Latest Stories

News
Imaging

Forward-Looking Lidar Can Revolutionize Driver-Assistance Systems

Part I of this multipart series cast a spotlight on vehicle crashes, a majority of which are forward-facing and result from driver error. Automakers are striving to develop...

Feature Image

News
Test & Measurement

Europe’s Blockchain-Based Smart E-Mobility Challenge Will Conclude This May in Germany

To advance development of Internet of things (IoT) mobility solutions like cryptography, distributed ledger technology (DLT) – also known as...

Feature Image

Technology Report
Energy

EMBATT Technology Could Double the Driving Range of EVs

An in-development chassis-integrated sandwich structure of solid electrolytes is projected to deliver all-electric driving ranges that far out-distance today’s typical 200-mile (320...

Feature Image

Articles
AR/AI

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.

Feature Image

Articles
RF & Microwave Electronics

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.

Feature Image

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.

Feature Image

Articles
Automotive

Dining on Data

Every year, NVIDIA hosts its GPU Technology Conference, a multi-day news conference/ expo to highlight the advances the tech company has made in the past 12 months.

Feature Image

Articles
Design

Designs to Dye for: Autonomy’s New-Materials Revolution

Evolving vehicle engineering constantly reshapes vehicle architectures. But along with electrified drive-trains and autonomous capabilities is the need for a mindset shift in materials, opening the way for new sustainable solutions in color, materials and finish (CMF).

Feature Image

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.

Feature Image

Articles
Software

Unlocking DfAM’s Potential

A new field-based design software is supporting more widespread use of Additive Manufacturing, for faster product development times with less rework and risk.

Feature Image

Articles
Transportation

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.

Feature Image

Articles
Automotive

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.

Feature Image

Articles
Manufacturing & Prototyping

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.

Feature Image

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.

Feature Image

Articles
Materials

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.

Feature Image

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.

Feature Image

News
Automotive

Novelis Creates First Aluminum Sheet Battery Enclosure for Mass Electric Vehicle Production

Battery weight and power density is a major design consideration when it comes to electric and hybrid-electric vehicles. To reduce platform weight...

Feature Image

News
Propulsion

Why JLR Is Giving Its Newest Range Rover Straight-6 Power

The market may have been surprised by Jaguar Land Rover’s decision to offer the latest Range Rover with an I-6 gasoline engine, but it’s been on the company’s development list...

Feature Image

News
Propulsion

Ford Demos Latest Digital Tools at Flagship Transmission Plant

Ford recently provided media with a look at some of its latest digital manufacturing tools, opening up the floor at one of the world’s largest transmission plants to showcase...

Feature Image

Technology Report
Aerospace

For Bonding Dissimilar Materials, Adhesives Can Be a Sticking Point—or Lack of It

As the auto industry adopts an increasingly wide mix of materials in its pursuit of constantly tougher weight-saving and service-longevity targets, joining...

Feature Image

Articles
Manufacturing & Prototyping

Waymo, GM and Ford Pegged as Autonomous “Leaders” by Latest Navigant Report

According to a new report from Navigant research, Waymo (Google), GM and Ford have earned the title of “leaders” in regards to their progress in developing...

Feature Image

Articles
Test & Measurement

'Road Race' for AV Testing May Be Slowing

Chris Hoyle, Technical Director of software specialist rFpro, believes the race by auto and technology companies to be ahead of competitor programs involving autonomous vehicle (AV) testing on...

Feature Image

News
RF & Microwave Electronics

Revolutionizing ADAS with Forward-Looking Lidar, Part I

Most vehicle crashes are forward-facing and result from driver error. Although automakers are striving to develop advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) to prevent these crashes,...

Feature Image

News
Automotive

Wing’s UAS Delivery Service Has FAA Certification

Google LLC’s (Google’s) parent company, Alphabet Inc. (Alphabet), is moving forward with unmanned aircraft system (UAS) or “drone” delivery. Alphabet’s Wing project has become...

Feature Image

News
Photonics/Optics

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...

Feature Image

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...

Feature Image

News
Materials

Honda Brings ‘Totalled’ SUV to Auto Show Floor to Highlight Latest Advances in Crash-Safety Engineering

Most of the gleaming product gracing auto shows has been meticulously prepared for public display. In an unusual move, Honda...

Feature Image

News
Unmanned Systems

Ford and University of Michigan Team up on First-Ever Sustainability Study of Urban Air Mobility

According to a new study published in Nature Communications, electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) urban air mobility (UAM) vehicles...

Feature Image

Articles
Manufacturing & Prototyping

Automated-Vehicle ‘Goiters’ Be Gone!

Warts. Bumps. Blisters. Protruberances. These and other less-flattering terms are used by vehicle designers and engineers to describe the bulging, non-integrated sensor placement that has become the...

Feature Image