E-Chips & Connected Car News Tips: @TomTom, Garmin, OMRON Subaru, Aria, ACCESS & Callaway Cars

embeddedchipstipstiny Embedded chips and connected car news tips this week come from TomTom, Garmin, OMRON Subaru, Aria, ACCESS and Callaway Cars.

Subaru Using Aria’s Cloud Billing

Subaru of America has selected Aria’s Cloud Billing and Monetization Platform as a key component of its connected vehicle strategy. With Aria, Subaru will be able to provide rapid time-to-market of, and increased line-of-business control over, its connected vehicle services.

Subaru plans to use Aria’s technology to quickly create offerings using the agility of Aria’s Cloud Billing and Monetization Platform.

Enterprises like Subaru rely on Aria’s Cloud Billing and Monetization Platform to take billing management implementation out of the traditionally lengthy IT queue and place control in the hands of the business owner. The Line of Business can then make changes in minutes or hours, instead of days or weeks. For Subaru, this means that the Line of Business can launch new offerings and services in a fraction of the time, without tying up internal IT resources.

Callaway Using IoT for Analysis

Callaway Cars is piloting Internet of Things (IoT) capabilities to gather and to analyze Callaway Corvette Z06 SC757 performance data during on-road testing. Callaway can then apply its real-world driving insights from the IoT readings to advance product development.

Callaway Cars is working with product development firm Boston Engineering to design and to implement the ThingWorx IoT platform. Sensors in the Callaway Corvette Z06 collect performance data including speed, engine RPM, air intake temperature, and air outlet temperature. The car data is then transmitted to the ThingWorx cloud over a secure wireless connection where Callaway engineers can examine the readings. Callaway also plans to evaluate dealer and customer interest in accessing their Callaway car performance information via IoT.

ACCESS HTML5 for Automotive Demo in Germany

ACCESS announced that it will demonstrate its HTML5 engines and media sharing solutions at the 20th Congress Advances in Automotive Electronics (14-15 June 2016 in Ludwigsburg, Germany).

ACCESS will present demonstrations showing how its solutions enable OEMs and Tier1s to offer standards-based user interfaces leveraging HTML5 and deliver a seamless media experience across all devices within the vehicle. The on-stand demos will leverage the Renesas R-Car H2 system-on-chip and mobile devices running iOs and Android to showcase ACCESS’ product portfolio for automotive, including:

  • NetFront Browser BE, a Chromium-based HTML5 platform enabling the standards based presentation of IVI user interface components and apps, and
  • ACCESS Twine™, a media sharing platform which can be integrated within the OEM IVI system and be deployed as part of an Android or iOS-based Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) strategy, enabling consumers to access their media wirelessly within the vehicle.

TomTom Localization, HD Maps, Road DNA & Volvo

TomTom  launched of its Localization Demonstrator, a new demonstration device that leverages its HD Map and RoadDNA technology to provide lane-level localisation of a vehicle.  The device, utilizing sensors expected in autonomous vehicles, combines TomTom award winning autonomous driving content with TomTom correlation software to demonstrate the precision of our data, and the ability to perform real-time lane positioning.

TomTom expanded its coverage its High Definition (HD) Map and RoadDNA products to seventeen new states across the United States. By delivering more than 54,000 kilometres of new HD Map coverage for interstates, TomTom is proving the scalability of its production process.

TomTom’s HD Map and RoadDNA are now available in the following areas:

  • Interstates in Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and Vermont;
  • Interstates and highways in California, Michigan, and Nevada;
  • Autobahn network in Germany.

TomTom’s HD Map and RoadDNA are two revolutionary, highly accurate digital map products helping automated vehicles precisely locate themselves on the road and plan manoeuvres, even when traveling at high speeds.

TomTom was selected by Volvo Cars as the provider of location and navigation content and services for its new infotainment platform. From 2019, Volvo Cars’ customers across the globe*, across all carlines on the SPA and CMA platforms, will be able to enjoy an exceptional navigation experience powered by TomTom’s  complete suite of components, both embedded and cloud based.

Garmins’ Lenexa Has Knobs

Garmin announced details of its intuitive Lenexa infotainment concept, a tactile system for automotive OEMs with practical features that encourage safety and ease-of-use. Lenexa integrates contemporary infotainment with tried-and-true physical controls dedicated to specific functions. Lenexa’s adaptable system was recently evaluated against the touchscreen user interface (UI) of a popular infotainment solution and the results have been assertively favorable. The initial results solidify the leadership that Garmin exhibits in system integration and UI design by combining traditional physical controls, with the latest advancements in technology.

The preliminary tests focused on time and task eye tracking studies that followed AAM (Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers) compliance protocol, DALI (Driving Activity Load Index), and the system usability score (SUS), which is an assessment based on post-task questionnaires. In all three phases of the testing process Lenexa surpassed the benchmark system.

The Lenexa concept addresses fundamental issues with infotainment systems that require the driver to use a touchscreen or a multifunction controller while the vehicle is in motion. In order to minimize a driver’s tendency to glance away from the road to control touchscreen-based infotainment systems, Lenexa provides tangible controls that rely on muscle memory to quickly locate and operate features frequently used while driving. The system provides “technology that can be felt” by bringing the most relevant navigation, audio, HVAC and smartphone function modes to four tactile knobs – these knobs can be physically bumped in four directions, rotated and pressed. Each action of the knob is dedicated to a specific function that never changes, by implementing this, drivers can quickly develop the muscle memory required to control the system with ease.

OMRON Senses Driver Concentration

OMRON Corporation announced  the development of the world’s first onboard sensor featuring the “driver concentration sensing technology,” which combines OMRON’s proprietary image sensing technology with state-of-the-art AI (time-series deep learning*) to sense the driver’s various motions and conditions and thereby determine if he/she is in a condition suitable for safe driving. With a view toward realizing collision-free automated driving and other advanced driver assistance systems, OMRON has dedicated itself to making our motorized society safer and more secure by innovating relationships between people and machines.

OMRON’s “driver concentration sensing technology” uses an onboard camera for real-time detection of whether the driver is in a suitable condition for driving. A combination of OMRON’s proprietary high-precision image sensing technology and state-of-the-art “time-series deep learning” AI technology, this innovative system makes it possible to control a vehicle based on the driver’s condition by, for example, safely switching between automated and manual driving and safely bringing the vehicle to a stop if something happens to the driver, thereby effectively assisting safe driving and enhancing the safety of our motorized society. OMRON aims to have an onboard sensor featuring this technology adopted for such applications as automated driving vehicle models to be released from 2019 to 2020.

The Qt Company together with Pelagicore and KDAB is launching the first generation of the Qt Automotive Suite. With experience in delivering automotive UI Software to over 20 automotive customers behind them, the three companies see an opportunity to bring innovations and efficiencies to the industry. By creating a suite of automotive specific components and tooling, the industry will realise significantly lower development costs and faster time to market. The Qt Automotive Suite frees up designers and engineers from mundane tasks to focus on building high quality digital experiences with optimised time-to-market.

The Qt Company develops and delivers the Qt development framework under commercial and open source licenses. The Qt framework has its roots in open source. One of the key benefits of being open is the extensive ecosystem of developers and partners reaping benefits of joint innovation. Qt will provide both the technology and services for this industry shift together with our expanding ecosystem partners.

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