At Ford, robots have begun to replace some human drivers when road tests are considered too strenuous for humans. The US car maker said it is using robots in a pilot program for durability testing of its new full-size Transit van. The vehicle will be launched in 2014. “Some of the tests we do on [...]
Inrix: US traffic congestion up 9.4 pc on year
June 16, 2013
US traffic congestion jumped a sharp 9.4 pc in April from a year earlier, but traffic intensity varied widely from one region to the next, according to the Inrix Gridlock Index (IGI). The indicator measures congestion on the basis of a historical traffic information database comprised by Inrix, a US-based traffic data specialist. Inrix said [...]
Apple wants iOS in the car
June 13, 2013
Apple wants to boost its presence in automotive infotainment, pitching its Siri application as the ideal interface to manage several in-car functions. Siri is an Apple app that resides on the computer and software maker’s iPhone and lets the user perform a range of tasks through the use of voice commands. Siri can be operated [...]
Ford starts European production of electric Focus
June 13, 2013
Ford has started production of the Ford Focus Electric, the first full electric vehicle the carmaker is building in Europe. Ford said the Focus Electric is built in Saarlouis, Germany. It will be followed in the near term by two hybrid models, the C Max Energi plug-in and the Ford Mondeo Hybrid. The first electric [...]
Study: Searching for information costs 23 million work days
June 12, 2013
German industry loses as many as 23 million work days a year as people search for information, according a recent study. According to the report, which was written by consultants Q-perior, roughly 5 million German industry employees spend 15 minutes a day looking for similar information on different platforms. The loss in productivity adds up [...]
Faurecia, Dortmund University start metals research
June 12, 2013
Faurecia, one of the world’s largest automotive suppliers, and the Technical University of Dortmund have opened a joint research center for metals processing. ReCIMP (Research Center for Industrial Metal Processing) will develop new manufacturing technologies as well as components for the auto industry. A key research goal is to improve basic knowledge of innovative metal [...]
Siemens acquires production planning specialist Preactor
June 5, 2013
Siemens has acquired production software specialist Preactor, as the German group continues to expand its offering of industry software. Preactor is a UK based maker of production planning and scheduling software. Its advanced planning software (APS) is used by more than 4,500 companies in 75 countries. Siemens said APS will add significant new software offerings to [...]
In new cloud move, IBM to acquire SoftLayer
June 5, 2013
IBM has signed a definitive agreement to buy SoftLayer technologies in a bid to strengthen its cloud-based services offering. The US-based IT group said the acquisition will help speed business adoption of public and private cloud solutions. “With SoftLayer, IBM will accelerate the build-out of our public cloud infrastructure to give clients the broadest choice [...]
VW supports more IT research at Stanford University
June 3, 2013
The Volkswagen Group is making an additional 1.7 million dlrs available to Stanford University to explore new areas of automotive innovation. The grant marks a continuation of the cooperation between the German carmaker and the California-based university. VW said new research will begin at Stanford in the areas of virtual intelligence, new materials, data security [...]
