From a technical point of view there's not much difference between different vehicles from different brands in one price range, and thanks to uninspired product designers many are only distinguishable by the manufacturer's logo. If you've ever despaired connecting your new smartphone to a new car infotainment system, you know what's really important in a new vehicle.
Driver assistance systems are a controversial issue. Some functions tend to distract the drivers, others find (sometimes grudging) consent. Many drivers feel patronized, but a recent study shows clear benefits of the assistants.
Swarm intelligence can be a good thing - billions of generations of ants and bees vouch for that. When driving on an average street or an average motorway, I often wish for the intelligence of even a housefly taking hold of some drivers, not to mention a collective wit. A first step in that direction is being presented right now at a Japanese lifestyle electronics show.
At first, the simple car radio with tape deck evolved into a CD player with surround sound system, then it accepted USB sticks and today it's difficult to distinguish the navigation system from the FM tuner - assuming there is a distinction to be made. However, modern smartphones can do, apart from their main functions, practically everything these in-car systems can, most things even better. Since crutches like Bluetooth links usually are a nuisance, there has to be a better way to integrate consumer electronics into car infotainment systems.
All surveys indicate that a majority of drivers would prefer an electric car over a fuel-based one - if it was fast enough and ran long enough. However, one tiny problem escaped the attention of the public until now: Radio.
Happy new year, dear readers - welcome to the future! One vision of the future is the ‘connected car’, and many drivers seem to want that. As consumer demand for in-vehicle connectivity continues to grow, automotive manufacturers are under pressure to deliver competitive, innovative features while minimizing cost. A major stumbling block is cabling - it’s heavy, difficult to design and expensive.
It seems to be a sure deal that vehicle-to-vehicle communication is the next big thing. It may not be a mature technology and there are many unclear issues concerning the communication protocol and, most important, security. Apart from those practical things, it isn't even totally clear what V2V will be good for. However, researchers and semiconductor companies are busy preparing for this future of automotive technology.
Among the most used electronic components in modern cars are sensors. Since they are omnipresent, they came into focus for space saving. Most (analogue) sensing components can’t shrink much but the ‘back end’ like signal conditioning can.
EMBEDDED WORLD 2011 – Virtual dashboards, car navigation and camera-based driver assistance from a single chip - impossible? Maybe, but Fujitsu says it can, with the SoC MB86R12 ‘Emerald-P’ with integrated APIX2 interface. It seems that the Doubtless, in cars of the future the is the virtual display will be the primary interface with the driver, replacing traditional instruments such as pointers, knobs and buttons and maybe even the view of the road ahead. It could bring entirely new applications into the car, not only increasing comfort but also safety, as is the case with camera-based driver assistance systems such as night vision assistance and head up display applications, the engineers of Fujitsu are convinced.
For me it is not terribly clear why one needs high-definition video in a car’s dashboard, since one is not supposed to watch the newest Coen brothers movie there and even a Sat Nav doesn’t need 1080p, much less the »virtual« tachometers. However, nowadays it’s even being installed in mid-range cars, so there seems to be some kind of demand. A good thing for semiconductor manufacturers.
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