The hacker allegedly sought revenge by bricking the cars sold from the Austin-area dealership. Reportedly Mr. Ramos-Lopez’s account was closed when he was terminated but he allegedly got in through another employee’s account. At first, the intruder targeted specific customers. The attacker later moved to access the database of all 1,100 customers whose cars were equipped with the device. It is charged that he went through the database, vandalizing the records, disabling the cars, and setting off the horns.

Cars are targets

The Webtech attack was an external attack but Bob Brammer, CTO, and VP at Northrop Grumman Information Systems (NOC)  told GovInfo Security that cars themselves are likely to become targets. Mr. Brammer points out that most cars contain 50 to 100 or more tiny computers. The computers are controlled by over 100 megabytes of code that control the accelerator, brakes, displays, steering, etc. All of these systems can be accessed through a diagnostic port that serves as the vehicles’ USB port. Mr. Brammer cites a study published in an IEEE journal. “It’s possible to take over a car, controlling the brakes, the accelerator, the steering wheel, despite whatever the driver might want to do. Our automobiles are highly vulnerable from a cybersecurity view.”

The paper, Experimental Security Analysis of a Modern Automobile, (PDF) says the potential attack window could widen as more automakers offer vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communications networks to third-party development, “An attacker who is able to infiltrate almost any electronic control unit can leverage this ability to completely circumvent a broad array of safety-critical systems.”  GigaOm cites data from iSuppli that Wi-Fi in automobiles will be integrated into 7.2 million cars by 2017.

The researchers said they took control of a number of the car’s functions and the driver could do nothing about it. They bypassed basic network security protections within the car. They then embedded malicious code in the telematics unit to erase evidence of the hack’s presence after a crash.

More theoretical than practical

I luv your PCMr. Brammer, for now, sees the threat to cars as more theoretical than practical. But he says it demonstrates that we must think about cyber-security more broadly than we have in the past. “As the trend is to put more IT into everything that we do – whether it’s cars, airplanes, power grids, water supplies, whatever – we have to think about the security aspects of the design. These systems, within reason, have to be able to withstand certain types of attempts to attack or exploit them. That’s a terrible thing have to say, but I think that’s the way world is these day.”

Wi-Fi can give attackers an entry point into critical systems. Professor Stefan Savage of the University of California, San Diego told Technology Review. “In a lot of car architectures, all the computers are interconnected, so that having taken over one component, there’s a substantive risk that you could take over all the rest of them. Once you’re in, you’re in.” This could lead to brakes failing or the steering wheel seizing on scores if not hundreds of cars simultaneously, causing catastrophic crashes.

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Cars have become more computerized. They are linked through Wi-Fi and 3G networks making our daily transportation vulnerable to hackers and cyber-attacks. Cyber-terrorists could target cars to begin the chain of events leading to a Hollywood-style disaster. Hopefully, the Auto manufacturers are going to tighten up the security of our cars. They will delay improving security if safety belts and airbags are examples.

Will the auto industry tighten the security onboard cars?

Will the government have to step in?

 

Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

Category: Cars | Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
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