Silicon Valley Nation
Silicon Valley Nation: Cars in the cloud
Brian Fuller
11/13/2012 7:25 PM EST
Tiered approaches
A low-end car likely will leverage third-party electronics and apps, whereas a high-end car likely will continue to design for and provide services itself--perhaps partly to ensure a quality and consistent customer experience.
"If you buy a $100,000 BMW, and your Bluetooth connectivity doesn't work perfectly, you're going to be upset," said Rob Passaro, head of BMW's apps center in Palo Alto, Calif.
Mark Spain, who listed his title as Telematics Leadership for Verizon, said "lots of" different business models will happen concurrently.
Verizon is trying to position itself as the wireless network for the connected car. For example, it's looking at ways that consumers can simply add their "car" to their data plan in the future, according to Spain.
Data-driven
But there are business opportunities beyond extracting subscription dollars from consumers. Take vehicle data.
"The 4G LTE network that we architected allows for multiple data streams to happen at the same time," Spain said. There's an opportunity to figure out how to monetize the car's data because there's "lots of value for the dealer network, to the manufacturing process, for engineering, R&D process and even further upstream."
"That data can be extracted real time. You can imagine the value to the automotive industry," he added.
An additional challenge is technology evolution. Traditional automotive design cycles are five to seven years. But if the sexiest part of the vehicle is is the infotainment system (where technologies change rapidly), there's a mismatch.
"Nothing ages faster than the infotainment system. Nothing," Passaro said. "We want to change that. We want that to be the freshest experience or product part of your car experience." BMW has started to address this with embedded browsers and data connection that had so-so performance but have evolved and gotten better, he added.
For semiconductor engineers, it's all good and all upside. For systems engineers, just what constitutes the infotainment and communications systems will continue to be a moving target for years to come.
Related stories :
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--Auto networking opportunities growing, Broadcom says
--Autosar rev raises questions for auto design
A low-end car likely will leverage third-party electronics and apps, whereas a high-end car likely will continue to design for and provide services itself--perhaps partly to ensure a quality and consistent customer experience.
"If you buy a $100,000 BMW, and your Bluetooth connectivity doesn't work perfectly, you're going to be upset," said Rob Passaro, head of BMW's apps center in Palo Alto, Calif.
Mark Spain, who listed his title as Telematics Leadership for Verizon, said "lots of" different business models will happen concurrently.
Verizon is trying to position itself as the wireless network for the connected car. For example, it's looking at ways that consumers can simply add their "car" to their data plan in the future, according to Spain.
Data-driven
But there are business opportunities beyond extracting subscription dollars from consumers. Take vehicle data.
"The 4G LTE network that we architected allows for multiple data streams to happen at the same time," Spain said. There's an opportunity to figure out how to monetize the car's data because there's "lots of value for the dealer network, to the manufacturing process, for engineering, R&D process and even further upstream."
"That data can be extracted real time. You can imagine the value to the automotive industry," he added.
An additional challenge is technology evolution. Traditional automotive design cycles are five to seven years. But if the sexiest part of the vehicle is is the infotainment system (where technologies change rapidly), there's a mismatch.
"Nothing ages faster than the infotainment system. Nothing," Passaro said. "We want to change that. We want that to be the freshest experience or product part of your car experience." BMW has started to address this with embedded browsers and data connection that had so-so performance but have evolved and gotten better, he added.
For semiconductor engineers, it's all good and all upside. For systems engineers, just what constitutes the infotainment and communications systems will continue to be a moving target for years to come.
Related stories :
-- Silicon Valley Nation: Post-election gridlock likely
--Auto networking opportunities growing, Broadcom says
--Autosar rev raises questions for auto design
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Bert22306
11/13/2012 8:13 PM EST
Well, some of these supposed new ideas have actually come, and occasionally gone too! For instance, we used to have a combined Verizon Wireless account for our 3G cell phones and for OnStar, but someone, either OnStar or Verizon, decided to quit that plan. Separate bills now.
By the way, I'm not sure what people assume when they hear about OnStar, but it's more than just getting an operator in an emergency. Aside from telephone, emergency, and directions to a destination, it also monitors multiple onboard systems and provides you with a status report every so often. Certainly, such functionality can only increase over time, yes? More on-board sensors, for ever more remote diagnostics. This can already be done in real time, if they choose to do so. Whether it continues to be called "OnStar," or some other fancy moniker.
Also, 3G and even 2G networks can also "allow[] for multiple data streams to happen at the same time," as far as that goes.
Moving targets are great for systems engineers or any other kind of engineer. Keeps you on your toes, and never a dull moment.
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DataMuncher
11/13/2012 10:37 PM EST
Brian,
Take a look at the 2013 Motor Trend car of the year if you want to see the best Silicon Valley can do in infotainment, comms, diagnostics and car configuration. Nobody's done anything like Tesla''s 17" console in a production vehicle.
http://www.motortrend.com/oftheyear/car/1301_2013_motor_trend_car_of_the_year_tesla_model_s/
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SylvieBarak
11/14/2012 2:17 PM EST
I think the whole "car in the cloud" concept is going to work a lot better when cars just drive themselves! That way we won't need to worry about driver distraction in the first place...
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carolinesmith
11/18/2012 1:25 PM EST
wow lots of cars, informative article and comments, thanks for the sharing.
http://www.uggcanadamart.com/
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