In this week's auto tech news roundup: Could Detroit be the next great tech hub in the US? Ford thinks so, and has sunk $1 billion into restoring a derelict icon of the city.
Meanwhile, the Korean automotive giant Hyundai has rolled out a new quality control method using acoustic AI technology and a four-screen infotainment system.
Mean Alpine
Alpine, a niche French performance brand known for its lightweight machines built to buzz up and down European mountain passes, has revealed its much-anticipated Alpine A290 electric hot hatch, or 'urban sports car' as they term it.
Ready for sale next year starting at around $40 000, this souped-up Renault 5 is a 220-horsepower pocket rocket inspired by a retro design from legendary Italian designer Marcello Gandini, who is perhaps better known for drawing sensational Lamborghinis rather than Renaults.
All the A290's ingredients sound right: a relatively modest weight of 1 479 kg, dimensions similar to a VW Polo, a zero-to-100 km/h time of 6.4 seconds, and even a telemetrics app-like function that provides the driver with ‘challenges’ designed to improve their skills at the wheel.
Detroit tech city
For decades the historic Michigan Central Station in Detroit stood abandoned in its derelict surroundings of a once great city. Now the building’s restoration serves as the brightest beacon in Motown’s revival.
Ford Motor took it upon itself to turn the crumbling station into a technology and innovation hub, with plans to have 2 500 people working there by 2028.
Ford went to some lengths to preserve the Beaux-Arts style of architecture, using 3D scanning and printing to reproduce hundreds of ornamental rosettes and other decorative pieces that couldn’t be restored. The area surrounding Michigan Central has been tidied up too, serving as a neat testing environment for electrified and autonomous driving tech right in Ford’s backyard.
The auto giant sunk $1 billion into the project.
More screens
Hyundai Motor Group has just unveiled its next-generation infotainment system technology called M.VICS 5.0, which includes separate screens that can be fully configurable individually or grouped together to form one seamless display.
The system features four screens in total: a 27-inch main display, 12.3-inch passenger display, and two more 7.0-inch screens either side for an unprecedented total of 46.3-inches, so try to watch the road.
Hyundai however did the right thing by including a button control panel so at least it could mean that fingerprint stains might become a thing of the past.
Sound off
Staying with Hyundai, the Korean giant has rolled out a new quality control method on one of its production lines in Changwon with the relatively under-utilised acoustic AI technology.
After a year of developing algorithms that assign meaning to specific sounds, the tech can detect subtle sounds to ensure quality accuracy, particularly when it comes to safety components such as steering and braking systems that normally generate noise during operation - the consistent sound waveforms that come from the rotating parts of these systems are analysed by AI to identify the slightest deviation, or fault.
After a year of developing algorithms that assign meaning to specific sounds, this technology can detect subtle sounds to ensure quality accuracy, particularly for safety components such as steering and braking systems, which normally generate noise during operation. The consistent sound waveforms from the rotating parts of these systems are analyzed by AI to identify the slightest deviation or fault.
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