Digital invade auto

*

According to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), ESC [ Electronic Stability Control] could have prevented nearly one-third of all fatal car accidents. Therefore, NHTSA is mandating that most 2012 model year vehicles include this technology. ESC helps drivers maintain control of their vehicles by using high-performance, low-g two-axis sensors to measure the lateral and longitudinal acceleration of the vehicle. When sensors register potentially unstable driving conditions, the system sends data to the car’s engine and braking system to automatically assist the driver in maintaining vehicle control.

Freescale Semiconductor is getting a chunk of the business.

*

The carmaker visualizes vehicles of the future with sustainable urban mobility to be increasingly powered by electricity, connected continuously to the communications infrastructure, electronically controlled, autonomously driven when desired, and flexibly designed to meet specific usage requirements.

"It is important that those with a stake in the future act now to achieve a new vision of sustainable personal mobility. By electrifying, connecting, and redesigning our vehicles - and by integrating them with the energy, communications, and transportation infrastructure - we will ensure that future vehicles are in harmony with society's needs," Wale added.

THis is GM speaking The electric powered car thing is complete bullshit, though electric drive hybrids make a lot of sense.

Most of these transportion nuggets come from a very good site, Transportation Communications

In releasing details of a new system of crash tests in October, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recommended that car shoppers consider crash avoidance systems such as lane departure and collision warnings as well as electronic stability control, which helps prevent rollovers and is now available on most cars. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found from accident data that stability control systems already installed can reduce fatal single-vehicle crashes by nearly half.

Story covered by Jerry Edgerton of Market Watch

“As we move forward with expanded coverage throughout the Coalition, more of our members will have access to traffic data that is becoming a valuable tool in the development of performance measures for their systems,” said Schoener.

According to the Coalition, the project’s “objective is to create a seamless traffic monitoring system that spans the eastern seaboard delivering travel times and speeds on freeways and arterials using probe technology. The Inrix system fuses data from various sources to present a comprehensive picture of traffic flow. Member agencies have found numerous uses for the data beyond simply travel information.”

That story was about using object detect, and maybe radar to measure and distribute real time traffic data. Follow these two: public-private partnership between the Coalition, the University of Maryland and Inrix, they are doing it.

Apps can keep tabs on and remotely operate functions of your car, such as this OnStar mobile app. Does that open the floodgates to hackers?

Tom Jensen at Metro brings it up.