Automotive IT News and Facts
Trimble said it has reached final agreement to acquire privately held TMW Systems, in a move that is set to boost the transportation software maker’s position in the North American trucking market. “Trimble’s global presence will provide a strong channel for extending TMW’s reach and scope, beyond its leading position in North America,” said David [...]
The Insurance Telematics USA 2012 conference will focus on one of the fastest-growing business areas involving connected cars. The conference, which will be held at the Radisson Blu Aqua Hotel in Chicago September 5-6 will look at how usage-based insurance helps insurers develop new products and services; what kind of regulatory factors play a role in [...]
China’s Wanxiang plans to invest up to 450 million dlrs in A123, providing a financial lifeline to the embattled US battery maker. Under the terms of a non-binding memorandum of understanding between the two companies, Wanxiang, a large Chinese automotive components manufacturer, would provide a capital injection that would let A123 continue to grow its [...]
Chrysler is using new 3D technology to plan for the launch of two new transmissions at its Kokomo, Indiana, factory. The US carmaker, which is majority-owned by Italy’s Fiat, said it is using a three-dimensional modeling system specifically designed for powertrain manufacturing. The approach will help save money and improve the production process of Chrysler’s [...]
Swedish supplier Autoliv has pleaded guilty for its role in a price fixing conspiracy and will pay a 14.5 million fine, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) said in a press release. Autoliv has admitted its role in a conspiracy to fix prices of seatbelts, airbags and steering wheels delivered to a carmaker in the [...]
Toyota set a modest sales goal for the electric version of its RAV4 as it unveiled the newest version of one of its best-selling SUVs in the US. The Japanese carmaker, which continues to lead sales of hybrid-electric vehicles with the Prius, said it plans to sell only 2,600 units of the RAV4 EV in [...]
The US administration is stepping up the pressure on carmakers to make in-vehicle electronic devices less distracting to drivers. US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood on Thursday issued a series of proposed voluntary guidelines for in-car communications, entertainment, information gathering and navigation devices. The guidelines, which were issued by the department’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration [...]
The proliferation of in-car electronics raises new safety issues that need to be monitored and addressed, a report by a US expert panel said this week. “The increasing role of electronic systems in automobiles creates new safety oversight challenges that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) must address explicitly and proactively,” the report by [...]
US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said he doesn’t support a call by the country’s National Transportation Safety Board to bar drivers from making any phone calls at all while behind the wheel. “The problem is not hands-free,” LaHood told reporters, according to a report in the Detroit News. Instead the US administration official said efforts [...]
Toyota and Tesla Motors will built a jointly developed electric version of the RAV 4 small SUV at the Japanese carmaker’s plant in Woodstock, Ontario. “The Tesla-Toyota joint development team has agreed that building the vehicle at the Woodstock plant on the same line as the gasoline-powered RAV4, will streamline and simplify the production process [...]
