Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Lessons from CESA 2012

This second edition of CESA congress has been successful, with a large audience and top experts coming from BMW, PSA, Volkswagen, Bosch, Continental, NXP, Valeo and so many others. Through technical sessions, no less than eight round tables and an attractive exhibition, the congress has kept its promises.
But, what did we learn so far, after such intense discussions ?
First, electrication of the powertrain is really launched. In the future, we should see more mild hybrid, full hybrid and plug in hybrids, and later on pure EVs.
The second point is linked to the first one. Many OEMS and tier 1 suppliers converge on 48 volt, and not only in Germany.
Third, the architecture of the future will be for sure mainly based on Ethenet. It's not the only solution, however, and the automotive industry should find ways to simplify E/E architecture, instead of adding more and more embedded networks.
Fourth, if the connected car is on the way with apps and cloud-based services, nobody knows who will win at the end, between the OEMs, third party players, telecom carriers and giants such as Apple and Google.
Fifth, the automotive industry should work with new partners. The success of Autolib' in Paris, which celebrates its first birthday and which is the largest EV car sharing experience in the world, with nearly 2000 cars running in the streets, is there to show that it's possible to adress customers, even when you're outside of  this business.

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

The car of the future stops at CESA congress

Beside the round tables and technical sessions, CESA congress is an opportunity to discover high tech companies and nice vehicles. For instance, Renault is showcasing the famous Zoe. This first EV designed from scratch, which will be launched soon, illustrates the French know how in the field of electro mobility, as well as the VELV, an amazing concept from PSA Peugeot Citroen and also electric. It looks like a three wheeler, but it has four wheels. In the alleys of the exhibition, we also have seen an electric quad. It’s a demonstrator, from Bertrandt company, a german supplier expert of electric components.


Our favorite is however the connected and clean motorbike from NXP. On the basis of the a Zero motorcycle, the semiconductors company as added an NFC connection to start the engine with a smartphone, as well as emergency call and even digital radio.
Cleaner, safer and fully connected, here is the car of the future.

See the diaporama :

Webbing and Driving


So many people I know wouldn't dream of having a few drinks at a restaurant or bar and then climb behind the wheel of their vehicle. While it's great that they have strong convictions about drinking and driving, I wonder how many of them text while they drive. Studies have shown that people who text and drive are every bit as dangerous on the roads as drunk drivers.



It seems human beings are in a constant quest to show just how stupidly they can behave behind the wheel. As detailed in this report from State Farm, there is a new way drivers are not paying attention to the road and other vehicles: webbing and driving.

Webbing and driving is the clever new name given for when people actually surf the web while they're driving. They might be Facebooking, tweeting, writing up a blog post or just perusing the news online--anything but actively driving their vehicle. As State Farm points out, surfing the web and driving poses at least as much if not more of a distraction than texting and driving. Simply put, it's a really dumb idea!

I cannot tell you how many times I've almost been hit by another car that is driving erratically on the road, to then see that the driver is texting on a phone. In the recent past I was behind someone I could have sworn was extremely drunk. When I passed the car, I saw that the driver had headphones in his ears, which were plugged into an iPad he had balanced on the steering wheel! Literally, the guy was not even looking up from whatever webpage he was on. I don't know how any intelligent person could think it was a good idea to surf the web and drive at the same time!

This isn't a laughing matter, no matter how much I wish it were. Car accidents are one of the leading causes of deaths in the United States, and distracted driving is one of the leading causes of car accidents. Perhaps it's a good thing that within a short time robot cars will be available to consumers in states like California. I would far and away trust a robot more with paying attention while driving than some idiot reading up on the latest TMZ gossip on his iPad!

Monday, December 3, 2012

CESA conference : is there still a driver in the car ?


For this day 1 of CESA congress in Paris, one round table should be very popular. It's the one about autonomous cars with driving assistance systems. Many experts from PSA, Volkswagen, Bosch, Freescale, LAB (common safety lab to PSA and Renault), STMicroelectronics and TRW will discuss the evolution of ADAS.
As some OEMs (Mercedes, Volvo) announce traffic jam assistant systems and remote control in parking lots (BYD in China), in addition to innovations becoming mainstream (LDW, ACC, emergency braking), the question is : will the technology allow the car drive by itself in the future ?
The answer may be yes, but it's not only a technical issue. So, that's why you should attend to CESA 2012 and listen to top experts. For instance, Volkswagen will mention is expertise, thanks to its ERL (Electronics Research Lab) located in the Silicon Valley) with Google as a neighbour.

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Automotive Smart Grid : Next generation Vehicle Architecture

CESA 2012 abstract

Automobile system is made of sensors and actuators that have to work in harmony in complex interactions. It can be seen as a networked energy grid that has to distribute energy in an ordered way so that vehicle functions are assured. This new vision, called ASG (Automotive Smart Grid), has been developed and prototyped.
The ASG solutions is based on synchronous parallel processing and distributed intelligence. Each ECU hosts part of, or, the whole functional process in relation to local sensors & actuators. It deals with instant power management functions in relation to its connected actuators. The data communication and exchange between ECUs is done real-time via PLC (Power Line Communication). The ASG implementation has been tested both in labs and on the road within the frame of the YO-mobile Russian project.
This paper will present the ASG solution and its physical architecture. It will explain and discuss the benefits obtained from this « True Mechatronics » architecture, as well as cost figures.

Presented by Philippe Briot (B&A) and Finprom (company from Russia).

Saturday, December 1, 2012

Telewatt : an innovative way to recharge EVs with public lighting


During CESA congress, at the energy management round table, the french agency for energy (Ademe) will present R&D projects on charging infrastructure.
One of them is called Telewatt project. It's one of the most innovative, because the puropose is to offer juice coming from the public lighting. It's an answer to the difficulty to build charging stations in the streets. Located in the south of France, in Aix-en-Provence, this project is led by Citelum company. The project is based on a global information system, as well as plug & play plugs (with IP identification to allow acess to users) and a smartphone application.
The Telewatt project, and six others, will be presented by Patrick Coroller from Ademe in a keynote speech.