Autonomous – Page 2686 – I wish I had more to offer

Press release / October 16, 2018 LeddarTech Expands its Engineering Expertise and Accelerates its Design Roadmap to Meet Market Demand LeddarTech accelerates the development of its automotive LiDAR development platform, through organizational enhancements and the investment in two new engineering facilities in Toronto, Canada, and in Linz, Austria.

Leddartech/Press release/LeddarTech Expands its Engineering Expertise and Accelerates its Design Roadmap to Meet Market Demand

LeddarTech Expands its Engineering Expertise and Accelerates its Design Roadmap to Meet Market Demand
LeddarTech accelerates the development of its automotive LiDAR development platform, through organizational enhancements and the investment in two new engineering facilities in Toronto, Canada, and in Linz, Austria.

QUEBEC CITY, October 16, 2018 — LeddarTech, which develops a high-performance, cost-efficient solid-state LiDAR development platform for the automotive industry, is pleased to announce that it has greatly increased its automotive and semiconductor expertise through the hiring of two groups of world-class engineers to complement the existing engineering division. The company has recently expanded its operations to accommodate this growth in its new research and development office in Linz, Austria, as well as in its new Automotive Center of Excellence in Toronto, Canada.

This key expansion brings to the Linz research and development office highly specialized engineering resources focused in microelectronic activities in support of the company’s LeddarCore systems-on-chip (SoC) integration programs.

In Toronto, the Automotive Center of Excellence (opening on October 29, 2018) will accommodate a team of automotive industry experts entirely dedicated to enabling active safety and autonomous driving solutions, with core expertise that includes, namely, vision sensors and fusion, machine learning and deep learning, software development, system engineering and ISO 26262 compliance.

“LeddarTech is proud to attract top talent and our investment in world-class technical expertise in Linz and Toronto is a testament to our commitment to delivering the most versatile, flexible and architecturally scalable LiDAR development platform in the industry to our customers,” stated Charles Boulanger, CEO of LeddarTech. Mr. Boulanger added, “We are excited to have these experienced engineers on board and are confident that these highly skilled and qualified technical individuals will take LeddarTech’s automotive LiDAR development platform solutions to the next level by accelerating design and time to market.”

“These senior automotive and semiconductor experts bring with them valuable experience and know-how in developing automotive-grade solutions that meet the industry’s stringent FUSA requirements,” stated Antonio Polo, LeddarTech’s Vice-President of Engineering. Mr. Polo continued, “This new expertise also supports our long-term technology development roadmap and enhances the organization’s capability to support our customers’ LiDAR solutions through the integration of our unique Leddar Engine for autonomous driving applications.”

About LeddarTech
LeddarTech is an industry leader in the development of the most versatile and easy-to-use automotive LiDAR development platform based on the unique Leddar Engine, which consists of a suite of automotive-grade and functional safety certified SoCs working in tandem with Leddar SP software. The company is responsible for several technological innovations in cutting-edge mobility remote-sensing applications. Automotive active safety, autonomous driving, intelligent transportation, inner-city fleet vehicles, and more, are being enhanced using patented LeddarTech technologies.
Additional information about LeddarTech is accessible at www.LeddarTech.com, and on LinkedIn, Twitter or YouTube.

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Uber ‘could land $120bn price-tag’ in upcoming IPO

Uber could receive a valuation of as high as $120bn (£91bn) in its upcoming initial public offering, almost double the price-tag the ride-hailing company landed in August. The proposals from US banks suggested Uber seek a valuation much higher than the $76bn it was valued at in August during its most recent fundraising round. They are also said… Continue reading Uber ‘could land $120bn price-tag’ in upcoming IPO

Press release / October 10, 2018 LeddarTech Appoints New Vice President of Marketing and Communications Daniel Aitken recently joined the LeddarTech executive team as Vice-President of Corporate Marketing and Communications.

Leddartech/Press release/LeddarTech Appoints New Vice President of Marketing and Communications

LeddarTech Appoints New Vice President of Marketing and Communications
Daniel Aitken recently joined the LeddarTech executive team as Vice-President of Corporate Marketing and Communications.

QUEBEC CITY, October 10, 2018 — LeddarTech, a Quebec City-based technology company that develops and commercializes high-performance, low-cost solid-state LiDAR sensor development platforms for the automotive industry, is pleased to announce that Daniel Aitken joined its team as Vice-President of Corporate Marketing and Communications. With more than 20 years’ technology-industry experience, including strategic business development and marketing, Mr. Aitken brings to LeddarTech extensive international marketing experience in the electronics, automotive and component-distribution industry. Mr. Aitken has spent most of his career working in multinational corporations in Canada, Europe and the United States.

“We are delighted to welcome Mr. Aitken to LeddarTech’s leadership team,” said Frantz Saintellemy, President and COO. “His experience and success in the development of sound and innovative marketing, branding and communications strategies, as well as his leadership abilities, will have a great impact on positioning our automotive LiDAR development platform and its value proposition to the industry,” stated Mr. Saintellemy.

Prior to joining LeddarTech, Mr. Aitken held a variety of senior positions at high-profile technology companies, including Integrated Device Technology in San Jose, California; ZMDI in Dresden, Germany; as well as Future Electronics in Montreal, Canada.

“I am very pleased to have joined LeddarTech, and I look forward to building upon the tremendous momentum that already exists,” said Mr. Aitken. “LeddarTech’s distinct business model, which offers a meaningful solution through the Leddar Engine, an automotive LiDAR development platform that enables the design of differentiated LiDAR solutions tailored to specific autonomous driving applications, provides a unique opportunity to answer present and future LiDAR market requirements. The unique business model of LeddarTech makes for an exciting marketing opportunity, which I look forward to executing,” stated Mr. Aitken.

About LeddarTech
LeddarTech is a specialist in the development of high-performance, automotive grade solid-state LiDAR sensors, and ensuring that these revolutionary products are commercially viable for use in high volume passenger vehicles. The company is responsible for several technological innovations in cutting-edge mobility remote sensing applications. Automotive active safety, autonomous driving, intelligent transportation, inner-city fleet vehicles, and more are being enhanced using novel LeddarTech technologies.

Additional information about LeddarTech is accessible at www.LeddarTech.com. Follow LeddarTech on LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube

Contact: Marc Antoine Morin, Marketing Communication Manager, LeddarTech
Tel.: +1-418-653-9000, ext. 221
Marcantoine.Morin@Leddartech.com

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Ford sales in China dropped 43 percent in September

JOHANNES EISELE | AFP | Getty Images
The Ford Mustang is displayed during the 17th Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition in Shanghai.

Ford's sales in China dropped 43 percent in September from the same month a year earlier, a sign that sales are slowing in the world's largest car market.

This is the third straight month of declining auto sales in China.

The second-largest U.S. automaker has been hit by the ongoing trade war between the U.S. and China, despite the fact that Ford sells cars in China through partnerships with local firms.

Ford shares are down nearly 30 percent since the beginning of the year. The stock hit a 52-week low of $8.57 in trading Friday.

“We are intensely focused on our sales turnaround plan in China, which includes an aggressive cadence of product introductions to meet the needs of our Chinese customers, including the launch of the highly anticipated all-new Ford Focus,” said Peter Fleet, president of Ford Asia Pacific and chairman & CEO of Ford China, in a statement. “We believe the new products, which have been custom-designed and developed with Chinese customers in mind, will help us to regain momentum in the world's largest auto market.”

Auto sales are down across the board in China, said Michael Dunne, president of ZoZo Go, an investment advisory firm that follows Chinese autonomous and electrified vehicle companies. This is the first sustained downturn Dunne has seen since the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s, he said.

There are three major factors driving this decline in demand. The first is a crackdown on certain types of peer-to-peer lending practices in China, a feature of the Chinese financial system that has typically allowed less wealthy Chinese to borrow money at rates better than what banks are offering.

The second is a general cautiousness among Chinese consumers that has emerged recently.

“When times are good, the Chinese are really bullish and bold,” he said. “But when times are uncertain they become exceptionally conservative.”

There is a particular mentality that can take hold among Chinese consumers that is more pronounced than the lack of consumer confidence seen in the United States, for example. “And it is contagious,” he added.

Finally, there is the trade war with the U.S., which has exacerbated the uncertainty many Chinese feel from the overall economic slowdown.

Ford has unique problems in China, Dunne said. The automaker has not brought new products to market for more than a year, and Chinese consumers have sought cars elsewhere. Ford is expected to bring new products to China in the next few months, he said.

Ford was not immediately available for comment.

WATCH: Ford is using bionic suits to help employees work safer

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Gill Pratt of Toyota: Safety Is No Argument for Robocars 10 Oct

Photo: Toyota

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Toyota's Gill Pratt on Self-Driving Cars and the Reality of Full Autonomy

Going for Level 4 autonomy—where the car drives itself and you can go to sleep—is typically justified on the grounds that such cars will be very safe. And they had better be, or we’d never let them loose on the roads.

But the safety-first argument is flawed, says Gill Pratt, who heads up self-driving car research for Toyota. Reason: Safety can be obtained by other means.

“The reason for Level 4 being done—to save lives—is backwards thinking, even if you assume it’ll be 10 times safer,” he tells IEEE Spectrum. “That’s not the only way to save lives; there are multiple ways to do it.”

Pratt allows that there’s a purely economic argument for self-driving cars—remove the driver and you cut expenses in any commercial application, like taxi service and trucking. But that decides things only after self-driving tech can be proven far better than the best human driver. A system that’s just 10 percent better will win over statisticians and philosophers but not the general public.

This isn’t the first time Pratt has poured cold water on the idea that we’re on the verge of getting rid of the steering wheel and pedals, as GM Cruise plans to do in a pilot program next year. Read our Q&A with him from early last year. But nowadays, Pratt’s emphasizing how a system that is essentially Level 4 can be repurposed as a teammate to the driver, rather than a replacement.

Toyota is developing Level 4 systems, he said, but when they’re purposed to drive the car—and thus called Chauffeur—they need vastly more validation than has been done yet to be made into a generally useful product. Toyota doesn’t expect to hand a Level 4 Chauffeur to the public for years, though the company plans to demonstrate one during the 2020 Olympic Games, in Japan, within a relatively limited environment.

But what Pratt calls the “technological equivalent to Level 4” is coming much faster. It’s called Guardian, and he says it’s a lot better than today’s advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), which offer lane keeping, active cruise control, and emergency braking. “We think Guardian features will trickle into production vehicles soon,” he says.

Here’s how it looks in practice:

Guardian uses a diversity of sensors and maps which, though they might be a little out of date, at least tell the system the most likely environment it’s in and the location of the car in that environment. A prediction system figures out how the environment around the car is likely to evolve, and then a planner works out the car’s trajectory and other behaviors.

“It asks if there’s an unprotected left-hand turn or a highway merge coming up,” he says. “When the system’s functioning as Guardian, it’s there to warn or nudge the driver, and if things are really bad, to take over temporarily.”

We already have a Level 2 system—the Super Cruise function, which is available in the Cadillac CT6. As Lawrence Ulrich reported in April, it’s the current self-driving champion of production cars. But to make sure that the driver doesn’t get lulled into dangerous complacency, the car uses cameras to observe the driver’s eyes and body posture and to jostle him or her back to situational awareness if necessary.

But Pratt suggests that approach reflects backward thinking, too.

“We’ve known since the 1940s that the better the autonomy, the more you tend to overtrust the system,” Pratt says. “That’s why Super Cruise has a monitor that watches you. In Guardian, we’ve flipped the whole nature of who guards whom: We have the person drive.”

Panasonic reveals vision for futuristic autonomous car cabin

By Sean Galea-Pace . Oct 15, 2018, 8:52AM The Japan-based electronics company, Panasonic, has revealed its vision for the future of intelligent transportation at the beginning of GITEX Technology Week, ITP.net reports. During its 100th anniversary celebrations, Panasonic gave its view on how the company sees the future of car mobility looking like by displaying… Continue reading Panasonic reveals vision for futuristic autonomous car cabin

Lidar firm SOS Lab lands $6M

09 Oct 2018 Korean startup is the latest to target the future market for autonomous driving; auto parts giant and Hyundai among early backers. SOS Lab, a Korean startup company developing lidar equipment for future autonomous vehicles, has completed a series A round of venture funding worth around $6 million. The firm, founded in 2016 and based at… Continue reading Lidar firm SOS Lab lands $6M

For Bosch, diesel still has a future

Death, the diesel? Rolf Bulander, president of the automotive division of the Bosch group, does not want to believe it. “Diesel is still needed for long distances, big cars, trucks … Especially since modern diesel can meet all emission standards! “, He insists, in an interview with” Echos “. For the world’s largest automotive supplier,… Continue reading For Bosch, diesel still has a future

Conflicted German Automakers Struggle With EV Transition

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Published on October 13th, 2018 |

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Conflicted German Automakers Struggle With EV Transition

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October 13th, 2018 by Guest Contributor

Originally published on EVANNEX.
By Charles Morris

It’s no secret that legacy automakers are making the transition to electric vehicles only reluctantly, in response to regulatory pressure from governments and to competitive pressure from Tesla. Contrary to what many seem to believe, Big Auto’s reluctance to embrace EVs is not merely the usual corporate fear of the future, nor is it the result of any oil industry-fueled conspiracy (as far as we know). It’s a simple matter of money — there are good reasons to believe that electrification will take a major bite out of industry profits, as BMW and Daimler execs recently acknowledged.

German automakers remain conflicted about how to transition factory production lines from gas-powered cars to EVs (Image: Werner Budding)

Now Volkswagen has warned that its stated plan to offer an electrified version of each of its models will cost more than it estimated. VW previously predicted that the coming shift to battery power would cost some €20 billion ($23 billion). CEO Herbert Diess, in an interview published in VW’s internal newsletter, indicated that this figure was too low, but didn’t offer a new estimate. “The burden for our company, such as the cost of bringing to market electric cars, will be higher than expected,” Diess says. “This is particularly so since some of our competitors have been making more progress.” (Hmm, who would that be?)

A recent article in the Financial Times discussed the challenges legacy carmakers are facing. Whereas industry disruptor Tesla started from a blank slate to design its vehicles and has “bet the company” on EVs, incumbent OEMs can’t go down that road — the risks are too high. Analysts have warned that a substantial number of Germany’s 800,000 auto industry jobs could disappear along with the internal combustion engine.

FT points out that VW, BMW, and Daimler have each earmarked billions of euros for electric technology, but are taking different approaches — some automakers hope to build EVs using the same architecture as legacy vehicles, whereas others intend to introduce new platforms. The choice of strategy “will re-sort the carmakers in profitability,” says Christian Senger, head of the VW’s e-mobility line. “Those who [take] the hardest road will be more successful than the others.”

Germany protects its car industry as EU goes for just 15% cut in CO2 car emissions by 2025 (Source:Transport & Environment / Image: Plugin Cars)

Volkswagen is leveraging its scale advantage — earlier this year, it awarded €20 billion worth of contracts for battery supplies as part of a plan to introduce 50 pure EVs by 2025. This represents an about-face from VW’s previous strategy — the e-Golf and e-Up, introduced in 2013, were basically existing models stuffed with batteries.

“To make it a fully fledged electric car, you need to start with a battery pack between the wheels and then you build up the car,” Herbert Diess, CEO of the VW Group, told the FT. “Then you have an effective battery system, the range, and you get a lot of freedom for the design of the car, to make more interior space with the same footprint.” (His words echo what Tesla designer Von Holzhausen said back in 2011.)

The first VW model designed this way, the ID Neo, is to come out late next year, the first of several models belonging to the ID electric sub-brand. Although recent reports suggest the program could be delayed.

VW’s ID concept car appears to be another unconventional design approach typically relegated to Big Auto’s electric car efforts (Image: Charged)

BMW seems to be taking the opposite tack, touting the advantages of “flexible architecture” that can accommodate fossil, hybrid or electric powertrains. BMW plans to offer all of its models with a choice of powertrain starting in 2021. “We can’t afford having two factories standing still,” says CEO Harald Krueger. “With a flexible approach, you can always manage the capacity of your plants. But if you have a specific EV architecture, what do you with the old one? What do you do with the people?”

Daimler is combining both approaches, designing purpose-built architecture for its EQ sub-brand while also setting up its production plants to accommodate all types of powertrains, including fuel cells. “We have hybrids, plug-in hybrids, electric cars and maybe robo-taxis tomorrow,” says Daimler Production Chief Markus Schaefer. “It’s hard to predict volumes for the best way in an uncertain world, so this is the most efficient approach to supply the market.”

Some analysts think the flexible approach is too complex in both design and production. “I don’t see how they can consolidate traditional platforms, from small hatchbacks to large SUVs, and at the same time try to include EVs in the equation,” says Pelham Smithers Analyst Julie Boote. “That’s incredibly complicated.”

In another revealing move, Audi decided no e-tron inventory for its US dealerships would be made available (Source: Charged / Image: Automobile Propre)

Others see merit in the flexible approach, pointing out that it’s hard to predict how quickly the shift to electric cars will take place. “Most carmakers proceeding with EVs are following an ‘If you build it, they will come’ approach,” says Bernstein Analyst Max Warburton. “If you have a dedicated EV platform and the demand doesn’t come, you’ve lost a lot of money.”

Sources: Financial Times, Bloomberg

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Driverless taxis to be launched in Dubai on October 14

The region’s first driverless taxi will be piloted during the Gitex Technology Week that starts in Dubai tomorrow. The Roads and Transport Authority’s (RTA) autonomous taxis would help ferry Dubai Metro and tram passengers to their final destinations. The vehicle, which will be tentatively run on dedicated routes at the Dubai Silicon Oasis, has top… Continue reading Driverless taxis to be launched in Dubai on October 14