http://www.tmcnet.com/topics/articles/188800-promise-problem-connected-intelligent-cars.
This week I’m at the Freescale Technology Forum, Freescale is arguably the leading vendor of processors to the automotive industry, and last week I moderated a panel forRutberg & Company’s Future Mobile Conference in San Francisco on the Connected Automobile. The combination of these events means we’ll have a lot to look forward to and a lot to be worried about. Let’s talk about both this week.
The Problems
Let’s get the problems currently surrounding connected intelligent cars first. The biggest is that car companies operate on a 5 year development cycle. To put that in perspective that means they are working to make the iPad 2 work in cars that will exist when the iPad 6 is shipping. That means that much of what that future device will be able to do the car won’t be able to support. In addition security threats are increasing dramatically almost on a weekly basis and not being able to respond effectively for up to 5 years is problematic. We have already had a case where a large number of VW cars were stolen because someone figured out how to hack into them through their tire sensors, think of how much worse this will be when the cars are connected to the web? The car companies haven’t agreed yet on a common interface that can be used for the wide variety of entertainment and communications devices that are coming. This means there is not short term fix for these problems coming and there will likely be bigger security breaches coming in cars particularly against systems that weren’t designed to be secured.
Finally the biggest threat to this movement is likely the concerns sounding safety and distractions. As the industry puts more and more in front of the car buyer the concerns surrounding the related distractions are going vertical and so too is the emphasis on regulating this technology. We may need self-driving cars if we want to use some of the things the industry is planning on putting in them. Unfortunately self-driving cars are estimated to be more than 10 years out.
The Opportunity
Ford is reporting that cars with Ford’s simple Sync system are outselling cars that don’t have this system by 2 to one. One of the advantages of Sync is its simplicity because it puts the greatest emphasis on the products it connects to and these products can then pass through many more of their enhancements. EvidentlyFreescale (News - Alert) is the hardware company behind Sync.
Projections from my panel suggest that buyers will increasingly prefer cars that have a greater ability to connect to the products they want to use in them. This means that the car company that has attractive products which best make use of the technology we buyers will want to connect to them will likely be the most successful. The panel felt that BMW was the most aggressive here; while I thought Hyundai appeared the most aggressive (they even provide an iPad for their car manual). (I’m an Audi driver and have trouble ceding any advantage to BMW).
What’s Coming
This is the cool stuff and mostly comes from the Freescale conference. The coolest thing is active suspension. Michelin showcased a working active suspension system at the show that could be contained in the wheel. Active suspension actually lifts the wheel over bumps and actively adjusts for roll. This not only leads to a vastly flatter and smoother ride it would result in a much better handling and safer car. It is really cool.
The technology is being used to make motorcycles safer as well as there was a demonstration of an airbag system a motorcycle rider could wear as a vest. In a crash this vest would inflate protecting the driver’s body and neck against injury.
NASCAR showcased the use of Freescale processors in their new injection system. The system itself isn’t very advanced (NASCAR unlike F1 is kind of old school) however the interesting part was that NASCAR which requires a high level of commonality between car teams and McLaren who developed the solution has secured this system at multiple levels and may be showcasing how our future cars could be better secured against hackers as well.
Ford talked about networking the cars so that each would be a part of an intelligent system which could not only notify out on traffic and accidents, but get EMTs to injured drivers more quickly, and better avoid accidents in the first place.
The underlying technology, as showcased by the GM VOLT car (massively covered by Freescale processors) where that technology is used to make the car ultra-efficient and move dynamically between electric and gas fueled electrical systems.
One of the coolest thing, was the ability to link your tablet to your car and not only enjoy some of the content from the tablet on it but run diagnostics, check on what is going on (is someone messing with it, is your child abusing it, simply unlocking it or remote starting it, or remote controlling it like setting off the horn to keep the dog from peeing on it). I love the part where you plan your trip on your tablet and then send that to the car’s navigation system so it is ready to go and Freescale demonstrated this on the GM provided VOLT and a Corvette roadster that QNX showcased. One of the demonstrations showcased the distraction risk as the screen on the Corvette showcased a remote burglary which would likely land the driver in the trunk of the car in front of them.
Cars Are Getting Much More Entertaining
The monetary benefits of moving ever more technology into cars for both the car companies and the vendors who sell it is driving amazing changes. Working against this is the slow cycle time for car development, a glacial 5 years, and the increasing distractions this technology may create will likely also create regulations that prevent some of the more interesting parts from coming to market timely. However, overall, cars will get safer, more efficient, more amazing, and a lot more fun thanks to this technology and I think we can all get behind that.
Rob Enderle is President and Principal Analyst for the Enderle Group. To read more of his articles on TMCnet, please visit his columnist page.
Edited by Jennifer Russell
