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Transportation

Designer Yin Meets Engineer Yang

The interface between design and engineering may be the oldest yin-and-yang in vehicle development. And while there are numerous challenges in turning the stylists’ work into practical, manufacturable...

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Articles
Power

The e-LSD alternative to AWD

Is engineering a new vehicle for all-wheel drive worth the cost, weight, and fuel consumption penalties for perhaps 10% of volume on some platforms?

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Articles
Transportation

Hands Off, Eyes Off, Brain Off

Auto industry legend Lee Iacocca once famously said, “Safety doesn’t sell.” Later, he was big enough to modify his stance and candidly admitted in an advertisement extolling the benefits of airbags,...

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Articles
Energy

A Peek at Electrify America’s Charging Station Future

The move to electrification has hit a snag. The charging infrastructure hasn’t quite lived up to the needs of those with EVs. The Inflation Reduction Act requires that charging...

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Articles
Transportation

Automated Driving Meets Regulation NHTSA and the Next 50 Years

HTSA Administrator Mark Rosekind recently spoke on the prospects for reaching zero deaths on America’s roads. “Conceptually, the challenge is extremely straightforward....

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Articles
Transportation

New Dawn at Honda R&D

Honda’s new 10-speed automatic has not yet entered production, but it is already among the technologies that competitors are clamoring to benchmark when it enters the market. Designed and built in house, the new...

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Articles
Materials

Multi-material Body Solutions: Possibilities and Manufacturing Challenges

In the automotive industry, mass reduction and lightweight design is a continuing trend that does not show signs of declining. When examing where to reduce weight...

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Electronics & Computers

Smile, You’re on Magna Camera!

Near the small Michigan town of Holly (pop. 6300) an hour north of Detroit, the Magna Electronics complex has quietly become a goliath within the automotive sensor industry.

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Articles
Propulsion

Pushing the ICE Forward, Gradually

Free lunches don’t exist in the quest to improve vehicle efficiency and reduce emissions. No one knows this better than powertrain engineers whose work is a constant series of tradeoffs that must be...

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Articles
Power

A 24-hour Battle of Speed and Efficiency

World endurance racing at Le Mans is no longer only about who finishes first after a grueling 24 hours, but also about winning with the greatest energy efficiency. For 2016, the Federation...

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Articles
Propulsion

How Aerospace Startups Can Seek Partnerships to Secure Their Future

There usually is no blueprint for innovation. Ultimately, the key to creating productive, successful partnerships is finding the right partner with a winning track record and starting with a defined process that includes understanding new technology from the inside out. Read on to learn more.

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Articles
Electronics & Computers

Microchip’s New Microprocessor to Enable Generational Leap in Spaceflight Computing

Microchip is launching a new class of microprocessors that the company claims will provide a generational leap in the computational performance of spacecraft avionics. Read on to learn more about it.

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Articles
Software

How Next-Generation Edge Computers Will Shape Drone Warfare

Drones – or uncrewed aerial systems, as they are known by the military – have become ubiquitous in most armed forces around the world. Across all domains, drones employ a range of sensors. Read on to learn more about how next-gen edge computers will advance them.

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Articles
Automotive

Large-scale Additive Manufacturing for Rapid Vehicle Prototyping

In model-based development of vehicle powertrains, through hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) to mule integration, a new enabling design tool is emerging from recent advances in...

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Articles
Automotive

Doing It Again — This Time With 10

Almost exactly a decade after Ford and General Motors initiated production of 6-speed planetary-gear automatics derived from the two companies’ first-ever transmission-development collaboration,...

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Articles
Power

Bringing the Heat on Cooling Technologies

Thermal management continues to become more complex as engineers strive to cool engines while generating enough heat to burn away unwanted emissions matter. Ever smarter electronic controls are...

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Articles
Automotive

Clearing The Air

They’re not as certain as death and taxes, but tighter emissions regulations have become a constant presence in off-highway vehicle development programs. Design teams continue to focus on meeting mandates or...

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Articles
Materials

Lightweighting: WHAT’S NEXT?

Are there any automakers who haven’t yet put at least one new model through the weight-reduction wringer? Vehicle mass efficiency has joined the vanguard of product development where every gram lost is...

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Articles
Automotive

Inside the Autonomous Vehicle

As self-driving technology eventually becomes reliable and safe, the role of the human driver will change dramatically. Instead of acting as a full-time operator, the driver will become a part-time operator...

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Articles
Regulations/Standards

Solving the GHG Puzzle

When the U.S. EPA published its Technical Assessment Report (TAR) draft in July on how well the auto industry is meeting federal fuel economy mandates, as a prelude to the Mid-Term Evaluation of the 2022-2025...

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Articles
Transportation

U.S. Army Marches Toward Driverless Future

Four tractor-trailer rigs barreled eastbound on Interstate 69 in rural Michigan, their non-reflective olive drab and desert-tan paint and blast-resistant glass the giveaways that this was a...

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Articles
Automotive

Touch Takes Hold, Switches Lend a Hand

System developers are leaving no technology unturned in their effort to boost performance by improving comfort. Touch screens dominate human-machine interface (HMI) development, but rotary knobs and...

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Articles
Electronics & Computers

MEMS the Word for Next-gen HUDs

Nearly 30 years after the first automotive head-up display (HUD) for production cars was offered by GM on the 1988 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme and Pontiac Grand Prix — and 55 years after the first...

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Articles
Transportation

Delphi’s Multi-domain Mindset

Mary Gustanski lives in a James Bond movie. It hasn’t yet been released but she’s certain it will be at some future date. In her film-nightmare, the evil-genius villain on the remote island has hacked...

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Articles
Transportation

Steering Mazda’s Unique Course

In 1999 Mazda Motor Corp.’s current Chairman, Seita Kanai, had just taken over as program manager for the first-generation Atenza/ Mazda6. The new car was a top priority and its success was deemed...

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Articles
Energy

The Battery Man Speaks

The future of vehicle electrification is all about the battery. The industry’s steady progress in reducing lithium-ion battery cost while increasing energy density, durability and reliability has surprised one...

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Editorial
Power

No, Really, What’s an SDV?

What is an SDV? No, you can’t just say “software defined vehicle,” because that’s not precise enough. Software has been part of modern vehicles for decades, but the code didn’t define the car. So,...

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Articles
Robotics, Automation & Control

INDUSTRY 4.0: The Smart Factory Arrives

A new “data-driven” manufacturing facility that Faurecia opened in Columbus, IN, in October 2016 embodies perfectly the premise and promise of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT): a smart...

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Articles
Transportation

Expediting Engine Design

Creating or updating a new engine today is more complicated than ever. Most heavy-duty and off-highway engine makers are expanding their product lines, responding to an increasingly diverse global marketplace. A...

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