This week's snippets of automotive news include news on BMW's research and development department, Citroen's Airbump design, Volkswagen boss on the next generation of cars and DS on a two-seat city car.
BMW R&D:
The entire computing power of BMW’s research and development department is 60 petabytes. To get the required computing power needed to develop and run autonomous cars, this will need to grow to 600 petabytes, according to development boss Klaus Fröhlich. To that end, it is working with computing firms Intel and MobilEye in a three-way joint venture to develop the computing technology needed.
Citroen Airbump design:
Citroen bosses are currently discussing whether its Airbump design, seen on cars such as the Citroen C3, should make it to the next C5 saloon, due in 2020. Product boss Xavier Peugeot said it is under consideration but the most important thing is to “reinvent the saloon”. He said: “If you try to sell a traditional saloon, you’re in trouble.”
Volkswagen on the next generation of car:
“The car of today is conflicting,” according to Volkswagen boss Herbert Diess. “Many people love to drive cars but the other side is pollution, emissions, noise, accidents.” Talking about the next generation of vehicles, he said: “We have a chance to lose many of the negatives of cars. We have a chance to become accident-free,” referring to the rising number of safety systems and autonomy on cars.
DS designer on a two-seat city car:
DS senior designer Ivo Groen said he’d “like to do a DS two-seat city car”. Groen stressed it is his personal desire rather than part of the DS plan, but it’s presumably under discussion. While the formats of the next six models have been decided, Groen is thinking beyond: “There’s scope for something radical.”
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Such a shame that Citroën
Was the Cactus not a success? I see loads - my kids even play 'I spy' with them.
Agreed.
I think they sell more C3s with airbumps than without, but only just. I see loads of Cacti too... and whilst I like the new model, I'm a bit more lukewarm to it than the old one.
I'm surprised that Citroen
I'm surprised that Citroen are even mentioning airbumps when talking about a forthcoming model, they've all but abandoned them on their recent launches. Has the much vaunted roof mounted front airbag from the Cactus been replicated on any other models, or has that died a death as well?
@Autocar
I think you mean 'petaflops', not 'petabytes'.
NavalReserve wrote:
Exactly, thank you - wondered if anyone wuld comment on this.