Repertoire Magazine – June 2021
Fire TV for Auto
Amazon was preparing to launch at press time its Fire TV entertainment platform in Jeep’s 2022 Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer SUVs, which will be the first to feature built-in Fire TV support, reports The Verge. Amazon’s software will be accessible from both the main display and rear seat screens. (Jeep says a privacy filter will prevent the driver from watching content while driving, although they’ll be able to watch when the car is parked.) Fire TV for Auto is designed to work alongside Uconnect 5, with added support for Amazon’s Alexa Auto technology for things like smart home controls. There’s also a custom Fire TV remote with an integrated Alexa microphone and a Uconnect button to easily access in-car temperature controls or maps. Users will also be able to download content for longer trips where they’re not able or willing to use data to stream their favorite shows and movies.
Battery swaps for EV owners
Ample, a seven-year-old San Francisco startup, wants to skirt a big hurdle to widespread adoption of electric vehicles by reviving the idea of quick, automated battery swaps, reports Reuters. EV owners would no longer face wait times at charging stations. The system could replace a depleted battery with a fully charged one in less than 10 minutes. And the cost of the modular batteries could be amortized over longer periods of time, which in turn could lower the initial cost of an electric vehicle. Despite Ample’s business model, the roadblocks to success are many. Ten years ago, Israeli startup Better Place launched a battery swapping program. The company raised – and eventually burned through – more than $800 million before closing its doors in 2013 after failing to convince vehicle manufacturers to embrace the concept
Sonos latest audio company in car market
Sonos has partnered with Audi to equip the automaker’s Q4 E-Tron with sound, a first for the California-based audio company best known for home speakers, according to The Verge. Sonos joins other audio companies that have made the jump to autos, including Bose, Bowers & Wilkins, and Bang & Olufsen. The partnerships are seen as a way for home audio companies to diversify revenue sources, and for automakers to use brands known for premium audio to sway buying decisions.
Next-gen battery for electric vehicles
Panasonic Corp. is betting that close to a century of experience making car batteries has prepared it to manufacture a next-generation battery championed by Tesla Inc. as the key to unlocking cheaper and more ubiquitous electric vehicles, reports BNN Bloomberg. The catch: the thicker and more voluminous 4680 cells, named after their dimensions of a 46-millimeter diameter and 80-millimeter height, are still largely unproven. Industry experts even question whether the batteries are possible to mass produce. Much of the benefit of the new 4680 cells comes from the fact that they are more than five times the size of the smaller 1865 and 2170 cells Panasonic currently supplies to Tesla. This means that the typical 4,000 to 8,000 cells found in an EV today can be reduced to around 500, which, in turn, means fewer parts such as bonding pieces used to string individual cells together. The larger capacity, however, is also what makes the cells more difficult to produce. They are prone to overheating because it’s difficult to disperse heat from their center. They’re also more susceptible to particle contamination, a frequent cause of EV battery fires that occur when minuscule metal pieces find their way into the center of a cell.
Google Maps’ new features
Google Maps introduced several features designed to make Maps more interactive, including one that makes it easier for users to share photos of locations they visit, reports CNN. The so-called photo updates are intended to give people an up-to-date sense of places they’re thinking of visiting. For example, they can see if a restaurant’s outdoor seating setup is shaded. In the coming weeks, users will be able to go to the new “Updates” tab when looking at a place on the app, snap a quick photo to add and write a caption, without having to leave a full rating or review. Google Maps is also making it easier to report road changes, adding an option to “Edit the Map” that will let users correct errors, including drawing in missing roads, renaming streets or deleting incorrect roads. (Google says it will vet the changes.)
See what’s down the road with 5G
Honda and Verizon have partnered up to research how 5G and mobile edge computing (MEC) can facilitate faster communication between cars, pedestrians and infrastructure, and help drivers avoid collisions, reports TechCrunch. Honda and Verizon’s premise is that 5G technology can handle communication far faster than a car’s computer. Instead of relying on a car’s less capable computer, information generated from connected cars, people and infrastructure would be sent into the 5G network. The payoff: Whereas a car relying on sensors and software might be able to understand the driver is about to hit something and hit the brakes, the MEC can almost see into the future by checking out and communicating what’s happening farther down the road.