̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - car

What does it take to make a better battery?

lw355 — Tue, 01 Oct 2024 08:20:28 +0000

Cambridge researchers are working to solve one of technology’s biggest puzzles: how to build next-generation batteries that could power a green revolution.

360-degree head-up display view could warn drivers of road obstacles in real time

sc604 — Wed, 20 Dec 2023 06:00:26 +0000

Researchers have developed an augmented reality head-up display that could improve road safety by displaying potential hazards as high-resolution three-dimensional holograms directly in a driver’s field of vision in real time.

3D holographic head-up display could improve road safety

sc604 — Mon, 26 Apr 2021 11:45:57 +0000

Researchers have developed the first LiDAR-based augmented reality head-up display for use in vehicles. Tests on a prototype version of the technology suggest that it could improve road safety by ‘seeing through’ objects to alert of potential hazards without distracting the driver.

Cambridge researchers and Jaguar Land Rover develop immersive 3D head-up display for in-car use

Anonymous — Tue, 20 Aug 2019 06:33:04 +0000

Engineers are working on a powerful new 3D head-up display to project safety alerts, such as lane departure, hazard detection, sat nav directions, and to reduce the effect of poor visibility in poor weather or light conditions. Augmented reality would add the perception of depth to the image by mapping the messages directly onto the road ahead.

Studies conducted in Germany show that the use of stereoscopic 3D displays in an automotive setting can improve reaction times on ‘popping-out’ instructions and increase depth judgments while driving.

In the future, the innovative technology could be used by passengers to watch 3D movies. Head- and eye-tracking technology would follow the user’s position to ensure they can see 3D pictures without the need for individual screens or shutter glasses worn at the cinema.

In a fully autonomous future, the 3D displays would offer users a personalised experience and allow ride-sharers to independently select their own content. Several passengers sharing a journey would be able to enjoy their own choice of media – including journey details, points of interest or movies – optimised for where they are sitting.

̽��ֱ��research – undertaken in partnership with the Centre for Advanced Photonics and Electronics (CAPE) at ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge – is focused on developing an immersive head-up display, which will closely match real-life experience allowing drivers to react more naturally to hazards and prompts.

Valerian Meijering, Human Machine Interface & Head-Up Display Researcher for Jaguar Land Rover, said: “Development in virtual and augmented reality is moving really quickly. This consortium takes some of the best technology available and helps us to develop applications suited to the automotive sector.”

Professor Daping Chu, Director of Centre for Photonic Devices and Sensors and Director of the Centre for Advanced Photonics and Electronics, said: “This programme is at the forefront of development in the virtual reality space – we’re looking at concepts and components which will set the scene for the connected, shared and autonomous cars of the future. CAPE Partners are world-leading players strategically positioned in the value chain network. Their engagement provides a unique opportunity to make a greater impact on society and further enhance the business value of our enterprises.”

̽��ֱ��next-generation head-up display research forms part of the development into Jaguar Land Rover’s ‘Smart Cabin’ vision: applying technologies which combine to create a personalised space inside the vehicle for driver and passengers with enhanced safety, entertainment and convenience features as part of an autonomous, shared future.

Adapted from a press release by Jaguar Land Rover

Researchers from the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge are working with Jaguar Land Rover to develop next-generation head-up display technology that could beam real-time safety information in front of the driver, and allow passengers to stream 3D movies directly from their seats as part of a shared, autonomous future.

This programme is at the forefront of development in the virtual reality space – we’re looking at concepts and components which will set the scene for the connected, shared and autonomous cars of the future

Daping Chu

Artist's impression of head-up display in Jaguar

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright © ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – as here, on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

Yes

Cambridge to lead £11.9m research project to extend battery life for electric vehicles

Anonymous — Tue, 23 Jan 2018 23:30:00 +0000

̽��ֱ��funding for the four projects, totalling up to £42 million, was announced this week by the Faraday Institution, the UK’s independent national battery research institute. Cambridge will receive up to £11.9 million to research how to extend battery life for electric vehicles.

Led by Professor Clare Grey from the Department of Chemistry, the Cambridge-led project will examine how environmental and internal battery stresses (such as high temperatures, charging and discharging rates) damage electric vehicle (EV) batteries over time. Results will include the optimisation of battery materials and cells to extend battery life (and hence EV range), reduce battery costs, and enhance battery safety.

̽��ֱ��project includes nine university and 10 industry partners, including the ̽��ֱ�� of Glasgow, ̽��ֱ�� College London, Newcastle ̽��ֱ��, Imperial College London, ̽��ֱ�� of Strathclyde, ̽��ֱ�� of Manchester, ̽��ֱ�� of Southampton, ̽��ֱ�� of Liverpool and WMG, at the ̽��ֱ�� of Warwick.

̽��ֱ��other three projects to be funded by this week’s announcement are Battery system modelling, led by Imperial College London; Recycling and reuse, led by the ̽��ֱ�� of Birmingham; and Next-generation solid-state batteries, led by the ̽��ֱ�� of Oxford.

If successful, this research has the potential to radically increase the speed with which we are able to make the move to electric vehicles, as well as the speed with which we can decarbonise our energy supply, with obvious benefits to the environment.

“With 200,000 electric vehicles set to be on UK roads by the end of 2018 and worldwide sales growing by 45 percent in 2016, investment in car batteries is a massive opportunity for Britain and one that is estimated to be worth £5 billion by 2025,” said Business Minister Richard Harrington. “Government investment, through the Faraday Institution, in the projects announced today will deliver valuable research that will help us seize the economic opportunities presented by battery technology and our transition to a low-carbon economy.”

̽��ֱ��topics for the four projects were chosen in consultation with industry, who will partner closely with each of them. This unique collaboration will help to ensure that the research is producing findings and solutions that meet the needs of industry. In addition, industrial partners will contribute a total of £4.6 million in in-kind support to the following four projects:

“To deliver the much-needed improvement in air quality in our cities and achieve our aspiration for cleaner energy targets we need to shift to electric vehicles quickly,” said Peter B. Littlewood, founding executive chair of the Faraday Institution. “These research programmes will help the UK achieve this. To be impactful on increasing energy density, lowering cost, extending lifetime, and improving battery safety requires a substantial and focused effort in fundamental research. Through steady investment in basic research on specific societal challenges identified by industry and government, the UK will become a world-leading powerhouse in energy storage.”

Professor Philip Nelson, EPSRC’s Chief Executive, said: “There is an urgent imperative for us to increase the efficiency of energy storage as we move towards low carbon economies and attempt to switch to clean methods of energy production.

“ ̽��ֱ��Faraday Institution will bring leading academics in the field of battery development together with industry experts to explore novel application-inspired approaches that will address the challenges we face. ̽��ֱ��UK has an opportunity to accelerate the development of new products and techniques. EPSRC will be working with the Institution and the academic community to help it succeed and keep the UK a prosperous and productive nation.”

Originally published on the Faraday Institution website.

̽��ֱ�� ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge is leading one of four government-funded projects into battery research, in order to accelerate the transition to electric vehicles and a low-carbon economy.

Chase Lewis

Tesla Supercharger

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. For image use please see separate credits above.

Yes

Heads up: Cambridge holographic technology adopted by Jaguar Land Rover

sc604 — Thu, 26 Nov 2015 08:00:00 +0000

Cambridge researchers have developed a new type of head-up display for vehicles which is the first to use laser holographic techniques to project information such as speed, direction and navigation onto the windscreen so the driver doesn’t have to take their eyes off the road. ̽��ֱ��technology – which was conceptualised in the ̽��ֱ��’s Department of Engineering more than a decade ago – is now available on all Jaguar Land Rover vehicles. According to the researchers behind the technology, it is another step towards cars which provide a fully immersive experience, or could even improve safety by monitoring driver behaviour.

Cars can now park for us, help us from skidding out of control, or even prevent us from colliding with other cars. Head-up displays (HUD) are one of the many features which have been incorporated into cars in recent years. Alongside the development of more sophisticated in-car technology, various companies around the world, most notably Google, are developing autonomous cars.

“We’re moving towards a fully immersive driver experience in cars, and we think holographic technology could be a big part of that, by providing important information, or even by encouraging good driver behaviour,” said one of the technology’s developers, Professor Daping Chu of the ̽��ֱ��’s Department of Engineering, who is also Chairman of the Centre for Advanced Photonics and Electronics (CAPE).

CAPE was established in 2004 to enable Cambridge researchers to work in partnership with industry to translate science into new technologies and products. ̽��ֱ��holographic HUD technology originated with Professor Bill Crossland in 2001, and was licensed to and developed by CAPE partner company Alps Electric, and then by Two Trees Photonics Ltd at Milton Keynes, in collaboration with researchers at CAPE. Products were designed by Two Trees Photonics and Alps, and manufactured by Alps for Jaguar Land Rover. ̽��ֱ��HUD became an available option on their vehicles in September 2014.

̽��ֱ��HUD technology developed at Cambridge is the first to use laser holographic techniques, which provide better colour, brightness and contrast than other systems, but in a smaller, lighter package. It provides key information to the driver without them having to take their eyes away from the road.

But according to Chu, the technology’s potential has yet to be fully realised, and its real advantage is what it could be used for in future models. “What we really want to see is a fully 3D display which can provide much more information to the driver in a non-intrusive way – this is still a first generation piece of technology,” he said.

For a technology that feels somewhat futuristic, HUDs actually have a long history. ̽��ֱ��earliest HUDs were developed during the Second World War to help pilots hit their targets while manoeuvring. ̽��ֱ��modern HUD became commonplace in military aircraft in the 1960s, in commercial aircraft in the 1970s, and in 1988, the first production car with a HUD was introduced.

In aircraft, a typical HUD includes information such as airspeed, altitude, heading and a horizon line, with additional information such as distance to target and weapon status for military applications.

Most of the HUDs in passenger cars display similar information as can be seen on the dashboard – speedometer and tachometer, as well as navigation information. Some models also display night vision information.

̽��ֱ��commercially-available Cambridge HUD projects information which is relevant to the driver onto the windscreen, in full colour and in two dimensions. But according to Chu, this type of technology is just getting started.

“There are three main types of information that we could integrate into future holographic head-up displays in the future,” he said. “ ̽��ֱ��first is the type of information that’s on today’s displays, but potentially we could add other information in a non-intrusive way: for example, if the driver passes a petrol station, perhaps the price of petrol at that station could flash up in the corner – the trick is how to display the most useful information in a way that doesn’t distract the driver.

“ ̽��ֱ��next level of information that could be incorporated into holographic HUDs is information about the position of pedestrians, cyclists, kerbs or other vehicles; or whether the driver is on the right track. And if we move into the next level, we start thinking about how we can use this sort of technology to help encourage good driving behaviour.”

Although it is the realm of fantasy at the moment, the sorts of things which Chu envisions for future holographic HUDs could help avoid accidents by monitoring driver behaviour. “Imagine if this technology could be used to give alerts to the driver if they were driving too fast, or getting drowsy, or were over the legal alcohol limit. You could have all of this information with an augmented reality approach – your screen is your world, really. What I want is for the driver to have an immersive experience in how they connect to the world.”

̽��ֱ��sort of immersive experience which Chu predicts crosses over with the development of autonomous or driverless cars, another project which involves researchers from Cambridge’s Engineering department.

“ ̽��ֱ��car will evolve,” said Chu. “I’m sure in 50 years’ time, everything in cars will be controlled by computers, but it’s being developed in different directions. ̽��ֱ��sorts of questions we’re interested in answering are around the idea of integrating critical and non-critical systems in a vehicle. When these systems are integrated, who ultimately makes the decision – the car or the driver? And in the case of disagreement, who wins?”

Lee Skrypchuk, Human Machine Interface Technical Specialist at Jaguar Land Rover, said: “ ̽��ֱ��development of a laser holographic HUD presented a number of technical challenges but also a number of benefits including small package size, high optical efficiency, wide colour gamut and cross platform compatibility. Incorporating a laser holographic light engine was a true world first application of technology for Jaguar Land Rover and I'm delighted that the technology has worked so well in our vehicles.”

A ‘head-up’ display for passenger vehicles developed at Cambridge, the first to incorporate holographic techniques, has been incorporated into Jaguar Land Rover vehicles.

We’re moving towards a fully immersive driver experience in cars, and we think holographic technology could be a big part of that.

Daping Chu

Jaguar Land Rover

Head-Up Display (HUD) projects key driving information onto a small area of the windscreen.

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. For image use please see separate credits above.

Yes

On yer bike!

sj387 — Wed, 30 Oct 2013 09:58:33 +0000

Motorised transport is the fastest-rising cause of energy-related greenhouse gas emissions and there’s a strong imperative to address this by moving towards a low-carbon transport system. Moreover, as Woodcock, from the Centre for Diet and Activity Research, explained: “It’s possible to benefit public health at the same time.”

But which approaches to achieving a low-carbon transport system would provide the biggest health benefits?

“We can think about the problem in two ways,” he said. “We can evaluate the impacts of an intervention such as new cycling infrastructure, or we can develop scenarios around what a healthy, low-carbon future transport system would look like, and then we think about how to achieve major changes in how people travel. We often see quite small effects from the interventions happening now, whereas potentially large things are possible.”

“Cycling could have a big role to play,” he said. “But to achieve this you’d have to start thinking about changes in land use to reduce trip distances, and cultural and infrastructural changes to make cycling an everyday mass activity for short- and medium-length trips.”

Woodcock has led the development of an Integrated Transport and Health Impact Modelling (ITHIM) tool, which models the health impacts of travel behaviours on both population health and greenhouse gas emissions.

“We’re seeing different effects in different populations,” said Woodcock. “In health terms, switching from driving to cycling consistently shows a net benefit, and the greatest benefit comes from getting older people more active. However, a complicated web of other problems arises. In some contexts, such as inner London, cyclists seem to face notably higher injury risk than users of other travel modes,” he said. “They also breathe harder so are inhaling more air pollution, which is bad for health.But on the other hand, they are not in a car putting other road users at injury risk or producing pollution for everyone else. We need this model to tell us which is the more important effect.”

There are also rebound effects to consider. “If I sell my car and buy a bike, I’ll have money left over, and where do I then spend that money?” he asked. “I may end up causing greenhouse gas emissions somewhere else, and it’s complicated to account for these second-order factors.”

ITHIM has now been taken up in California to evaluate transport plans in the San Francisco Bay area. It showed that a shift from driving to walking and cycling on short trips reduced the burden of cardiovascular disease and diabetes by 14% and reduced emissions by around 14%. By contrast, low-carbon driving reduced emissions by 33.5% but cardiorespiratory disease burden by less than 1%.

̽��ֱ��results are feeding into new policy in which a combination of active transport and low-carbon driving could meet legislative emissions mandates. Meanwhile, working with the Greater London Authority, Woodcock is also evaluating the impact of achieving the Mayor’s cycling targets and has also separately modelled the impacts of the Barclay’s Cycle Hire Scheme.

With funding from the Economic and Social Research Council and the Medical Research Council, Woodcock is leading two additional projects to address the problem of how to achieve the necessary behaviour change. By focusing on the development of cycling cultures through social learning and social influence, and by understanding the unintended outcomes that policies might bring about, these projects are attempting a different approach from those used in traditional transport modelling.

“Our research brings out a potential good news story,” he added. “Health benefits link transport and environment problems, and we need to be sure of the best route to achieving the biggest benefits.”

CEDAR is a partnership between the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, the ̽��ֱ�� of East Anglia and Medical Research Council Units in Cambridge. Visit www.cedar.iph.cam.ac.uk for more information.

With governments around the world under increasing pressure to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, transport systems are under scrutiny. Dr James Woodcock has introduced another factor into the equation: population health.

Health benefits link transport and environment problems, and we need to be sure of the best route to achieving the biggest benefits

James Woodcock

Amir Kuckovic

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Yes

Resolution ready to shine down under

tdk25 — Sat, 24 Aug 2013 05:00:03 +0000

After months of planning, design, building and testing, Britain’s only entry into the World Solar Challenge – a 3,000km solar-powered race across Australia – is heading out to the other side of the world.

Created by students at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, the car, which has been named “Resolution” by its creators, will be transported to Australia on Tuesday. Once there, it will undergo intense examination and further testing before the Darwin to Adelaide race begins on 6 October.

No British team has ever won the competition in its 26-year history. A victory this time would be a triumph of enterprise and ingenuity against the odds. Unlike the most successful of their competitors, who receive funding to build their cars up front, the Cambridge team have to raise the money themselves from scratch. They also have to fit the construction around exams and holiday jobs which, in some cases, are funding their own trips to Australia to compete.

Despite the challenge, however, the team are confident that Resolution’s radically different design has given them a chance. ̽��ֱ��car, which runs on roughly the same power as a hairdryer, overcomes the traditional trade-off between maximising its power and still having an aerodynamic design by separating the two.

Solar panels are attached to aft-tracking plates across its body, and programmed to follow the movement of the sun across the sky. In most solar cars, the panels are fixed to the vehicle’s surface, which compromises its shape. ̽��ֱ��use of mobile panels has enabled the team to make Resolution far more aerodynamic than the traditional “table-top” design of most of their competitors.

̽��ֱ��result is a vehicle that can move at an astonishing rate. In tests, the car has exceeded 70 miles per hour with a predicted top speed of 87 miles per hour. That bodes well for a competition where the fastest average speed ever recorded by a winner was just under 63mph.

“Put simply, our car looks like nothing else in the competition, and that might just give us the edge we need,” Keno Mario-Ghae, team manager for Cambridge ̽��ֱ�� Eco-Racing, based at the ̽��ֱ��’s Department of Engineering, said.

“There is still work to do, but we’re at the stage where the devil is in the detail. We’re looking at getting little things to run a bit more smoothly, or with a bit less power. We reckon that we can still squeeze out about 200 watts more in power consumption with a bit of effort.”

̽��ֱ��main reason for sending the car to Australia now – weeks before the race itself begins – is the intense preparation period that it will have to pass through on arrival. ̽��ֱ��car first goes into quarantine, possibly for just five days, but potentially for much longer.

Once released, the vehicle enters a new period of testing. Safety plans have to be submitted, driver turnaround times perfected, and the car undergoes test drives at different speeds. In particular, the team will need to assess how its systems are coping with the heat. Temperatures on the route could reach into the high 30s, which will be gruelling not just for the car, but the student drivers, who will be undertaking four hour stints inside the cramped cockpit.

“It’s basically like Formula One,” Mario-Ghae observed. “Everything we submit gets reviewed and checked to make sure that it complies with the rules. ̽��ֱ��systems are assessed one by one. Even the drivers have to be weighed in.”

̽��ֱ��cost of building the car comes to almost £500,000, but at no stage during it construction period has the team possessed anything resembling that amount of money. Instead, they have had to put it together using corporate sponsorship, donations, a “Name-On-Car” scheme, and crowdfunding through the website Kickstarter.

̽��ֱ��net result is that, unlike many of their competitors, there are few spare components. That will make for a tense race because, although the car can potentially reach speeds that will challenge for a place on the winners’ podium, it could also fail if its key parts stop working.

“ ̽��ֱ��margins are tight and and for us something failing could take us from challenging for a winning position to being absolutely nowhere,” Mario-Ghae said. “You just have to pray that everything will work. ̽��ֱ��race is going to be a massive effort, but if we can get everything right, we genuinely believe that we can win. We’re doing everything that we can to make this happen.”

Further information about Cambridge ̽��ֱ�� Eco-Racing, and how you can support the British team, can be found at https://www.cuer.co.uk/

For more information about this story, please contact Tom Kirk, Tel: 01223 332300, thomas.kirk@admin.cam.ac.uk

Built by undergraduates working for their exams, with funds raised by the students themselves, Cambridge’s solar car is the only British entry into the World Solar Challenge. Despite the odds, however, its radical design could still secure victory.

Put simply, our car looks like nothing else in the competition, and that might just give us the edge we need.

Keno Mario-Ghae

Solar car

Nick Saffell.

Resolution during a test drive in Cambridge.

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Yes