Counting RISC-V Cores
RISC-V Beyond Embedded: How Many Cores Will It Take?
By Junko Yoshida
Engineers are using the RISC-V core to add functions to their SoCs – but not as a full-fledged processor.
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China's Transition From EVs to AVs
By Junko Yoshida
Chinese ADAS/autonomous-vehicle development is riding the wave of EV momentum. The question is how soon and to what degere Chinese OEMs plan to go autonomous with their EVs.
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GM, Red Hat Join Forces on Auto OS
By George Leopold
The Linux-based operating system facilitates vehicle software updates and ‘functional safety.’
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Nigeria Targets Robotics to Boost Hardware Skills
By Fred Ohwahwa
A group of ‘revolutionaries’ led by a committed educator are attempting to lift Nigeria out of its technology malaise.
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What Caught Our Eye This Week
Panasonic Dances to the Tune of Tesla: As the EV battery competition heats up, Panasonic is considering a new U.S. facility to mass produce a new type of high-capacity battery. The move would create additional capacity for new Tesla batteries — designed to increase EV range as much as 15%. Panasonic will initially commence the high-capacity battery production next year in Wakayama, Japan. Is the Japanese company’s move warranted? Answer: Only if its Wakayama factory proves profitable. But Panasonic wants to show its flag, since Tesla plans to build a new Gigafactory in Austin as its U.S. manufacturing hub for its Model Y and its Cybertruck.
Nikkei Asia: Panasonic weighs building new U.S. battery plant for Tesla
Toyota, Too, Hit by Supply Chain Crunch: “Unprecedented” price hikes for raw materials are finally catching up with the world’s largest automaker. Toyota, which weathered the semiconductor shortage relatively unscathed compared to rivals, reported this week a 33% drop in fourth-quarter operating profit. Toyota expects materials costs to more than double to 1.45 trillion yen ($11.1 billion) in the fiscal year that started in April.
Reuters: Toyota warns profits to skid 20% as raw materials costs pile up
Tesla in Shanghai: Responding to CNBC’s report concerning “Tesla production lags in Shanghai due to parts shortages, Covid restrictions,” Sino Auto Insights’s Tu Le observes, “This IS predictable and not just for Tesla.” In his newsletter, Le wrote that given this week’s work stoppage, added to a chronic parts shortage and positive Covid tests affecting workers at a Tesla supplier, “Getting those lost April [production] units back in May and June could prove challenging. That means playing catchup to their original Master Production Schedule for 2022 the rest of the year.”
Quantum BMWs: Pasqal, the French quantum processor startup, is expanding a partnership with BMW Group to apply its quantum processors to the automaker’s manufacturing processes. Quantum-based simulations used, for example, to ensure auto parts conform to specifications are more detailed and accurate, the partners said, including higher-fidelity renderings of a complete vehicle. In turn, that capability could help BMW design lighter components, reducing weight. Pasqal claims its neutral-atom quantum processor is 30 times more efficient running such simulations than current superconducting quantum processors.
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