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Amid the various articles and media hysteria regarding the recall of 1.4 million Chrysler cars after vulnerabilities were disclosed, one executive argues this could be the tip of the iceberg.

Tim Erlin is director of security and product management at Tripwire. He argues Chrysler has an opportunity to make the most out of this incident and pioneer software security for the automotive industry, adding there are known software security best practices. However, he added: “A recall has...

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Swedish car manufacturer Volvo, alongside technology partners Telstra and Bosch, are set to run Australia’s first driverless vehicle demonstration trials in November.

The news was announced by the ARRB Group, Australia’s national independent road research agency and will utilise ARRB’s Australian Driverless Vehicle Initiative. The first Australian trials of automated vehicles will coincide with a driverless vehicle conference to be hosted by the state of South...

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Earlier this week we had the views of US drivers on whether they would be happy with being ferried around in autonomous vehicles, and the response was less than unanimous. Now, survey data from UK insurance provider Bobatoo shows only a quarter of UK respondents would describe themselves as ‘excited’ about driverless cars.

This survey differs from the study by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI), which focused exclusively on respondents...

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A survey of US drivers from the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) reveals the majority would not want to give up driving for fully automated vehicles for the time being.

43% of the 505 respondents indicated a preference for no self-driving, while 40% would be happy with partially self-driving vehicles and only 15% want completely autonomous. The report notes preference for vehicle automation “generally decreased” as age increased.

More than...

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A new study from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) argues driverless cars will deliver both economical and environmental gains.

The study, authored by Berkeley Lab researchers Jeff Greenblatt and Samveg Saxena, asserts an electric vehicle deployed as an autonomous taxi in 2030 would provide between 63% and 82% lower greenhouse gas emissions per mile when compared against a project 2030 hybrid vehicle, and 90% lower alongside a current gasoline-powered...

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Automatic Labs has announced $24 million in series B funding to “continue its mission to transform the car ownership experience with a host of connected car apps built on the Automatic platform.”

The company recently launched App Gallery, ostensibly an app store for connected cars, and its own developer platform, which is available to build apps for “just about any car since 1996”. It aims to use the cash injection to accelerate growth and continue expanding its...

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If you wanted a connected car, you would have to put down a considerable sum of money for a car technologically-savvy enough. Yet one Dallas-based firm is aiming to turn all that on its head.

Meet Vinli. The startup, which debuted at TechCrunch Disrupt SF in September, has the simple mission statement of “turning your car into a smart connected car”, by installing a $99 device into your vehicle and utilising Vinli’s apps, app store and 4G LTE connection. And the startup...

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According to the latest research note from Juniper Research, 20% of passenger vehicles on the road in 2019 will be connected.

The findings come in a new whitepaper, entitled ‘M2M in an IoT World’. Juniper argues telematics will remain the best performing sector in all M2M markets over the next five years. Describing it as one of the “cornerstones” of the broader M2M industry, the researchers note the wide variety of use cases, including usage-based insurance...

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A whitepaper from Capgemini argues that, in the connected automotive world, the potential attack surface extends across the entire ecosystem, with autonomous driving increasing the surface even further.

The report, entitled 'Cybersecurity for the Connected Vehicle', asserts that information will become increasingly exposed as it is used in and travels to and from vehicles. Connected cars will be able to connect in a variety of ways; the introduction of telematics services and...

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There’s an old joke about the elderly driver who’s never had an accident in their 60 years on the road – but they’ve seen hundreds of them. Is that ancient gag to be re-applied for self driving cars? Google has admitted that its autonomous cars had been in 11 minor traffic accidents over a six year period, yet was adamant their cars had not been the cause of the accident.

Chris Urmson, principal engineer and software lead for Google’s self-driving car...

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A survey conducted by the College of Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University has found a strong interest in the introduction of parental controls in driverless cars.

The poll, of 1000 people aged between 18 and 70, found 84% wanting to control the speed limit for teenage drivers, adhere to a curfew time, and limit the number of passengers in the car. 61% of respondents said they would like a control feature to limit the geographic range the car will travel, while a similar number...

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A patent from Google for a technology which enables self-driving cars to detect hand signals from cyclists has been released.

The patent, U.S. Patent 9,014,905, credits Henrik Kretzschmar and Jiajun Zhu as the inventors, and defines as its abstract: “Methods and systems for detecting hand signals of a cyclist by an autonomous vehicle are described.

“An example method may involve a computing device receiving a plurality of data points corresponding to an environment of an...

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IBM and Peugeot have announced a partnership to help better analyse data to deliver new services from connected vehicles.

The latest move, which builds upon the two firms’ partnership from last year for big data and analytics tools, aims to allow Peugeot to develop new business opportunities for a variety of industries, including automotive distribution, smarter cities, and retail. Financial terms of the seven-year deal were not disclosed.

The two companies also noted the importance of...

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When will self-driving cars be available? Which manufacturer will be first to market with a fully autonomous vehicle (AV)? Who should be looking to the connected car market?

These questions among others were put to a series of experts by Part Catalog, with some fascinating responses.

Opinion was divided over the first car manufacturer being the first to market a complete AV, with Daimler and Tesla the most popular responses. Gerry Malloy, of Autofile, argued Tesla would be first...

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The advent of self-driving cars should theoretically give its passengers plenty of time to do other tasks. But a new study suggests that, for a small proportion, most of that time will be spent being sick.

The study from the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI), entitled ‘Motion Sickness in Self-Driving Vehicles’, asserts between 6% and 10% of American adults riding in fully self-driving vehicles would be expected to ‘often’,...

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Two conflicting pieces of research have hit Connected CarTech’s inbox this morning. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) claim the development of connected and autonomous vehicles will help generate 320000 jobs in the UK and deliver a £51bn injection to the economy. But what does that mean on a human scale?

Research released by fleet telematics provider Masternaut reveals more than half (55%) of business drivers aged 25-34 are concerned they will be replaced by driverless...

The level of merger and acquisition technology in the connected car space has hit record levels, according to new research from corporate finance advisory firm Hampleton Partners.

The connected car industry is getting a wide amount of hype. Gartner’s most recent hype cycle positioned autonomous cars and the Internet of Things at its peak of expectations, expecting both to reach a plateau of productivity within five to 10 years.

It’s no surprise, therefore, that M&A levels rise with these...

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Google has made a series of announcements related to connected car tech, but at two different levels. On the one hand, the search giant has announced hopes its self-driving cars will gain official release within five years, while elsewhere the Android Auto app has been announced, which lets users interact with their smartphones more safely when on the road.

You’ll need a little bit more than just the app to get started with Android Auto, however; users will need an Android 5.0 or...

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A class action lawsuit filed in California has alleged Toyota, Ford and General Motors has failed customers in its duty to ensure its connected vehicles function properly and safely.

The suit, which can be found here, argues the defendants ‘failed to ensure the basic electronic security of their vehicles’. “Anyone can hack into them, take control of the basic functions of the vehicle, and thereby endanger the safety of the...

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A research note from the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) has poured cold water on the concept that autonomous cars would lead to a reduction in fuel consumption.

The study, from UMTRI researchers Brandon Schoettle and Michael Sivak, weighs up the energy-saving pros and cons of self-driving vehicles. In theory, if cars were driverless then there would be fewer of them on the road, and would conserve fuel through more eco-friendly driving standards; increasing...