FLEETDRIVE
VENTILATOR VICTORY RUSSIAN RADARS
Ford Motor Company, in collaboration
with GE Healthcare, announced today it
will begin producing in Michigan a third-
party ventilator with the goal to produce
50,000 of the vitally needed units within
100 days and up to 30,000 a month
thereafter as needed. Cognitive Pilot, an autonomous driving
technology joint venture of Russia’s
Sberbank and Cognitive Technologies
group, has announced a compact and
affordable Cognitive Mini Radar sensor.
The GE/Airon Model A-E ventilator
uses a design that operates on
air pressure without the need for
electricity, addressing the needs of
most COVID-19 patients.
“The Ford and GE Healthcare teams,
working creatively and tirelessly,
have found a way to produce this
vitally needed ventilator quickly and
in meaningful numbers,” said Jim
Hackett, Ford’s president and CEO. “By
producing this ventilator in Michigan, in
strong partnership with the UAW, we
can help health care workers save lives,
and that’s our No. 1 priority.”
According to White House Defense
Production Act Coordinator Peter
Navarro, “the Ford/GE Healthcare team
is moving in ‘Trump time’ to speed
urgently needed ventilators to the front
lines of the Trump Administration’s full-
scale war against the coronavirus.
The radar has been developed for mass
use in the autonomous driving industry
and the device is already in demand for
fighting the coronavirus – as the new
radar can be fitted onto drones as well
as traditional vehicles. The radar could
theoretically alert people in different
hazardous or isolated areas and also be
used to deliver food and other services.
This mini radar is a fully-functioning
3D sensor but is extremely small –
comparable to a toothpick – and weighs
only 40 grams with an operating distance
of up to 100 metres. The primary
purpose of the radar is to control the
space around the perimeter of the vehicle
– covering all the blind spots, providing
accurate detection while lane changing,
at intersections, while parking, etc..
“It easily integrates with any on-board
equipment: computing unit, controller
etc. You just need to turn it on and use
it right away,” said the CEO of Cognitive
Pilot, Olga Uskova
SALES SURGE
Car sales surged by more than 15
percent in Taiwan in March, despite the
onslaught of the Wuhan coronavirus
(COVID-19) pandemic, with electric car
maker Tesla forcing its way into the top
10 brands for the first time.
The main reason for the increase in
car registrations is that consumer
confidence has hardly been affected
by the slow-rising numbers of virus
cases in the country, CNA reported
earlier this month. In addition, during
the epidemic more people want to
avoid public transportation, and there
has also been a drop in the price of oil.
A total of 37,279 new cars were
registered during March instead of the
expected 33,000, according to the
report. The new figure amounted to an
increase of 15.1 percent compared to
March 2019 and even of 36.3 percent
compared to Feb. 2020.
However, estimates for April are more
pessimistic, with a forecast of 32,000
new cars to be sold, a decline of 8
percent from the same month last year.
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