At the Convergence 2008 automotive electronics conference this week, BMW has revealed that it is looking for partners to develop an open-source car computing platform that would allow third-party suppliers to develop plug-and-play applications for their vehicles. The company is enthusiastic about the potential for such a system, particularly mentioning how open platforms are able to keep pace with the rapid advances in technology.
Though no other car makers are yet officially on board, it seems BMW will be moving ahead with or without any assistance, claiming it plans to have the open-source system in a vehicle selling 200,000 or more units over the next five to seven years. It’s good to see BMW is keeping an open mind with the software they use in their cars, not to mention this could be an important development for Linux in the mobile and embedded system markets.
A number of other automakers have also expressed interest in open platforms, including Honda and Ford, which currently use Microsoft-developed systems for their vehicles.
[Via: Jose Vilches ]
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BMW pushes for in-car open source platform
Ruf Automobile's electric Porsche concept gets real, pictured
Look out Tesla / Lightning -- a new competitor just rolled out, and it's sitting pretty. Ruf Automobile has gone public with its stunning electric eRUF concept car, which is obviously based on a Porsche 911. The automobile packs a three-phase electric motor that puts out around 200-horsepower and 480 lb.-ft. of torque, and it can reportedly go from nothing to sixty in under seven ticks. The juice is provided by a Li-ion phosphate battery pack that produces 317-volts / 480-amps and is constructed from 96 individual cells, and combined with the power garnered by the regenerative braking system, it can cruise up to 180 miles before needing a ten-hour recharge. Production, pretty please?
[Via: Engadget ] [Tag: concept, eco-friendly, electric car, ElectricCar, eRUF, eRUF Model A, ErufModelA, green, Porsche, Porsche 911, Porsche911, Ruf Automobile, RufAutomobile ]
Audi confirms pure electric car, will likely be based on VW Up! concept
With an electric MINI Cooper just around the bend, a Twin Drive hybrid Volkswagen landing in 2010 and Chevrolet's Volt rolling into showrooms in a matter of months, Audi's ten-year plan is looking a little awkward. Though we've yet to hear that it's actually speeding things up, Peter Schwarzenbauer, who sits on the management board at Ingolstadt, recently confirmed that the company would be offering "a pure electric car" sometime in the future. Additionally, rumors of it being based on the A1 were dashed, opening the door for speculation that it will instead be built around the VW Up! (Lupo) concept. Here's hoping we find our prior to 2018.
[Via: Autoblog ]
[Tag: a1, Audi, car, concept, eco-friendly, electric car, ElectricCar, green, Up, vehicle, volkswagen, VW ]
Ford MyKey lets parents control their kids' driving habits
There's not exactly a shortage of options out there for parents that want to keep watch on their kids' driving, but Ford looks to be taking things a bit further than most with its new MyKey system, and it's making it standard issue, no less. Set to debut in the 2010 Focus Coupe and plenty of other Ford vehicles shortly thereafter, the key-based system will let parents limit their car's top driving speed to 80 miles per hour, cut off the stereo's volume at just 44% of its max output, and set a persistent chime to go off if the seatbelts aren't being used (the stereo also gets muted until everyone buckles up). As if that wasn't enough, it'll also provide a low-fuel warning at 75 miles to empty, start issuing a surely annoying reminder as the driver inches up past the 45 mph mark, and make it impossible to disable some of the Focus' usual safety measures like Park Aid and Cross Traffic Alert. Also not able to be disabled: your kid's resentment.
[Via: Engadget ]
[Tag: ford, ford focus, ford focus coupe, FordFocusCoupe, mykey ]
Vehicle-to-grid will turn suburbs into power plants, won't help undertones of repression
We've been hearing about vehicle-to-grid (V2G) for quite a while, and now a team at the University of Michigan is conducting an extensive study on the technology as part of a national sustainable energy solution. While current electric plants are good at generating power, they often fall short when it comes to storage -- which can be a problem when there's a power surge or when demand increases. V2G will let hybrid-electric owners sell the power their car generates to the electrical power grid whenever the car is not in use. The research team envisions a time when millions of hybrid vehicle owners will come together to create one large battery, allowing us all to play a small part in building our nation's energy independence. And sure, this all sounds good in theory. But wouldn't that mean relying on the neighbors to provide a key piece of the nation's infrastructure? Have you met the neighbors? Doesn't that seem a little... iffy?
[Via: Engadget ] [Tag: electric car, ElectricCar, hybrid, hybrid cars, HybridCars, Jeff Stein, JeffStein, plug-in hybrid, Plug-inHybrid, pluginhybrid, university of michigan, UniversityOfMichigan, v2g, vehicle to grid, VehicleToGrid ]