We`re All Part of the Automotive Evolution

With safety at the forefront, the automotive industry continues to embrace new technologies to deliver greater autonomy and efficiency. ADAS (Advanced Drive Assist Systems) and its evolution into full autonomy could see the end of road-based fatalities, injuries and incidents. Technology is now providing the solutions that can help the automotive industry achieve Vision Zero within just a few years. This is happening in part thanks to the advancement of image sensors that see the world as we do, and technologies such as radar and LiDAR (Ligh ...more

Brand management of logistics service providers

In order to successfully manage a brand you need a certain amount of prudence and discipline. Continuity is also important for brand management, so that customers can quickly recognize the company and identify with it. The brand agency "Get the Point" (short: GtP) annually surveys companies from industry and trade in Germany on how they assess the logistics sector in terms of brand management. The current 2018 study addressed 400 logistics companies with annual sales of 50 million euros or more. Depending on the size of the logistics compani ...more

Mobility Study 2018 – Autonomous driving remains critical

According to the 2018 Mobility Study commissioned by Continental, German motorists have a divided relationship to autonomous driving. Although about two-thirds of those surveyed would be able to be chauffeured electronically in particularly stressful situations, such as long construction sites or unclear junctions, the number of doubters has increased. In the last five years, the number of critics has risen from 48 to 57 percent. The accidents that occurred during test drives, especially in the USA, probably play a major role in this. As a resu ...more

An Engineer’s Guide to Understanding Connector for Use in Harsh Industrial Environments

Connectors are often seen as the weakest link between sub-systems, and sometimes this is rightly so. This can be as a result of underspecifying the connector system or not appreciating the difference between the various rating schemes. Connectors have to operate reliably in a wide range of environments and increasingly have to carry both power and signals without reducing the overall performance of the system. Humidity and electromagnetic interference (EMI) are among the biggest factors, with moisture and dust ingress being the primary conc ...more

Supercapacitors as a Long-Life Solution in Battery Powered Applications

Supercapacitors have long been used for supplying a peak power demand in many consumer electronics devices such as a flash function on a smartphone to deliver large amounts of current quickly and reliably. This whitepaper looks at the basics of supercapacitors, and those that are available for a range of higher-power industrial examples such as powering the startup-surge demand of electric vehicles. ...more

EMC Challenges in Connected Cars

New vehicles contain a dazzling array of electronics. Trends such as the ‘connected car’, driver assistance systems and the move towards semi or fully autonomous vehicles are creating a huge demand on the electronics industry. However, with so many electronics systems within close proximity to each other, the potential for EMI problems is dramatically increased. In this article we explore some of the EMI/EMC challenges present in modern vehicles and how new automotive innovations will need robust and resilient protection methods. ...more

Electric cars are the future – especially with the right battery 

The shift towards electric mobility can no longer be halted. However, there are still a number of unanswered questions as far as technology is concerned: the focus is on the battery. Scientifically speaking, it should be called a rechargeable battery, because a regular battery cannot be recharged. In general usage, however, the term battery has established itself. With their range and service life, the acceptance of electric cars stands or falls. In addition, a sufficient number of charging stations is important; at the beginning of 2019 there ...more

What will the car industry look like in 2050?

Diesel scandal. An association that imposes driving bans in court. For various reasons, the future of the automotive industry is fraught with question marks. It seems difficult to make a long-term forecast. McKinsey has now dared to tackle this problem and prepared a study on what the future of mobility in Europe could look like in 2050. In particular, the study focuses on the possibilities of securing the current success against the competition from China and the USA.   Sustainability and pioneering technology The McKinsey study, p ...more

Which topics interested fleet managers most about company cars 2018?

What is new in alternative mobility, what are the best vehicle models and what is legally relevant in the use of company cars this year or next? – These are the topics that have interested fleet managers the most this year. This is shown by a recent survey by the DSP selfcampaign.   Alternatives to diesel: electric, hybrid or petrol? A total of 153,123 articles read were evaluated. Almost 12 percent of the articles read by decision-makers who were taken into consideration for our study dealt with the topics "electric drive", "alternati ...more