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Editorial The consolidation plot thickens The Navigator As the world turns to C-V2X, Europe picks WiFi Complexity of Autonomous-Systems Simulation, Validation Soars to the Clouds Scalable, cloud-based architectures are gaining greater acceptance for simulating and testing the myriad development aspects of automated driving. Connectivity Solutions for AVs The promises of fully connected autonomous vehicles are great, but so are the challenges. What M&E Can Teach the AV Industry About Data Media & entertainment offers important learnings on data retention, management, scalability and security. The Rodney Dangerfield of Automated-Driving Sensors Radar and lidar get all the attention, but Inertial Measurement Units are the backbone of sensor fusion. Suppliers are scrambling to make IMUs more accurate-and much less expensive. The Sense-itive Side of Autonomous Vehicles BASF is exploring how specific materials-and even paint colors and finishes-can improve the capabilities of AV sensors.

The main purpose of this paper is to develop a reliable bench test to understand the vibratory behavior of the half shafts under applied torque comparable to an idle condition. In some cases, the half shaft path is a major factor influencing the idle vibration in the vehicle. At idle condition vehicle vibrations are caused by engine excitation and then they pass through different paths to the body structure. Half shaft manufacturers generally characterize shaft joints for their frictional behavior and typically there is no data for vibration characteristics of the half shaft under idle conditions. However, for predictive risk management, the vibratory behavior of the half shaft needs to be identified. This can be achieved from measured frequency response functions under preloaded test conditions.

A toroidal variator is the core part of an advanced Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT) design. Knowing its behavior and internal forces is key to defining the operational conditions of the transmission. To maintain a steady-state speed ratio, or to accurately and efficiently move between speed ratios, optimal trunnion control force is required. The unique design of the toroidal CVT makes the design very sensitive to trunnion positioning and force transients. Analytical understanding of the mechanism response is critical to toroidal variator controller design. A critical feature of the toroidal CVT simulation is representation of the friction forces in the disk-roller contact. This effect is important to the mechanism torque capacity and efficiency.

Cars become more understanding Software and hardware advances are enabling voice-recognition technologies to rise to industry challenges. Wanted: Broader knowledge, new skills Continuous learning is a must for engineers to meet greater technology and productivity challenges -- and boost their own marketability. Seeing green Environmental and cost benefits are driving the auto industry to adopt materials derived from renewable sources such as soybeans and corn. Searching for fossil-fuel alternatives Future engine and drivetrain programs at Volkswagen are focused on alternative fuels and radical changes to engine combustion, but the battery may yet provide the light at the end of the technology tunnel. Emissions rules keep labs humming As long as there are regulations, engineers and technicians will be busy running tests in laboratories.

During a special scientific project (SFB 365), supported by the DFG, a parallel hybrid concept for passenger cars, called the Autark Hybrid, was developed, assembled and investigated. The drive line consists an electric engine supplied by a 120V-Ni/MH-battery for about 30 km electrical driving distance and a turbo diesel engine. Both engines use the same gearbox, the i2-gearbox, which is specially designed to have a wide spreading. Significant fuel savings are achieved by recuperation of kinetic energy and by avoidance of inefficient operation of the ic-engine at areas of low power demand. The results from the research project concerning fuel consumption, respectively fuel saving will be presented and discussed in this paper. The adjustment between simulation and test rig investigations shows problems by the practical realisation of operation strategy and operation mode of the powertrain elements. As result smaller fuel savings can be realised than predicted.

Firstly, there was the testing of the Service Module and, secondly, the testing of the Payload Module (PLM). This paper discusses the thermal balance testing of the PLM. The PLM, itself, is 7.5 metres tall; too large to fit into a test facility solar beam. ...The Envisat PLM supports a complement of 10 earth observation instruments and was successfully tested in July/August 1999 at the Large Space Simulator (LSS), at ESTEC, The Netherlands.