Almost all new cars in the world contain at least one but often dozens of NXP chips. Our chips help improve traffic safety, but they also make cars lighter and more economical.
Update November 1 -Stella had the leading role in a press event. The media had been invited to the technical college in Nanyang Polytechnic to attend a presentation by Mr. Loh, Country Manager of NXP Singapore, on how NXP’s smart solution can help enhance livability in mega cities such as Singapore and a speech by the Dutch ambassador, Mr. Werner, on the relationship between Singapore and the Netherlands.
Lex Hoefsloot, Team Captain of Solar Team Eindhoven, spoke about the 2013
World Solar Challenge in Australia and the characteristics of Stella.
Hereafter Mr. Penno, NXP’s regional Sales and Marketing Director,
explained NXP’s Car2Car technology and how an On Board Unit in Stella,
containing the NXP ATOP chip, can help to make traffic safer. He invited Mr.
Loh and the ambassador to go for a ride in Stella. Journalists and other
guests were then also given the opportunity to do the same and experience how
innovative and sustainable this family car is.
Stella was like a magnet for media and students. During the day, hundreds of
students took thousands of pictures of Stella. There were journalists from
Channel News Asia, the regional news network, as well as Singapore’s
flagship English daily, The Straits Times, Top Gear Singapore and
Singapore’s leading business publication, The Business Times.
Singapore Polytechnic had also competed in the 2013 World Solar Challenge and the team of 20 students from SP came to the event to discuss one on one with the Eindhoven University of Technology students on their experiences during the race and to examine the Stella to see how it was built.
Stella is not only the world’s first solar-powered family car, but also
a real car to show NXP’s Car2Car and Car2infrastructure technology. For
example the students have developed an interactive steering wheel that
can shrink or expand depending on the traffic situation.
The wheel can be programmed in such a way that it will expand when the car
is driving too fast, or shrink if a dangerous situation occurs. And because of
the NXP Car2Car technology, such as Wifi-P and the ‘On Board
unit’, Stella can also warn other cars about dangerous situations.
To demonstrate Wifi-P NXP had two normal cars available for a demo
ride in order to give the journalist the opportunity to experience how this
technology can make traffic safer. We demonstrated e-brake and intersection
collision warning on public roads close to the campus.
One of the questions asked was which chips are important for electric driving. Electric cars have to be safe of course, and NXP has developed smart chips to achieve this. All cars nowadays are equipped with an internal network, which allows messages to be exchanged between electronic modules in the car. High voltages are applied in the case of electric cars, and the chips that control this network have to be protected from possible short circuits (e.g. in case of an accident). NXP has developed special chips for this purpose (isolated CAN) that keep the network perfectly safe in case of an accident or malfunction. This way, NXP directly contributes to the safety of electric driving.
Update October 30 – During the Asia Future Energy Forum and Exhibition (AFEF) and Asia Smart Grid (ASG)/ Electromobility Conference, leading companies in the field of energy, sustainability and smart grids are demonstrating their latest inventions and solutions. In collaboration with several Singaporean universities, NXP is demonstrating how its wireless connected sensors are contributing to Green and smart buildings.
For the students of the Eindhoven University of Technology, this is the
place to be with their solar car Stella. The Dutch employers’
association FME, responsible for the Dutch Pavilion at the exhibition, had
arranged that Stella would also be showcased near the pavilion. A logistic
obstacle was that the exhibition takes place on the fourth floor of the expo
center, but fortunately the car fitted right in the goods elevator. “I
can assure you that getting Stella into the conference room was a once in a
lifetime experience”, says Stella-driver André Snoeck.
“Driving through the kitchen of this huge complex while 20 Singaporean
cooks are telling you how to drive, is not a daily routine.”
Wouter Leibbrandt, Manager Advanced Applications Lab at NXP Semiconductors
Eindhoven, gave a presentation on ‘Secure Connections for a Smarter
World’ in relation to Smart Grids and Smart Sensors.
We are accustomed to solar panels on roofs and windmills to generate clean
energy, but what if our car could generate electricity when parked? As the
typical average driving distance in Singapore is under 40 km a day, Stella
could generate more energy with its solar panels than it would consume for
driving. Unlike electric cars, solar cars can: 1) charge from the grid, 2)
store energy from the grid and 3) provide energy from its solar panels to the
grid. If we want to manage solar cars combined with home grids, we need
Integrated Circuits (IC) to control the appliances, radio chips for wireless
communication, secure elements for tamper proof security and connected NFC
tags for easy commissioning. These functions are being combined and integrated
on NXP ICs.
During the network reception this afternoon, 4-seater Stella received a lot
of attention from Dutch ambassador Jaap Werner as well as from
representatives of various Asian and European companies. Once again the
gold winning students were congratulated on their fabulous performance during
the World Solar Challenge. Roy Cobbenhagen, Technical Manager of Solar
Team Eindhoven, noted: “Solar powered vehicles are not as widely known
in Asia as in the Netherlands, so people are often more surprised and
overwhelmed by the fact that it is possible to drive a solar powered family
car in normal daily use.”
Update October 28 – After students from the Eindhoven University of Technology won gold in the Cruiser class of the 2013 World Solar Challenge in Australia, a part of Solar Team Eindhoven together with Stella safely arrived in Singapore yesterday. On today’s agenda are ‘meet Stella’ events for employees and one of NXP’s biggest customers.
Singapore is a mega city on a relatively small piece of land. This means that Singapore constantly has to develop new technologies to solve mega city problems, such as traffic congestion, pollution and energy consumption. Innovations and measures to allow the community to function as efficiently as possible, play a very important role. Singapore was among the first countries to introduce road-pricing. In many areas, such as ITS, Singapore is an exemplary role model in the region. That is why NXP invests a great deal in R&D in Singapore, and wants to demonstrate its smart solutions that can help enhance livability in cities and contribute to a sustainable and safe society. Stella is world’s first sustainable family car that does not pollute and on average even generates more energy than it uses, especially in a sunny city like Singapore. The car is energy-positive, so it contributes to a reduction of CO2 emission and therefore to a better environment. In addition, Stella contains a great deal of NXP technology that can help improve traffic flow and safety.
Almost all new cars in the world contain at least one but often dozens of NXP
chips. Our chips help improve traffic safety, but they also make cars lighter
and more economical. Furthermore, they allow drivers and passengers to enjoy
their car infotainment system. NXP mainly develops, devises and manufactures
smart applications for passenger cars. Because cars have to last a long time
and it takes years before the design of a new model is actually ready for
manufacture, NXP is constantly shaping automotive future. We have a vision of
the car of the future. So when students from the Eindhoven University of
Technology came to us with the plan to manufacture a solar car that is
suitable for 4 persons, can take part in regular traffic – meaning that
it meets all the government demands with respect to cars regarding safety and
comfort – and moreover is clean and sustainable, NXP was immediately
enthusiastic. Stella is a concept car that allows us a glimpse of the
Automotive future.
Quite soon after the first presentation of Stella in Eindhoven, the
Netherlands, the idea to demonstrate this unique car to the media, important
customers and NXP employees in Singapore started to take shape. After all,
Singapore is on the route back from Australia to the Netherlands; it is an
important gateway to Asia and an important city for NXP. That is why it
was decided to let Stella take center stage during a number of events. The
first event took place this Monday for employees of our Singapore
office. Early in the morning Stella was unloaded and driven into the
entrance hall of the NXP Solaris office building. There the notable solar car
soon became the center of attention of employees and visitors.
During the entire morning, our colleagues had the opportunity to admire the
car. Members of Solar Team Eindhoven showed various videos about Stella
and their winning race in Australia and soon were quite busy answering
questions about the World Solar Challenge and the application of our
technology in this family car of the future. Remi, who presented the story of
Stella to the NXP employees, was very enthusiastic about the reactions:
“It is absolutely clear that NXP employees are engineers. They were
very interested in all the technologies in the car, not just in her looks.
I think we have convinced them that Stella has the potential to be the car of
the future.” He proudly adds and with doubting modesty: “For me
it is also very special, my first presentation as World Champion!”
At the end of the morning, a delegation of one of NXP’s biggest
customers was welcomed by Karsten Penno, Director Regional Sales
and Marketing, Automotive and Transportation. Karsten spoke about the
Car-to-Car technology in Stella, and how it can be applied in Singapore.
Thereafter, the Eindhoven students and our Singaporean Automotive colleagues
started to program and test demos in Stella, in preparation of the coming
press event. Joep, who is the lead Signals and Control engineer of Solar Team
Eindhoven, explained: “During the 2013 World Solar Challenge we used
Cohda’s Wireless Car-to-Car technology to transfer important parameters
of Stella to the Strategy van. Today we’ve added the feature to show
warnings and matching sounds prior to dangerous situations on the road. We are
convinced the car of the future can make more of Car-to-Car
communication.”
Martijn is based in NXP’s Eindhoven headquarters where he’s been an integral member of NXP’s corporate communications team since 2007. He spearheads internal and external PR and communications initiatives, as well as NXP corporate sponsorships with university partners and policymakers.
