CONNECTED CAR
CONNECTED CAR
“ The EV world and the autonomy world are going to come together at some point ”
STEPHEN LAMBERT HEAD OF ELECTRIFICATION , MCLAREN APPLIED
ELECTRIC VEHICLES OPEN UP NEW SAFETY CAPACITY
The differing architecture between ICE and EV presents only opportunities for OEMs , as they look to make their cars safer for drivers . The inverter being a key component of this , as explained by Lambert , individual drive for each wheel of the electric car eliminates the need for the ‘ safe state ’ expected in aerospace .
“ If there is a problem , you need the ability to go into a safe state . That ’ s usually if there ’ s a problem with a vehicle ,” says Lambert .
What this means is , “ you turn off the drivetrain and can coast to a safe stop — this is one of the differences we ’ ve found compared to aerospace safety systems where you don ’ t create a safe state in the same way .” Although the safe state idea is something unique to vehicles on public roads , the applications from motorsport come from an opposite application , whereby the teams “ learn how to best use the technology , how to push them to their limits before they can fail , where that failure point is , and how we get the most out of that , the asset that is the inverter .”
EVMAGAZINE . COM [ May 2023 ] 57