Automotive IT News and Facts
NTT Data has appointed Patrizio Mapelli to lead its operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Mapelli will also be in charge of the key German business. Mapelli, who currently heads NTT Data’s Italian operations and is also in charge of the IT consultancy’s enterprise business unit, will take on his new role April [...]
Honda next year will start testing a new “Micro Commuter” prototype, an electric vehicle for the Japanese market that could transport one driver and two children. The Japanese carmaker, which first unveiled the concept at the Tokyo Motor show in 2011, said so-called “demonstration testing” will look at how the vehicle performs in everyday short-distance [...]
Mazda Motor will start leasing its Demio EV model to local authorities and corporate customers in Japan starting in October. The Japanese carmaker said the electric vehicle, which is a derivative of its combustion-engine-powered Demio model, has an electric driving range of 200km. The EV has the same cabin space and cargo capacity as the [...]
HI CORPORATION has joined the Genivi alliance, adding another HMI specialist to the development group. The Japanese maker of mobile 3D graphics is joining an expanding group of carmakers and IT solutions providers who – within Genivi – are developing an open-source in-vehicle infotainment reference platform. Such an architecture is seen as important for the [...]
Toyota will build a private social network for its customers and their cars. The network will be first launched in Japan. The Japanese carmaker said it will work with Salesforce.com, a U.S. enterprise cloud computing company specialized in social collaboration, to build the service, which will be called “Toyota Friend.” The service will be powered [...]
Robert Bosch has opened a software engineering center in Vietnam that will serve customers throughout southeast Asia. The German automotive supplier said the newly established Robert Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions Vietnam Company Limited (RBVH) will provide high-tech software solutions and engineering services. Included are the development of embedded software, which is used in electronic [...]
A Japanese technology company has developed a prototype electric vehicle that uses in-wheel electric motors to achieve a range of 333 km in urban traffic. The test vehicle, which is built by SIM-Drive, is called SIM-LEI, which stands for Leading Efficiency In-Wheel motor. The vehicle should go into mass production in 2013, SIM-Drive said. SIM-Drive [...]
German electronics companies are beginning to register component shortages resulting from a Japanese earthquake and the resulting nuclear accident. According to a spot survey conducted by Germany’s BITKOM high-tech association, producers and resellers of information and communication technology as well as consumer electronics products are beginning to lack some components they need for their products. [...]
Automakers worldwide are making contingency plans to replace components lost by Japan’s earthquake and tsunami disaster. But the shutdown of several of the country’s nuclear reactors amid growing fears of a major radiation catastrophe will have a much greater long-term impact on the auto industry than a temporary cut in global car output. It may [...]
The German electronics industry association warned Wednesday that a major Japanese earthquake, a devastating tsunami and the ensuing nuclear-power station malfunctions could lead to problems for the global electronics industry. The industry association, the ZVEI, said Japanese electronics components play a key role in the global value chain. “More than one-sixth of the world supply [...]
