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Runtime: 7:12
0:24 Tesla Officially Opens China Factory
1:07 Nissan Creates Sound Reducing Meta-Material
2:06 Toyota to Build City of the Future
2:48 Hyundai Partners with Uber on Passenger Drones
3:30 Ford Expands Trial of Delivery Robots
4:28 Mercedes Reveals Concept Inspired by AVATAR Movie
5:29 Continental’s Speakerless Audio System Gets 3D Treatment
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This is Autoline Daily reporting on all aspects of the global automotive industry.
TESLA OFFICIALLY OPENS CHINA FACTORY
Earlier today, Tesla and CEO Elon Musk held a ceremony to officially open its factory in China. During the event, the company handed over the first Chinese-made Model 3s to the public. Technically, deliveries began last week but those were to employees. The Model Y, which will also be built at the plant, made its Chinese debut as well. Elon Musk said the company expects demand for that model to outstrip all of its other vehicles combined in the Chinese market. The factory is currently building around 1,000 vehicles a week and the company hopes to double that over the next year. Eventually the plan is to increase production capacity to 500,000 vehicles a year.
NISSAN CREATES SOUND REDUCING META-MATERIAL
Nissan has a very interesting, new sound insulation material that it’s working on. It’s a meta-material that’s made from a lattice structure covered with a thin plastic film. By controlling air vibrations it’s able to limit noises between 500 and 1200 hertz, which would be things like road or engine noise. Current material used to isolate those frequencies consists mainly of rubber board. Nissan’s meta-material is 4-times lighter and still offers the same noise reducing capabilities. Due to its simple structure it also costs about the same to mass produce as the current materials. Interestingly enough, Nissan started research on meta-materials back in 2008 when, at the time, it was used in high-sensitivity antennas for electromagnetic wave research. Kind of wild to go from wave research to reducing road noise in a car.
TOYOTA TO BUILD CITY OF THE FUTURE
Toyota announced it will build a prototype city of the future. The site will be located on a 175-acre piece of land at the base of Mount Fuji in Japan. Called Woven City, it’s envisioned as a living laboratory, where full-time residents and researchers will be able to test and develop technologies like autonomy, robotics, personal mobility, smart homes and artificial intelligence in a real-world environment. About 2,000 people will live in the city at the start and more will be added over time. The city will be a fully connected ecosystem powered by hydrogen fuel cells. Toyota plans to break ground on the site in early 2021.
HYUNDAI TEAMS WITH UBER ON PASSENGER DRONES
Hyundai and Uber are teaming up to collaborate on passenger drones and have revealed a prototype at CES. The concept is 100% electric, has a cruising speed of up to 180 MPH and has a range of around 60 miles. Initially, it will be piloted but in the future the plan is to make it autonomous. Hyundai, which is the first automaker to join Uber Elevate, will manufacture the air taxis and Uber will provide support services, and connections to ground transportation.
FORD EXPANDS USE OF DELIVERY ROBOTS
You may remember Ford’s somewhat creepy, two legged package delivering robot that it started testing back in May. Well, now it’s expanding use of the robots, called Digit, to further explore how they can help commercial vehicle customers. Ford will use the robots to test indoor or first-mile logistics, the last 50-feet of delivery and how the robots and Ford’s connected vehicles talk to one another. If Digit comes up on something it’s not familiar with it can send a picture back to the vehicle to tap into additional computing power. And if it’s a really tricky situation, the vehicle could send information to the cloud to get help from other sources. Ford will buy the first two Digit robots to come off the assembly line, which include upgrades from the May prototype, like feet that allow the robots to balance on one leg, new sensors to look at and map the world around them and more powerful on-board hardware.
MERCEDES SHOWS CONCEPT INSPIRED BY AVATAR MOVIE
Mercedes-Benz revealed its vision for the future of mobility. If the concept, called the VISION AVTR looks a little out of this world, that’s because it was developed through a partnership with the team that’s making the AVATAR film series. It’s got crazy features, like the menu for selecting different functions is projected onto the palm of your hand, 33 bionic flaps on the back of the car can make subtle gestures to communicate with the driver or other road users and the car can turn left and right but also move sideways at roughly 30-degrees. But we think the most intriguing thing about the AVTR is its battery. It’s made of graphene-based organic cell chemistry that is completely free of rare earths and metals and is completely recyclable, which is one of the biggest issues facing EVs because no one has figured out how to fully recycle EV batteries.
CONTINENTAL’S SPEAKERLESS AUDIO GETS 3D TREATMENT
Continental continues to improve its speakerless audio system, which we’ve shown in the past. As a quick reminder, rather than using typical speakers, Conti’s system uses actuators mounted behind components, like the A-pillars, door panels, roof lining and the rear shelf that cause them to vibrate, emitting sounds in different frequency ranges. Continental has now teamed up with audio specialist Sennheiser to combine its speakerless system with Sennheiser’s 3D audio technology. The result is a more immersive sound experience that envelops passengers. Also, the system reduces space and weight anywhere between 75 and 90%, compared to a conventional system, which can weigh as much as 40 kilograms or about 88 pounds. Continental thinks the system gives designers more freedom to make the interior they want and would be good for EVs, where weight and space are important.
Part of the Autoline crew is out in Las Vegas at CES to get the latest on the new technology and gadgets automakers and suppliers are showing off, which would not be possible without our sponsors Magna, Gentex and Bose. Look for those interviews beginning later today on our website, Autoline.tv or our YouTube channel.
But that’s it for today, thanks for watching and please join us again tomorrow.
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John McElroy is an influential thought leader in the automotive industry. He is a journalist, lecturer, commentator and entrepreneur. He created “Autoline Daily,” the first industry webcast of industry news and analysis.