By Brian Fuller We’ve written all lot about the quickening pace of innovation in automotive electronics design. And you’ll recall the centerpiece of the first part of the Drive for Innovation was an all-electric Chevy Volt, which took us around North America. If you’re in automotive electronics design, you’re no doubt working on a very important and very cool piece

SAN FRANCISCO–During the first half of our around-the-country drive in the Chevy Volt, the first conversations started stirring over one of the greatest features of electric and hybrid-electric vehicles: How quiet they are. Problem is, they’re apparently too quiet, at least for the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration. Last week, NHTSA proposed adding sounds to EV and PHEVs running below

SUNNYVALE, Calif.–A key part of any stop on the year-long Drive for Innovation was interacting with engineers either examining our Chevy Volt or driving it around. Everyone has a design suggestion. Analog Devices took it to the next level, in the Fall of 2011, by hosting an outdoor reception during which employees put Sticky-note design suggestions all over the car. That sparked

Vision is great until it runs headlong into cold hard reality. That’s my take-away from the news today that Shai Agassi, co-founder of battery-infrastructure company Better Place, was pushed aside as CEO. Agassi and Better Place have benefited from amazing publicity, and, to a great degree, communal hope. His articulate and passionate vision for the future fits nicely with our

Steve Leibson, longtime industry editor and engineer, got a chance this summer to tool around in the Silicon Valley in a Chevy Volt.  It's always good to get a different perspective, but Leibson's over three days tracks ours over 12 months.  He writes: "Quite simply, it drives like a smooth, well-bred car and it’s clear that GM engineers worked really

PHOENIX–Sometimes the biggest, most-ambitious projects end quietly and simply. A small group of executives from Avnet Electronics Marketing, including president Ed Smith and marketing VP Ian Basey, and I gathered in the company's headquarters this month as the good folks from the charitable organization Chances for Children took ownership of our home for the past year, the red Chevy Volt.

More than a century after the commercialization of the automobile, we find ourselves in another–perhaps the most significant–transition in automotive technology since then: electric vehicles. I bring this up because since Day 1 of the Drive for Innovation I wanted to take the Chevy Volt to some unusual places, like Pikes Peak. But the primary spot I wanted to park

One of the biggest aspects of the year-long Drive for Innovation has been the logistics; connecting and organizing meetings at hundreds of companies, usually located in places we had not visited previously. Here are some of the best (and innovative) receptions we encountered: 1. Analog Devices: ADI communications folks pulled out all the stops for our visit to Wilmington, Mass. They organized a huge

If you drive more than 30,000 miles in a year, you're going to run into some odd moments. Here are some of the top odd moments from the Drive for Innovation, in no particular order: 1. The helmet incident: Maybe it was the spirit of the holidays, but at a Maryland steakhouse, we met a wonderful waitress who had a