Saturday, 7 January 2017

How Honda self-balancing bike different than BMW Motorrad Vision Next 100 self-riding bike?

I guess you all remember when BMW showcased their future self-riding bike BMW Motorrad VISION NEXT 100 on 11 October at the “Iconic Impulses : The BMW Group Future Experience” exhibition in Los Angeles. Honda is in news due to its self-balancing bike, they unveiled yesterday in CES 2017. Some people are comparing it with BMW’s Motorrad due to it’s self-balancing, but let me clear differences between both of these bikes..

BMW Motorrad

Which will come first in the market ?

BMW’s Motorrad is all about future, we won’t be able to see Motorrad on roads soon. Head of Design at BMW Motorrad,Edgar Heinrich said "Normally, when we develop a motorcycle, we tend to think 5 to 10 years in advance. On this occasion, we looked much further ahead and found the experience especially exciting. There are some very attractive prospects. I firmly believe the BMW Motorrad VISION NEXT 100 sets out a coherent future scenario for the BMW Motorrad brand.”

When designing the BMW Motorrad VISION NEXT 100, the team was thinking decades in advance. In tomorrow’s world, connectivity and digitalisation will be all-encompassing. Most vehicles will be driverless, and life will be organised largely by digital services. More and more of the world’s population will be living in urban areas.

Whereas Honda’s self-balancing could be part of most bikes soon, bike looks same like most of production bikes. Though , Honda hasn’t announced use of this technology in production bikes but we can hope .

Technology difference-

BMW Motorrad Vision Next 100 is BMW’ futuristic concept and design.Therefore I will not compare both bikes entirely, but I will be talking about self-balancing technology of both bikes.

The Flexframe appears as a single, integrated whole that extends from the front to the rear wheel of the BMW Motorrad VISION NEXT 100. Being flexible, it allows the bike to be steered without the various joints found on today’s motorcycles. Turning the handlebar adjusts the entire frame, changing the direction of the bike. The amount of strength needed to steer depends on the situation: at standstill, the Flexframe allows a light steering whereas at higher speeds it remains very rigid.

In certain situations, the active assistance systems of the future will also enhance stability and safety by automatically balancing the motorcycle, both out on the road and when stationary. Novice riders will benefit from additional guidance in all riding situations and from a bike that will never tip over.

The BMW Motorrad VISION NEXT 100 rights itself while even stationary, remaining upright when the rider has dismounted. The balancing systems also work out on the road to ensure a particularly agile and dynamic riding experience with even lighter handling, which seasoned riders will appreciate, and all the benefits of assistance systems to enhance their capabilities even further. The BMW Motorrad VISION NEXT 100 helps every biker become more proficient and enjoy an even more positive riding experience. Every trip becomes a journey of freedom, from beginning to end.

(source-BMW)

Even tyres of BMW’s bike are absolutely high-tech and it works as suspension of bike. Variable- pattern thread technology plays great role in self-riding by changing side-wall profile of the tyres in different conditions and on different speeds.

Honda self-balancing bike

Whereas Honda’s bike has no such technology things, it works on simple principle. It uses Honda’s own robotic Uni-Cub technology. While mostly self-balancing bikes function on “gyroscope technology” which controls manoeuvre ability of any bike , but more weight of this technology is downfall of it. That’s why Honda did things differently and simply without putting more weight on bike. Honda uses their own robotic technology Uni-Cub for this bike. Generally when somebody rides heavy bike at lower speed, chances of falling increase , thus to save riders from falling, Honda’s self-balancing bike will enhance its front fork and wheelbase and disconnect handlebar for rear wheels, then it will use minute steering inputs to retain balanced position of bike. This system will also work even when rider will not be on bike to stop bike from falling .

This technology will be playing great role in future, I wish we Indians get it soon. Thanks Honda

Be careful while net-banking in demonetization era

Netbanking in demonetization era

As we all know India is going through demonetization phase, yeah I know we all have to suffer at some extent but here I am not going to talk about advantages or disadvantages of it. As fan of technology related things, I will be talking about shortcomings of net banking or cashless economy. I know there are many benefits of net banking, but talking about shortcomings of anything make things better and more secure than ever.

Almost we all Indians know these golden words “nakal ke liye bhi akal ki jrurat padti hai’ , i think technology has made these words true. Remember those Hindi or English movies where robbers had to visit banks many times to make their final plan of robbery. Even in real world, robbers have to dig many feet tunnel to loot any bank or have to skillful for using gas cutters. Though in India and German, robbers used this old fashioned tunnel technique in recent times,but nowadays mostly robbers do robberies without all these hardworking ideas, they have become smart and called as “hackers” I mean “unethical hackers”. In other words, no pain only gain.

Let’s talk about cyberhacks in banking system, I remember in 2009 when FBI director talked about insecurity of net banking by saying his wife saved him from this scam. However in these years,technology has changed much but nothing is 100% secure ever. As more and more people are connecting to net banking, danger is also increasing because genius robbers I mean unethical hackers are trying their best to find loopholes in security systems and unfortunately sometimes they get success. In this year , 75 cyber attacks on financial service groups have taken place in England and shockingly these numbers were 5 in 2015So situation is alarming,even though experts say banks don’t share exact numbers due to their image in public. In February , one Bangladeshi bank became victim of hackers and had to lose $81 million,this case was too interesting and even America had to think about it’s net-banking security. Then in July, Taiwanese’s bank ATMs hacked by hackers and they ran away with $2 million in few minutes. Just one month ago, England’s Tesco bank became latest victim of these hackers, around 9000 customers of the bank(the estimated number was 40000) lost their hard earned 2.5 million pounds .Bank had to refund all their customers .

I have told enough about money stealing in banks but sometimes we too make mistakes and bank wont want to refund your money if you lose it for your own mistakes. As demonetization has forced everyone to use net banking,even people who had never heard about internet or net banking , they are using it now.. All vegetable sellers,tea sellers and poor people who would not have imagined about it somedays back,they are taking benefits of this digital currency. However there are some security issues,I guess most of people who have just started using don’t know at all. So I will try my best to share some points so hard earned money of anyone don’t go in vain-

1. NEVER EVER FORGET TO LOCK YOUR MOBILE PHONE- As our PM said too that our mobile phone is our new bank. So secure this baby bank like big banks secure themselves. Nowadays we do shopping,billing,recharging etc almost everything from our mobile,so secure them from thieves.

2. KEEP YOUR PASSWORD AS STRONGER AS YOU CAN- Even if it is totally free, we are too lazy to think about it. Some years ago when Yahoo became victim of hackers , they shared how many people use passwords “12345”, “123456”, “abcde”,“abcdef”, “qwerty” , own names and their date of birth, numbers were astonishing, I guess it were more than 60%. so keep your log in password as strong as you can. You can use some internet sites for this too.

3. BE CAREFUL WHEN YOU VISIT ATM - Always use your ATM card when there is no any unknown person in ATM booth. This is dangerous. That unknown person could be your next nightmare or money robber .

4. ALWAYS UPDATE APP OF YOUR BANK- Banks update their softwares for making them more secure and danger-free. So keep your bank app up to date for safety.

5. ALWAYS INSTALL ANTI-VIRUS ON YOUR SYSTEM- Though some experts say that windows operating system is most unsafe for net banking,but I still recommend to all for using latest and most reliable anti-virus on your phones and computers.

6. DON’T WRITE PASSWORDS AND LOG IN NAMES OF YOUR E-MAILS OR BANK ACCOUNTS IN MESSAGE BOX OR NOTES IN YOUR PHONE- Let’s imagine if you lose your phone , then it will not just cost of your phone,but it could be all money in your bank. So never ever write details of your emails and bank accounts in your phone. Use tracking phone apps on your phone too.

7. TRY NOT TO USE PUBLIC WI-FI AND INTERNET CAFE FOR YOUR BANKING- These areas could be risky for banking, anybody could take benefit of your ignorance or innocence. So be smart and be safe.

8. NEVER SHARE INFORMATION OF YOUR ACCOUNT WITH ANYONE- BANKS NEVER ASK ANYTHING ABOUT YOUR DEBIT-CREDIT CARD AND BANK ACCOUNT, so always keep it in your mind. We have already seen these cases in past,so don’t be next victim and ignore such phone calls or emails.

9. NEVER FORGET TO LOGOUT AFTER USING SERVICE- Yeah it is hard to login every time for using banking or shopping service but it is important and helpful. Afterall nobody wants to regret for silly mistake or laziness.

10. CONTACT TO YOUR BANK AND POLICE- Do it as soon as possible whenever you get to know that you are victim of any scam. You can control the damage and save your money by taking these steps as quickly as you can.

I might have missed some points,however I know post is loooong but it is necessity of time. I wont ask anything greater than it if my post saves even one penny of any hardworking person . Next posts will be short . Till then have fun,enjoy net banking.

Future of manual transmission and which countries can save it for some more years

End of era of manual transmission!!

IT HURTS, BUT IT IS REALITY. ONE DAY I WAS READING NEWS THAT SOME YOUNGSTERS COULD’NT STEAL CAR BECAUSE CAR HAD MANUAL TRANSMISSION AND THEY ENTERED IN CAR BUT WHEN THEY SAW MANUAL TRANSMISSION THEY RAN AWAY. IT MIGHT BE GOOD NEWS FOR ALL AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION DRIVERS (ESPECIALLY WHOSE CAR WAS BEING STOLEN) BUT IT WAS BAD NEWS FOR MANUAL TRANSMISSION FANS , OH YEAH WHAT WAS THAT FUN WHEN WE USED TO LEARN CAR FROM OUR DAD,BROTHER OR ANY TEACHER. LAST YEAR , MY SISTER CAME TO INDIA AND SHE DID’NT KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT MANUAL TRANSMISSION , THOUGH SHE DRIVES BETTER CAR IN AMERICA BUT HER CAR IS AUTOMATIC. SO I THOUGHT WHAT WILL BE FUTURE OF OUR BELOVED GEARSHIFT .. I WILL TRY TO EXPLAIN ….

THIS ERA IS ALL ABOUT TECHNOLOGY AND AUTOMATION , THERE ARE SO MANY COMPUTERS IN ONE CAR (I WILL POST ANOTHER ON THIS TOPIC), TOO MANY SENSORS AND THEN DRIVER-LESS CARS ARE ALSO ON THE WAY. VOLVO CARS ARE ALL ABOUT TECHNOLOGY AND I LOVE VOLVO FOR THIS REASON. ACCORDING TO ONE SURVEY , IN USA 29% NEW CARS HAD MANUAL TRANSMISSION DURING 2007, THIS PERCENTAGE DROPPED TO 19% IN 2012 AND IN 2015 IT WAS ONLY 10%. IN 1980’S 35%CARS WERE OFFERED WITH MANUAL TRANSMISSION, IT IS ONLY 9% NOW AND PEOPLE DONT SHOW INTEREST IN THEM TOO. SO WE CAN SEE, FUTURE IS NOT GOOD FOR OUR BELOVED STICK ..

BUT BUT WAIT A MOMENT…

INDIA AND CHINA WILL BE SAVIOR OF OUR GREAT FRIEND (THEY COULD BE ENEMY OF EACH OTHER BUT FOR SAVING THIS FRIEND, ALL PEOPLE OF BOTH COUNTRIES ARE TOGETHER). THERE WILL BE 16 MILLIONS MANUAL TRANSMISSION IN 2030, ONLY CHINA AND OTHER SOUTH ASIAN COUNTRIES WILL USE 12 MILLIONS OUT OF THEM.. SO WHAT WOULD BE REASONS BEHIND IT !!!!

REASONS ARE SIMPLE-

1.THEY ARE EASY TO BUILD,NOT TECHY LIKE OTHERS

2.THEY ARE CHEAP TO BUILD SO CHINA N SOUTH ASIAN COUNTRIES WILL USE IT.

3.EASY AND CHEAP REPAIR

BUT WHAT ABOUT OTHER PARTS OF WORLD!!

IN EUROPE AND NORTH AMERICA, FUTURE IS NOT BRIGHT FOR THIS OLD N TRUSTY FRIEND. EVEN GREAT FUN TO DRIVE CARS LIKE VW GTI , PORSCHE 911 , JAGUAR F TYPE AND SOME OTHER CARS WHICH WERE FAMOUS FOR MANUAL DRIVE SOME YEARS AGO ARE LOSING THEIR CUSTOMERS AND THEY ARE NOT CHOOSING THEM LIKE BEFORE . THOUGH NOT BAD LIKE HELL, BUT STILL MANUAL CAR LOVERS ARE LEAVING THEM .

BUT WHAT IS THE PROBLEM!!

LIKE EMISSION CONTROL LAWS ARE INCREASING DAY BY DAY, CAR COMPANIES ARE DOING THEIR BEST TO USE COMPUTER SYSTEM IN EVERYTHING OF CAR TO GET MAXIMUM MILEAGE WITH LESSER POLLUTION, SO MANUAL TRANSMISSION IS PROBLEM.

HYBRID TECHNOLOGY IS IMPROVING DAY BY DAY, SO IT IS EASIER TO INTEGRATE HYBRID SYSTEM WITH AUTOMATIC THAN MANUAL TRANSMISSION. AGAIN SO MUCH COMPUTER WORKS AND MANUAL TRANSMISSION IS RESTRICTION IN THIS WORK.

DCT N CVT SYSTEMS ARE ALSO IMPROVING SO PEOPLE PREFER THEM OVER MANUAL . THERE WERE DAYS, WHEN DCTS WERE NOT GOOD AND WERE FACING PROBLEMS LIKE FORD’S AND VW’S EARLIER DCTS. BUT NOW THEY ARE TROUBLE FREE AND PEOPLE LOVE THEM.

WARRANTY AND FREE SERVICE ON NEW SYSTEMS ARE ALSO MAIN REASON. SOME ARE PROVIDING 10 YEARS OR 3 LAKHS KMS WARRANTY SO PEOPLE HAVE NO NEED TO FEAR NOW.

IN HEAVY VEHICLES, DRIVERS HAVE TO DRIVE SO MANY HOURS AND IT BECOMES TOO HARD FOR THEM TO CHANGE GEARS IN TIREDNESS SO AUTOMATIC IS BEST . IN HILLY AREAS AND OTHER DIFFICULT ROADS , THIS SYSTEM IS LIKE GIFT OF GOD TO DRIVERS.

SO NO HOPE IN FUTURE!!!

NO NEED TO BE SAD, THEIR WILL BE PLACE OF MANUAL TRANSMISSION IN FUTURE LIKE DIESEL ENGINES . RACING ENTHUSIASTS WOULD BE DRIVING PORSCHE 911 CARRERA 4 GTS, POLO GTI AND SOME OTHER PERFORMANCE CARS . OH YEAH BUT I WILL MISS SOME OTHER MODELS .

NOTHING TO SAY MORE , TECHNOLOGY HAS CHANGED EVERYTHING BUT THAT FUN OF DRIVING MANUAL CARS WILL BE REMAIN IN MEMORIES OF EVERYONE WHO HAS DRIVEN IT ANYTIME IN THEIR PAST.. OUR GRANDCHILDREN WILL BE MISSING BUT WE DIDN’T . THANKS AGAIN MY FIRST EVER CAR MARUTI 800 .

BOLLYWOOD ACTORS AND THE COMMERCIAL VEHICLES THEY ENDORSE

Long ago, I was watching one old Bollywood movie and in that movie i watched Tata L1210 truck. My dad was with me so i asked him about that Tata beauty. That's how i got to know about history of collaboration of Tata(Telco) and Mercedes ( Daimler- Benz AG), in other words "History Of Tata."
This is the relationship of film industry and commercial vehicles in India. Nowadays , we are seeing so many Bollywood stars in advertisements of commercial vehicles. Let's watch some images of Bollywood heroes and their endorsed commercial vehicles-

Akshay Kumar and Tata Motors

Akshay Kumar with Tata trucks
Announcing the launch of the new Tata Xenon Yodha, Ravi Pisharody, Executive Director – Commercial Vehicles, Tata Motors, said “I am happy to have Akshay Kumar here with us, for the launch of the new Xenon Yodha – the first Tata Motors commercial vehicle, the actor is making an appearance with. Tata Motors’ association with Akshay Kumar will be supported by a high-decibel, 360 marketing campaign, starting with the Xenon Yodha. Besides products and solutions, Akshay will be actively involved in a host of innovative marketing and customer experience initiatives, to be rolled out by Tata Motors commercial vehicles division.”

Dhoni and Ashok Leyland

Mahi with Ashok Leyland

In a recorded message, M S Dhoni said, "As a young boy from a small town, I have spent a lot of time travelling on buses and have seen trucks and truckers at close quarters. I understand the importance of transport and logistics to the development of our country. It is a privilege to become a part of the Ashok Leyland family that with its products and services is helping people move to better lives."

Commenting on the signing, Vinod K Dasari, Managing Director, Ashok Leyland said, "Mahi's choice was almost automatic for I cannot think of another person befitting the values of brand Ashok Leyland so well. A true son-of-the-soil, a leader who is focused, straight-thinking, passionate and, most of all, humble, he will lead the numerous initiatives that are on the anvil. Our association with Mahi comes at a most opportune time.

Ajay devgn and Mahindra

Ajay devgn in Mahindra ad
Mr. Nalin Mehta, CEO of Mahindra Truck and Bus Division said, “Besides bringing in the new technology, we have even refreshed the looks of the new series and have introduced the new turquoise blue colour variant. Further, given the sincere confidence that the brand exudes, we have chosen Ajay Devgn as the face of our new campaign featuring the Product and Service Guarantees.”

Salman and Sohail with Force Motors

Salman and Sohail in ad

Renton D’Sousa, national creative director, Triton Communications, said, “The most potent, rugged duo in filmdom with mass-market appeal was used to mirror that most powered rugged cross-country duo in the mass goods carrier segment. How the Trump duo overcomes all adversity, is exactly the awe that this product generates amongst non-Trump truckers." The film was shot in "Bollywood-style", with special effects and large sets. "We decided to choose macho most ‘wanted’ man Salman Khan and his brother Sohail Khan. The script is simple and showcases that the smaller vehicle Trump 15 is strong and tough and can easily handle competition. But if you need more power there is always the Big Brother Trump 40,” said D'Sousa.

Some other Bollywood stars who have endorsed commercial vehicles are - Manoj Bajpai and Gavie Chahal.

eweweQ

EBRHR

THINGS HAPPENED FIRST TIME IN 2016

Rise of electric trucks and buses

The As we all know past year will be remembered for birth of many electric cars, bikes and trucks. Daimler too showcased first fully-electric heavy distribution truck in 2016. Climate control, global warming, pollution, emission control were part of global news throughout last year. Some European cities banned diesel vehicles and some were discussing about going to only electric vehicles way in future. According to Mercedes and Daimler, 70 % population of world will be living in cities in 2050, so there will be good future of pollution-less, noise-less commercial vehicles. That’s why they are ready to deliver electric van in this year, according to Daimler -

MERCEDES BENZ ELECTRIC HEAVY TRUCK

"A small series of the third generation of this light duty truck, up to 6 tones of gross vehicle weight, will be delivered to customers in Europe, the US and Japan as of 2017, it can travel 100 kms on one charge depends on load"

Daimler’s heavy distribution truck can cover 200 kms on single charge with an admissible weight as high as 26 tones. According to Daimler “The power is supplied by a battery pack consisting of three lithium-ion battery modules. This results in a range of up to 200 km – enough for a typical daily delivery tour. According to Mercedes-Benz “However, power and operating range can be adapted to the individual mission profiles like a conventionally powered truck. An intelligent battery management system, likewise developed by Deutsche ACCUmotive,optimises the balance between service life and performance of the electric urban truck. The batteries are recharged at permanently installed charging stations with a charging capacity of up to 150 kW. Totally empty batteries can currently be recharged fully in two to three hours.In addition, the electric operating range also benefits from converting braking power into electric energy. Every time the truck decelerates, the electric motors mutate into generators that convert braking energy into electricity and in this way recharge the batteries. Apart from recovering energy, this also reduces wear and tear on the brakes, which lowers the maintenance costs for the trucking company.Thanks to the integrated concept with motors adjacent to the wheel hubs, the batteries are housed in a crash-proof location inside three-axle truck.

Tesla Motors also hired many engineers of Daimler for making their Tesla Semi truck. According to Elon Musk “In addition to consumer vehicles, there are two other types of electric vehicle needed: heavy-duty trucks and high passenger-density urban transport. Both are in the early stages of development at Tesla and should be ready for unveiling next year. We believe the Tesla Semi will deliver a substantial reduction in the cost of cargo transport, while increasing safety and making it really fun to operate.”

nikola one electric truck

Nikola Motors is one who shook the automotive world by unveiling their electric truck. 100% zero emissions, 2000 ft.lbs torque, 320 kwh battery, 100% electric drive, 800-1200 mile range, 1000 horsepower , 1/2 the operating cost compared to diesel, regenerative braking, 15 minutes refill time etc are some wow factors of this great electric giant.

We saw some local produced electric buses in auto expo 2016 too, some of them are being tested on roads, thus we can assume good future of electric buses in India , especially in national capital New Delhi which was in news throughout last year for pollution and diesel vehicles. Hope in this year’s auto expo we will see some more electric commercial vehicles .