EPN Automotive Electronics Blog

Ethernet drive

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.

IAA 2011: An extra eye on the road

One of the hottest among the hot topics at IAA 2011 - Internationale Automobil-Ausstellung - in Frankfurt is safety. Safety for driver and passengers but also for pedestrians and all the other traffic on the road.

Automotive development package

With an upgrade for its simulation and prototyping tools, dSpace promises new features for development and testing engineers.

Safer intersections

43% of all European traffic accidents that result in injuries take place at intersections. An EU research initiative presents new vehicle assistance systems in order to increase traffic safety.

embedded world 2011: Infotainment-SoC

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.

Model truck

Inefficient driving techniques can increase carbon emissions and raise fuel consumption by as much as 10%. For a company with 20 trucks, each driven 120,000 kilometres a year, this translates to 200 tons

Pay, drive and pay again

»Pay-As-You-Drive« and »Pay-How-You-Drive«: »User-based insurance solutions« are mainly about the customer paying. Even worse, this kind of special telematics solution enables insurance companies to track and record the movement and behavioural aspects of drivers. Actually, that's the essential functionality.