The Revolution Of The Car Industry

Plus Volvo will ship the EX90 without some safety and charging features, and Boeing just needed a federal investigation to get better at making planes

Phones are supported well beyond their average ownership lifetime. In stark contrast, automakers are struggling to work out how long their “smartphones on wheels” can be kept on the road.

Ever since built-in internet connectivity was added to vehicles, conspiracy theorists kept saying that the government would eventually overreach and try to limit everyone's personal mobility. They were wrong. To this day, those beliefs remain a blatant exaggeration. It's the other way around if you think about it. But that doesn't mean the future can't be full of surprises. Until we get to see what legislators and regulators from a dystopian tomorrow have in store for us all, let's figure out the truth behind the latest legislative confusion that's worrying new car buyers living on the right side of the pond.

The transaction was cleared under merger control as it was “not expected to significantly impede effective competition,” the German Federal Cartel Office announced. That applies “regardless of whether the relevant market is considered to consist of the E/E architecture as a whole or of various sub-systems and sub-services. There will still be a sufficient range of services available to car manufacturers to build E/E architectures,” the authority continues. A relevant impairment of the innovation competition for E/E architectures is unlikely.

Modern cars are laden down with all sorts of connected features. Remote start via cell phone, data connections for built-in apps, cars are increasingly reliant on mobile networks for full functionality — mobile networks that can, and eventually will, shut down. When those systems go dark, what happens to the cars?

Tesla has issued a recall for 1,849,638 vehicles that may have a software failure that means an unlatched hood may go undetected, increasing the risk of a crash. The recall extends to the entire lineup, with the Model 3, Model X, Model S, and Model Y vehicles being affected. The Cybertruck is not part of this recall.

Software powered by neural networks was already supporting advanced driving features such as lane guidance and assistive cruise control, and more cars were adding hi-tech extras such as passenger and rear seat screens and advanced voice assistants.

The agency notes that driving a vehicle with an unlocked hood can obstruct the driver's view if the hood opens inadvertently, increasing the risk of a crash. As a result, Tesla must provide an over-the-air update for the affected software covering approximately 1.85 million vehicles. This action affects "S", "X" and "3" models manufactured since 2021, as well as "Y" vehicles manufactured since 2020. This is not the first time the electric car maker has faced a software problem. In December, Tesla was forced to update about two million vehicles in the United States and Canada to address the increased risk of crashes associated with "Autopilot," a controversial driver-assistance system.

Honda and Nissan have been exploring how they can cooperate on software-defined EVs since spring. The first results are now available: The main areas of the intensified collaboration are to include batteries and e-axles. It has now also been officially confirmed that Mitsubishi will be involved.

The upgrade applies only to the owners of the 2024 Mustang Mach-E GT, but it is considerable, adding an extra 100 lb-ft of torque from the car's two electric motors, and lowering the 0-60 miles per hour time from 3.8 to 3.3 seconds. According to Ford's general manager for integrated services Chet Dhruna, a Mustang upgraded in this way can run a quarter mile in 11.8 seconds, at 114 miles per hour.

Currently, the development of information and AI technology is bringing about a significant shift in the way cars are made. During this period of transformation, the concept of the Software-Defined Vehicle (commonly known as SDV) has appeared, and car manufacturers are dramatically changing the way they build cars in line with this concept. Furthermore, the recent boom in generative AI is opening new paths for autonomous driving technology. This includes enhancing autonomous driving technology using LLMs (Large Language Models).

Avec l'IoT automobile, les véhicules deviennent des machines intelligentes, capables de collecter et d'analyser de grandes quantités de données provenant de diverses sources, telles que des capteurs embarqués, des données de trafic externes et même des modèles de comportement des conducteurs. Ces données peuvent être utilisées pour fournir des informations en temps réel, des alertes de maintenance prédictive et des services personnalisés adaptés aux besoins individuels.

Are you ready for AI in cars? You should be! Because the era of AI cars has already started. Vehicle AI is reshaping how we drive, offering enhanced safety features, autonomous capabilities, and personalized driving experiences. As technology continues to evolve, AI in cars promises to revolutionize transportation, making journeys safer, more efficient, and more enjoyable than ever before, and here is how.

As part of its strategy to deliver “top-tier” fleet management solutions while ensuring data security and privacy, internet of things (IoT) and connected transportation solutions provider Geotab has announced an integration of its European-based fleet management solutions with BYD Trucks Europe, a part of leading electric vehicle manufacturer BYD.

After more than a full year of plug-in electric vehicle ownership, through multiple seasons and scenarios, now seems like a great time for some reflection and sharing. It’s been an interesting and illuminating experience, filled with learnings (yes, even experts learn new things!) and fresh perspectives on the day-to-day intricacies of driving electric.

Volvo's much-anticipated entry into the compact electric vehicle (EV) market, the EX30, has hit a speedbump. Launched earlier this year, the EX30 has been plagued by widespread software issues that have left early adopters frustrated and forced Volvo to scramble for solutions.

When electric cars started becoming mainstream, their fans thought it was amazing that these vehicles would get new features with over-the-air (OTA) updates. Some of these supporters and investors crave the next update as they salivate for a new car. At first, I thought it was pretty interesting, but there's nothing like time to show you the full picture. It all boils down to control—or your lack of it, in this case.

Most drivers have probably noticed that there are often little, innocuous plastic covers or plugs on their cars' dashboards or center consoles where one might expect to find a button. We don’t give them much thought because they blend into the vehicle’s interior décor. But they also serve a vital purpose; they act as placeholders to address “what if?”

Volvo Car AB is recalling all of the almost 72,000 units it has made of its new flagship model — the fully electric EX30 — due to a software issue. The automaker’s shares slumped as much as 3.5% in early trading in Stockholm on news the vehicles may have an error in their center screen that causes the speedometer to go into test mode when the car starts. To fix the glitch, an over-the-air software update is required, Volvo said in a statement June 10.

A new crop of early-stage startups — along with some recent VC investments — illustrates a niche emerging in the autonomous vehicle technology sector. Unlike the companies bringing robotaxis to city streets, these startups are taking their tech off-road. 

Two recent entrants — Seattle-based Overland AI and New Brunswick-based Potential — are poised to get a first-mover advantage on this segment of autonomy. 

According to the disclosure, 53,038 stateside Nissan employees – presumably past and present, since it has a current staff count of around 21,000 – had their social security numbers stolen after "a criminal threat actor" compromised Nissan's external VPN, shut down "certain" Nissan systems and demanded a payment.

Soutenus par les autorités, les industriels chinois misent sur les fonctions intelligentes de conduite, très demandées par les automobilistes. Une stratégie qui pourrait s’avérer gagnante sur le long terme.

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At Stellar we've built the World's most advanced AI for seamless network switching, dynamic simultaneous aggregation, and reliable road connectivity predictions. We've worked on the World's first car connected to cellular, Wi-Fi, and satellite networks.