EPN Automotive Electronics Blog

How to mislead the public

The German motoring organization ADAC has just published its annual Emergency Road Service statistics. In a bout of misguided patriotism, the association interpreted the results as a huge success for German cars. Even a superficial glance on the making of the report shows that this is only true by omitting a very important fact.

Approved CAN bus coupler

In order to ensure reliable operation of motor vehicles on the road, German law requires a motor vehicle type approval (Allgemeine Betriebs-Erlaubnis, ABE) – also referred to as »e1« approval – for all components that are connected to the vehicle's electrical system. This is required even for the most unspectacular components.

Back in Japan

In the weeks after the threefold disaster in Japan, many car manufacturers and automotive suppliers had to cut back their production. Yesterday, the 18th of April, Mitsubishi’s plants in the stricken country took up production again.

Joint venture for electric motors

A bold move: Daimler and Bosch plan to cooperate in the development and production of electric motors for all-electric vehicles in Europe. This is certainly good for Daimler where know-how in this area is scarce. Bosch on the other hand can but hope that its other customers don't see a conflict of interest.

MOST goes Coax

The new specification for MOST150 allows on the one hand for communication and power supply on the same cable, on the other for optical coaxial cables. This is not a contradiction.