AVL's Reimagine Mobility Podcast

Electrification is another significant focus for the Navy, as it aims to reduce the need for power sources like diesel engines and gas turbines. The power is consumed by shafts and used for various applications, such as propulsion, missile launch, and navigation systems.

  Two challenges arise in a ship: weight and space. Engines need to be more power-dense. The uncrewed mission can last 90 days, ensuring no service is required. Early detection of combustion anomalies allows for additional centrifuge-driven solutions. Advanced technologies like Common rail and a complete fuel purification system are also included.

 The Department of Defense faces significant costs due to diesel fuel, which accounts for 1% of the US's total fossil fuel use. The Navy and Marine Corps are the first to experience severe weather impacts and are the ones affected. To address this issue, the Navy is working on transitioning to carbon-neutral or carbon-free fuel. Additionally, they are working on monitoring engine behavior to provide predictive maintenance and parts for ships. The development of the highest power density engine is also being considered.

 Deep Bandyopadhyay stands out as an accomplished engineering leader with an extensive background spanning over 18 years in various transportation industries. Renowned for his ability to steer multimillion-dollar programs and pioneer innovative solutions, he excels in new technology development, product strategy formulation, and cross-functional collaboration. Dr. Bandyopadhyay's leadership has consistently delivered results, managing engineering teams and programs with P&L exceeding $50M and spanning across the globe.

 Currently serving as Director at Fairbanks Morse Defense, Dr. Bandyopadhyay leads the New Product Development team, driving the creation of pioneering products to facilitate the organic and inorganic growth of the company. He is instrumental in devising top-level strategies aligned with the US Navy's decarbonization and electrification objectives. 

 Dr. Bandyopadhyay's journey has also encompassed impactful roles at Caterpillar (Progress Rail) and FEV, where he strategically advanced emerging technologies and guided transformative product development efforts, always in sync with global market trends. Notably, he holds more than 20 patents in the field of engine development, safeguarding his legacy of innovation.

 Deep Bandyopadhyay holds a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Michigan State University.

 Fairbanks Morse Defense (FMD) builds, maintains, and services the most trusted naval power and propulsion systems on the planet. For more than 100 years, FMD has been a principal supplier of a growing array of leading marine technologies, OEM parts, and turnkey services to the U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard, Military Sealift Command, and Canadian Coast Guard. FMD stands ready to rapidly support the systems that power military fleets without compromising safety or quality. In times of peace and war, the experienced engineers, sailors, and technicians of FMD demonstrate our commitment to supporting the mission and vision of critical global naval operations wherever and whenever needed. FMD is a portfolio company of Arcline Investment Management. 

 To learn more, visit www.FairbanksMorseDefense.com.

 Fairbanks Morse Defense News

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The automotive industry faces challenges in managing software and hardware complexity, especially in the context of over-the-air updates. OEMs need help managing a bifurcated world with 100 ECUs and need to integrate software updates into their stacks. However, the future of record vehicle architecture will simplify this process. Chip manufacturers must find affordable platforms for their products, but it doesn't mean they can afford it for a million vehicles. The biggest takeaway from the last 5 to 10 years is to reduce hardware and software complexity, then reduce service complexity on the back end. Engineers must constantly reduce and make better, as they love to create and add new features, but they must also continually reduce and improve.

Integrating technology into the vehicle is challenging, as it requires a balance between the car, cloud, and motor contract ecosystems to ensure optimal functionality and customer satisfaction. The challenge is not just the car itself but also the customer experience, as they may wait for their car to start on their mobile app after just a few seconds. The goal is to create a seamless consumer experience, ensuring their needs and expectations are met.

 Timothy J. Yerdon President, Plymouth Technology Advisors

(Former Ford Motor Company and Visteon Corporation Executive)

Tim Yerdon is the President of Plymouth Technology Advisors, a global consultancy providing strategic guidance to vehicle manufacturers, suppliers, technology companies & start-up organizations supporting the rapidly evolving business of connected, electrified & autonomous mobility. Tim’s passion is around the seamless integration of design and technology to deliver customer driven, must have, user experiences.

Previously, Tim was global director at Ford Motor Company leading the business and product ownership for retail vehicles around software, services & hardware integration related to digital cockpit systems & in-vehicle-infotainment. He also was an initial member of the internal startup Team Edison, Ford’s dedicated team for battery electric vehicles that developed the customer-inspired and award-winning Mustang Mach-E SUV, F-150 Lightning truck, and E-Transit van. In prior roles as chief engineer of technology implementation & director of software and hardware strategy he led teams delivering common hardware, software and connected services with supplier-partners across electrified platforms.

Tim also served as Chief Marketing Executive at Visteon Corporation, a $3.8B global technology leader in vehicle cockpit electronics and connected car solutions. Leading all aspects of marketing and communications he was a key member of the c-suite leadership team delivering 11 straight quarters of top-line revenue growth, margin improvement, and stock price increases.
As an established innovation leader at Visteon, Tim also led diverse teams in industrial design, user experience design, connected car services, advanced cockpit electronics, advanced driver awareness systems, marketing, racing and the InnovationWorks® organization.

Tim is currently on the University of Michigan-Dearborn’s Industry Advisory Board and most recently added as an Innovation Judge for the prestigious Automotive News PACE awards. Tim previously served on the Consumer Technology Associations (CTA™) Board of Industry Leaders, Society of Automotive Engineers - Connect2Car consortium chairperson and Detroit Chamber | MICHauto talent retention committee chairperson.

Tim holds a master's degree in manufacturing systems from the University of Michigan - Dearborn and a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering technology from Penn State University – Behrend.

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Since 2004, Cohda Wireless has established itself as the leading supplier of innovative Connected Vehicle solutions that enable vehicles to connect with other vehicles and intelligent infrastructure in ITS, Smart City & Mining infrastructure. These connections, collectively called V2X, span Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V), Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I), and Vehicle-to-Pedestrian (V2P). This connectivity is used to allow vehicles to ‘talk’ to each other, to Smart Cities, and to vulnerable road users in order to avoid accidents, reduce congestion and increase efficiency.

Their innovative software enables accurate vehicle positioning, and cooperative collision avoidance and congestion reduction. Cohda Wireless technology allows vehicles to see around corners, know where they are without GPS, and interact with traffic infrastructure seamlessly in real time.

In this episode, Stephan sits down with Paul Gray CEO of Cohda Wireless as they discuss DSRC, Cellular, V2X, autonomous technologies and more. 

Cohda is headquartered in Australia and has offices in Europe, China and the USA.

Cohda partners with Tier 1 Automotive Suppliers, ITS Equipment Vendors, and Mining Equipment Technology and Services (METS) vendors to provide complete hardware/software solutions to Car Makers, Smart Cities, and Mine Operators, respectively.

Paul started at Cohda as Chief Engineer, laying the foundations for Cohda’s groundbreaking automotive, smart cities and mining projects. He came to Cohda after six years in San Diego, working as CTO and Business Manager with wireless tech startups. As CEO, Paul has grown from 10 people to more than 42 and opened offices in Detroit, Munich and Shanghai. Paul’s tenure at the helm has positioned Cohda as the globally recognized brand for connected autonomous vehicles and smart city infrastructure.

If you would like to be a guest on the show contact: [email protected]

The market is increasingly demanding automation and AI, leading to a need for continued investment in these technologies. As these technologies become more prevalent, it is crucial to focus on safety and apply them appropriately. However, the market is also shifting towards drivers wanting assistance but not giving up control. This shift in focus can be a differentiator, as the degree to which a company can provide this assistance is a premium option, and in some cases, the price of entry is higher. There is a potential for 5G cellular networks to reduce infrastructure and enable specific use cases.

In this episode Stephan sits down with Reuben Sarkar, President and CEO for the American Center for Mobility (ACM). They discuss examples of 5G multi-access edge computing to avoid pedestrian accidents. Among other topics covered are automated and connected vehicle development, key differentiators in technology competition, the need in consumer technology education and future needs of the consumer. 

Reuben Sarkar serves as the President and CEO for the American Center for Mobility (ACM) where he oversees ACM’s 500-acre Global Development Center focused on advancing safe, sustainable, and secure mobility technologies. He has more than two decades of experience in sustainable mobility & energy in corporate, government, and entrepreneurial roles.

Formerly, he was with the U.S. Department of Energy, where he oversaw the Sustainable Transportation Sector in EERE which included the Vehicle, Fuel Cell, and Bioenergy Technologies Offices. 

He has held leadership and advisory roles in a number of startups and is an Operator Advisor to Assembly Ventures. Prior to that, Reuben spent more than a decade at General Motors.  

He holds both Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in Chemical Engineering, as well as an MBA with high distinction, all from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

American Center for Mobility

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In this episode Stephan is joined by Wener Happenhofer, Vice President Intelligence and eMobility Solutions  at Goodyear Tire. 

Tire sensors are essential for the future of mobility. They provide information on tire pressure, wear, and even the health of the tire. Advanced sensor technology, such as RFID sensors, can help identify a tire and its type. This information can also determine if the tire is the best fit for the vehicle. Tire sensors also measure pressure, temperature, and footprint length. All of this information can be used for many different applications. Tires have become an additional sensor for vehicles.

 Goodyear uses data from tire sensors and other vehicle sensors to provide information to service fleet managers. This information can reduce costs, increase uptime, and improve vehicle stability and activities. Goodyear also uses this data to connect service providers with fleets and fleet managers to turn around vehicles and increase their uptime quickly. The company has a proactive solution in Europe that provides information from different tire sensors. The data can be submitted to OEMs directly, and Goodyear is also working on edge computing IoT.

Werner discusses the use of advanced sensors and tires in commercial vehicles. Sightline basis, a tire intelligence platform, is being implemented in fleets in Europe. The industry is transitioning towards more autonomy in the vehicle, and different levels of autonomy are well-defined. Traditional OEMs are moving towards a higher degree and a higher level of autonomy. Soon, there will be OEMs that do this type of information for their system and also to inform their customers.

 When considering the detection of ice on the road in autonomous vehicles, tire data can assist. Once on the ice, there is not much to do anymore, and the car is already veering and swerving. Sensors in the tire work with the rest of the sensor suite of road prediction services, such as camera systems and light assist to recondition algorithms accordingly. The information is used to detect friction potential.

Werner Happenhofer, Vice President Tire Intelligence and eMobility Solutions
 
Werner joined Goodyear in 2023 with more than 20 years of experience in organizations such as Continental, ZF, Hella and Eaton. He has an extensive background leading global teams and a track record of working directly with customers and internal and external stakeholders to build collaborative partnerships and bring new technologies and innovations to market.  

As vice president, Tire Intelligence and eMobility Solutions, Werner is responsible for ramping up Goodyear’s initiatives in connected products and services, while also leading the charge to partner and invest in seed-to-growth-stage startups in emerging mobility technology. 

Werner is a proven leader with a strong engineering, operational and sales and marketing mindset.  He has a proven track record of securing funding for new business opportunities and has developed meaningful relationships in the automotive industry that he has leveraged to foster co-innovation. He has a master of science degree in engineering from the Technical University of Munich.

 About The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company

Goodyear is one of the world's largest tire companies. It employs about 74,000 people and manufactures its products in 57 facilities in 23 countries around the world. Its two Innovation Centers in Akron, Ohio, and Colmar-Berg, Luxembourg, strive to develop state-of-the-art products and services that set the technology and performance standard for the industry. For more information about Goodyear and its products, go to www.goodyear.com/corporate.

If you would like to be a guest on the show contact: [email protected]

Vehicles continue to shift focus more on electronics and software and this shift impacts lamp manufacturers. In this week’s episode of Stephane Vedie, CEO of LUXIT Group joins Stephan Tarnutzer as they reimagine mobility in the world of vehicle lighting. They discuss innovations, design integration, smart lighting, safety features and more. 

There is a trend towards smart lighting in cars, focusing on interior lighting and features. Some features allow customers to customize welcome features based on lighting, including high-resolution logo projections and small movies and videos. 

The regulations for these features are evolving, with China becoming more advanced and allowing new functions to be legal on the road. Different users share vehicles, driving the trend of sharing mobility. Users want to customize their vehicles to feel like they are their own. Lighting plays a significant role in safety, function, and customization in the future world of software-defined vehicles.

LUXIT is a world-leading technology expert in vehicle small lamp design, with a mission to inspire and guide the evolution of lighting for styling, branding, performance, and safety. LUXIT is a company of world-leading technology experts in vehicle small lamp design and manufacture, headquartered in Farmington Hills, Michigan, serving OEMs and Tier 1 customers separately under two divisions. 

Their mission is to inspire and guide the evolution of lighting for styling, branding, performance, and safety in automotive small lamp, auxiliary lighting and components for both exterior and interior applications.

LUXIT has a global footprint and full vertical integration allows us to serve our customers with speed, creativity, and flexibility, and our family of companies operates as a streamlined organization.

Stephane is the CEO of LUXIT Group, a global lighting supplier to the Automotive Industry. 

He has 25 years’ experience in the automotive industry working for global corporations in Europe and North America. Prior to joining LUXIT Group, Mr. Vedie was the North American CEO at Magneti Marelli (now Marelli) and the Global CEO at Varroc Lighting Systems (now Plastic Omnium Lighting).

He joined New Water Capital in September 2021, a PE firm located in Boca Raton Florida, to lead their automotive platform. LUXIT Group was created with the acquisition of 5 different privately owned companies. Mr. Vedie holds dual Masters Degrees, one in Purchasing from University of Grenoble (France,) and the other in Business Administration from the Graduate School of Business in Amiens (France).

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MIPI A-PHY (originally released to members in September 2020) is the first standardized, asymmetric, long-reach serializer-deserializer (SerDes) physical layer specification targeted for advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), autonomous driving systems (ADS), in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) displays and other surround-sensor applications (e.g., cameras, lidar, radar).

A-PHY's primary mission is to transfer high-speed data between cameras and displays and their related ECUs.

A-PHY offers:
- High reliability: Ultra-low packet error rate (PER) of less than 10-19 for unprecedented performance over the vehicle lifetime
- High resiliency: Ultra-high immunity to EMI effects in demanding automotive conditions
- Long reach: Up to 15 meters
- High performance: Data rate as high as 16 Gbps with v1.0; up to 32 Gbps with support for Star - Quad (STQ) cables in v1.1

Gideon Kedem, head of the automotive business at Valens Semiconductor, a fabless chipmaker that is addressing the growing challenges posed by Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) in today’s increasingly connected automobiles, as a guest.

If you would like to be a guest on the show contact: [email protected]

Mobility companies must know that local policies will support their growth when considering a location. The company's future depends not only on the economic environment but also on the legislative environment. Michigan has a robust automotive tradition and partnerships within the state. 

 Michigan's Office of Future Mobility and Electrification (OFME) coordinates and collaborates with four critical agencies in Michigan: MEDC (economic), MDOT (transportation), LEO (labor), and EGLE (environment/ energy). The mission is mainly focused on the needs of the residents, creating safer, more equitable, and environmentally conscious transportation. 

 Michigan continues to push the bounds of technology and lead in innovation.

 In this episode, Stephan is joined by Kathryn Snorrason, the VP & Deputy Chief Mobility Officer with Michigan's Office of Future Mobility and Electrification (OFME). They discuss Michigan's electrification strategy, technology roadmap, automotive and mobility technology hub, business environment, and the future of mobility in Michigan.

 Kathryn Snorrason is the VP & Deputy Chief Mobility Officer with Michigan’s Office of Future Mobility and Electrification (OFME). Kathryn is responsible for leading the office’s work across state government, academia and private industry to enhance Michigan’s mobility ecosystem, including developing mobility and electrification policies, supporting the startup and scale up of emerging technologies and businesses, and building the electrified, sustainable mobility infrastructure of the future. Kathryn previously worked for World Business Chicago, Kiva and Deloitte Consulting. Kathryn graduated from the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business with a Bachelors in Business Administration and a minor in Community Action and Social Change (CASC).

Kathryn's LinkedIn Profile

If you would like to be a guest on the show contact: [email protected]

A big policy, Made in China 2025 influenced the growth of automotive startups in China today. There are some similarities and key differences in this transformation.  

In this week’s episode Stephan is joined by Michael Dunne. Michael is an entrepreneur, author, podcast host and keynote speaker. He is the CEO of ZoZoGo, an advisory firm with expertise in global electric vehicle markets. They discuss the Chinese automotive market, differences in automotive ownership culture, digital experiences, emerging markets, and transformation in Chinese companies during globalization.  

Links:  

Driving With Dunne Podcast 

ZoZoGo LLC 

Michael Dunne 
Founder: 
- ZoZoGo (2018)
-Car Keys Asia: Jakarta (2011)
-Automotive Resources Asia: Beijing, Bangkok (1993)

Executive: 
-President, General Motors Indonesia (2013-2015) 
-Managing Director, JD Power China (2006-2010) 

Author: American Wheels, Chinese Roads: The Story of General Motors in China 

Creator: The Driving With Dunne Podcast

Keynote Speaker: London, Tokyo, New York, Detroit, Shanghai, Singapore, Los Angeles, Munich, Paris 

Education: BA University of Michigan, MA - Chinese History & MBA

Languages: Chinese, Indonesian, Thai and French 

New Book: Dunne is now working on a new book about China's ambitions to dominate electric car and battery markets. 

Humiliation No More: China’s Master Plan to Dominate Electric Car Markets Worldwide. 

If you would like to be a guest on the show contact: [email protected]

What effect can over the air updates have on software-defined vehicles? What is the future of flashing updates in our vehicles? Can we make them better over time and more efficient? 

The field of electrification is still new are there is much that we have yet to learn. In John’s view diversification of technology in the industry helps us accelerate our efforts and keep cost low for everyone. 

In this episode John Fuerst VP of Engineer at Tula Technology sits down with Stephan to discuss the software in vehicles. Creating hardware that is flexibly responsive to alternative control strategies is key. 

 Tula Technology improves efficiency in vehicles through software development. Tula has designed the Dynamic Motor Drive (DMD) which removes reliance on REE and gives you more efficiency at a lower cost.

 DMD is a software solution that improves Externally Excited Synchronous Motors (EESMs) and other Rare Earth (RE)-free motors. DMD software completes existing systems, making EESMs as efficient at low speeds as they are at high speeds. Now you can get efficiency without RE.

 DMD also helps Industry experience a significant boost in efficiency, saving energy and accelerating the transition to a future without rare earth materials.

 John has been at Tula since 2016, as VP of Engineering, also responsible for Tula’s Dynamic Motor Drive (DMD) Business.  Before that he spent 30 years in automotive powertrain at GM/Delphi in Engineering, Finance, Manufacturing, and Business Development before taking P&L responsibility for Delphi’s Global Diesel Business in 2009 and finally as VP of Engineering for the Delphi Powertrain Division in 2014.

 https://www.tulatech.com/

If you would like to be a guest on the show contact: [email protected]