Connected car announcements continue today the first official day of TU-Automotive Detroit from Blackberry, HARMAN, IBM, XEVO, Taoglas, Qualcomm, Bosch/TomTom, Caruma, Roadbotics and Ericsson.
In a panel it was discussed that 5G will be everywhere in the world, what is truly evident is that connected car technology is growing in leaps and bounds. There are many new partnerships formed:
- Qualcomm and BlackBerry
- TomTom and Bosch
- HARMAN and IBM
- Caruma and RoadBotics
- Verisk and TomTom
There were also announcements of new more secure software, better faster maps, telematics gateways and news solutions.
BlackBerry’s Connected & Autonomous Car Software
BlackBerry announced that it is addressing safety and security, two of the most important factors for next-generation connected and autonomous vehicle software, with the launch of QNX Hypervisor 2.0. This real-time Type 1 Hypervisor based on QNX SDP 7.0, BlackBerry’s most advanced and secure 64-bit embedded operating system, enables developers to partition and isolate safety-critical environments from non-safety critical environments, ensuring that no critical systems are put at risk.
BlackBerry’s QNX Hypervisor 2.0 creates virtual software containers, such that any hiccup or breach in a single car functional domain can be isolated and does not impact or create vulnerabilities in other domains of the car. One example is the virtual cockpit, which uses a single System on a Chip (SoC) to run both an infotainment system and the car’s digital instrument cluster, which comprises the speedometer, odometer and gas tank indicator. The digital instrument cluster interfaces with critical driving systems, and thus needs to be both safety certified and architected in such a way that security is ironclad. With QNX Hypervisor 2.0, each of these two systems is isolated and kept safe, so that if the infotainment system were to crash, it would not take the safety-critical systems down with it.
Qualcomm & BlackBerry
BlackBerry also reported that Qualcomm Technologies has adopted QNX Hypervisor 2.0 as part of certain digital cockpit solutions. Combining BlackBerry’s hypervisor with the high-performance compute and connectivity capabilities of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820Am automotive platform can support automakers to integrate the infotainment system and instrument cluster using the same SoC. Support for QNX Hypervisor 2.0 on the Snapdragon 820Am automotive platform is available for evaluation by Qualcomm Technologies’ customers today.
BackBerry, notes that the ability to run concurrent operating systems on top of the QNX Hypervisor on the Snapdragon 820Am automotive platform will help automakers to reduce hardware complexity and cost in their vehicles, while still delivering the responsive and rich user experiences that consumers demand today.
BlackBerry’s QNX Hypervisor 2.0 complies with IEC 61508 SIL 3 for industrial safety, IEC 62304 for medical device software, and ISO 26262 ASIL D for automotive safety. For more information about QNX Hypervisor 2.0.
TomTom and Bosch HD map with Radar Road Signature
TomTom and Bosch today announced the creation of an HD map with integrated Radar Road Signature layer for the localisation of vehicles in autonomous driving. The Radar Road Signature layer will allow automated vehicles to determine their exact location on a road down to a few centimeters, working in conjunction with the TomTom HD Map.
The advantage of the Bosch Radar Road Signature map is its robustness: unlike maps that rely exclusively on video data for vehicle localisation, the Radar Road Signature can be used and generated reliably at night and in conditions of poor visibility. The Bosch Radar Road Signature only needs to transmit five kilobytes of data to a cloud per kilometre, which is half the bandwidth necessary for video-based mapping.
Bosch wants to launch the Radar Road Signature onto the market in Europe and the U.S. by 2020 at the latest.
TomTom Faster Updating Maps
TomTom announces that weekly global map database updates are now available for business customers. Weekly MultiNet-R map updates result in the most up-to-date maps available from TomTom, four times faster than was previously available.
With weekly map updates, TomTom continues to lead the industry in delivering up-to-date maps. The industry norm for global automotive grade maps is quarterly map releases; TomTom moved beyond this in 2016 with monthly updates and has now taken a step further by introducing weekly map updates. By making a new map available every seven days, TomTom is enabling its customers to access map updates more than four times faster than ever before.
Verisk & TomTom
Verisk Insurance Solutions, a source of information about property/casualty insurance risk, announced an alliance with TomTom Telematics. Through the alliance, fleet owners can choose to flow driving data collected by the TomTom Telematics Service Platform with WEBFLEET, the company’s Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) fleet management solution, into the Verisk Data ExchangeTM. This will provide TomTom WEBFLEET subscribers access to fleet insurance benefits and operational safety feedback
HARMAN Cybersecurity Suite Integrates with IBM QRadar
HARMAN announced it is working with IBM Security to bring world-class security analytics to OEMs. HARMAN’s cybersecurity suite can be integrated with the IBM QRadar security intelligence platform.
HARMAN’s proven suite of on-board vehicle security agents, including the award-winning ECUSHIELD, providing in-vehicle protection and TCUSHIELD, a telematics security product, will share data and events with IBM QRadar – the world’s leading Security Information and Events Management (SIEM) platform. Combining these elements can provide OEMs with significantly enhanced intelligence and control of their vehicles’ cybersecurity protection.
HARMAN Smart Telematics Gateway
HARMAN announced a Smart Telematics Gateway solution with ability to update any automotive Electronic Control Unit (ECU) through a secure, wireless connection.
HARMAN’s Smart Telematics Gateway offers automakers a flexible, modular hardware platform that supports a variety of connectivity features including eCall, fully-automated accident alert, breakdown call-out, local-support service calls, remote control locking, vehicle finder, diagnostics and more. The Telematics Control Unit (TCU) also acts as a secondary gateway thereby having access to all the communication bus inside the car.
HARMAN’s Smart Telematics Gateway includes a pre-integrated suite of software functions supporting HARMAN’s over-the-air updates capabilities and cybersecurity features, including intrusion detection and mitigation (TCUShield and ECUShield).
Xevo Journeyware Data Managment Software
Xevo Inc. announced the launch new Journeyware suite of automotive products — a data-management software solution to offer a personalized consumer driving experience while also providing automobile manufacturers with new business opportunities. Journeyware uses machine learning, artificial intelligence, and powerful data analysis tools to give automakers a better understanding of their customers, making it possible for them to deliver truly customized driving experiences.
Journeyware’s powerful data analysis tools enable automotive manufacturers to analyze consumers’ personal preferences, driving history, and habits to provide personally-tailored automobile user experiences that move beyond today’s ‘infotainment’ systems. Xevo’s technology safely integrates drivers’ cars into their digital lifestyles, delivering a personalized, ‘smart’ in-car experience.
Caruma & RoadBotics Partner
Caruma Technologies and RoadBotics, announced partnership to capture a wide array of roadway data utilizing computer vision. The combined technology provides both company’s customers a continuous, and data-driven roadway monitoring solution through the full integration of Caruma’s feature set and growing ecosystem of partnerships and integrations.
Caruma’s artificial intelligence-based connected-vehicle platform will incorporate RoadBotics’ algorithms, data collection engine, and the processing to deliver advanced information on road surfaces, features, object detection and analysis.
Taoglas’ Axiom Multiple-Antenna
Taoglas, a leading provider of automotive, IoT and GNSS antenna products announced the launch of Axiom, a reference design for a low-profile, compact multiple-antenna solution for the next generation of Connected Cars. The reference design shows where and how to place the multitude of antennas needed for maximum performance.
As many as 18 antennas are needed to power the next-generation Connected Car. This includes multiple cellular antennas for network connectivity; Wi-Fi for hotspot connectivity; GNSS for navigation, emergency call systems and other location-based technologies; satellite radio; AM/FM antennas; radar antennas for object detection; Bluetooth antennas for smartphones and other devices, and dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) antennas for vehicle-to-vehicle/infrastructure applications.
Locating these antennas in a vehicle in close proximity to each other and additional electronics systems while minimizing interference and maximizing performance is extremely challenging from a design and RF performance perspective.
Taoglas’ Axiom reference design has integrated nine antennas, including:
- LTE Antennas: Four LTE antennas, each operating from 698MHz to 6GHz to fully cover LTE worldwide application bands
- Wi-Fi Antennas: Two Wi-Fi elements, supporting both 2.4GHz and 5.8GHz bands for Wireless Local Area Network
- GNSS Antenna: An active GNSS element to support GPS, Glonass and Beidou navigation systems. L1/L2 options available.
- SDARS Antenna: One SDARS element to support satellite radio applications.
- DSRC Antenna: One DSRC element, which supports V2V/V2X dedicated short range communication.
Taoglas claims its advantage is its ability to integrate all of the antennas required for the Connected Car in a confined space and maintain maximum performance.
Ericsson Connected Vehicle Marketplace
Ericsson showcased its Connected Vehicle Marketplace, its “white label” solution for automakers. The dynamic and secure platform a path to develop, deploy and manage an ecosystem of services and apps – with all of the network and performance adjustment done on Ericsson’s end.
Sharing apps and services with consumers, in vehicles and mobile devices, is a seamless process, with a fully controlled and brand-compliant environment. From telematics to car-sharing platforms, connected services are already redefining business models and revenue streams for our partners, including Volvo and Scania.
Telit Intro LE940A9
Telit, a global enabler of the Internet of Things (IoT) introduced the LE940A9 smart module, the industry’s first automotive-grade module to support LTE Advanced Category 9 (Cat 9) networks. The series offers three multi-band, multi-mode variants, including Voice-over-LTE (VoLTE), and is optimized for automobile manufacturers to deploy next generation connected car technology in top world markets.
The LE940A9, the latest addition Telit’s popular xE940 family of automotive-grade modules, delivers 450 Mbps download and 50 Mbps upload speeds with extremely low latency and advanced security, enabling the next wave of automobile industry’s applications and services which also serve as a springboard for autonomous driving.
- Worldwide GNSS support: GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, Beidou, and QZSS support.
- Advanced security addresses industry demands: Features include secure boot, secure storage and more.
- Future-proof technology with multi-radio access technology for exceptional coverage: 3GPP Release 11, LTE-Advanced with Carrier Aggregation (3xCA) support, and 3G/2G fallback delivers widest possible combination of connection technologies with always-on communications, particularly in life-critical situations.
The Ericsson IoT Accelerator is the engine for Connected Vehicle Marketplace.
Molex and strategic global collaborator Excelfore presented a demonstration showcasing the flexibility and capabilities of a fully functional 1 Gbps Ethernet backbone from Molex in conjunction with the power and utility of Excelfore’s eSync over-the-air software updating and diagnostics systems. This flexible and customizable solution delivers seamless end-to-end integration across disparate hardware, software and legacy automotive protocols to meet the demands of tomorrow’s high-bandwidth technology trends.
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