Automotive IT News and Facts
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 [...]
LAS VEGAS — A research vehicle based on the Lexus LS showed the direction safety technologies are likely to take in coming years, Toyota said. The Japanese carmaker showed a vehicle that is equipped with a range of futuristic-looking technologies aimed at making driving safer and at times relieving the driver of some responsibilities. But [...]
Representatives of Volvo Cars, the truck maker Volvo and universities in Gothenburg and Shanghai attended the official inauguration of the China-Sweden Research Center for Traffic Safety in Beijing this week. The research facility is the result of a visit by former Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao in April, 2012. Sweden and China have developed close [...]
Audi said it has completed a three-year research project designed to build a technology platform for electric mobility. The German premium car maker said the platform’s modules can now be used in a variety of electric vehicles. Audi worked on the so-called e performance project with supplier Robert Bosch and several institutes of Aachen Technical [...]
IBM is opening its first African research lab in Nairobi, where it will focus specifically on the problems and issues facing the continent. The US-based IT services group said the facility in the Kenyan capital will conduct research on how better IT systems can help make the public-sector more efficient; how  big-city transportation and water [...]
Researchers at Leibniz University in Hanover are developing a new automotive lighting system that gives drivers a clearer view of the road and makes their car more visible at night. The researchers, who work in the university’s Institute of Product Development, are building laser diodes into cars’ headlights. These shine more and better distributed light [...]
The European Commission, in a move to boost innovation in Europe, is pushing to make scientific information more easily available to everyone. The governing body of the 27-nation European Union will make open access to scientific publications a general principle of its research and innovation funding programs for the coming years. That means EU funded [...]
Global IT spending is set to rise 3 pc in 2012 to 3.6 trillion dlrs, with investments in cloud-based services posting particularly strong growth, according to a Gartner forecast. The market researchers said the increase is slightly higher than the 2.5 pc growth they forecast earlier this year. Gartner said the overall outlook for IT [...]
Researchers at Rice University have developed a “paintable” lithium-ion battery that could help improve the design and weight of electric vehicles. The researchers have developed a battery that can be spray-painted in layers on virtually any surface. Each layer represents a traditional battery component. The technology “allows all kinds of new design and integration possiblities [...]
