In connected car news this week were Marvell, Telit, AT&T, ATS, Continental, Toyota, Marvel, Safe Drive Systems, Cast, car2go and Trimble.
ATIS Integrates Uptane Security
ATS Advanced Telematic Systems is the first European company integrating the Uptane security framework into its OTA solutions: OTA Plus and ATS Garage. Uptane is a joint research initiative between NYU’s Tandon School of Engineering, the Southwest Research Institute, and the University of Michigan Transport Research Center, working to develop a common standard for automotive software update security. It was designed in consultation with government regulators, OEMs, and suppliers responsible for 78% of vehicles on U.S. roads. Uptane builds on The Update Framework (TUF) for software updates in conventional IT systems. The aim is to mitigate all common attacks on software update systems specific to connected vehicles. It was initiated and funded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
The Uptane design mitigates attacks even if an attacker has direct access to a vehicle’s safety-critical components. The result is that any single attack on infrastructure will be contained to that specific component and cannot compromise vehicle safety, and even multiple simultaneous compromises will have little or no impact on vehicle fleets’ software.
Highest security due to open standards. In close cooperation with automotive alliance GENIVI and Toyota-backed Automotive Grade Linux (AGL), ATS works on turning best practices into industry standards. Toyota recently announced that it will be using an AGL-based Linux system for its model Camry.
Conti Preps for Pilot I2V in Columbus
In Columbus (Ohio), Continental is preparing a pilot project for safe intersections, where advanced sensing, vehicle-to-vehicle and infrastructure-to-vehicle (I2V) communication technology are used to increase traffic safety as part of the US DOT’s Smart City Challenge. A Continental service for intelligent parking is already being used in Singapore: The Park&Go app shows all the currently available parking spaces, allows pre-booking of the parking space and offers a navigation function and other mobility services for drivers. This allows Singapore to manage its pool of parking spaces efficiently.
LINE and Toyota Sign MOU for Business Alliance
LINE Corporation and Toyota Motor Corporation have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to explore the business opportunities in utilizing LINE’s cloud AI platform Clova and the SmartDeviceLink (SDL), a technology standard that connects automobiles with smartphone and tablet apps.
Clova is being developed by LINE, one of Asia’s leading messaging apps and communications services, together with NAVER, Korea’s top search portal. This new AI platform represents a significant step forward in digital assistants, as part of LINE’s continued pursuit of a “post-smartphone, post-display, and post-touch” world.
Through this business alliance, LINE and Toyota will explore opportunities for linking LINE’s Clova with SDL, to make a new connected car service utilizing in-vehicle voice assistant technologies, with the goal of commercializing this service by 2018.
Toyota to Use THUMS Dummies for Safety in Motorsports
Toyota Motor Corporation and the Global Institute for Motor Sport Safety (Global Institute) have launched a four-year research project using Toyota’s Total Human Model for Safety (THUMS) with the aim of enhancing safety in motorsports.
The joint research project covers research on collisions involving not only closed-circuit race cars, but also rally cars, and possibly will include review of seat structures and seatbelt positioning. Based on the results, the Global Institute plans to consider measures that could lead to updating motor sports regulations and other actions to enhance the safety of motorsports vehicles.
Although crash dummies are commonly used in vehicle collision tests, they do not allow for easy and detailed analysis of how collisions impact the brain, internal organs and certain other parts of the body. As a result, Toyota has been working with Toyota Central R&D Labs, Inc. since 2000 to develop THUMS, which allows for computer simulation and analysis of actual conditions during a crash and of the mechanisms of injury occurrence, including that of injuries to internal organs and other parts of the body.
Marvell Intros SoC with WiFi, Bluetooth, V2V and V2I
Marvell a leader in storage, networking, and connectivity semiconductor solutions, announced the 88W8987xA, the world’s first automotive-grade system-on-chip (SoC) to integrate the latest Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) capabilities. This highly sophisticated wireless combo chip brings an industry-best solution for in-car Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5 and 802.11p.
The 88W8987xA family of wireless products complements the previously announced 88Q2112 automotive Ethernet physical layer (PHY) transceiver to provide a complete wired and wireless connectivity solution for the connected car. The 88Q2112 enables 1000BASE-T1 gigabit Ethernet over a single twisted pair copper cable, making it an ideal, lightweight solution for distributing HD video, audio and voice for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and IVI applications.
In addition to supporting the growing needs of IVI and emerging screen projection technologies, the 88W8987xA’s 802.11p features will enable a new era of safety and autonomous driving by supporting pending National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)/Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) and Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC) requirements.
The 88W8987xA provides flexibility for system design and is interoperable with a wide selection of host SoCs, hardware HSMs, WAVE (1609.x) stacks and operating systems. 88W8987xA drivers are readily available for the Android™ platform, Linux and QNX.
Safe Drive Systems Super Premium
Safe Drive Systems, the leading developer and distributor of advanced, active, auto safety technologies, has unveiled the world’s most sophisticated platform for avoiding chain-reaction traffic accidents.
RD-140 Super Premium tracks brake lights in the car ahead and also spots pedestrians even in harsh weather, when the driver’s vision can be compromised,” explains Roy Aaron, an Industry consultant for SDS. “It includes a radar decoding element, which automatically operates of the rear brake lights when it senses there is an impending danger of a crash and flashes them several times per second,” he continues. “Flashing the brake lights, of course, enables drivers of vehicles trailing behind to recognize that the vehicle in front of them is in the process of stopping due to an emergency,” Aaron emphasizes. “This early warning is designed to significantly reduce the chance of a crash that could, in turn, result in a chain-reaction pileup.”
Because the back lights are activated even before the driver presses on the brake pedal, drivers who are immediately behind have a longer period to react. This adds yet another layer of protection to their lives.
In addition, RD-140 Super Premium senses the presence of pedestrians at a distance of up to 460 feet away, even at night or when visibility is impaired due to inclement weather conditions such as rain, storms, fog, or snow. It also filters out glare from the sun that can constitute a real danger, especially in sun-belt states.
The SDS radar system is based on an advanced processor that functions as its brain, collating statistics from sensors and processing the information in order to activate warnings in real time. The screen and keyboard feature a user-friendly interface that also provides visual warnings and allows the driver to enter data. In addition, to the radar and the decoder, the system includes a high quality seven-watt loudspeaker that sounds warning alarms.
RD-140 Super Premium can be installed in any vehicle made.
Telit LTE Cat 4 Gets AT&T Cert
Telit announced that the LE920A4-NA LTE Cat 4 module has received AT&T* certification for use on the carrier’s North American LTE wireless networks. The smart module delivers voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) and 150 Mbps Cat 4 automotive-grade performance.
With advanced security features, the LE920A4 delivers OEMs and tier one automotive system integrators, flexibility to meet requirements of vehicle roadmaps for secure, high-speed mobile data with support for next gen applications such as advanced diagnostics, infotainment and remote software updates.
CAST Improves Auto IP Family
Intellectual property provider CAST, Inc. announced three significant improvements to its automotive IP family:
- A new IEEE 802.1AS Hardware Protocol Stack Core works with any eMAC (Ethernet Media Access Controller) to enable easy development of time-aware nodes for standard AVB/TSN (Audio Video Bridging/Time Sensitive Networking) networks. This serves a variety of audio/visual and industrial applications, and is essential for the growing use of Ethernet to connect diverse automotive systems.
- A new, full-featured SENT/SAE J2716 Controller Core serves as a transmitter and/or receiver for the Single Edge Nibble Transmission protocol. It complies with the SAE J2716 standard and also the de-facto standard Short PWM Code (SPC) protocol, and can serve as a simpler, lower-cost alternative to the popular LIN bus for connections between automotive sensors and controllers.
- The CAN 2.0 & CAN FD Bus Controller Core now supports time-stamping compliant to the CiA 603 specification, which enables efficient hardware time-based synchronization for AUTOSAR (AUTomotive Open System ARchitecture) systems. This adds time-sensitive application support to one of the most field-proven, feature-rich, and transceiver-agnostic FPGA/ASIC CAN controller cores on the market.
car2go Goes in Denver
car2go, the largest, fastest-growing one-way carsharing service in the world, announced that starting today its 42,000-plus Denver members can drive and enjoy new all-wheel drive Mercedes-Benz CLA and GLA four-door five passenger vehicles, and be able to start and end car2go trips in more Denver neighborhoods.
In conjunction with the rollout of new Mercedes-Benz vehicles, car2go also expanded its Denver Home Area, enabling more Denverites to access the convenience of one-way carsharing. The expanded Home Area now includes: Clayton, Skyland, North Park Hill, Northeast Park Hill, Overland Park, Hilltop, Belcaro, Corry-Merrill, and University Park.
car2go also offers exclusive car2go-only parking spots at Red Rocks in the Upper North lot closest to the venue (no oxygen tanks needed for the hike up from the lower level lots!) and provides free car2go only parking – called a car2go Drop Zone – at every Colorado Rockies home game. car2go members simply drive their car2go to the Drop Zone at 1970 Wazee Street and park for free; no need to circle the area for street parking, or pay for expensive garage parking.
Trimble Buys Innovatve Software Engineering
Trimble announced that it has acquired privately-held Innovative Software Engineering (ISE), an engineering and systems integration firm that delivers innovative, end-to-end Internet of Things (IoT) and telematics solutions, enterprise mobility applications and tailored software solutions headquartered in Coralville, Iowa. The acquisition expands Trimble’s fleet safety and compliance solutions and allows Trimble to offer electronic logs as a service. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Trimble serves multiple industries that require compliance with the upcoming Electronic Logging Device (ELD) mandate, including customers in transportation and other industries. The mandate, which requires certain fleets to electronically log hours of service (HOS) data, will go into effect in December 2017. According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), the ELD mandate is expected to impact 3.4 million drivers across the United States.