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InoBat Auto secures funding from Slovakian government to build €1 billion ‘Gigafactory’

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InoBat Auto, a battery production company providing new energy solutions for electric vehicles, has secured funding to build a research and development centre to support the construction of a 10 GWh Gigafactory in Slovakia – the world’s biggest car producer per capita.

The investment from the Slovakian Government has contributed to the €100 million first-phase fund raising to deliver the Gigafactory, which will deploy state-of-the-art battery technology with the potential to provide an estimated 240,000 electric vehicles with cutting edge batteries by 2024.

InoBat Auto says its planned Gigafactory will catapult Europe to become a leading global force in the electric vehicle battery industry. [Read more…] about InoBat Auto secures funding from Slovakian government to build €1 billion ‘Gigafactory’

Opinion: Radical rethink of automotive R&D investment required in 2020

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Continued disruption, restructuring and re-shaping of the automotive industry will be required to make increasing levels of R&D affordable whilst simultaneously representing a major growth opportunity in the year ahead, according to engineering consultancy Horiba Mira.

The proliferation of electrification and connected and autonomous vehicle (CAV) technologies will continue to be amongst the top automotive trends in 2020 which will continue to push up the already soaring costs of research and development.

Indeed, latest figures show European auto manufacturers spent a record £33.3 billion on R&D – 35 per cent more than the £24.6 billion spent in 2014/15. [Read more…] about Opinion: Radical rethink of automotive R&D investment required in 2020

Automotive manufacturers need digital transformation to survive disruption

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Automotive manufacturers need to accelerate digital transformation initiatives in order to survive disruption, according to analysis by GlobalData.

From automation and seamless connectivity to personalization, digital technologies are putting the automotive industry in a state of disruptive transition.

Against this backdrop, auto manufacturers need to explore new digital solutions across the value chain to conceive new models and survive in the rapidly transforming industry, says GlobalData, a data and analytics company. [Read more…] about Automotive manufacturers need digital transformation to survive disruption

TTTech Auto acquires automotive software company Red Pine

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TTTech Auto, a developer of safety software platforms for automated driving, has acquired Red Pine Software. 

TTTech Auto says it is continuing its growth strategy with this acquisition and increases its software development capacities for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and Automated Driving (AD) series development projects featuring its flagship product MotionWise.

Red Pine and its 60 employees are experts in automotive embedded software engineering with a focus on ADAS. The acquisition became effective as of January 1, 2020. [Read more…] about TTTech Auto acquires automotive software company Red Pine

Septentrio and Artisense to demonstrate advanced localization technology for autonomous vehicles at Auto AI Show

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Septentrio, a manufacturer of GPS / GNSS technology for demanding applications, is providing positioning technology to Artisense, supplier of innovative computer vision solutions for automated vehicles.

Artisense incorporates Septentrio GPS / GNSS in their latest Visual Inertial Navigation System (VINS), which will be demonstrated live at Auto AI Show in Berlin, Germany on September 25-27, 2019.

VINS combines computer vision, inertial sensors and GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) measurements to deliver highly accurate global 3D positioning and orientation information in any environment, even indoors. [Read more…] about Septentrio and Artisense to demonstrate advanced localization technology for autonomous vehicles at Auto AI Show

Self-driving tech startup Voyage Auto raises $31 million in funding

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A self-driving technology startup called Voyage Auto has raised $31 million in Series B funding.

The investment round was led by Franklin Templeton, with significant participation from Khosla Ventures, Jaguar Land Rover’s InMotion Ventures, and Chevron Technology Ventures.

The latest funding round brings Voyage Auto’s total capital raised to $52 million. [Read more…] about Self-driving tech startup Voyage Auto raises $31 million in funding

The Future of Auto Transportation

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We live in a world of automation. Our worlds are in the palm of our hands, thanks to mobile technology. We have more access to everything, faster, and drones are already delivering parcels. Self-driving cars are fast approaching the next stage after experimentation.

But what does this mean for the future of the auto transportation industry?

Freight demand continues to grow, placing significant strain on freeways. In fact, the Department of Transport estimates that “… by 2040, nearly 30,000 miles of our busiest highways will be clogged on a daily basis. Truck congestion will waste $27 billion in time and fuel economy annually”. [Read more…] about The Future of Auto Transportation

Škoda opens new $200 million paint shop featuring 66 robots

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Škoda Auto has opened a new automotive paint shop at its main plant in Mladá Boleslav, in the Czech Republic, featuring 66 industrial robots configured for applying the paint.

Up to 168,000 car bodies will be coated with paint there each year, taking the plant’s total annual painting capacity up to 812,000 vehicles.

Škoda Auto has invested €214.5 million in the new building, creating more than 650 new jobs. (See infographic below.) [Read more…] about Škoda opens new $200 million paint shop featuring 66 robots

Sick launches new compact image-based code reader

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Sick has launched a new compact image-based code reader, Lector621, for reliable detection of 1D, 2D, stacked codes, and plain text.

The high-performance DPM – direct part marking – decoder can read laser or dot-peened codes perfectly, even in the case of low contrast levels, contamination, or poor code quality.

This fills a gap in Sick’s existing portfolio of code readers, by providing a compact solution with increased reading distance, resolution, field of vision, and scanning frequency. [Read more…] about Sick launches new compact image-based code reader

China reaching new heights in demand for industrial robots as well as making them

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China is seeing more demand for industrial robots as well as more of the machines being built inside the country, according to a report by the Robotics industries Association. 

Annual sales in China were “the highest level ever recorded for a single country”, says RIA, adding “sales in China surged by 27 percent to 87,000 units” in 2016.

At the same time, says RIA, robot manufacturers in China have been expanding their market share within the country.  [Read more…] about China reaching new heights in demand for industrial robots as well as making them