Vehicle Development that Affects Transport Planning
Toyota to launch road maintenance study in Japan
The Toyota Mobility Foundation is to carry out a study on using connected car data to inform road maintenance in Akaiwa City, Japan.
The study will combine connected car data and image data from vehicle video cameras to help local governments shorten lead time to uncover dangerous road infrastructure issues.
As part of the study, Toyota held a conference with Okayama University and the city’s police to develop a sustainable low-cost system for road maintenance. Other topics included traffic safety, traffic congestion and safe mobility in the case of natural disasters.
Holographic technology
Car makers are working hard on how they will communicate and entertain you in future vehicles.
The Volkswagen Group has taken a minority stake in SeeReal Technologies, a company that specialises in holographic display technology. The move will allow the German automaker to further develop 3D imagery to be used in in-car technology.
Similarly Jaguar is creating in-car technology that will project 3-D images in your line of sight.
In the short term this will give you helpful driving information but when cars go autonomous it will transform a car into a mobile cinema
Tesla is adding games and apps that will keep drivers busy while their cars are charging.
Hyundai reveals personal electric scooter
Hyundai has developed a new prototype on-board electric scooter.
The company plans to enable first- and last-mile mobility through integrating the scooter with future Hyundai and Kia vehicles. When mounted on a vehicle, the scooter is charged automatically using electricity produced while driving, ensuring that the user can complete their journey seamlessly.
The latest version of the foldable e-scooter can achieve a top speed of 20km per hour and is sufficient to power the scooter for around 20km on a single charge.
In the US, Europe, and China the first-mile last-mile market is expected to grow to $730 Billion by 2030.
Scania asks its people, RUOK?
The heavy truck manufacturer, Scania Australia, celebrated mental health during the week of 9th September, culminating in RUOK? Day on Thursday 12th.
To focus attention on mental wellbeing, Scania staff at company-owned branches around the country and the Dealer Support Centre (Head Office) in Campbellfield, Victoria, will be wearing bright yellow RUOK? T-shirts and talking about mental health issues.
They have a partner-supplied Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) which offers Scania employees a completely confidential range of health and wellbeing services.
Honda’s new tactic for attracting first-time car buyers: esports
Honda is pumping more marketing dollars into competitive video gaming to protect its status as the dominant carmaker among young, first-time buyers.
They are becoming the official car maker of North America’s Riot Games League of Legends Championship Series. I have trouble saying it let alone playing it.
The global e-sports audience is more than 450 million people. That group is largely young and tech-savvy who don’t interact with marketing in the same way as their older peers.
They’re also a valuable commodity. In the US, millennials and Gen Zers are the only generations currently increasing their share of car sales.
Here’s a chassis and control system – now build your own car
Graeme Pattison sent in the following note:
This company makes it easy to design and build your own electric car. They supply the mechanical engineering stuff and you add your own body, interior design and the top level control system.
Wonder if we will see more of this approach while there are lots of futuristic EV start-ups?