Automotive IT News and Facts
Daimler introduced the new Mercedes S-Class to the world this week, unveiling a model it hopes will be the benchmark for tomorrow’s premium driving experience. The German luxury car maker’s top-of-the-line model traditionally features cutting-edge technologies that will make their way into other Mercedes models later on. The 2013 S-Class is no exception. From the [...]
Volvo Cars is boosting production of its V60 Plug-in hybrid amid strong demand for its first diesel-hybrid model. The Swedish automaker said it will almost double production of the model at its Torslanda plant to 282 cars a week from 150. It cited particularly strong demand in Holland, Belgium and Italy. The V60 plugin hybrid [...]
BMW has upgraded its online presence, seamlessly integrating user data with business processes running in the background. Ulrich Lenz, head of the premium car maker’s interactive marketing, and Hartmut Wagner, IT manager process IT, sat down with automotiveIT to discuss the benefits of the integrated approach, how they defined the requirements of the new site and what [...]
BYD will use Nuance speech technology to operate a range of functions in its new models. The Chinese car and battery systems maker will use the software to operate functions such as radio, TV and DVD player as well as the navigation system in its new Si-Rui models. BYD, which showed the new models and [...]
BMW has teamed up with Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University (NTU) to conduct research on future transportation technologies. The collaboration will focus on advanced battery materials for electric vehicles, human machine interfaces and mobility patterns and concepts. BMW and NTU said in a press release that their joint research, which will be conducted in a new [...]
Daimler will soon start selling the new smart electric drive in China after authorities gave the carmaker the green light to start importing the small car into the world’s biggest market. The German premium car group said the electric version of the smart will go on sale in China before the end of the year. [...]
Sales of personal navigation devices (PNDs) are set to decline sharply in coming years as consumers opt for alternatives, according to a report by Berg Insight. The analysts predicted that PND sales will fall to 17 million units by 2017, down from 28 million last year and 33 million in 2011. They provided several reasons [...]
Smartphone apps are endangering corporate data security, according to a poll by the German Travel Association (DRV). The association, which represents the German travel sector, interviewed 100 CEOs and 250 employees who regularly take business trips. The poll found that 65 pc of the companies didn’t provide any guidelines for the use of smartphone apps [...]
Mercedes-Benz has opened a new sales training center in Chengdu in southwestern China, the biggest of its kind outside Germany. It is the sixth Chinese facility operated by the premium car division of Germany’s Daimler. The center is capable of offering 55,000 training days a year for employees of Mercedes dealerships. Mercedes has 260 dealers [...]
Worldwide PC shipments plunged 13.9 pc in the first quarter of 2013, as buyers switched to tablets and smartphones. Market researchers IDC said PC shipments fell to 76.3 million units in the first quarter. The 13.9 pc drop was more severe than the 7.7 pc decline IDC had forecast earlier. Moreover, the year-on-year contraction was [...]
