BMW Wont Quit Steering Wheels Just Yet UpdatedGood morning Welcome to The Morning Shift, your roundup of the auto news you crave, all in one place every weekday morning. Here are the important stories you need to know. Gear BMW Is Hedging Its Bets With Flexible EV Architectures On All Models By 2. FCC Verification NOTE This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for Class B digital device. Complete Technical Acronyms, Glossary Definitions for PC, SAN, NAS, QA, Testing, HDTV, Wireless, Linux, Embedded, Networks, Video, Digital, pharma, Unix, Video. Starting in 2. 02. BMW is going to build every model on a flexible vehicle architecture that can accept electric, plug in hybrid and internal combustion engine powertrains, Klaus Frhlich, member of BMWs board of management, said this week in Frankfurt. With government regulations influencing purchase price of electric cars, EV infrastructure in limbo, fluctuating fuel prices, ever changing emissions regulations, inter city driving restrictions, and battery technology and price rapidly evolving, the success of electric cars in the near term is still uncertain. For an automaker to place all of its bets on EVs is a dangerous move, but to not offer an extended EV range could also be similarly disastrous. The industrys volatility has driven BMW to hedge its bets by basing all models starting in 2. This means that, pretty soon, consumers in various markets could theoretically be able to buy a fully electric, plug in hybrid or internal combustion engine version of any BMW model. I spoke with head of the BMW i brand Robert Irlinger at the Frankfurt Motor Show, and he stressed thatwith the insecure future of the EV and combustion enginebuilding all models on architectures that can accept a variety of different powertrain technologies just makes sense. When I asked how BMW can build a gas powered car on an electric car platform without, for example, having a giant void where the batteries would be, he made clear that a standard architecture across model variants really only means that things like the crash structure and suspension mounting points stay the same. The body between the axlesi. EV, PHEV or ICE packaging needs. So, as an example, an EV version of a 3 series might replace the exhaust tunnel with a flat floor to store a battery pack. Good morning Welcome to The Morning Shift, your roundup of the auto news you crave, all in one place every weekday morning. Here are the important stories you need. M 1 2 3 Getting Started Microsoft Keyboards 0505 Part No. X1111970 Welcome Congratulations on your purchase of a Microsoft keyboard, which includes. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, ISPendorsed frontman and villain of a theoretical future Revenge of the Nerds reboot, is trying to dupe everyone into believing abandoning. So yes, even if BMW says electrification is part of its grand plans, the companys immediate plans are to keep a variety of powertrain options on the table. Gear For Self Driving Cars, BMW Is Holding Onto Its Steering Wheels. Another question I asked Irlinger and his colleague Alexander Schmuck, manager of the Product Technology Communications team, is how a brand that markets its vehicles as the Ultimate Driving Machines sees itself in a future where cars drive themselves. How does BMWs sporty dynamism and other weird PR buzzwords sell cars when people wont even be drivingThis document proposes to establish a new Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard FMVSS, No. V2V communications for new light. Irlanger told me that even drivers who appreciate the handling of a BMW are still interested in drivers assist features, especially during boring driving. InformationWeek. com News, analysis and research for business technology professionals, plus peertopeer knowledge sharing. Engage with our community. Over the past few weeks there has been a very active email writing campaign going on among about 250 FCC members. The pros and cons of mandatory membership in the. Drivers Tested To Comply With Fcc Standards For Home Or Office Use' title='Drivers Tested To Comply With Fcc Standards For Home Or Office Use' />Irlanger told me that even drivers who appreciate the handling of a BMW are still interested in drivers assist features, especially during boring driving conditions like traffic jams. But obviously, they still want the option to drive, telling me BMW doesnt have any plans of removing steering wheels or pedals from the cars at this time. As for how that position will change in the distant future, BMW wouldnt tell me. But at least for the mid term, BMW has no interest in ditching the wheel as it explores autonomy, which isnt surprising, because the brand would likely face an identity crisis otherwise. Gear Samsung Is Throwing Down Cash For Autonomous Cars. Weve known Samsung has been dabbling in autonomous cars for a while now, but today the company announced how serious it is with its 3. Samsung Automotive Innovation Fund, whose goal is to support connected car and autonomous technologies. Those technologies, the worlds largest smartphone maker writes in its press release, include smart sensors, machine vision, artificial intelligence, high performance computing, connectivity solutions, automotive grade safety solutions, security, and privacy. The first investment from that fundwhich will total nearly 9. Tech Crunchwill go into the Australian company TTTECH a company that Audi, too, has made investments into, which is known for integrating software for advanced driver assistance systems, as well its work in functional safety, deterministic networking, real time systems. On top of that, Harman now owned by Samsung, has created the AutonomousADAS Strategic Business Unit, which will work with Samsungs team to develop key technologies for safer, smarter, connected vehicles. Its worth mentioning that Samsung stresses that it is not going to enter the car manufacturing business. Instead, it will focus on working with automakers and mobility enablers to develop the next generation of automotive innovation. Makes sense I guess, as it seems everyone in the tech sphere is throwing money into autonomous cars. Gear It Turns Out, That Driver Dressed Up As A Car Seat Was With Ford. In early August, quite a few people were weirded out by whatat first glanceappeared to be a car with no driver, but what on second glance, was actually a car with a driver dressed as a seat. We eventually found out that the stunt was part of a research effort by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute to look into the potential need for additional exterior signals on automated vehicles to better communicate with pedestrians, cyclists and human drivers. Now Automotive Newshas learned a bit more about that research, including the fact that it was ultimately funded by Ford, and that the whole point was to come up with a standard light signal to communicate autonomous cars next moves to people outside the vehicle. After speaking with Fords human factors technical specialist John Shutko, the news site wrote The white light display, located at the top of the windshield, is designed to communicate intent to yield way or accelerate from a stop, which today is done through hand gestures, head nods and eye contact. The displays color and location were chosen to comply with federal motor vehicle safety standards and not create confusion with other light signals on the vehicle, Shutko said. The story goes on, describing what the different signals mean The cue for yielding to a full stop is two white lights that move side to side. A rapidly blinking white light indicates the vehicle is beginning to accelerate from a stop and a solid white light means the vehicle is driving under computer control. Ford says it wants to share results of its research with other automakers to eventually agree upon a common standard. So who knows, maybe the light signals at the top of that Ford Transits windshieldwhich you can see in action in this videomight become commonplace on streets around the world. Gear Trucks May Be The First To Get Self Driving Tech. Googles self driving vehicle division, Waymo, has been working on autonomobiles for years now, teaming up with Fiat Chrysler for vehicles, hooking up with ride hailing giant Lyft for co development, and even setting up a virtual world to test the tech. But even if its photos of the Chrysler Pacificas and Google Bubble Cars that make it to the front of all the newspapers, Waymos self driving tech may find its first application in commercial trucks, and not passenger cars. Bloombergquotesthe CEO of Alphabets Waymo division, John Krafcik, as saying Ride sharing makes a lot of sense for the world. For goods transportation, which could travel primarily on highways, theres a good and compelling use case there, too. Either of those two might be the first ones you see. If you think about it, the type of driving that trucks dofairly predictable, highway driving usually in the slow lanedoes seem to lend itself to automation perhaps more so than the less predictable city driving of passenger cars. Puff Daddy The Saga Continues Rar File. Still, there are a number of hurtles in the way. For example, The Detroit Free Press writes about a hearing today by the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee dealing with how self driving tech will make its way to commercial vehicles. FCC Chair Ajit Pai Cant Come Up With a Single Plausible Reason Not to Screw Up the Entire US Internet. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, ISP endorsed frontman and villain of a theoretical future Revenge of the Nerds reboot, is trying to dupe everyone into believing abandoning open internet principles is inevitable because no opponents have any convincing arguments. At an FCC oversight hearing with the House Commerce Committee this week, Democratic Rep. Michael Doyle challenged Pai to present any sort of willingness to consider the evidence offered by net neutrality supporters, Ars Technica reported. What kind of comment would cause you to change your mind Doyle asked. Pai offered the mind blowing response that he would need to see economic analysis that shows credibly that theres infrastructure investment that has increased dramatically since the enactment of Barack Obama era neutrality rules, or any evidence showing a future economy or consumers experience would be worse without the regulations. Its an insidious response that gets more insidious the further its probed. Network neutrality is the simple principle that common carriers ISPs must treat all traffic on their networks on an equitable basis, whether its newspapers, porn, or a competitors video platform. It does not require anyone to build new infrastructurethough because traffic discrimination is not allowed, these rules of the game force ISPs to act like utilities and upgrade their networks to deal with higher traffic, or they will simply get slower and slower. The idea that because US ISPs have chosen to continue offering subpar services at some of the most expensive rates in the world disproves the principle and thus they should be allowed to set up a tiered system is essentially endorsing a race to the bottom. But its even worse than that. As Techdirt noted earlier this year, ISPs are notorious for taking billions of dollars in government contracts to expand service and then finding various contractual loopholes to pocket as much of the funds as possible. Pais answer simply rewards this behavior, and frankly incentivizes them to present their own subpar services as evidence of the need for further deregulation. A recent report by Free Press also found publicly traded ISPs do not seem to think open network principles are a threat to investment in new infrastructure, according to their own statements to investors. Free Press also disputes Pais account, saying their numbers show investment has increased. As for the implication no one has done convincing research on open network principles and their impact on the economy, there is an incredible wealth of academic and nonprofit research on net neutrality. Pai, who should be responsible for absorbing at least some of this and literally has a policy division at his agency, is citing his own supposed lack of insighta convenient position, since he can always choose to remain unconvinced.