Singapore group to develop 'next-generation' cars

An international consortium backed by the Singapore government Thursday launched ten research projects to develop technology for "next-generation" vehicles.

The Capabilities for Automotive Research 11-member consortium, which includes industry heavyweights such as German smart phone chipmaker Infineon, will work on areas such as anti-collision steering systems and wireless charging of electronic cars.

"The automotive sector today faces many challenges and therefore presents many opportunities," said Lim Chuan Poh, the chairman of state-backed Agency for Science, Technology and Research.

"The car of the future has to be increasingly intelligent and connected," he said, adding the consortium's work aims to "solve these increasingly complex and multi-disciplinary problems as well as to testbed some of these solutions."

Toyota Tsusho, part of Japanese auto giant Toyota, is also a member of the group and will be providing technical expertise on installing batteries that can be wireless charged onto a golf buggy-shaped car.

"The basic technology comes from A*STAR (Agence for Science, Technology and Research) but we support this car and how to use such a wireless battery" on it, said Yasuhiro Kakihara, the president of Toyota Tsusho Singapore.

(c) 2010 AFP