Latest Stories

Road Ready
Unmanned Systems

Seeking More Traction in Budding EV Market, VW Adds AWD to ID.4

A second motor and free charging create a compelling offering as Volkswagen debuts the most-affordable, all-electric, all-wheel-drive SUV.

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Road Ready
Power

Hercules Readies Alpha Electric Pickup Prototypes

A modular propulsion system enables multiple driveline configurations – and non-automotive EV applications.

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Articles
Software

GM Announces Door-To-Door Ultra Cruise ADAS

GM has announced the next generation of its hands-free Super Cruise advanced driver-assist system (ADAS), upping the label to “Ultra Cruise.” GM claims the Ultra Cruise system, expected to...

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Articles
Software

Autonomy’s Computing Edge

Computing clouds get more headlines, but edge computing is likely to play a more crucial minute-by-minute role in the autonomous-vehicle (AV) future. Roughly defined as bringing the processing of data physically...

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Q&A
Mechanical & Fluid Systems

VW’s Newest Battery Pack Facility Is Production-Line Adjacent

The Volkswagen ID.4 electric vehicle (EV) is set begin localized production in the United States in early 2022. The MEB-platform, 2-row SUV will share an assembly line with...

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News
Power

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...

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Technology Report
Power

Innovative ‘Afreecar’ Wins SAE’s 2021 Create the Future Design Award

The focus is on bringing electric power and mobility to 1 billion people who have no access to electricity.

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Articles
Energy

Faurecia Expanding into Hydrogen

Through its Symbio joint venture with Michelin, Faurecia is investing beyond its interior-systems base into the fuel-cell future.

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News
Power

Innovating the Methanol Fuel Cell

Using methanol as the source fuel provides an alternative to a gaseous-hydrogen distribution and storage infrastructure, among other potential benefits.

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News
Automotive

BrightDrop Innovates Last-Mile Delivery

On a city street, two delivery vans are unloading cargo. One driver carries a package out of his van and delivers it inside an apartment building. Then he returns for another and carries it in. Then...

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News
Data Acquisition

Driving DAQ Product Development with the Customer’s Voice

Dewesoft is engineering its data acquisition tools for the new rigors of vehicle electrification and autonomy.

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News
Design

Time to End the Madness of EV Sales Subsidies

Electric vehicles have proven that they can sell themselves.

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Supplier Eye
Automotive

Dealing with the BEV ‘Concavity’

Any new technology will experience growing pains and volume setbacks. BEVs will be no different.

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Articles
Electronics & Computers

BYD’s Blade Runner

The Chinese mobility giant’s novel ‘Blade’ battery eliminates the cell module level to compete with NCM chemistry at a lower cost with greater safety.

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Road Ready
Manned Systems

2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz: A Truck by Any Other Name

The Venn diagram of why pickup trucks – particularly fullsizers – succeed in the American consumer psyche surely is a complex and bizarre hodgepodge of reality and perception. But...

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Technology Report
Automotive

New Zapp Electric Scooter Just 200 Pounds, 200 Components

With simpler designs, no noise and no tailpipe emissions, electric scooters are projected to rapidly gobble market share in Europe and Asia.

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News
Automotive

IAA Munich and the Future of ‘Mobility’ Shows

Enormous anticipation guided me as I entered the expansive Munchen Messe on Sept. 7, the inaugural media day and official kickoff for the first IAA – Germany’s combination auto show and...

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News
Electronics & Computers

Toyota Promising Big Battery, EV Action, but Circumspect on Absolutes

In a briefing to update media on its near-term development of electric-vehicle (EV) battery development and carbon-neutrality measures, Toyota Motor Corp. chief...

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Articles
Materials

‘Retuning’ Lubricants for EV Duty

“My focus is lubricating grease; I’ve been doing it for 32 years,” explained Dr. Gareth Fish with a high degree of pride. Lubrizol’s top expert on the subject, globally recognized in the...

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Articles
Power

Extending a Wankel Future on Hydrogen Fuel

Could the Wankel rotary engine have a major future as a hydrogen-fueled, zero-emissions range-extender engine? Alternative fuel cells are still under development and there are technical hurdles...

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News
Manufacturing & Prototyping

GM Readies Comprehensive New Vehicle-Software Platform

General Motors announced this week that it has developed a new “end-to-end” software platform designed to use over-the-air (OTA) updating capabilities to “connect customers’...

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News
Sensors/Data Acquisition

Arctic Autonomy

In what is billed as “the most extensive pilot [program] in challenging weather conditions, ever,” a trio of Nordic companies is prepping an autonomous public-transport service in Bodø, a Norwegian city north of the...

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News
Power

Tenured Production CEO Leading VW’s U.S. Electrified Manufacturing Push

Volkswagen of America’s (VOA) sprawling operations just off I-75 in Chattanooga, Tennessee could be considered ground-zero for the German automaker’s rebuilding...

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News
Design

2022 Toyota Tundra: V8 Out, Twin-Turbo Hybrid Takes Over

The voice of the customer was clearly heard during Toyota’s development of the all-new, third-generation Tundra pickup. “We had multiple focus groups early on to hear directly...

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News
Electronics & Computers

GM Confirms Cause of Bolt Battery Fires, Rolls out New Monitoring Software

One of GM’s top battery experts has confirmed that the root cause of 13 Chevrolet Bolt EV battery fires, which caused GM to recall every Bolt sold since 2017, is...

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News
Motion Control

Corvette Hybrid Development Defies GM’s All-Electric Mantra

General Motors’ leadership has advised the world that the company is going battery-electric, full stop. Investments topping $35 billion during the first half of this decade...

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Articles
Connectivity

Ethernet Backbones will Support Many Branches

Ethernet is displacing CAN (controller area networks) as the primary architecture for automotive networks, but a host of other communications protocols are helping reduce cost and complexity....

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Articles
Automotive

Ford Drives into SAE Level 2

U.S. Patent #10752253, granted to four Ford Motor Co. engineers in August 2020, covers the “driver awareness detection system” that is a key safety component in the company’s first “hands-free”...

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Articles
Manufacturing & Prototyping

The Inside Story on Custom Sensors

Wells Vehicle Electronics is a specialist in customized sensor solutions ranging from heavy-duty and commercial to marine, agricultural and industrial applications. In an interview with SAE’s Automotive...

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