AC #2023 – 固特异轮胎上长有苔藓，丰田公司推出第一款柔性燃料混合动力车，特斯拉令人印象深刻的电子产品

大家好，我是约翰•麦克罗伊，欢迎收看Autoline 中国，我们的节目将为您呈现汽车领域最重要最前沿的行业新技术。

固特异轮胎长有苔藓
轮胎公司固特异刚刚发布了几款概念轮胎。一款是专门为电动车设计的。由于电动车瞬时扭矩和电池重量，轮胎在电动车上的磨损速度提高了30％。固特异所谓的带有电力驱动技术的高效抓地性能解决了这些问题。固特异说，这种轮胎明年将在欧洲上市。另一款概念轮胎是智能轮胎原型，其特点是它能将传感器和算法通过应用与车队操作员进行实时通信。最后一款概念轮胎也是最疯狂的一种，它被称为Oxygene。它旨在帮助改善空气质量。这种概念轮胎有生长在侧壁的苔藓，它吸收和循环道路上的水分，使光合作用发生并释放氧气到空气中。

欧司朗为夜视创造红外发光二极管
照明供应商欧司朗将推出一系列新型增强红外LED，这将有利改善多种夜视驾驶状况。一套用于汽车外饰驾驶员辅助和自动系统，将帮助进行夜视，行人保护和车道检测。另一套适用于驾驶室和驾驶室监控和手势识别等汽车内饰应用。对于每种应用，都有多种波长和光束角可供选择。

接下来我们将看到……吉普发布一系列狂野概念车。

丰田发布首款柔性燃料混合动力车
丰田表示正在打造全球首款柔性燃料混合动力车。改装后的普锐斯可以使用汽油或乙醇等替代燃料。它是为依靠乙醇燃料的巴西市场开发的。丰田表示，这是为达到2050年将车辆二氧化碳排放量减少90％的目标而做的一部分努力。

吉普发布摩押概念
每年吉普都会为犹他州摩押的复活节吉普车野生动物园创造一些狂野概念车。以入门级越野车B-UTE为例，它是一个略有改动版的吉普自由侠。吉普设计公司的负责人马克艾伦称其为，具有更强越野能力的牧马人的入门车型。然后是配置部分Mopar生产售后件的Nacho，可能更符合普通牧马人客户的要求。吉普觉得自己尚未有过多探索的一个领域就是高速越野，巴哈风格。因此，它设计了Sandstorm，前部垂直行程为35厘米，后部为45厘米，6.4L 392 HEMI发动机动力充足，配有6速手动变速箱。其中我想称之为吉普原型的便是4Speed：没有车门，车顶，HVAC系统，没有收音机和后排座椅，但它具有碳纤维引擎盖，挡泥板和后部地板，总重量可节省430公斤。说到与过去的连接性，Jeepster的特点是双色调的油漆工作和切断的屋顶，使外型很酷。除非你知道自己现在在哪里，否则你无法知道自己将要去哪里。设计团队为了达到这样的越野理念，还购买了1965年的Wagoneer，并用一些新技术对其进行了更新，以制造完美的公路旅行车。这些概念完美地让它们奔跑，行驶，用灵魂创造，这将会造就一个真正的越野之旅。更令人惊奇的是，其设计团队只用了5个月的时间来创造这些概念。

接下来……我会带你走进一位汽车专家，了解他为何对特斯拉在其电动汽车中使用的电子产品印象深刻。

特斯拉的印象深刻的电子
特斯拉在Model 3上因很多问题和可疑设计而受到很多批评，但都不涉及电子产品。

Munro＆Associates是一家在汽车和其他产品上进行竞争力基准测试的公司。最近拆卸了特斯拉Model 3，但对车上所有机械部件的设计都印象平平。

但Munro被Model 3上电子产品的先进程度所震撼。具体来说，其主板比汽车行业目前使用的任何电子电路都更加密集。它说电池组的设计令人印象深刻。

你会期望在硅谷设计和开发的汽车在电子产品方面会处于最前沿。但Munro表示，这可能需要近十年的时间才能使得赶上汽车行业的其他领域。

那今天的节目到这里就结束了。感谢您收看Autoline中国。

Hello, I’m John McElroy, welcome to Autoline China, the show that covers some of the most important new technologies in the automotive industry.

GOODYEAR TIRES GROW MOSS
The tire company Goodyear just revealed several concept tires. One is designed specifically for electric vehicles. Tires wear out 30% faster on EVs because of their instant torque and the weight of the batteries. What Goodyear calls EfficientGrip Performance with Electric Drive Technology deals with those issues. Goodyear says the tire will be available in Europe next year. Another concept is the intelligent tire prototype, which features sensors and algorithms to communicate in real-time with fleet operators via an app. And the last concept is the wildest of the bunch. Called the Oxygene, it’s designed to help improve air quality. It has living moss growing in the sidewalls, which absorbs and circulate moisture from the road, allowing photosynthesis to occur and that releases oxygen into the air. 

OSRAM CREATES INFRARED LEDs FOR NIGHT VISION
The lighting supplier Osram is coming out with a new range of enhanced infrared LEDs that will help in a number of situations. One set is for exterior driver assist and autonomous systems and will help with night vision, pedestrian protection and lane detection. The other set is suited for interior applications like driver and cabin monitoring and gesture recognition. And for each application there’s a number of wavelengths and beam angles to choose from.

Still to come…Jeep reveals a number of wild concept vehicles.

TOYOTA REVEALS 1ST FLEX-FUEL HYBRID
Toyota says it’s building the world’s first flex-fuel hybrid. The modified Prius can run on gasoline or alternative fuels like ethanol. It was developed for the Brazilian market which relies heavily on ethanol for fuel. Toyota says this is part of its effort to reduce vehicle CO2 emissions 90% by 2050.

JEEP REVEALS MOAB CONCEPTS
Every year Jeep creates a number of wild concepts for the Easter Jeep Safari in Moab, Utah. Take the entry-level off-roader, the B-UTE, a slightly modified Renegade. Mark Allen, the head of Jeep design, calls it a gateway drug into the more off-road capable Wrangler. Then comes the Nacho, which comes loaded with production aftermarket pieces from Mopar and is probably more in-line with what the average Wrangler customer will do. One area that Jeep felt it hadn’t explored much is high-speed off-roading, Baja style. So it designed the Sandstorm, with 35 centimeters of vertical travel in the front and 45 centimeters in the rear and plenty of power from a 6.4L 392 HEMI mated to a 6-speed manual trans. What I would call a throwback to the original Jeep is the 4Speed: no doors, roof, HVAC system, or radio or rear seats, but it has a carbon fiber hood, fenders and rear floor for a total weight savings of 430 kilograms. Speaking of nods to the past, the Jeepster features a two-tone paint job and a chopped roof for a cool retro look. And since you can’t know where you’re going unless you know where you’ve already been, the design team also bought a 1965 Wagoneer and updated it with a bunch of new technology to make the perfect road trip vehicle. What’s best about these concepts is they’re running, driving, soulful creations that will likely see an off-road trail. And it’s even more amazing that it only took the design team 5 months to create the concepts.

Coming up next…I’ll tell you about one automotive expert who is very impressed with the electronics that Tesla uses in its electric cars.

TESLA’S IMPRESSIVE ELECTRONICS
Tesla has earned a lot of criticism for problems and questionable design with its Model 3, not when it comes to the electronics.

Munro & Associates is a company that does competitive benchmarking on cars and other products. It recently tore down a Tesla Model 3 and was not very impressed with the design of all the mechanical components on the car.

But Munro was knocked out at how advanced the electronics are on the Model 3. Specifically the mother boards are more densely packed with electronic circuitry than anything currently used in the auto industry. And it says the design of the battery pack is impressively engineered.

You’d kind of expect that a car designed and developed in Silicon Valley would be at the bleeding edge when it comes to electronics. But Munro says it could take the rest of the auto industry nearly a decade to catch up.

But that wraps up today’s report, thanks for watching Autoline China.