News

Volvo | S90 Luxury Sedan Revealed

Volvo Cars has revealed its upcoming S90 luxury sedan, which is to be launched at the Detroit Motor Show in January 2016. The Volvo S90 is expected to compete with luxury sedans including the BMW 5 Series, Audi A6, Mercedes E-Class and Jaguar XF, and is expected to be launched in India in 2016.

The new S90 is based on Volvo’s new Scalable Product Architecture (SPA), and carries forward the design language seen on the recently-launched XC90 luxury SUV. Its front facia is similar to the XC90, in terms of its grille with vertical slats and large Volvo emblem, bumper design, and headlamp with the ’Thor Hammer’ LED. The Volvo S90 is expected to be powered by the same 2 l, four-cylinder diesel engine doing duty on the XC90, but in a different state of tune.

Even the interior design of the new Volvo S90 resembles that of the XC90 SUV. It features a dual tone dashboard design that is separated by wooden inserts, and this design is carried on to the doors as well. The S90 has a centrally-located touch screen infotainment system with features resembling a Smartphone. This system has removed a large number of buttons drastically on the dashboard. The car also features a top-end Bowers & Wilkins sound system.

The new Volvo S90 comes equipped with an advanced semi-autonomous drive feature Pilot Assist, which gives gentle steering inputs to keep the car properly aligned within lane markings. Pilot Assist is said to be another step towards full autonomous driving. The car also introduces a world first function to City Safety, which is large animal detection. This system detects large animals and offers an intuitive warning and brake support to help avoid a collision.

The S90 has taken a big stride forward in terms of driving dynamics, performance and ride, said Dr Peter Mertens, Senior Vice President, Research & Development, Volvo Car Group. He added that the company has completely redesigned the Volvo driving experience from the ground up to deliver a sense of precision, control and comfort.

TI | Dual Interface NFC Transponder

Texas Instruments has launched the industry’s first dynamic dual interface Near Field Communication (NFC) transponder with Q100 automotive qualification, enabling developers to bring NFC technology to automotive infotainment systems. TI’s first automotive-qualified dynamic dual interface NFC transponder, RF430CL330H-Q1, is claimed to enable perceptive one-tap pairing, personalisation and service interface.

The RF430CL330H-Q1 transponder enables simple secure pairing (SSP) using Out of Band (OOB) association model for Bluetooth, Bluetooth Smart and Wi-Fi between an NFC-enabled device and automotive infotainment system, TI said. The transponder allows users to pair and connect, or execute NFC-enabled Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) with one tap to configure specific driver settings when entering the car, eliminating complicated manual procedures.

This optimised NFC interface can also serve as a secure configuration and service interface for diagnostics data, supporting various data rates to allow maximum communication flexibility, the company noted. The RF430CL330H-Q1 NFC transponder interface is currently available, and developers can begin evaluating their NFC designs using the transponder interface with the RF430CL330HTB target board.

Acquisition | Audi, BMW, Daimler Complete Acquisition of Here

AUDI AG, BMW Group and Daimler AG have completed the acquisition of HERE, the mapping and location services business from Nokia Corporation. HERE’s location platform will deliver high definition maps combined with real-time location information, providing customers a detailed representation of the world in real time. AUDI, BMW and Daimler each hold an equal stake in HERE.

Real-time location information is achieved through HERE’s mapping technology combined with countless data sources such as cars, mobile phones, the transport and logistics sector as well as infrastructure elements. It currently powers its map with data from more than 80,000 sources and billions of probe points daily, providing mapping and location intelligence for almost 200 countries in more than 50 languages.

The company said that more data added to the HERE platform improves its maps, products and services, benefiting customers in terms of comfort, safety, less congestion and cleaner urban areas. Currently, there are over two million connected vehicles from AUDI, BMW and Daimler, which are capable of collecting advanced high quality location-based data already. This is claimed to offer large potential to accelerate the development of HERE’s location platform.

In order to further enhance HERE’s location platform, the three OEMs are evaluating the benefit of providing sensor data from their fleets to HERE. HERE already plays a key role in the development of highly automated driving, since high precision, up-to-date maps are important for it. The companies said that in future, maps will give vehicles the ability to effectively ’see around corners’, enabling them to anticipate road hazards and prepare driving strategies accordingly.