Automotive IT News and Facts
Europe needs an integrated telecommunications market as machine-to-machine connectivity takes on growing importance, EU Commissioner Neelie Kroes said Thursday. Kroes, who is in charge of Europe’s digital agenda, said in a speech to the 11th European Business Summit in Brussels that the absence of a Europe-wide telecoms market is a major obstacle in the way [...]
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 [...]
General Motors opened a new 130 million-dlr data center this week, as the automaker continues its company-wide IT transformation. The center – in Warren, Michigan, outside Detroit – will serve as the backbone for all of the company’s global computing operations. It is one of just two that will replace 23 global IT centers over [...]
BANGALORE – Companies in mature markets are increasingly transferring r&d abroad and premium car maker Daimler is no exception. The company recently inaugurated a new r&d center here, underscoring the importance it attaches to the fast-growing Indian market. “India is one of the core markets of our Mercedes-Benz 2020 growth strategy, and it has enormous [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Volkswagen Group will start selling electric vehicles in China from 2014 as part of its overall strategy to become a world leader in green mobility. The German automaker also reaffirmed plans to boost its footprint in the world’s biggest car market by investing almost 10 billion euros over the next three years. “We will be [...]
BMW’s is stepping up efforts to include electric vehicles in corporate fleets. Alphabet International, the leasing and business mobility arm of the German premium car maker, is rolling out a program called AlphaElectric that provides a framework for integrating EVs into corporate fleets. “Every fleet has the potential to use electric vehicles, for example in [...]
App downloads soared in Germany last year as consumers bought more smartphones and tablets. Bitkom, the country’s high-tech industry association, said app downloads jumped 80 pc to more than 1.7 billion in 2012. “The megatrend toward mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets is unbroken,” said Tobias Arns, a mobile expert at Bitkom. “Smartphone programs [...]
