The IoT will be a Pandora's Box for the global lighting sector ...

When you have worked for an automotive OEM like Ford Motor Company as a car product planner you get to know what it costs to create a car. Let me tell you, even with carry-over or common floor-pans, or today's digital design and 3D printing, creating an auto is an expensive business. Just changing a crease on a deck lid or front fender can cost millions in tooling, testing and design so I was more than a bit surprised when I read this in Forbes yesterday:  "Zoox knows it needs hefty investment

In June Transport for London [TfL] announced that they would be introducing a fleet of 240 all-electric buses in London starting with the first 68 being introduced by mid 2019. The new bus fleet is being manufactured as part of a collaborative global consortium between Chinese based OEM BYD, Alexander Dennis Limited of Scotland and UK based Optare. This will be the first and largest order for their new all electric twin-deck electric buses. I find this decision inconsistent as TfL is already

During the 2013 launch preparations for the BMW i-Brand I was given the run-down on what the BMW i-3 could do by one of the engineers at their Leipzig production facility. Back in 2013 the BMW i-3 could neatly and safely park itself. Sensing that I might be a "good egg", the demo-guru invited me to stand in the way of an i-3 which was about to self park, that is without warning me what was about to happen. Then this driverless i-3 just headed towards me while I was standing within the space it

The media is full of stories of bank closures in smaller towns and rural communities. This means that SMEs and people living in these communities will struggle with day to day business needs. But there is a much deeper problem for these transport disenfranchised communities. Local bus services are often inadequate or even non-existent. Essential journeys to access shopping, rail stations, hospitals, leisure destinations and visits to family and friends become worrisome. Providing improved

Think about the recent decisions from various governments around the world to legislate that all cars must be electric by a certain date. In the case of Volvo they say that by 2019 their full range will be electric. VW recently announced that it will offer 30 electric cars by 2025, while the British Government has said that all petrol and diesel cars will be banned from 2040. Michael Gove, the Environment Secretary, has warned that Britain "can't carry on" with petrol and diesel cars because of

A pal of mine knows about this stuff. He was Head of Consulting at Microsoft but we met him in an earlier iteration when he invented Rich Internet Applications. Steven is well versed in advanced code. He alerted me to the fact that some apps that we add to our phones are not what they seem. They are in fact innately hostile conduits to people and forces that mean us harm. And they do just that, intruding, stealing, threatening, compromising and defrauding us. They listen and watch, record our

Today Tesla overtook GM in stock value while earlier it had equalled the value of Ford Motor Company. We know that the giants of yesteryear give way to upstarts. IBM vs apple is one example, while Google and Amazon have carved their own niche. Now Toshiba, once a giant, not only of computing but a powerful conglomerate, teeters on the very brink of extinction. But surely FORD and GM are synonymous with the bedrock of what we have come know as the US heartland? Well, this new breed, this new

Link this with Fog computing and we could be motoring ... Despite various carrots and sticks offered by governments around the world, the actual market conversion to low carbon transport has been slower than anticipated. There is fantastic product on the market from Tesla, BMW i-Brand, Mercedes, Audi, Nissan, Renault, Honda, Toyota, and Ford - in fact most automotive OEMs now offer EVs, PHEVs and even HFC auto options. The end result in most countries, with the exception of Norway which has

It seems that we now hear every day about Smart Cities and the IoT - Internet of Things - but how many of us truly understand what these things are really about? If you're in any doubt, then just take a look at these two short videos which illustrate very clearly not just what they're about but also what sort of benefits they can bring to industry, local government, consumers and the population at large. If you wonder what a Smart City is, then try this. It'll take just 101 seconds of your