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Editorial Manned Systems
COMVEC 2022: Hiring Talent to Meet High-Tech Demands
There’s always been competition for engineering talent. But with embedded software becoming ever more critical for subsystems in commercial vehicles and off-highway equipment, nowadays...
Editorial Manned Systems
Platooning Still Promising for Trucking
There is “no business case” for platooning, or the electronic coupling of two or more trucks in close formation. That was the assessment of Daimler Trucks in 2019 when it decided to pause its...
News Test & Measurement
Unreliable Electronics Are the New Prince of Darkness
Younger engineers may be unfamiliar with Joseph Lucas Ltd., the infamous Tier-1 supplier of British automotive electrical and electronic woes. Lucas helped institutionalize, fairly or...
News Power
EV, Give Me Heat!
Cabin heating and cooling, and their negative impact on vehicle efficiency and range, are among the challenges still to be solved in battery-electric vehicles. For drivers and passengers, interior comfort — being warm...
News Automotive
Alternative Fuels, Propulsion Poised for Growth in U.S. Fleets
Fuel prices are soaring. Not breaking news, I know, yet the almost-daily alerts citing new record highs for gasoline and diesel prices are still unsettling. Consumers and...
Editorial Automotive
Reconsidering Hybrids
After conversations I had with powertrain engineering executives during the 2022 SAE WCX World Congress, and in reading our reports on the panel discussions, I can conclude two things. First, mobility-industry...
News Power
Engine Technology a Decade Later
A securities analyst from New York called me recently, to ask about the future of powertrain. Specifically, she wanted my prediction for a timeframe for the demise of both gasoline and diesel IC engines....
News Connectivity
Maintaining EV Chargers Yet Another Challenge
Industry experts have trumpeted ad nauseam the need to expand electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure for the past half-decade or more. Those calls continued at the recent Green Truck...
Editorial Manned Systems
Geopolitics: The Other Existential Threat
As I write this on Valentine’s Day, 105 Russian army battalions backed by over 500 tactical aircraft and 40 warships are poised for a blitzkrieg-style invasion of Ukraine. I don’t think it’s...
News Manned Systems
Optimizing EV Platforms for Pickup Trucks
Pickups are the industry’s most popular and profitable product because they offer individualized vehicles for nearly every customer and use case. American pickups wrote the book on mass...
Editorial Power
Combustion Engines Carry on in Construction
A recent virtual panel discussion reminded me that we ought not forget the propulsion workhorse of our industries: the good ol’ diesel engine. It’s sometimes easy to forget in the avalanche...
Editorial Transportation
Safety, Standards Crucial to AVs’ Advance
The details and cost of the Biden Administration’s $1.2-trillion ($555 billion in new spending) federal infra- structure bill may have been exhaustively debated by the time it was passed last November, but few could argue that substantial investment in the nation’s systems wasn’t long overdue.
News Automotive
Ford C2 Is Model for EV Scale, Lower Costs
Has the auto industry ever seen a more dynamic and outright crazy time than today’s second coming of the electric vehicle? Those of us who visited Rivian Automotive’s L.A. auto show display a...
Editorial Design
Time to End the Madness of EV Sales Subsidies
Electric vehicles have proven that they can sell themselves.
News Robotics, Automation & Control
Autonomous Timeline: Following the Money
Acquisitions, mergers and outright departures from the sector serve as almost weekly reminders not just that significant consolidation of autonomous-vehicle (AV) development is underway. Right in...
News Materials
Waging a War for EV Materials Security
Conflict over natural resources and human history are inseparable. Wars waged directly or indirectly over control of commodities, trade routes, water, food sources and arable soil have been the root...
News Automotive
Mega Push for Heavy-Duty EV Charging
The number of zero-emission (ZE) heavy-duty trucks in the U.S., Canada, China and Europe is expected to increase nearly 80% between 2020 and 2023, from 40 available or announced models to 71. Electric...
Editorial Unmanned Systems
Making Safety Standard
I’m not sure who claims to have coined the often-repeated phrase, “Safety comes standard.” But that tagline came to mind as authorities in Texas and officials with the National Transportation Safety Board...
News Data Acquisition
State of the Industry: Ubiquitous Broadband Is Key
Bipartisanship and infrastructure: More of the former will (hopefully) help secure more of the latter. That sums up a recurrent theme during the Association of Equipment Manufacturers’...
Editorial Energy
Zeroing in on Zero Emissions
Electrification is inevitable for commercial vehicles. That is the takeaway from a quick succession of zero-emission commercial vehicle (ZECV) initiatives announced by various groups since the summer solstice....
News Manned Systems
Clean Is the New Safety Paradigm for AV Development
Privately-owned vehicles were never so safe as they are today. Nor have they made so much sense. That thought hit me between the nostrils recently, as I sprayed a pungent disinfectant on...
News Manned Systems
ConExpo Excels amid COVID-19
Las Vegas seemed to be in a bubble from March 10-13, the week of ConExpo-Con/Agg & IFPE 2020. Tens of thousands of attendees crowded the halls inside the Las Vegas Convention Center and outside on the new...
News Manned Systems
ConExpo & IFPE 2020: Go Big or Go Home
My inbox has been inundated with notifications of press conferences and exciting new construction equipment, power systems, and other advanced technologies to be revealed at the rapidly approaching...
Editorial Manned Systems
SAE Publishes On-Route Mechanized Conductive EV Charging Systems Recommended Practices
SAE International published SAE J-3105 Electric Vehicle Power Transfer System Using Conductive Automated Connection Devices Recommended Practice in...
Editorial Transportation
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...
Editorial Manufacturing & Prototyping
Bauma Industry Barometer: Tech-Focused in North America
The triennial behemoth of an off-highway trade fair, bauma, may be a few months away yet, but setup for what essentially becomes a city of towering machinery began in November, with...
Editorial Transportation
Electrify the U.S. Postal Fleet!
What better way to promote the reliable, durable, quiet, clean, and low-cost operation of EVs than to have them serving us daily in our neighborhoods?
Editorial Green Design & Manufacturing
OEMs Deny Suppliers the Limelight
OEMs direct the sourcing and write the checks, so they control the message at launch. And that means little or no acknowledgement of vital supplier technology contributions.
News Manned Systems
Intelligence Drives Efficiency, Safety and Uptime of Commercial Vehicles
Several leaders of global commercial-vehicle manufacturers converged in mid-July for a press workshop to discuss the most pressing technological, logistical and...
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INSIDERDefense
New Raytheon and Lockheed Martin Agreements Expand Missile Defense Production
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Ford Announces 48-Volt Architecture for Future Electric Truck
INSIDERManufacturing & Prototyping
Active Strake System Cuts Cruise Drag, Boosts Flight Efficiency
ArticlesTransportation
Accelerating Down the Road to Autonomy
INSIDERMaterials
How Airbus is Using w-DED to 3D Print Larger Titanium Airplane Parts
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Electronics & Computers
Cooling a New Generation of Aerospace and Defense Embedded...
Power
Battery Abuse Testing: Pushing to Failure
Connectivity
A FREE Two-Day Event Dedicated to Connected Mobility
Automotive
Quiet, Please: NVH Improvement Opportunities in the Early Design Cycle
Transportation
Advantages of Smart Power Distribution Unit Design for Automotive &...
Aerospace
Sesame Solar's Nanogrid Tech Promises Major Gains in Drone Endurance