Auto -inflating tires are given in science fiction futures, if the vehicles have wheels that is. Look at the film Demolition Man, which features Wesley Snipe's character using voice commands to auto-inflate a tire. It seems like a simple idea, only now is it made?

From Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company comes the Air Maintenance Technology (AMT). The entire system is housed inside the tire. There will be no need for external intervention. Goodyear senior vice president and chief technical officer Jean-Claude Kihn elaborated, "While the technology is complex, the idea behind the AMT system is relatively simple and powered by the tire itself as it rolls down the road."

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)Office of Vehicle Technology awarded Goodyear with $1.5 million USD for further research in using the AMT system on commercial truck tires. Tires not properly inflated will cause up to a 3.3% drop in fuel economy. The DOE's angle is to lessen the demand for foreign oil by the 3.3%. The average semi-truck drives up to 1 million miles in its life time. The 3.3% improvement could mean a savings of $6,000 USD in the end. (3.3% ~= 0.12 cents per . With a liberal 20 mpg, the savings comes up to $6.000 at current gasoline prices.)

The grant also applies to a Goodyear and PPG Industries partnership on improving rolling resistance and fuel efficiencies of tires.

There is no date or pricing on the AMT system's release. Goodyear is also very hush on how the technology works. I am going to guess it is very similar to the SIT (self inflating tire) from 2008.

Cabe

(Image via Technische Universitaet Muenchen)

I did not know how to turn off the change oil light in my car, it was not in the manual. What did I do? I checked youtube for the answer. Technische Universitaet Muenchen (TU) and Audi are about to bring a video manual you can talk to on all new model Audi cars.

The Avatar-based Virtual Co-driver System (AviCoS) is a animated avatar that can give the driver, or anyone in the car, detailed information on the vehicle using "natural-language dialog." Simply ask a question, and the system will deliver the answer. AviCoS uses an AI that can analyze complete sentences and answer using audio, images, or video on a embedded screen in the car. The avatar can also visually guide the user through the car, or point to areas of interest.

If the user is unfamiliar with a certain feature of the car, the touch screen lets the user enter the "Touch & Tell Mode." The user touches the area of the car where more information is needed, the avatar provides all the background information. While driving, all animations and graphical outputs are suppressed to avoid distracting the driver. However, voice communication will still work. " Overall, AviCoS provides comfortable and interactive access to multimedia content that goes far beyond the information contained in printed manuals. The self-explanatory system can be used without training, making it easy to get familiar with the operation of a vehicle," said TU Institute for Business Informatics' Dr Michael Schermann.

The development team stated that the next step is to sense the drivers mood through elevated speech patterns or tone of voice. When angry, the animations are suppressed.  In a time a difficulty, I would not care to see flashy animations, I suppose.

Eavesdropper

by Mike Stanley

Expanding on the topic of “active safety,” Freescale recently announced advanced Xtrinsic sensors for use in Electronic Stability Control (ESC). ESC works by comparing vehicle responses to user control inputs. If the two are inconsistent, ESC applies the individual wheel brakes of the car to bring things back in line. ESC is standard in high end vehicles today, but the technology is moving into the mainstream market as well. The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will require the technology in most 2012 model vehicles. ESC has the potential to prevent nearly one-third of all fatal car accidents and 70 percent of fatal accidents of light trucks and vans.

The MMA690xQ dual-axis (X/Y) low-g accelerometers were designed specifically for safety critical applications. The devices are controlled via a standard SPI interface. Built with safety requirements in mind, the SPI module checks data parity and number of clock edges in a packet and flags errors to the host. The MMA690xQ also monitors critical internal voltages, on-chip clock frequencies, device temperature and programmed data integrity. The integrated self-test feature can apply an electrostatic force to stimulate and confirm accelerometer mechanical movement.

Interested? Read the complete entry

RAF fighter pilot Andy Green intends to get behind the wheel of a new concept car that will push him forward at an astounding 1000mph. The car, called ‘Bloodhound’, is powered by a rocket bolted onto a Eurofighter-Typhoon jet engine which should provide enough thrust to grab the land speed record. The car also uses several Intel Atom processors in the cockpit that handles all the telemetry and diagnostic readouts. The Bloodhound is currently in a preliminary construction stage and should begin trial speed runs by 2012. Bloodhound’s pilot Andy Green has been keeping a diary to keep the enthusiastic crowds informed on the projects development and say’s, “It’s worth mentioning that we’re not the only team trying for a Land Speed Record. The competition includes two US cars, the North American Eagle and the Fossett LSR car (which is currently up for sale, if you fancy your chances), plus Australian Rosco McGlashan’s Aussie Invader 5R, which is aiming at 1000 mph.  They are each taking a different approach to us but as far as we can see, making progress.” For more information on the Bloodhound project and detailed schematics of its design please visit: http://www.bloodhoundssc.com/

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