Passenger cars and trucks have become rolling software updates, and while that has sped up product development cycles, it has created a big problem. A lot of the automotive industry has been updating software post vehicle sale through dealership recalls. As you can imagine, with dozens of systems using different software in a single car, that could become an issue. Enter remote software updates, an increasingly common strategy for mobility tech to integrate continuously improving software into vehicles that have already been set on the road.
Innovation Beyond Borders with TusStar’s International Startup Incubators
TusStar is an affiliated network of tech startup incubators and early stage venture accelerators located in over 130 cities around the world. It is led by professors at Tsinghua University in China, a major research university in Beijing, and there is a TusStar Incubator in emerging tech hub Ann Arbor, where a number of academic faculty at the University of Michigan start new companies to make use of inventions found during their research careers. Frank Ni is the head of TusStar Ann Arbor, founded as the premier TusStar location in the U.S. in late 2017 on the north side of Ann Arbor which is famous for its engineering, science research, robotics and autonomous vehicle research campuses. “Innovation can go beyond borders,” Ni tells Cronicle of the philosophy of starting an international incubator in Southeast Michigan.
Ann Arbor-Based FordLabs Is Ford’s Ongoing Push To Make Automotive Agile
There was one moment that convinced us Ann Arbor was going to make it through the birth canal as a growing tech hub, and that was when Ford decided to locate a new agile software consultancy, FordLabs, in Ann Arbor, to recruit University of Michigan software development talent to help make the 100-year-old automaker more agile and lean. Where Ann Arbor’s arts and tech culture meet the automotive giants of Detroit, FordLabs sits at the crossroads, not just of shifting best practices but of time. John Handy, Office Director of FordLabs who welcomed us in with several other key players in the organization for a tour, told us this is really nothing new. People forget, ourselves included, that lean startup culture was in part born here in Detroit, in lean manufacturing.
Ann Arbor & Detroit September Tech Events
It’s already time for the fall September tech events for Ann Arbor Detroit! This time, we’ve included some paid workshops for intro to coding of various kinds, but please note most of these hosts have multiple workshops for different subjects. Grand Circus, TechTown Detroit, Tech Elevator, and Entirety Technology all have multiple paid workshops you can check out through the links above.
The Future of Mobility Tech: TU-Automotive Software Conference in Detroit
It’s a little known conference in Novi every year, where auto suppliers show off their latest tech for in-vehicle connectivity, user interfaces, and sensors. TU-Automotive brings together dozens of companies as far flung as Brazil, Belgium, and Silicon Valley for an industry event that follows 6 tracks of events on the latest tech in AI…
Nostrum Energy Revolutionizes Engine Efficiency in Europe & the Aftermarket
You might have seen them at SEMA, Tech Trek, or around their Ann Arbor Spark offices they are about to grow out of. Nostrum Energy is a team of engineers dedicated to improving efficiencies in internal combustion engines and energy grids in the United States and around the world. Founded by an expert in thermodynamics…