Research

PITTSBURGH, June 19, 2008 — General Motors Corp. (GM) and Carnegie Mellon University today announced a new Collaborative Research Lab (CRL) and a renewed commitment to work jointly on technologies that will accelerate the emerging field of autonomous driving — a family of electronics and software technologies that could influence the way drivers and their vehicles interact in the future.

The GM-Carnegie Mellon Autonomous Driving Collaborative Research Lab is being established under the terms of a five-year, $5 million agreement. The lab will operate as an extension of GM's Global Research & Development network and will be located at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh. Faculty from the university’s School of Computer Science and College of Engineering will participate.

DEARBORN, Mich., June 11, 2008 – Ford Motor Company announced today that it is working with researchers, academia, and public and private companies to develop long-term strategies to confront growing transportation and personal mobility challenges in large and increasingly congested metropolitan areas.

Highlights:
* By 2015, about two-thirds of the world will be living in urban areas, which will exacerbate traffic congestion and present major challenges to basic transportation and personal mobility.
* “Ford Urban Mobility Networks” is a pilot program that is exploring how to coordinate a variety of transportation options and provide vital real-time information to individuals living in densely populated urban centers.

May 20, 2008 -- The DOE Hydrogen Program has released a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) in support of the H-Prize (Section 654 of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007). Through the H-Prize, DOE will competitively award cash prizes to advance the research, development, demonstration, and commercial application of hydrogen energy technologies.

Tata has expressed interest in participating Pininfarina’s planned capital increase

Turin, April 24, 2008 – Pininfarina intends to establish a Research, Design and Engineering Centre in Pune, India within the end of 2008. Pininfarina and Tata have signed a Letter of Intent wherein Tata will support this Centre in India with contracts and participate with a minority interest. Pininfarina will be the majority shareholder with management responsibility.

Press Opportunity to Drive Michigan Tech Vehicle

2008-04-11 -- General Motors (GM) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) will offer a ride-and-drive of the Michigan Technical University vehicle from the collegiate engineering competition Challenge X: Crossover to Sustainable Mobility, at GM's world headquarters at the Renaissance Center. Members of the MTU team will be available for interviews to discuss the program.

The press ride-and-drive will be held Tuesday, April 15, 2008 from 6 to 10 a.m.

Tokyo, April 10, 2008 — Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC), Daihatsu Motor Co., Ltd. (Daihatsu) and Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. (FHI) announced today that they have agreed to expand their cooperative ties with new arrangements related to research and development and product supply.

Specifically, the three companies — aiming to strengthen their competitiveness by achieving mutual synergies through the apt application of each company's technological know-how — decided that:

1. TMC and FHI are to jointly develop a compact rear-wheel-drive sports car that will be marketed by both TMC and FHI.
2. TMC is to provide FHI with a compact car on an original-equipment-manufacturing (OEM) basis.

Feb. 22, 2008 -- Lotus Engineering, the world renowned automotive consultancy division of Lotus, has created a new research and development group solely for electric and hybrid vehicles. The formation of this group recognises the increasing global importance of hybrid and electric vehicles, and the increasing amount of consultancy project work in this area that is being undertaken by Lotus Engineering.

WARRENDALE, Pa., Jan. 29, 2008 -- Seven research engineers are recipients of SAE International's Vincent Bendix Automotive Electronics Award. They will be presented the award during the SAE 2008 World Congress Award Ceremony held April 15, 5-7:30 p.m., at Cobo Center in Detroit.

The award, established in 1976, recognizes the authors of the best paper relating to automotive electronics engineering that was presented at an SAE International meeting.

The following authors will be recognized for co-authoring, "The Potential of Switched Reluctance Motor Technology for Electro-Mechanical Brake Applications" (SAE paper #2006-01-0296), which summarizes research done at Delphi in conjunction with the University of Akron.

Suresh Gopalakrishnan

Building a dedicated Acura development facility in the new R&D center in Sakura

TOKYO, Japan, December 19, 2007 – Honda R&D Co., Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Honda Motor Co., Ltd., responsible for research and development activities, announced plans to build a product development facility dedicated to the Acura brand within the new R&D center being constructed in Sakura, Tochigi prefecture, in addition to the originally-planned multiple test courses. The new R&D center is scheduled to become operational in 2009.

Collaboration with university to determine alcohol impact on physiological,
psychological and behavorial responses

TOKYO, Dec. 17, 2007 – A joint-study on drunk driving, undertaken by Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. in collaboration with the University of Occupational and Environmental Health Japan*1, School of Health Sciences, has been awarded a grant from the Kitakyushu Foundation for the Advancement of Industry Science and Technology. The study, to be conducted between July 2007 to March 2008, aims to determine the physiological, psychological and behavioral influences of alcohol in the body.

Testing Production of Plants for Biofuels on Once-Polluted Land

Auburn Hills, Mich., Dec 11, 2007 - The collaboration between Chrysler LLC and a research team from Michigan State University (MSU) to test production of crops for renewable fuels has completed its second year of work at a former Superfund site in rural Michigan.

The MSU team has harvested its second year of five crops that are feedstocks for ethanol or biodiesel, the two major renewable fuels in use in the U.S. The crops include soybeans, sunflowers and canola for biodiesel production, and corn and switchgrass for making ethanol.

DOE Announces over $1 Billion in Biofuels R&D Projects this Year

December 4, 2007 -- WASHINGTON, DC – DOE Secretary Samuel W. Bodman today announced the selection of four biofuels projects in which DOE plans to invest up to $7.7 million. These projects will demonstrate the thermochemical conversion process of turning grasses, stover, the non-edible portion of crops and other materials into biofuel. Combined with today’s announcement, just this calendar year, DOE has announced over $1 billion in funding for biofuels research and development (multi-year funding) projects.

VANCOUVER, CANADA – Nov. 8, 2007 – Daimler AG and Ford Motor Company are forming a new, privately-held company that will focus on automotive fuel cell technology and allow the two automakers to further expand their global leading position in fuel cell technology. With a share of 50.1 percent, Daimler AG will be the majority stakeholder in the new company, Automotive Fuel Cell Cooperation (AFCC). Ford Motor Company will hold a 30-percent stake and Ballard Power Systems the remaining stake of 19.9 percent in AFCC.

Highlights:
* Ballard Power Systems transfers division for fuel cell applications in passenger cars to new company called Automotive Fuel Cell Cooperation
* Daimler and Ford are primary stakeholders in the new privately-held company

Stuttgart -- October 09, 2007 -- Each new Mercedes-Benz model is also an answer to contemporary questions. Safety, environmental protection, comfort: these and other factors determine the properties and equipment of state-of-the-art vehicles. The Stuttgart-based motor manufacturer is able to look back on a long tradition of solving problems and incorporating the solutions in outstanding products – from the first two automobiles of 1886 through to the present-day lineup.

Approaching the Vision of Accident-free Driving: An autonomous intelligent cruise control system was tested within the framework of the Prometheus research project.

Sep 06, 2007 -- Stuttgart - Scientists have scientifically analysed the driving pleasure experienced by motorists for the first time. Experts from the Fraunhofer Institute in Rostock, Munich Technical University and Mercedes Customer Research collaborated in the unique pilot study which involved testing various methods for measuring drivers' emotions. They were able to ascertain what drivers feel and which aspects affect driving pleasure by means of voice analysis, facial-expression recognition and psychological questioning.

Emotions research in cars