It was a sunny, slightly dreamy morning in the heart of Silicon Valley, and I was sitting in the passenger seat of what seemed like a perfectly ordinary new car. There was something strangely Apple-like about it, though. There was no mistaking the apps arranged across the console screen, nor the deadpan voice of Apple’s virtual assistant, who, as backseat drivers go, was pretty helpful. Summoned via a button on the steering wheel and asked to find sushi nearby, Siri read off the names of a few restaurants in the area, waited for me to pick one, and then showed the way on a map that appeared on the screen.
As Thejo Kote and Ljuba Miljkovic see it, your car can do a lot more than just get you around town. The data that it’s constantly collecting can also be used to let your smart thermostat know to adjust the temperature because you’re heading home, or to help you log work-related trips for expense reports, or to send a “yo” to a friend when you start your car.
Nvidia announced its latest effort to become the visual computing provider for the cars of the future.
Jen-Hsun Huang, chief executive of graphics chip maker Nvidia, unveiled the Nvidia Drive CX platform at a press conference at the 2015 International CES tech trade show in Las Vegas.
Dashboards have become like the “jewelry of the car,” with big screens for rich turn-by-turn 3D navigation and gauges for fuel and speed.
“The subtlety of the glass and lighting comes out,” Huang said.
“We don’t offer just the chip, but the entire reference platform,” he said. “It’s an end-to-end platform, all the way from processor to software.”
Tesla stopped making the $100,000-plus Roadster in 2011, but this spring those who already own one can upgrade it to travel 400 miles on a charge, a 50 percent increase. The new range is competitive with conventional cars, which typically can travel 350 to 500 miles on a tank of gasoline. Tesla isn’t saying how much the upgrade will cost Roadster owners.
Part of the Roadster’s range boost will come from using tires with less rolling resistance and from making modifications to the car’s body that improve its aerodynamics.
Many cars already include plenty of sensors—cameras for spotting objects in your blind spot, for instance—but they’re usually keeping an eye on the outside world, not on what’s going on behind the wheel.
I’m not quite sure whether enabling my dad to see that I’m driving and to track my car is a good idea, but soon enough, Life360 will make that — and a couple more things — possible for some Ford car owners.
If you’re attending CES next week (or plan on reading all the coverage the throngs of reporters will be churning out), family-centered, location-oriented social network Life360 will be showing off its upcoming integration with Ford SYNC AppLink. The new feature, called Drive Mode, will be available for Android phones sometime in 2015’s second quarter, with an iOS version following later in the year.
Breaker breaker 10-4 good buddy. We got Fueloyal on your tail coming up off the exit. This robotic fuel cap essentially keeps track of the fuel poured into your vehicle independently of the truck itself and lets fleet owners ensure they no one is stealing the fuel poured into their 18-wheelers.
Called the iCap 1000, the system fits into your Class-A truck gashole and tracks the gallons poured. The system is tamper-proof and sends the data back to your home office via Wi-Fi. It is self-powered and can be removed in minutes.
Founded by Igor Hristov and Jurica Magoci, the company is based in Chicago. The team also found Roadmiral, a fleet management system.
Even after suffering a 15 percent stock rout (MBLY:US) last month, Mobileye NV’s valuation is six times richer (MBLY:US) than industry peers. That’s cheap enough for Deutsche Bank AG, which upgraded the shares to a buy last week.
