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Driver is uing her phone, not payint attention to roads

Nauto Driven to Fuse Data from ADAS and DMS

What’s at stake?
With broader adoption of Driver Monitoring Systems imminent, Nauto, a late-stage startup focused on safer commercial fleets and drivers, sees an opportunity to sell OEMs on its AI algorithms by fusing data derived from outward and inward cameras. Is Nauto hitting the market with the right technology (ADAS + DMS) at the right time?

Many automotive companies have embraced Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), whose outward cameras monitors the street. Meanwhile, carmakers are adding Driver Monitoring Systems (DMS), with cameras watching human drivers’ behavior inside vehicles.

Neither system is designed to work together. ADAS and DMS are developed and supplied by disparate technology companies, forestalling the design of vehicles that can correlate data coming from outward and inward cameras.

Read More »Nauto Driven to Fuse Data from ADAS and DMS
BYD's new energy vehicle, Yangwang U9, unveiled at Auto Shanghai 2023

China EV Inc. Preps for Global Market as Western Rivals Wilt

By Junko Yoshida

What’s at stake:
Western automotive OEMs have been steadily retreating from a Chinese domestic market heavily dominated by local hybrid and battery electric vehicle manufacturers. Now, the Chinese auto OEMs are venturing out, poised to sweep into Europe, and then the rest of the world. How should lawmakers and carmakers in the U.S. and Europe respond to China EV Inc.?

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Bucking the trend

Infineon and ST Buck Chip Downturn but for How Long?

By Bolaji Ojo

What’s at stake:
Infineon and STMicroelectronics will defy the projected 2023 semiconductor market downturn on continued strength in the auto, energy and industrial sectors. Eventually, though, there will be a supply chain reckoning even in these hot markets. The European chip market leaders must prepare now for the days when orders precipitously drop as customers focus on depleting inventories.

The semiconductor market downturn is still raw but it’s party time in Munich and Geneva.

Read More »Infineon and ST Buck Chip Downturn but for How Long?
Robot to Human Handover

Robo-Driving Handover Time: Pick a Number

By Junko Yoshida

What’s at stake?
Highly automated vehicles present a frightening conundrum when a Computer Driver shares the steering wheel with a Human Driver. Which party is responsible for driving? How and when do the robot and the person switch roles? At stake is the Human Driver’s liability. Automakers prefer the human as the fall guy, leaving jurors to decide without clear legal standards if a Computer Driver, when it bails out, imposed an unreasonable demand on the Human.   

Read More »Robo-Driving Handover Time: Pick a Number
The Imitation Game

Imitation Driver, Imitation Game

By Junko Yoshida

What’s at stake:
The growing technical complexity of highly automated vehicles might soon make product liability a relic of the past. At stake is the right of consumers to seek justice when wronged by a robocar.

Brace yourselves. We seem to be approaching an era when a product liability claim would no longer be a viable avenue for recovery — particularly in lawsuits against autonomous vehicle (AV) manufacturers.

Suppose you’ve been injured by a state-of-the-art AV in a crash.

You think about taking the robocar’s maker to court, to argue that your pain was caused by a manufacturing or design defect. The idea is to hold the manufacturer financially responsible for the loss caused by the defect which led to the crash.

Fuhgeddaboudit.

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Intel ‘Internal’ vs. Pure-Play Foundry Quandary Deepens

By Bolaji Ojo

What’s at stake:
Intel Foundry Services faces a bleak future if the company continues to hang on tightly to the “ownership” strings. Many of the world’s biggest fabless chipmakers will remain on the sidelines if they see Intel as a competitor, which it is. While Intel does not want to spin off its foundry business it should consider deploying an alternate strategy to pull in hesitant potential customers.

Nvidia Corp. is a major force in the artificial intelligence (AI) market. Rival Intel Corp. also wants to “democratize the incredible power of AI” and supply the market with “a full suite of silicon and software to drive AI,” according to CEO Pat Gelsinger. Intel, the world’s No. 1 microprocessor vendor, would also like to have Nvidia as a customer of Intel Foundry Services (IFS), its contract wafer manufacturing division upon which Gelsinger has pinned the company’s future.

Somebody needs a reality check.

Read More »Intel ‘Internal’ vs. Pure-Play Foundry Quandary Deepens
Used Cars

Why Send Software Updates to Used Cars?

By Junko Yoshida

What’s at stake:
Carmakers see a big opportunity for software-defined vehicles and subscription-based services that “update” and “upgrade” vehicles after purchase. Can OEMs justify lifetime software support for their vehicles’ safety and security, or will third-party repair services pop up to magically fix complex machine-learning based software problems? Or will carmakers simply limit production and shorten a model’s lifespan, leaving many perfectly operative used cars – lacking safety software updates – in the junkyard?

Read More »Why Send Software Updates to Used Cars?