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Automotive Smart Memory Materials

Automotive Smart Memory Materials

Automotive engineers have been experimenting with shape-memory alloys and polymers that are referred to as “smart materials”. They change their shape, strength or stiffness when heat, stress, a magnetic field or electrical voltage is introduced. A family of materials with an capability to alter a couple of its original properties by the application of any external stimuli, such as anxiety, temperature, moisture, pH, electric and magnetic fields are referred to as smart materials. Smart materials are lifeless materials that assimilate distinct functions such as sensing, actuation, logic and control to adaptively react to alterations in their environment to which they are exposed, in a constructive and mostly recurring way. Thermo-responsive materials such as shape memory alloys or shape memory polymers are smart materials which change their shape with alter in temperature. Read more

Laser Automotive Lighting

Laser Automotive Lighting

The incandescent bulb invented by Thomas Edison in 1879 has shown remarkable longevity in automotive applications. Automotive LED applications had a market leadership position for almost a decade. In the near-future automotive lighting market innovation will soon be pioneered by lasers. The market reign of LEDs is not coming to an end already, but it’s notorious position as a technology leader might soon be threatened. Lasers will become the next generation of automotive lighting technology. Read more

Vehicle Companion Peripheral Systems

Vehicle Companion Peripheral Systems

Automotive systems and modules have been used mostly in order to manage automotive complexity. The current trend indicates that the next generation of vehicle systems will be peripheral companion systems, which complement future automotive requirements. Read more

Volvo New Power Concept Replaces Conventional Batteries

Volvo New Power Concept Replaces Conventional Batteries

Volvo has developed a new concept for storing electrical power using car body panels instead of a traditional battery. It may be a few years away from production, but it’s a very smart concept. Volvo is working together with independent research groups to develop a means of energy storage for future electric cars that does away completely with traditional battery and super capacitor systems, which typically carry considerable weight and take up a lot of space. The solution is a new type of material that integrates nano-structured batteries and super capacitors together with carbon fibre, which can be formed into body panels for a car. Read more

Lapa: Social Lost & Found

Lapa: Social Lost & Found

Losing your car keys can be more than just inconvenient; it can also be very expensive. But what can you do to avoid losing a set of keys? The best thing, of course, is to not lose them in the first place, but a recent survey found that 26% of drivers have suffered such a mishap. And one in 20 has been a victim of car key theft. Misplace your keys often? Better break yourself of that habit if your car has smart key technology. Lost or stolen keys can prove expensive and increasingly advanced car key systems mean the cost of getting a spare set has been rising. Read more

Automotive MIST (Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea and Turkey)

Automotive MIST

As automotive enthusiasm for the BRICs cools, the industry romances with a new emerging markets acronym, the MISTs (or MIKTs). Emerging automotive market investors have been deluged with a blizzard of catchy labels and acronyms. The automotive industry is looking for the next big thing beyond the four original BRIC nations; therefore new concepts such as MIST (Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea and Turkey) and Next 11 are formulated. Read more

OEM Signature Lighting

OEM Signature Lighting

Luxury brands are usually wary of introducing accessories to accentuate exterior branding. High-efficiency LED lighting became one of Audi’s design signatures. The brand was hardly alone in using LEDs, but no one has adopted them as widely and successfully as Audi, which uses them to give every model a branding advantage. Naturally, when Mercedes chose to produce such an accessory for their cars, they wanted to refrain from adding something that could be seen as garish and keep it decidedly simple. Read more

Upcycling Car Parts

Upcycling Car Parts

Upcycling Car Parts: Taking a car part that would otherwise go to waste and finding a way to make it into something else/useful. Two of the most basic terms in the automotive Eco-Design field are ‘Cradle to Grave’ and ‘Cradle to Cradle’. They relate to the product life cycle from the raw materials (Cradle) to disposal (Grave). Cradle-to-Grave A term used in life-cycle analysis to describe the entire life of a material or product up to the point of disposal Cradle-to-Cradle A model of industrial systems in which material flows cyclically in appropriate, continuous biological or technical nutrient cycles. All waste materials are productively re-incorporated into new production and use phases. Read more

ID4Motion Digital Instrument Clusters

ID4Motion Digital Instrument Clusters

Enter the ID4Motion MotionGraphic Design Digital Cluster into the market. More and more car brands are favouring LCD instrument clusters over analogue gauges; therefore it was only a matter of time before an aftermarket company came up with an option of its own. The instrument cluster has been virtually free of aftermarket accessories for a long time. ID4Motion has set out to change that. Read more

Glowing Infotainment Roads

Glowing Infotainment Roads

A smart-road design that features glow-in-the-dark tarmac and illuminated weather indicators. Smart Highway is a futuristic concept that incorporates glow-in-the-dark technology into the road to make them safer for drivers. Although this would seem like something straight out of a sci-fi movie, the Smart Highway is set to be realised mid-November 2013 in the Netherlands. In addition to the glowing roads, it will boast Dynamic Paint, Interactive Lights, an Induction Priority Lane and Wind Lights. Read more

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