Around the Industry

Molex Incorporated successfully acquired ISO/TS-16949:2009 certification for Automotive Quality Management System Standards at its Taipei, Taiwan copper flex products facility. Conferred by an authorised third party, the certification demonstrates a commitment to stringent and improved management standards.

GOEPEL electronic will exhibit highlights from its business unit Automotive Test Solutions at Automotive Testing Expo in Stuttgart. One is the introduction of the brand new PXI module 6161 supporting the MOST150 standard. Further advances at stand 1118 are “Sound Checker”, a sound and mechanical vibration analysis system for mechatronic components as well as a Flex Ray application by means of basic FlexScope 3095 and Net2Run, the recently introduced software suite for restbus and gateway simulation.

The BMW Group is planning further expansion of its activities in China in the future. “BMW Group vehicles are very popular in China. We anticipate that this growth will continue in the future. Therefore, together with our Joint Venture partner Brilliance we will increase the previously announced investment of 560 million euros in our Chinese facility in Shenyang to around one billion euros,” announced Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG, Norbert Reithofer, during the visit of the Party Secretary of the Chinese province of Liaoning, Wang Min, in Munich on Monday.

The first round-the-world trip with an electric car is coming to a successful end: After 30,000 km, Nina and Hjalte Tin from Denmark are soon to reach their destination – the Danish capital of Copenhagen. Their car, an electrically powered Nissan Quasquai, was fitted with Continental tires for the round-the-world trip. As a lower rolling resistance is particularly important for cars with an electric drive – due to the lower rolling resistance increasing the range – the car was fitted with the ContiPremiumContact 2 tires.

Over 165 professionals from the automotive electronics industry and academia attended the third MOST Forum on April 5, 2011 in Frankfurt, Germany. Again, the broad international audience was composed of attendees from all over Europe, Asia and North America. We are pleasantly surprised by the continuously rising number of participants at this leading event for automotive infotainment, stated Dr. Christian Thiel, Administrator of the MOST Cooperation - the standardization organization for the leading automotive multimedia network Media Oriented Systems Transport (MOST).

Whether in the powertrain, in central control units or in body and convenience electronics – there is a constant increase in the proportion of electronic components used in the car. This trend is accompanied by growing complexity of the systems installed, meaning that designers are forever faced with new challenges in the fine tuning. Six partners from all levels of the development chain have now joined forces in a quest to come up with overarching solutions. The members of the RESCAR 2.0 research project (RESCAR being the German acronym for the robust design of new electronic components for applications in the field of electromobility) seek to enhance the reliability and robustness of electronic automotive components. The project is receiving support from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) to the tune of approximately Euro 6.5 million as part of the funding program known as “STROM” (German acronym signifying key technologies for electromobility). Together with the partners, the joint research investment volume is planned at about Euro 13.3 million over the coming three years.

The new research project MANOS not only allows stacking artists, it welcomes them. With innovative surface coatings based on nanoparticles and the latest adhesive procedures, embedding technologies are advancing into new dimensions. That's because you can use the novel circuit board-based modular fasten and release technology to stack sensor systems.

Cypress Semiconductor Corp today announced that luxury vehicle manufacturer, BMW, has chosen Cypress’s CapSense® capacitive touch solution for the infotainment system inside BMW 5, 6, and 7 series, as well as 5GT, X5 and X6 models.

Compared to other international technical congresses the Electronic Systems for Motor Vehicles with its venue at Baden-Baden, Germany, has become the we- must-not-miss event organised for the industry to address technological issues of electric and electronic systems as well as the integration of mechanical with electronic systems. It has developed into the crucial communication and discussion platform for the industry's decision-takers and engineering specialists representing vehicle manufacturers, suppliers and service providers. For many years, the Baden-Baden congress has not only been the event to share information about innovations but also to set engineering trends and to prepare fundamental technological decisions to be adopted and adapted by the automotive industry.

NXP Semiconductors N.V. today inaugurated the Automotive Centre of Excellence (ACE) in Pune in association with the International Institute of Information Technology (I 2 IT).