Transportation

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Articles
Propulsion

F1 Streamlines for Closer Racing

Ongoing aerodynamic development of Formula 1 racecars has the most obvious goals of increasing the cars’ downforce and reducing their drag to produce the fastest speeds and quickest lap times.

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Articles
Transportation

Can Autonomous Vehicles Make the Right ‘Decision?’

Experience would suggest we seek to incorporate many types of diversity into our designs. We need to understand the ethical issues, even if the Trolley Problem is merely a diversion away from seeking a design that makes the best decisions based on information available at the time.

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Articles
Materials

The Economics of Materials Selection

At the 2019 Society of Plastics Engineers’ ANTEC conference, Dr. Taub, formerly GM’s head of R&D, presented a review of the three major materials groups—steel, aluminum, and composites—that he expects will predominate in vehicle body structures going forward.

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Articles
Transportation

A Step-change in the Cost of CFRP

A joke in the auto industry about CFRP is that the “C” stands for “costly.” So, any manufacturing process that solves this significant drawback of the ultra-lightweight material’s use outside of Formula One racing and exotic supercars, could change the vehicle-production game.

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Articles
RF & Microwave Electronics

New Performance Metrics for Lidar

How do you measure the effectiveness of an intelligent, lidar-based perception system for autonomous vehicles? Conventional evaluation metrics favor frame rate and resolution as the ideal criteria. However, certain experts believe that these criteria are inadequate.

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What We’re Driving
Manufacturing & Prototyping

2019 Ford Ranger XL STX

America needs more midsized pickups. The case for the new Ford Ranger is made by increasingly strong sales of GM’s models and the perennial fan base of the Toyota Tacoma and Nissan Frontier. And now Jeep’s back in the game.

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Q&A
Manufacturing & Prototyping

Returning Jeep to the Midsize-pickup Market

SAE editorial director Bill Visnic spoke with Elizabeth Krear, Gladiator Model Responsible - Jeep Engineering and Pete Milosavlevski, Chief Engineer, about the program’s development targets and priorities, the importance of the Gladiator’s connection to the iconic Wrangler.

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Articles
Transportation

First Smile, Last Smile

May Mobility is building a unique business model around AV shuttle services. The young Ann Arbor-based company’s shuttles currently are servicing routes in Detroit; Columbus, Ohio, and Providence, Rhode Island. A service in Grand Rapids, Michigan, launches this summer.

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Articles
Power

Steel Stands Tall

In 2014, just before Ford shook the industry with the introduction of its aluminum-intensive F-150, Ducker Worldwide released a study for the aluminum industry. The report predicted that the light metal would dominate the North American light-truck segment in the next new-model development cycle.

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Articles
Materials

Aluminum: Toward 50% Body Content

As experts have noted, the mixed-materials trend is becoming an enduring one, as evidenced across the landscape of recent new-vehicle introductions.

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Blog
Propulsion

AUVSI XPONENTIAL 2019: A Real Thrill Ride

You think riding your Harley Davidson is exciting? Try the ElectraFly.

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News
Aerospace

AUVSI XPONENTIAL 2019: A Close-Up Look at Air Taxis

Taxi! A steady stream of AUVSI XPONENTIAL attendees got to see Bell's new air vehicle up close.

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Technical Innovation
Connectivity

Security, Bandwidth Drive Over-The-Air Development

Over-the-air (OTA) updating has evolved rapidly from a limited function to a wide-ranging technology for keeping vehicle software up to date. As OTA moves deeper into the mainstream,...

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INSIDER
Aerospace

Bell and Rolls-Royce Collaborate on Advanced Propulsion Systems

Bell Helicopter, a Textron Inc. company, recently announced a teaming agreement with Rolls-Royce for the development of an optimized propulsion system and continued risk...

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News
Software

BlackBerry’s CTO Points to a Holistic and Standards-Based Future for Vehicle Cybersecurity

The days of automobiles as physical transportation devices is quickly shifting into an era of vehicles as rolling digital hubs. With multiple...

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News
Test & Measurement

How Can Engineers Help Ensure the Safety, Reliability of Automated Vehicles?

Safety presents a pressing concern to automated vehicle (AV) design engineers and manufacturers. Technical challenges of automated system operation have influenced...

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News
Imaging

WCX 2019: IAMTS Association Will Establish Standardization and Testing for Connected Vehicles

In pursuit of developing and growing an international portfolio of advanced mobility testbeds that meet the highest quality implementation and...

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Application Briefs
Materials

Vehicle Protection System

Leonardo DRS, Inc.Arlington, VA703-416-8000www.drs.com Leonardo DRS, Inc. and partner Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. of Israel have successfully completed a lengthy live-fire qualification process for key...

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News
Connectivity

Developing for Defense

Engineering drivetrain and propulsion solutions for military vehicles can require a different approach and unique considerations compared with developing for the commercial vehicle (CV) sector.

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Articles
Manufacturing & Prototyping

2019 Vehicle Technology Review

With massive shifts looming in the automotive engineering space, it’s easy to forget that the pace of innovation continues unaltered in the here and now. Here's a review of the latest technologies on the newest OEM models and how they point to current trends in the automotive landscape.

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Articles
Software

Connections Dig Deeper

Equipment suppliers aren’t waiting until the advent of 5G cellular links to improve their offerings. Existing cellular systems are being used to improve operations by using data collected from vehicle networks.

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Articles
AR/AI

Transforming ZF

ZF’s expertise in the hardware and software sides, and in systems integration, "should enable it to keep a competitive advantage."

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Technical Innovation
Manned Systems

Streamlined HMIs Do More with Less

The phrase “less is more” has been a major part of human-machine interface (HMI) designs for several years as developers traded multiple knobs and buttons for cleaner input techniques. However, the...

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News
Data Acquisition

Korea Airports Corp. Adopts Altibase Data Management with IoT for Airport Traffic Control

Korea Airports Corp. (KAC) officials in Seoul, South Korea, needed a big data management platform harnessing Internet of Things (IoT) technologies to...

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News
Manned Systems

Bigger Barrier to CBEVs: Batteries or Infrastructure?

Batteries have long been considered the main barrier to deployment of commercial battery-electric vehicles (CBEVs), but many industry insiders now believe charging infrastructure is a...

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News
Unmanned Systems

Freudenberg to Deliver Batteries, Fuel-Cell Stacks

Seals, gaskets, and O-rings are the unsung heroes of the industrial world, especially in commercial vehicles or mobile machinery. In a world dominated by news of autonomous vehicles powered...

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News
Power

VW's MEB Platform: A Modularity Enabler

Volkswagen’s MEB, an in-development chassis designed strictly for electric propulsion, enables a modular battery layout that can provide a Volkswagen Group electric vehicle (EV) with an estimated...

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Technical Innovation
Green Design & Manufacturing

Gasoline Fuels Growing Number of Commercial Vehicles

Biodiesel may be the top alternative fuel for work truck fleets, according to the 2019 Fleet Purchasing Outlook Survey conducted by the National Truck Equipment Association (NTEA), but...

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News
Green Design & Manufacturing

SAE International Releases New Process for Measuring Aerosols in Aircraft Exhaust

SAE International, based in Warrendale, Pennsylvania, has published a new recommended practice for assessing the amount of nonvolatile particulate matter (nvPM)...

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