Automotive DesignLine Europe

Opinion: Nice try for the solar industry
What does photovoltaic systems vendor Solarworld AG intend with its offer to take over an automotive OEM? Does the current situation in the automotive industry call for unorthodox approaches? Here's why this push won't work.

Solar company announces bid for General Motors subsidiary Opel
In the wake of the financial crisis, General Motors is in trouble and so is its German subsidiary Adam Opel AG, one of Europe's largest car makers. Now photovoltaics vendor Solarworld AG (Bonn, Germany) has announced to submit a takeover bid for Opel. Solarworld intends to create the first "green" automotive OEM.

Freescale, McLaren develop future Formula-One electronics
Beginning 2009, Formula-One racing cars can be equipped with energy recovery systems similar to what is in today's hybrid drive cars. Freescale Semiconductor and McLaren Electronic Systems (MES) will collaborate to develop the complex systems for next-gen racing vehicles.

Price to drive LEDs adoption in cars
At the Electronica exhibition this week in Munich, Gerhard Scharf, manager of automotive business segment at Sharp Microelectronics Europe, a division of Sharp Electronics Europe GmbH, said the car will be an ever more important home for light-emitting diodes (LEDs) when technology scaling results in lower prices.

Ultra low cost cars: High growth, low return
For those electronics vendors betting on the growth of ultra low cost cars, there is good and bad news: The good news is that this class of cars is expected to sport the highest growth of all vehicles. The bad news is that the electronics content of these cars is extremely low — perhaps lower than some expected.

Scaleo Chip, Tata Elxi develop Autosar-based platform
Scaleo Chip, French designer of ARM-based systems-on-chip, and India-based automotive service company Tata Elxi Ltd. have joined forces to develop an automotive platform compliant to Autosar standard.

Cars get internet connection, study says
The infotainment has increasing impact on in-car electronics. In the year 2013, every new car built in Europe will be equipped with internet connection, says a study from market researcher Invensity (Wiesbaden, Germany).

Upcoming Conferences, Seminars and Trainings
A short compendium on upcoming seminars, events, trainings and meetings relevant for automotive electronics

Plastic wires rival copper at 20 percent the weight
ElectriPlast conductive polymer enables wiring that is 80 percent lighter than copper, can be formed into any shape or size and provides superior performance.

dSpace prepares engine simulation models for innovative combustion processes
For better fuel efficiency, future engine management systems will be based on the pressure measured in the combustion engine's cylinders and will use variable valve and ignition control. To enable designers to develop and test the new systems efficiently, dSPACE has announced to bring out two new simulation models in fall 2008.

Automotive supplier Vogt electronics cuts jobs
The automotive market slump has claimed first casualties among suppliers: Electronic manufacturing services provider Vogt Electronic AG (Obernzell, Germany) has announced to cut 250 of its 2800 jobs. In addition, the company now plans to delist from the German stock exchange.

TI targets automotive apps with Cortex-R4F based MCU
Texas Instruments' TMS570F microcontroller is claimed to be the first in the industry to be based on ARM's dual-core Cortex-R4F processor and targeting automotive safety applications.

Automotive crisis hits Semcon
Swedish automotive OEM Volvo Cars has not been spared of the current crisis in the automotive industry. Now engineering company Semcon AB has gotten hit by the fallout.

Updated QNX RTOS and tool suite benefit from user input
QNX Software Systems has released version 6.4.0 of its Neutrino RTOS and Momentics Tool Suite, the first major product developed under the company's hybrid software model.

Geensys donates AUTOSAR Builder code to ARTOP user group
Geensys AUTOSAR Builder is the first AUTOSAR development tool to provide compliance with ARTOP " the AUTOSAR Tool Platform being established by the ARTOP User Group (ARTOP-UG) and officially launched to the AUTOSAR community on October 27.

About the Automotive DesignLine Europe News Section
Automotive DesignLine's News Section provides engineers with the latest news items shaping the design and development of automotive systems. The news section focuses on the design of chassis and suspension systems, safety and security, body electronics, automotive infotainment systems, and power train design. Other key topics include Key topics covered in this newsletter include automotive motor design, automotive electronics, telematics, Bluetooth design, GPS design, hybrid and electric vehicles, sensors and MEMS, developments in fuel cell technology, automotive data bus technologies, automotive vision systems, and more.