Connected car’s direction—mission-critical or infotainment?

Over the years, automotive vehicles have become increasingly connected, and so connectivity will increasingly underpin the future of the industry.

At least that’s the view that was discussed by Steve Bell, chief analyst – connectivity, Informa Tech Automotive Group at September’s WardsAuto Intelligence Outlook Conference at The Townsend Hotel, Birmingham, Michigan. It also suggests that there is an evolution in vehicle architecture, and a transition to software-defined vehicles that will depend on connectivity to ensure they are up-to-data and cyber-secure. The executive summary of his presentation adds: “The rapid evolution of BEVs means the traditional vehicle business model of profit on initial sales is being replaced by lifetime earnings that rely on over-the-air (OTA) upgrades to enhance the vehicle value to consumers.”

Bell says connectivity enables the vehicle-to-cloud continuum. This involves advance driver-assist systems (ADAS), autonomous vehicles (AV), smart EV charging and scheduling, the software-defined vehicle (SDV), infotainment, digital cockpits, the development of the digital economy, digital dealers, digital twins and smart design, manufacturing and supply. Other aspects, beyond OTA for upgrades and upsells, are the requirements for end-to-end cybersecurity, end-to-end data privacy, and the edge-to-cloud data continuum over cellular, Wi-Fi, or satellite connectivity.

He adds that connectivity powers the data and digital twin continuum from design to safe operation procedures (SOP) to end-of-line (EOL). In essence, this equates to an Industry 4.0 model that creates a smart supply network. It is where smart factories leverage connectivity, intelligent autonomation, and cloud-scale data management and analytics. He says these technologies enable IT-OT convergence to “support end-to-end digital continuity from design to operations” – a digital twin.  This amounts to a digitized data continuum involving the supply network, factory, engineering, and then you have sensors in everything, networks everywhere and everything is analyzed.

Hinging on IoT

Trevor Neumann—general manager and vice-president, automotive and transportation at Jabil—thinks automotive connectivity is mission-critical, because it hinges on the internet of things (IoT). Even home appliances have changed with the advent of the smartphone, which is now having an impact on cars and on telecommunications. He comments: “The mobility experience is changing from a means of transportation to a connected experience that is consistent with our ever-changing digital lives. The consumer expects more and more. So, anything that is electronic needs to be connected.”

Consumers want a dynamic experience that’s fresh and so they expect it to stretch to their cars from a functionality perspective, such as maps, routing, media, and software updates. “Having a connected car becomes mandatory for the vehicle to evolve in the future,” he suggests before adding that vehicles need to be design differently from how they were in the past because the transition is edging from being mechanical vehicles to ones that are software-define with “central compute units, where software and hardware are being developed separately for the car,” he explains.

He says this means that today’s EV could have 150 million lines of code over their ECUs as well as the array of sensors, cameras, LiDAR, as well as radar. In essence vehicles are becoming a computer on wheels, and one that consumers expect to be connected. This is being driven by smartphones, and Neumann believes it is being enabled by them using Apple CarPlay or Android Auto.  This makes over-the-air updates critical to ensure that the vehicle remains updated, while providing the opportunity to make changes to the car rather than having to bring the vehicle to a dealership to make software updates.

He explains: “IoT and its relation to mobility, V2X, or vehicle to everything becomes key. This is connectivity from vehicle-to-vehicle, vehicle-to-home, vehicle-to-infrastructure, and so on.  We are now able to introduce multiple services and experiences that otherwise weren’t available before with the connected car. They could be as simple as finding an available parking spot in a city, locating an electric vehicle charging station, or identifying a road hazard of which you would otherwise be unaware.”

Improving profit margins

David Trossell, CEO and CTO of Bridgeworks points out that manufacturers need connectivity to improve their profit margins as they only make 5% profit on their cars. “That’s the one-time-profit opportunity apart from the highly inflated prices of spare parts, so maintaining a margin is difficult,” he remarks. Subsequently, the connected and autonomous vehicle is being seen as a revenue stream.

To read the complete article, visit TU-Automotive.