New Tech Incubator Focuses on Car-Based Apps

Tech entrepreneur Jim Disanto sees the automobile as the next great platform for connectivity. “There are a more than a billion cars in the world,” he said. “Every automotive OEM and Tier 1 supplier will tell you that within three years, every car will need connected systems, or you’re not going to be able to sell it.” That, Disanto believes, will spawn a new generation of app developers offering Internet-enabled enhancements to the driving experience.

emergentfutures:

No More Car Crashes by 2020?

The leading cause of car accidents is pretty obvious – its human error. Whether its drunk driving, distracted driving, or aggressive driving, it all comes back to the person behind the wheel. Less than 20% of accidents are caused by road or mechanical failure, so the only way to truly make driving safer for everyone is to give the person behind the wheel more tools to drive safely – or even remove the human element altogether.

Here are five things that can put us on a path to ZERO human error car crashes by 2020:

Full Story: Innovaro

MIT’s Semi-Autonomous Car Balances Human, Computer Control | Autopia | Wired.com

There are autonomous cars, and there are drivers’ cars. Now we have something in the middle. Sterling Anderson and Karl Iagnemma of MIT have created a semi-autonomous driving system that gives drivers full control of the vehicle, but kicks when the car gets too close to another object. This sounds like the adaptive cruise control found in expensive Mercedes-Benzes, but this software is much more nuanced and ambitious than anything on the road.

thinkahead:

Frustrated by the French governments slow place in installing EV charging stations, automaker Renault is taking matters into its own hands. Renault will install 1,000 EV chargers at high volume centers like supermarkets and high density parking lots. Renault believes their investment will pay off in the long-run as they essentially kickstart the electric vehicle market and begin providing the necessary infrastructure for its future cars. It’s a risky gamble, but Reanult is left with little choice if they want their customers to buy an electric vehicle that can actually be used. 

In Bill Ford’s Future, Cars Are Nodes On Giant Networks | Fast Company

Laser System Paints Information on the Road Ahead   | Technology Review

Ever wondered if you could control your house’s climate, security, and appliances — along with your PCs and peripherals — using Microsoft software? That day may soon dawn, as its Research arm has started testing its home automation software, called HomeOS, in twelve domiciles over the past few months. The budding system views smartphones, printers and air conditioners as network peripherals, controlled by a dedicated gateway computer. The project even has a handful of apps in play, which perform functions like energy monitoring, remote surveillance and face-recognition. This growing list of applications, available through a portal called “HomeStore”, will allow users to easily expand their system’s capabilities. So how does it all work out in the real world? Head past the break, and let Redmond’s research team give you the skinny.

Honda’s FCX Clarity can power a home for 6 days | The Car Tech blog - CNET Reviews

Honda equips an FCX Clarity with a mobile power supply system and reveals a new solar-powered hydrogen-fueling station in Japan.

A story from FuelCellToday shows how Honda has turned the FCX Clarity into a zero emissions electric generator on wheels. The auto manufacturer outfitted the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle with a mobile power supply system, enabling the car to provide 9 kilowatts of electricity continuously for more than seven hours on a full tank of hydrogen at peak generation. At the lower-generation rates needed to power a typical home in Japan, the FCX Clarity could provide electricity for six days.

Nissan and Mitsubishi also have vehicle-to-home power systems, albeit with smaller energy capacities. These systems can be used in emergency power outage situations or to offset the cost of electricity during peak use hours.

Connected Cars: How to Accelerate Mainstream Adoption | Mashable

Every so often, the media tells us about an automotive manufacturer on the cusp of delivering wireless, cooperative systems. The reader immediately thinks of Knight Rider, and wanders through a fantasy of connected car heaven.

However, this type of news is often miles from accurate; connected car offerings in the near-to-distant future are a different reality. This article examines the delays behind that “nearly done” automotive technology, and analyzes the value of our research dollars.

In 2005, several automakers introduced cooperative, wireless systems at the Intelligent Transportation Society World Congress in the parking lot of the San Francisco Giants’s then SBC Park. Messages were sent vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure via dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) or, as it would later be renamed, “IEEE 802.11p (5.9 GHz).”

Most of the applications were safety-related systems that offered a seemingly futuristic understanding of position, speed and road conditions. But that was six long years ago – so, what has changed? Apart from the Giants stadium name-change, not much. Technology is no closer to the marketplace. Let’s explore why.

Let the Robot Drive: The Autonomous Car of the Future Is Here | Wired

…

Google isn’t the only company with driverless cars on the road. Indeed, just about every traditional automaker is developing its own self-driving model, peppering Silicon Valley with new R&D labs to work on the challenge. Last year, a BMW drove itself down the Autobahn, from Munich to Ingolstadt (“the home of Audi,” as BMW’s Dirk Rossberg told me at the company’s outpost in Mountain View, California). Audi sent an autonomous vehicle up Pikes Peak, while VW, in conjunction with Stanford, is building a successor to Junior. At the Tokyo Auto Show in November, Toyota unveiled its Prius AVOS (Automatic Vehicle Operation System), which can be summoned remotely. GM’s Alan Taub predicts that self-driving cars will be on the road by the decade’s end. Groups like the Society of Automotive Engineers have formed special committees to draft autonomous-vehicle standards.