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Daimler and Qualcomm To Develop In-Car Tech, Wireless Charging

Posted by samzenpus on from the if-you-charge-it-they-will-buy dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Car manufacturer Daimler announced a deal with mobile technology company Qualcomm to explore wireless mobile phone recharging in cars, as well as recharging electric vehicles without cables. The move is part of a push by Daimler, as well as rival carmakers BMW and Audi, to improve their status as high-tech carmakers. "It's important that we remain on the cutting edge of technology and continue to deliver unparalleled experiences to our customers," says Prof. Dr. Thomas Weber, Member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG responsible for Group Research and Mercedes-Benz Cars Development. "With this in mind, we are eager to jointly explore possible fields of future cooperation with an internationally leading tech firm like Qualcomm."

41 comments

  1. Wireless charging by itzly · · Score: 3, Informative

    What's to develop about wireless charging ? It already exists. You just need to mount it in a car.

    1. Re:Wireless charging by weilawei · · Score: 2

      It's woefully inadequate for charging at acceptable rates. A good friend of mine drives an EV (a VW Golf) and the thing takes several hours to charge with a physical cable. The fastest level charging standard isn't even available nearby, and we have a pretty decent amount of charging stations here in MA.

    2. Re:Wireless charging by itzly · · Score: 1

      I mean a phone charger, not a wireless charger for the car itself.

    3. Re:Wireless charging by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I mean a phone charger, not a wireless charger for the car itself.

      Well, the article was talking about charging the car, and you were attacking why they were developing something that already exists..

    4. Re:Wireless charging by itzly · · Score: 1

      Well, the article was talking about charging the car

      It was talking about both.

      "Carmaker Daimler on Saturday announced a partnership with mobile technologies company Qualcomm Inc. to explore wireless recharging of mobile phones in cars as well as recharging of electric cars without cables."

    5. Re:Wireless charging by niftydude · · Score: 1

      What's to develop about wireless charging ? It already exists. You just need to mount it in a car.

      Exactly: this or this for example.

      On the other hand, if a wireless mobile charger is added as an optional extra, they can charge 10x retail.

      --
      You can never know everything, and part of what you do know will always be wrong. Perhaps even the most important part.
    6. Re:Wireless charging by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 1

      Yeah, good thing this is Star Trek and we all use one brand of phone so all of the engineering is super simple.

      --

      "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

    7. Re:Wireless charging by jellomizer · · Score: 1

      Scale: charging your phone with 5 volts compared to a car at 120/220 volts.
      Safety: that much current floating around means if a child wanders in the wrong area they are fried
      Efficiency: If it is half efficient to charge our phones. No big deal its conscience makes up for the cost. But to power a car you will feel the extra cost. Besides you get a electric car because it is better for the environment and if we need to create extra coal plants to power these cars its carbon footprint gets bigger.
      Reliability: a car goes threw a lot of stressed. Rain, snow, ice, wind, salt, bugs, animals nesting in it.

      It isn't the same as making a wireless charger to charge a 2 ton cell phone.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    8. Re:Wireless charging by CastrTroy · · Score: 2

      If you really want to charge quickly, you aren't going to beat a cable. Just like if you actually want fast network access, you should plug in an ethernet cable. In car wireless charging would be "good enough" if it provided enough power to use your phone as a bluetooth streaming or navigation system without draining the battery. As long as the battery is maintaining a constant charge when using the phone for normal in-car functions, it doesn't really need to be able to top off the battery quickly.

      My phone has been off the charger since last night at 10 PM (it's now 10 AM, so 12 hours), and it's still at 100% charge. Because I didn't need to use it for much. Sent a few text messages, read some emails, basic stuff really. It's only when I start using it for stuff like browsing the web, watching youtube videos, or doing active navigation (GPS logging doesn't seem to do much to the battery) that the battery starts to deplete significantly. A lot of that usage comes in the car when I'm using it as a GPS, or listening to bluetooth audio streamed from the web. If I could just stop my phone battery from depleting when I'm actively using it certain scenarios, I could probably go close to a week without actually needing to plug it into a wall.

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
    9. Re:Wireless charging by itzly · · Score: 1

      It's hardly a car manufacturer's job to fix the incompatible charging standards.

    10. Re:Wireless charging by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As long as incompatible standards exist, his job is to either pick and support only one, like they tended to do with the fucking iPhone, or find a way to support all or at least many of them.

    11. Re:Wireless charging by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 1

      That's a nice little shift in position on the matter.

      --

      "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

    12. Re:Wireless charging by itzly · · Score: 1

      Not at all. Just extra clarification.

    13. Re:Wireless charging by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 1

      "The technology exists. It's not their job to fix the technology that is inadequate."

      Your clarification is in conflict with your point, yea that is a change in position.

      --

      "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

    14. Re:Wireless charging by itzly · · Score: 1

      Are you really so dense ?

      Technology exists for various brands of phones. They can pick one, pick several, let the customer choose, or wait for better standards that support all of them at the same time.

      In each case, it's just a matter of picking off-the-shelf technology and sticking it in a car, which was the point of my first post.

    15. Re:Wireless charging by sonicmerlin · · Score: 1

      Oh yeah? Can you attach this in your car? https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

    16. Re:Wireless charging by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 1

      So why exactly is it that they should wait until it's off-the-shelf? "It's not their job" is not an answer.

      --

      "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

  2. In other words ... by quenda · · Score: 2

    Car manufacturers are getting truly desperate trying to find new features to add to differential the models.

    Wireless charging is hardly "cutting edge" when it has been used in battery toothbrushes for decades.
    The only reason it is popular now, aside from with people who love any gimmick, is that everybody hates the current USB plug, and is sick of trying to plug it in backwards. Bring back the old Nokia 2mm plug PLEASE!

  3. I really hope... by dohzer · · Score: 3, Funny

    I really hope this leads to another wireless charging standard.

    1. Re:I really hope... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I really hope this leads to another wireless charging standard.

      Yeah, because I would hate it if I couldn't put my phone on the same 200A wireless charger pad that I put my electric car on... :)

      btw. the problem with multiple wireless charging standards is more or less solved by the latest Samsung S6 models. There are in practice only two standards that have any market share, and the S6 supports both.

  4. the value of not plugging in some devices by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I can see the value of not having to manually plug in a charging cable to a device, with a puny battery of only 1 watt hour. But for an electric car, with a giant 20+ kwh battery, the inefficiency of wireless charging can waste a couple of kwh. Spend the extra 15 seconds, and physically plug in the electric car.

  5. dont think i want this.... by mOzone · · Score: 1

    what could go wrong ..wireless car charging pad with 220/440 voltage 30-60amps
    snow packed cars should make this fun and interesting

    1. Re:dont think i want this.... by jellomizer · · Score: 1

      Now now, environmentalists only live where there is a temperate climate, thus have no need to consider the finer details of real world application. Those who have real world needs are just wrong or corrupt.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    2. Re:dont think i want this.... by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      Now now, environmentalists only live where there is a temperate climate, thus have no need to consider the finer details of real world application. Those who have real world needs are just wrong or corrupt.

      That's rather weak.

      We adapt, we don't just say "Hmm, batteries dont work well above the arctic circle, so we can't use batteries at all for anything."

      Ever see what they have to do with proper internal combustion vehicles up thar? Block and battery heaters, electric access plugs at parking meters, even using small fires to heat up the big diesels (perhaps mythical) . Leave them idling 24/7, but don't forget, the hydraulic systems aren't getting warm, so be really careful.

      Such a deal that there are Youtube videos about it:

      https://www.youtube.com/result...

      You might hate environmentalists, but that reason is pretty silly.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    3. Re:dont think i want this.... by mOzone · · Score: 1

      not the battery ... its the whole idea of a large wireless car chargeing pad..
      i live in midwest .. when i park inside about 70+ lbs of snow ice falls off my car in the winter
      now parking on a wireless pad hooked upto 220/240/440 30-40amps
      sounds like a good way to kill the whole family

    4. Re:dont think i want this.... by RandomAdam · · Score: 1

      Why limit it to 440V? It is much more efficient run 11kV; much smaller conductors etc..... there is the whole death element to consider if someone somewhere fucks around with it....but there are plenty of those things in every day living; petrol is massively toxic and is explosive yet we trust general citizens to handle it regularly.

      --
      @Random_Adam

      Sometimes a sig doesn't have to be funny!!
    5. Re:dont think i want this.... by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      not the battery ... its the whole idea of a large wireless car chargeing pad.. i live in midwest ..

      I don't disagree. I'm a firm believer in a direct hookup. I'm envisioning a umbilical that you attach when you drive up. Then when you are finished it disconnects when you hit the ignition or hwatever they call it on an EV.

      The only disadvantage I can see is you won't be able to back in and charge. Which given the "backing into a space" crowd, I suspect they won't be driving EV's for a long long time.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
  6. Re: ...recharging electric vehicles without cables by xtal · · Score: 1

    Those who say things are impossible should get out of the way of those doing it..

    Curious where your calculations come from that say it can't be done with any efficiency. (I am EE).

    --
    ..don't panic
  7. qualcomm isn't the only one by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Daimler is working with so many tech companies in the Bay Area right now that I have run into multiple friends who are also working with these guys. What irks me is initially I assumed my company (not Qualcomm) was working with Daimler exclusively.

    But I should probably be happy that a German company is reaching out to California for technology instead of relying only on European partners. I'm not sure it will really translate into more jobs here, but the gesture is appreciated at least.

  8. Re: ...recharging electric vehicles without cables by itzly · · Score: 2

    Current wireless charging is about 90% efficient in optimal conditions: close, well matched inductors, and no foreign metal objects.

    Even 90% is a terrible waste for a car, when you can plug in a cable in just a few seconds.

  9. Re: ...recharging electric vehicles without cables by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

    Those who say things are impossible should get out of the way of those doing it..

    Curious where your calculations come from that say it can't be done with any efficiency. (I am EE).

    Better yet, where are your calculations that it can be done with the same efficiency as a plug/socket arrangement?

    I'e always thought the model should be the Alaskan Block heater paradigm. Pull up to the meter, plug it in. Or even the parking lot of today, with a credit card payment kiosk. Lay the cables, meter it, and charge your card automatically. It's not futuristic, but then all solutions don't need to be futuristic.

    Let me know the physics - I'll understand them.

    --
    The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
  10. Re:I really (Obligatory XKCD) by willworkforbeer · · Score: 2

    http://xkcd.com/927/

    --
    Pretending this is my office full of bitter coworkers..
  11. Qualcomm has a crappy record by Snotnose · · Score: 1

    Outside of CDMA and OmniTracs. They had digital cinema, MediaFlow, Globalstar, BREW, Miriasol, that deal with Ford 10-15 years back, etc. Outside of Omnitracs (since sold), and their CDMA tech I can't think of any branching out they've succeeded at.

    1. Re:Qualcomm has a crappy record by Drathos · · Score: 1

      Until the switch to smartphones, nearly every phone on VZW was saddled with BREW (the OS) no matter what OS the manufacturer would normally put on their phones.

      Also, their Snapdragon SoCs have been a huge success for them.

      --
      End of line..
  12. Re: ...recharging electric vehicles without cables by weilawei · · Score: 1

    Pull up to the meter, plug it in. Or even the parking lot of today, with a credit card payment kiosk. Lay the cables, meter it, and charge your card automatically.

    This is already done at a local grocery store. Friend of mine drives an EV. It uses an app on his phone and automatically charges his card. It also lets you know how much time is remaining to finish charging, kW used, etc..

  13. Re: ...recharging electric vehicles without cables by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

    This is already done at a local grocery store. Friend of mine drives an EV. It uses an app on his phone and automatically charges his card. It also lets you know how much time is remaining to finish charging, kW used, etc..

    Excellent! I never heard of that, but I guess it shows I was thinking in the right direction. Now imagine a parking garage with a gazillion solar panels on the top level, and the cars park underneath it, kept out of the sun and rain, and charging up.

    --
    The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
  14. Re: ...recharging electric vehicles without cables by weilawei · · Score: 1

    The local parking garage also has EV charging spots. You're on a roll!