Intel Offers $100 Million Funding for New Car Technologies
Intel has reserved $100 million for investments in hardware, software and services companies that are focused on in-vehicle applications.
The company said that it plans on spending the money over the next four to five years to promote the "seamless connection between vehicles and any connected device, including mobile devices and sensors." Intel is the first IT company to offer an investment fund that is dedicated to automotive applications.
"Technology has become an integral component of everyday life, with consumers demanding uninterrupted access to the Internet and the constant flow of information, news, entertainment, and social media," said Arvind Sodhani, president of Intel Capital and Intel executive vice president, in a prepared statement. "Automobiles must be able to provide these same consistent and engaging computing experiences, but in a safe manner."
According to Intel, the funding for new technologies goes hand in hand with its efforts to work with automakers and in-vehicle infotainment companies to come up with sophisticated in-car applications. Needless to say, Intel isn't giving away welfare. The company has been trying to establish itself as a chip supplier for the automotive industry, but has not been able to dent the dominant position of chip companies such as Freescale so far. Intel's business plan expects increasing chip sales every year and if investments in startups can help open the door for Intel, those $100 million may be well invested money.
Check out Intel's vision for the connected car of the future.
This is a problem..
We all know that an insatiable appetite leads to self destruction!
The constant growth syndrome is what causes many companies to over-expend, over -stretch, lose focus and eventually implode on the empty core it has produced. Now a company the size and breadth of Intel, with its budget, will have to grow to an enormous size before this happens (if it happens), but the resulting Implosion would be immense.
The Donut theory, The bigger the Donut- the Bigger the Hole in the Middle!
I think Intel sees the future and the PC in its current form is not it...
i think they are just trying to find some other revenue streams, just like MSFT
Cue Intel Security Essentials (Car version)
I would also expect a good deal of this money to be spent buying up patents, which will work to no one's advantage except Intel's by giving it the ability to sue others for licensing fees with every new car sold.
Imagine that you're going through a twisty road with your car pushing it to limits.. now add to that your car uses an electric steering system which is connected to the ECU.. and some a***ole through a Wifi hotspot using a Galaxy turns of the electric steering XD that would be fun
It's not worth the danger. We have yet to see a platform that isn't able to be hacked, exploited, etc, and probably never will. The only way I could even consider tolerating such a vehicle is if it has NO wireless networking at all (no blue tooth, no 3g/4g whatever g connection, no WiFi, etc) and no third party was even capable of making software for it. If no one can make viruses that are compatible with it and there is no way to get any on it anyway, well then it is a lot more secure just by being completely closed.
At that point, well what is the point of having it? I just see these smart cars as a gimmick that may cost you your life, or the life(lives?) of someone else. Like I said, not worth the danger.
After all, when I'm done getting my CpE degree, I am still debating whether to work at Intel with microprocessor design or a car company designing drivetrain improvements and AI driving tech. Maybe I could work at Intel and do both.
Meh
That wouldn't be "unlimited". It would be a decent idea, and could improve mileage (some cars do this or something similar if I'm not mistaken), but there will be energy simply lost that can't be made back by the front wheels and it could mean that the vehicle can't be all-wheel drive.
Such lost energy is due to the engines not being 100% efficient (no such thing as 100% efficient in electronics, or really anything that comes to mind). A lot of the energy simply isn't made back, a lot of it would be dissipated as heat, etc, it would still need to be recharged.
Good try, but it doesn't work in practice. An expert in this could explain in much further detail and accuracy why it wouldn't work than I can.
Unless you can prove to me that you have seen the future, I'd prefer you not telling us how it is. We have no idea about what will happen. For all we know, our government could go all corrupt on us (snicker, already pretty far down that road) and use their privacy invasion to be the fear mongers on the general populace. Only everyone should be worried about the future, not just the crooks and cheats. Only a fool would think to not act on the assumption that big brother isn't really there to help you, but help themselves. Big brother is full of the same crooks and cheats that you claim should be worried about this.
Besides all of that, I like my privacy. Is it a crime to not want to be constantly monitored? I'm not a thief or such criminal, but that doesn't mean that I don't want the crooks from the government breathing down my back. What really worries me is the many ways for all of this monitoring to be used for malevolent purposes. It's not like we haven't heard of many times where it was. Need I remind you of the many times that cameras have been used to spy on people? Going beyond worrying about what the government does, now we can contemplate what other people may do with this stuff. Our government isn't known for making critical things like this very secure. You don't really think that civilian criminals won't try to do things they really shouldn't with the monitoring equipment that is laid out in front of us by the government that is supposed to be there to help the people, do you?
We have seen several occasions where such crimes have been successfully committed too.