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posted by Fnord666 on Tuesday January 03 2017, @10:03AM   Printer-friendly
from the one-more-for-a-ten-speed dept.

http://wardsauto.com/print/technology/new-9-speed-pushes-tech-limit-gm-says

Like the old 6-speed units, which GM refined over the years and expects to continue applying to its vehicles into the near future, the 9-speed was developed through a partnership with crosstown rival Ford.

Both automakers also derive 10-speed variants from the work. Ford brought that gearbox to market recently in the F-150 large pickup, while GM got first dibs on the 9-speed. GM's first application of the 10-speed will be in the '17 Chevy Camaro ZL1, a 640-hp supercharged version of the sports coupe due later this year in the U.S.

[...] In-house logics software inside a 32-bit transmission control module handles all shift events for smooth, precise ratio changes, GM says. It also monitors transmission performance and compensates for wear in parts such as the clutch plate to maintain consistent performance over time.

"This transmission shifts very smoothly, very precisely," Kline says.

The controller is mounted outside the gearbox to reduce packaging and manufacturing complexity, and it pulls vehicle-specific calibration from the cloud to be added to the core program as the car or truck exits the assembly line. It also enables manual shift control and grade logic, GM says.

The 9T50 features a wider 7.6:1 overall ratio, compared with 6.0:1 in its 6-speed predecessor, a deep 4.69 first gear for off-the-line performance and a tall 0.62 top gear for fuel-efficient, low-rpm highway cruising and optimal NVH.

Sixth gear is equivalent to eighth gear on the new transmission, too, so compared with the 6-speed the 9-speed offers two fuel-saving overdrive gears. Seventh gear is the direct-drive gear, while ninth gear is in use up to 52% of the time.

While the article doesn't say, my guess is that the design is also optimized for automatic/robotic assembly — even though the manufacturing plant is in Mexico.


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  • (Score: 2) by EvilSS on Tuesday January 03 2017, @01:58PM

    by EvilSS (1456) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday January 03 2017, @01:58PM (#448894)
    Most automatics these days have external TCMs, it's not anything new. While it's possible, it's highly unlikely to develop any issues with the wiring after it leaves the factory. One thing the automotive industry is good at is overbuilding connectors for the onboard computers. Yes, they do occasionally fail but it's not a common issue on most cars. I'm sure someone will cite a one-off defect with some make and model's specific connector, but again, not a common issue across all cars and all modern cars have plenty of internal control modules for different systems in them and have for quite some time now. It certainly won't be anywhere close to the top of transmissions issue, as it isn't now.

    The "cloud" is not some wireless always on connection in this case. When the car is built the individual transmission is profiled and that data is stored on a website (thus, "cloud" since all websites are now clouds apparently). When the transmission is serviced and certain parts are replaced (solenoids for example), the tech has to go to the site, enter the unique ID of the transmission, the part being replaced, and download a new custom performance characteristics file to the TCM. And yes, we all hope that site is secure so some rogue nation can't cripple our repaired transmissions.
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  • (Score: 2) by VLM on Tuesday January 03 2017, @02:18PM

    by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday January 03 2017, @02:18PM (#448898)

    That'll also allow fun such as only dealers are able to do transmission service, never a 3rd party or god forbid an end user shade tree mechanic. Also they can run a simple SQL DELETE query on it every year to make sure no one is violating the license by using a transmission older than 8 years, 10 years, 50 years, etc.

    • (Score: 2) by EvilSS on Tuesday January 03 2017, @02:25PM

      by EvilSS (1456) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday January 03 2017, @02:25PM (#448905)
      You can still repair it, it won't brick it but it may not perform quite as well as it did before the repair. No doubt the dealers do love the lock-in though.