MOTORHUB MAGAZINE
Top Automobile
Innovations In the
past year
Automated Manual Transmission.
I
n the 2014 Delhi Auto Expo, where more
than 70 vehicles were launched, one that
pundits hailed as the most important was
Maruti Suzuki’s Celerio, the first affordable
mass segment gearless hatchback. Celerio
comes with AMT (automate manual transmission) sourced from Magneti Marelli,
component arm of Fiat. AMT is an electro-hydraulic mechanism for automating
manual transmission, which derives from F1.
It has a hydraulic system and an electronic
system. The electronic transmission control unit helps in engaging and disengaging the clutch and gear through an electronic actuator. It also has a sports mode,
which enables drivers to move to the manual shifting of gear to increase and decrease
the gear ratios with plus and minus either
through gear knob /joystick or the steering. In India, AMT is currently available in
three cars — Celerio, Alto K10 and Tata Zest.
Land Rover’s Invisible Car
16
ISSUE #2 Jun - Sept
I
n April, Tata -owned JLR introduced
a new technology to give drivers a
digital vision of the terrain ahead
by making the front of the car ‘virtually’ invisible. The technology — named
Transparent Bonnet — enables a driver
climbing a steep incline or manoeuvring in a confined space to see an augmented reality view capturing not only
the terrain in front of the car but also the
angle and position of the front wheels.
The cameras located in the vehicle’s
grille capture data used to feed a headup display, effectively creating a ‘seethrough’ view of the terrain through
the bonnet and engine bay, breaking
new ground in visual driver assistance.