Alex - Future Mobility Finland

Shifting to safer and more sustainable travel

They say a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

That adage never felt more appropriate than at this year’s CES. It certainly felt like I walked a thousand miles to see everything worth seeing at the world’s largest consumer electronics show.

My colleague, Samuli, was delighted by the shift to sustainable technology at CES 2023. For me, the highlight was the focus on electric cars, smart mobility, and software-defined vehicles. No doubt about it, the car is now tech, and this trend is redefining the whole automotive industry.

The software-defined car is going mainstream

The shift toward software-based technology is revolutionizing the car experience for drivers and passengers alike. Just like your smartphone and computer, a software-defined car can be updated and upgraded over the air to add new features and capabilities without having to replace expensive hardware components. This development is becoming a major driver of innovation and competitive differentiation in the automotive industry.

With Vaisala Xweather, we have a clear goal. We want to help automotive innovators make every journey safer and more efficient. At CES, we showed three examples of how real-time weather data combined with reliable forecasts can improve safety, comfort, and convenience for drivers and passengers.

Supporting safer advanced driver assistance systems

Road surface condition is one of many parameters available from the Vaisala Xweather Road Weather API.

The race towards autonomous driving was on full display at CES. But there are still many challenges.

The set of conditions under which an autonomous vehicle (AV) is designed to operate safely is called the Operational Design Domain (ODD). The ODD includes information about the types of roads the AV can drive on, the speeds at which it can safely operate, the weather and lighting conditions under which it can safely navigate, and many other factors.

Vaisala Xweather is helping the automotive industry safely expand the ODD of autonomous vehicles by supplying accurate real-time road weather data.

Road weather refers to various weather conditions that can affect the safety and operation of vehicles on the road, such as rain, sleet, and snow, as well as other factors like fog and high winds. These conditions can have a significant impact on visibility, traction, and the overall stability of vehicles. In fact, the Federal Highway Administration estimates that every fifth road accident in the United States is weather-related.¹

Road weather data helps reduce the risk of accidents by providing accurate real-time information about surface conditions beyond the vehicle’s line of sight. Weather-aware vehicles can also use road weather forecasts to find safer, more efficient routes and reduce drive time by avoiding roads with poor driving conditions.

Vaisala is ready to take this journey with you

Vaisala Xweather road weather data is trusted by the biggest names in the automotive industry: Audi, BMW, Bosch, Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Rand McNally, Skoda, TomTom, and Volkswagen. Our advanced forecast models are built upon 85 years of weather expertise and over 20 years of pioneering work with road weather. But this is just the start.

The automotive industry is on the cusp of a major shift toward the software-defined car. This shift will bring a host of new challenges and opportunities for automakers, suppliers, and consumers alike. It is an exciting time to be involved in the automotive industry, and I can’t wait to see what the future holds.

Read more about Xweather automotive solutions, or contact us with your questions.

Mr. Petri Marjava
Vaisala | Head of Automotive

Read the full blog on Vaisala’s website

Image: Vaisala from the original Blog

References

1. “EV Survey Shows Range Anxiety High While Charging Costs Remain Low,” Forbes, June 28, 2022

The use of drones opens up huge new markets for businesses and impacts consumers’ daily lives

Drones will deliver groceries to your home and assist in farming and construction. These are some of the applications where developments will be brisk once European ground rules and safe airspace practices (U-space) are established for unmanned aerial vehicles. Advancements in this field are driven for instance by the need to reduce emissions from transport and logistics and by the opportunities offered by digitalisation.

The Finnish Parliament is currently debating a legislative amendment implementing EU regulations, under which airspaces for unmanned aerial vehicles, i.e. drones, may be established in Finland as of 26 January 2023. Similar legislation is being introduced in other EU Member States.

“The purpose is to coordinate manned and unmanned aviation and to facilitate drone flying in circumstances where the pilot has no direct visual contact with the drone. A huge market is opening up, as the EU expects the drone business in Europe to grow to a volume of up to EUR 14 billion by 2030. Prognoses show that more than 100,000 jobs may be created, which means that there will be substantial opportunities on the Finnish market too,” says Director Pasi Nikama from Fintraffic.

Eurocontrol, the Finnish National Technical Research Centre VTT and Fintraffic, the Finnish air navigation services provider, organised a summit in Helsinki on 26 January. The event was attended by a large number of top-level representatives from several European countries. The event included expert presentations on the European Commission’s recently published air traffic control strategy and on airspace management experiments carried out by various governments.
Eurocontrol chaired three workshops at the event, focusing on the key challenges in the field: the need for synergies between stakeholders, cyber security and operational concept.

“Drones are becoming increasingly common, and Finland must focus sufficient attention on providing lower airspace services. This calls for public investments as soon as possible, to allow the Finnish market to evolve in step with the rest of Europe. Drones must be acknowledged as a major factor in building the transport and logistics system of the future,” says Pertti Korhonen, CEO of Fintraffic.

“Through close cooperation, Finnish operators have been at the forefront of developments in Europe, helping create safe airspace management for drones,” says Ari Aalto, Vice President, Mobility and Transport at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. VTT is investing in research collaboration in this field in several national and international projects and cooperation forums. “Finland must remain an active player in order to keep up with other countries,” Aalto continues.

“Establishing airspaces for unmanned aviation is one of the most significant steps we can take towards efficient urban air transport. These solutions will open up business opportunities many of which we probably cannot even anticipate yet,” says Research Team Leader Petri Mononen from VTT.

In recent years, there have been several projects in Finland exploring the use of drones for various applications. Late in 2022, Fintraffic and VTT jointly ran a test under the Drolo project in Oulu, involving the flying of drones beyond visual contact with the aid of new digital services that will be introduced commercially at a later date. Fintraffic is currently developing a new generation of digital services that will form a basis in Finland for the coordination of manned and unmanned aviation and for commercial projects.

‘U-space’ is a system of systems designed to ensure the safe operations of any number of future aircraft, such as drones.

Further information:

Pasi Nikama, Director, Fintraffic
pasi.nikama@fintraffic.fi, tel. 040 848 2904

Petri Mononen, Research Team Leader, VTT
petri.mononen@vtt.fi, tel. 0405155808

Payment unit enables parking and charging payment with credit card

Semel Oy has launched together with Modulsystem Sweden AB a payment unit for parking and EV charging at eCarExpo in Stockholm in February 2023. TouchPayGo payment unit enables parking and charging payment with regular a credit card, no apps needed.

TouchPayGo is designed and manufactured in Sweden. It includes an easy to use 10” touchscreen display connected to a payment terminal. The payment unit controls several charging stations simultaneously. Customer selects the desired charging station and the parking and charging time. Based on the estimated charge, a pre card authorization is made. By feeding information, e.g e-mail, the customer receives a receipt after the parking and charging session.

The parking/charging operator can update tariffs and other settings into the system via a defined web portal. From here can also the charging stations be monitored, and reports can be downloaded.

TouchPayGo payment unit can easily be connected to Modulsystems DAC (DoorAccessControl) unit for managing access control to the parking garage.

TouchPayGo payment unit is available both as a wall mounted and floor version.

Semel Oy is a company established in 1971 that develops and manufactures cash register systems, information systems and equipment for the passenger transport industry. Focus is delivery of dispatching-, payment-, and management systems for taxi in all our market areas. Semel is today the largest supplier of taxi information systems in the Nordics. Through our subsidiary, we also act as a system supplier for public transport and parking, as well as for systems for charging electric vehicles. Semel has been part of the Swedish KG Knutsson AB since the 1990s.

Read more on Semel Oy website
Image: Semel Oy

Observations from the Tampere – Särkänniniemi agile Drone Experiment

In the Tampere City Region, there was an agile experiment to examine the drone use cases. Unmanned aviation has developed rapidly in the recent years. Company Insta Group Oy provided the drones and situational awareness solution for the theme park Särkänniemi event, what was coordinated by Business Tampere.

Tampere-based Insta ILS is a specialist in avionics, remotely piloted aircraft systems and high tech. It is naturally interested in experiments where the company’s fields of expertise are needed and solutions can be tested.

Lassila estimates that drone usage in event security is increasing significantly. For example, venues can be proactively inspected and their bottlenecks outlined with drones. While the event is happening, drones can be used to obtain real-time data on traffic, crowd flows and security issues.

When operating drones, one must know regulations

Miikka Nenonen, Field Operations Manager at Särkänniemi, tells that the theme park informs their visitors of the video surveillance in the area. The visitors usually take it positively, because surveillance makes them feel safe and comfortable.

The regulation to harmonise drone operation throughout the EU entered into force on 31 December 2020. There are circa 450 pages of the regulations, therefore anyone operating an UAS should really know the rules in order to obey them.

Observations: monitoring traffic and security

Monitoring the flow of traffic has proved to be a significant use case for drones, especially when events are causing only occasional traffic jams. In that case permanent surveillance cameras may not be needed, but drones could be used to monitor traffic congestion in several locations.

Congestion data can be utilised to control the traffic. According to Nenonen, traffic jams could be alleviated by controlling traffic lights in cooperation with the City of Tampere, and informing the visitors to favour public transport when possible. Reducing traffic jams is also another way to improve customer experience.

Concerts held near lakes, like the ones organised in Särkänniemi, attract boat traffic. It is easy to monitor by drones, and in case of an emergency, rescue operations could be facilitated with the situational picture produced by a drone.

A thermal camera proved to be an excellent tool after dark. The experiment included a target person who stayed in the amusement park after the concert and had his location tracked by a drone.

– Our thermal camera contributed in an excellent way to existing surveillance camera system in the area, says Nissinen.

Other use cases for drones: maintenance, inspection

In the Särkänniemi agile experiment, other drone use cases were also considered: for example inspecting the amusement park rides, various maintenance tasks, like winter maintenance.

During the events drones can gather data in the venue: on what, when or where audience is doing. Drones can provide real-time situational awareness data and perform disturbance monitoring.

After the event drones provide data on the routes audience use to leave the venue, their timing and whether they’ve all left the venue. Traffic flows can be monitored in the nearby areas. Additionally, drones can monitor the venue for trespassers also outside event hours.

Read the original News on Business Tampere webpage

Image: Insta from the original news

Self-driving experiment in Finland successful despite extreme weather conditions

Finnish self-driving technology company Sensible 4 has carried out a successful autonomous driving pilot in Tampere, Finland, despite the worst and most challenging winter conditions in years.

The pilot, which started in January 2022 and lasted for 2.5 months, aimed to see how autonomous vehicles work with public transportation networks and collect feedback from users. Two self-driving Toyota Proace vehicles were used as feeder traffic for the tram trunk line in a suburb of Tampere — a city aiming to pioneer smart city development. The passenger feedback collected was mainly positive and focused on improving accessibility for people with disabilities.

Extreme Cold and Snow Storms

The vehicles were driven in extreme cold, as the temperature dropped from time to time below -20 °C. At other times temperature variation above and below zero degrees Celcius caused the road to be slippery. Heavy snowfalls covered the lane markings and the ploughing brought high piles of snow along the route.

One of the learnings was how to adapt to a snow ploughing track that in some cases was quite far from the bus stop. Another one is how freezing rain affects the hardware and the third is how to adjust to alternate-side parking.

Sensible 4 will continue operating pilots later this year in Norway, Switzerland, Japan and Germany.

SHOW Pilot In a Nutshell

Hervanta, in Tampere, Finland
3.1.-10.3.2022 (Mon-Fri)
5569 km
560 h
1663 passengers
Max 30 km/h speed
3,5 km route length
Mixed traffic
Harsh weather conditions
- Temperatures below -20°C
- Heavy snowing
- Freezing rain
- Slipperiness due to temperature variation around 0 degrees Celsius

Read the original press release on Sensible4.fi website

Vaisala ranks 5th of Financial Times’ Climate Leaders 2022 list

Financial Times has listed European Climate Leaders 2022. The list includes European companies that achieved the greatest reduction in their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions between 2015 and 2020. Vaisala is proud to be in the top 5 of the list, increasing its ranking from place 14 the previous year.

Vaisala, a global leader in weather, environmental, and industrial measurements, is ranked 5th on the Financial Times list of European climate leaders. IPCC’s latest report on climate change highlights the urgency of climate actions and emissions reduction more than ever. Financial Times brings up the achievements that have been made thus far but also encourages companies to do more.

“Sustainability really is at the core of Vaisala, and it is a great honor to be included on the top of Financial Times’s Climate Leaders list once again. Our ranking last year was 14, which is excellent, but it is a true honor to take place 5 this year. As the latest IPCC report states, climate change is an even more urgent global challenge than we have originally thought. This calls also for actions from the private sector to step up and drive the change for our planet,” says Kai Öistämö, President and CEO, Vaisala.

Read the original press release on Vaisala.com website

Basemark showcasing its latests automotive AR and HMI graphics software

Basemark showcases its advanced automotive instrument clusters with Augmented Reality (AR) and HMI graphics, powered by MediaTek’s latest automotive infotainment platform.

Basemark, the automotive AR company, announced today it is showcasing its automotive AR and HMI graphics software at CES 2023, which is now validated for MediaTek’s latest MT2715 automotive infotainment platform.

As the demand for more advanced automotive in-cockpit experiences and driver assistance systems is growing rapidly, Basemark is the optimal choice given their forerunning automotive AR and HMI development and deployment software, Rocksolid AR. MediaTek provides high performance, automotive-grade platforms that are capable of powering Basemark’s advanced software.

MediaTek, the world’s 4th largest semiconductor company, and provider of innovative SoCs, for a wide range of products, recently launched its MT2715, offering best-in-segment performance, power efficiency, integrated capabilities, and cost-effectiveness. The collaboration with Basemark allows MediaTek to immediately offer a complete AR and HMI authoring solution for automakers to accelerate attractive new in-vehicle infotainment designs to market.

Read the full news and learn more at https://basemark.com/

Image: Basemark.com from the original news

Rightware’s Kanzi One is used in Marelli MInD-Xp Cockpit DCU platform at CES 2023

Integrating the latest technologies that drive vehicle personality and performance, Marelli utilizes Rightware’s Kanzi One to create its advanced vehicle platform which is on display at CES 2023.

The demo runs on a Qualcomm 4th generation Snapdragon 8295 processor and utilizes seven displays, eight cameras, and a wide range of sensors and data sources, all integrated and synchronized with Kanzi One. It showcases advanced features like a driver monitoring system (DMS) with drowsiness detection, surround-view monitoring, rear-seat passenger cameras, and more, all brought together in a beautiful, easy-to-use, highly functional UI created with Kanzi One.

The main cluster and Horizon Head-Up Display run on the QNX operating system, while other displays leverage Android™. As Kanzi One supports all major automotive platforms and offers uniquely deep integration with Android Automotive, these diverse systems perform as one to deliver a delightful experience for the user; all while requiring less work by the development team. This means faster iteration and less time from proof-of-concept to production.

Marelli relies on Kanzi One’s unique capabilities to

Seamlessly integrate myriad displays, cameras, sensors, and data sources
Easily create stunning 3D interfaces with photorealistic rendering and great performance
Implement a highly efficient modular workflow across internal teams

Read the full blog and learn more at https://rightware.com/

Image: Rightware.com from the original blog

Port app that collates schedule data heading towards international cooperation

Did you know that a flurry of activity starts around a ship as soon as it arrives in port? Cargo is loaded and unloaded, any required maintenance work is carried out, and the ship’s basic needs – such as waste management, fuel and provisions – are taken care of. For passenger ships, the disembarking of both passengers and vehicles must also be coordinated alongside all these other activities. But what happens at the port when a ship is late?

If a ship arrives five hours late at a different location than agreed, operators face multiple challenges. Schedule data has not previously been available in real time from a single source. Instead, it has been provided to all of the various operators by phone, in messages, and through several different systems. Port Activity is an app that has been developed to solve this problem. It seeks to improve information flow between the various stakeholders operating at ports, in order to enable the most efficient and economical port visits possible.

Ingredients for international cooperation

More than ten Finnish ports have already signed up to use Port Activity, and it is also being used in Sweden. The Baltic Sea is one of the world’s busiest shipping areas, with more than 2,500 vessels on the move around the clock. Every year, 17 per cent of all global maritime transport passes through its ports. The aim is to encourage other countries around the Baltic Sea to start using the app, before sailing on into global waters.

Port operators’ schedule data in one place

The real-time sharing of schedule data boosts the efficiency of the entire logistics chain. The app collects schedule data on the port’s various stakeholders from a number of different systems in real time and then collates it in one place. It informs users of any potential schedule changes. This enables everyone to keep fully abreast of the situation, so they can plan their own schedules accordingly.

The app works both ways, meaning that not only the ship but also other users can report their schedule information in real time. For example, if a waste management vehicle has broken down on the way and its replacement will be a little late, others will be able to prepare for this.

App can be customised for each port

Port Activity is an open source app, which means that ports can customise it to meet their own needs in cooperation with their chosen development partner. This will help promote internationalisation, as although port operations are often fairly similar the world over, there are national requirements that can be taken into account in the app. Ports have already been actively developing the service. An SaaS-based version of the app that is already in use in Finland is now scheduled to be launched in Sweden during autumn 2021.

A mobile and desktop version of the port app have been created, making it easy to use both in the office and in the field. The results of the pilot project indicated that it was the right time to go digital.

“Phones are the most important tools for many port operators. It was therefore important for the app to be as easy to use as possible on mobile devices. Now you can check, edit and inform others about schedule data with just a couple of clicks,” says Soininen.

Fintraffic VTS’ mission is not only to improve the safety of shipping, but also to promote smooth and efficient vessel traffic. Port Activity is a good example of a service in which these smoothness and efficiency goals can be mobilised on a broad front with the aid of evolving digitalisation.

Read the full article and learn more at fintraffic.fi

Image: fintraffic.fi from the original article

Tietoevry partners with automotive-developer HaleyTek to bring high-end Android-based infotainment to Polestar and Volvo Cars

Tietoevry Create, the global business design and software engineering arm of Tietoevry, has agreed to partner with HaleyTek, a joint venture between Volvo Cars and ECARX, to develop an Android Open Source Project-based infotainment system for current and future Polestar and Volvo car models. The companies will focus on developing the platform software that enables a smooth in-car audio experience. This brings the power of Android to cars – introducing openness, customization, and scale to automotive infotainment systems and head units.

Tietoevry Create now supports HaleyTek with Android OS audio architecture design, implementation, integration and test automation, as well as with developing wireless connectivity over Bluetooth.

“We have been working with Android for mobile devices since 2011. When we started to look at the automotive version in 2017, we quickly saw the potential it had for our customers,” says Emmanuel Maillard, Vice-President, Automotive Software at Tietoevry Create. “We’re delighted to help HaleyTek bring a high-end automotive platform to current and future Polestar and Volvo car models. Our shared goal is to provide drivers and passengers with an outstanding in-car infotainment experience.”

“At HaleyTek we’re developing a common Android-ready infotainment platform for several OEMs within the Geely group. A big part of this task was to ramp up the right competence to help us achieve the top-notch quality expected from our products,” says Jorge Jara, Engineering Manager at HaleyTek. “We looked all around Europe for the best engineers to support us. This is how we found the talented automotive team at Tietoevry Create, now a key partner in developing the top-quality next-generation technology our customers deserve in upcoming vehicles.”

Read the full article and learn more at Tietoevry.com

For more information, please contact:

Tietoevry Newsdesk, news@tietoevry.com, +358 40 570 4072