E-Call Technology

The European parliament has decided to implement a new device called the eCall technology in all of the vehicles that will be manufactured from 2018. This device calls emergency services in the events of accidents when you are not able to.

A Video featuring how General Motors plans to invest in future Vehicle Technology
inc Driverless or Autonomous Vehicles

Well, this is now a possibility. New technological advancement is now enabling
car manufacturers to build in these features in their cars. Cars with come with
such built-in features are called “Connected Cars”.

Connected Car Technology

The connected car technology is fast expanding and as per a group director at a technology
consulting firm, within the next five years, out of the new cars that are being sold,
more than 90 percent will be connected cars. The new generation looks at this as
the next step towards “connectivity” in your lifestyle.

The new Entune system that is being introduced by Toyota can now link with smartphones.
This then enables drivers to access the Internet and get forecasts regarding the weather,
get directions, search for other information, etc. Some other car manufacturers are
allowing the users of their cars to access social media from their cars.

This may sound like a good feature to have, but this connectivity comes with its own set of risks and hazards.
Research has shown that accidents can be caused if the driver is not attentive or is distracted. Talking on
a mobile phone while driving is considered to be a hazard, and is equated to unsafe driving, similarly
browsing the Internet while driving can also be qualified as unsafe.

The American Automobile Association (AAA) through a study has concluded that texting using a hands-free device is more dangerous than a driver using a hand-held device to make phone calls. So, some companies that deal with adding these features to cars are working on introducing speech recognition software that will enable the driver to listen to his or her text messages and then dictate a text message to be sent out, thus keeping his or her hands free to drive steer the car. Gesture recognition systems are also on the rise to keep the usage of hands at the minimum.

But, features like what Volvo has been planning to introduce, involve, analyzing the road, to ensure that the car does not swerve off the road or avoid accidents at night. There are regulations that are being put in place to ensure that new cars have a technology built into it to trigger emergency calls without the driver needing to do so, in case of an accident.

There are requests from the AAA to the safety regulators that regulations need to be put in place as to what can be developed and installed in connected cars to ensure the safety of these cars on the roads.

challenges automakers face regarding the Connected Car

Thus, the most important challenge that automakers who are developing connected cars are facing is, to provide technology that the user desires, but at the same time, ensuring that safety is not compromised. Users also need to be careful about the usage of connectivity when they drive.

Thanks the TIB Team

Although it has long been their ambition, it seems that Verizon Wireless is pushing the
issue in the car manufacturing industry with some fervor.

The 4G Venture Forum

The 4G Venture Forum was formulated to deal directly with the issue of using LTE to enable the use of telematics applications in cars. In addition, the company have made the move of buying Hughes Telematics, which is a company that is responsible for powering M2M apps in cars for both business and personal usage.

Who is supporting the venture?

As you might expect, the big names in the automotive industry, such as BMW and Toyota are involved, but quite out of character is the absence of the main manufacturers in Detroit as they have all been involved in the process so far with particular regard to Ford and General Motors. This might be to do with the timing of the venture, however, as the announcements have been made very recently, but it might also be to do with the fact that America’s manufacturers do not have quite the same ambitions as Verizon, especially when it comes to their ideas about incorporating LTE into the dashboard.

Why the main manufacturers in Detroit take a different view

Whilst embedding LTE into the dash for emergency purposes is obviously a welcomed idea, the main manufacturers would prefer that smart phone technology is used to power information technology and entertainment applications rather than in-car connectivity. The connected cars offered by Ford and Cadillac require the driver to use their smart phones to link into the network.

Why Smart phones provide the answer

If you think about it, this actually makes a lot of sense. It can take a while for a consumer to update their car. Technological advancements happen far more regularly that car consumers could keep up with and so connected cars could become out of date very quickly. If the connectivity of the car depends on smart phone technology then the car can stay current and up to date because the chances are the consumer will update their phone much quicker than they will their car, and in so doing bring with it all of the most technologically current connectivity and functionality.

Current trends in connectivity

From a government standpoint, vehicles should have embedded connections in the event of an emergency and to enhance safety. It is also thought that M2M modules will become standardised for electrically-powered cars. Given these trends it might be assumed that embedding connectivity into the dash is set to become a popularly adopted concept.

However, those in the know seem to think different with the common view being that car manufacturers will use radios that offer the minimalist connectivity to respond to government calls for embedding connectivity. Basic emergency calls and location services will be possible but the apps that require broad bandwidth will stay reliant upon smart phones. Verizon might not be able to make their money through 4G but their bandwidth will still be required to power some of the in-car entertainment such as rear screens etc. One way or another, the need for in-car connectivity will still make Verizon plenty of money.

The end

A great video explaining Fords new test intelligent vehicles.

These vehicles can communicate with each other through an advanced Wi-Fi signal
so that they can avoid collisions, improving safety and potentially
relieving traffic congestion.

Also  research firm Gartner announced that they predicted that
consumer vehicles will represent one of the fastest-growing markets
for computer technology and Internet content in the next two years.

This is because of the growth in speed and coverage of
wireless internet networks and the demand for internet
services from customers in their cars.

These recent claims have also coincided with a rise in activity in a number of sectors
as it becomes apparent what opportunities will arise in a new sector being dubbed as
the Connected Car

Some recent interesting announcements on this topic have been:

US Wireless internet network provider Verizon
Verizon has recently announced the purchase of  Hughes Telematics, this will increase their ability
to connect more cars with their wireless service and also cater for the impending growth in demand for more
data as more cars become more connected and use an increasing level of remote services powered by
mobile internet and the cloud, more date means more revenue for the company,
this is something that the wider industry is watching very closely.

Intel Announces $100M Connected Car Fund:
Intel also appears to jumping in on the action, the world’s leading semiconductor company, has recently announced an investment of $100 million in this area. According to Intel’s Brian Wolf, managing director of Intel Capital, the company will use the fund to invest in firms that develop in-car technology that seamlessly integrate with other devices, such as Smartphones etc and of course these devices will need additional semiconductors.

Microsoft focuses more with its Connected Car team
While Intel might be a relatively new entrant in this area, Microsoft still leads the field when it comes to
in car technology systems as they partnered with ford nearly a decade ago and today the Microsoft’s Sync system is now available in an estimated 4 million Ford vehicles.

Recent news from Microsoft Connected Car team suggests they are looking to integrate a range of their new applications coupled with voice recognition technology into the next-generation of Connected Cars.
In a recent interview, Ford Sync design engineer Ryan Dauzet revealed that the company’s 2013 models will get a significant performance upgrade when it comes to their digital connectivity options.
So all of this activity points to the development of an exciting new generation of connected cars that will
use the latest 4G and wireless networks to stay connected to the cloud and provide a plethora of new services to their occupants while on the move.

Some other interesting articles on this topic:

Meet the Connected Car of the Future [INFOGRAPHIC] http://su.pr/2FyBQN
The Future of Connected Cars: What Audi is Driving Towards  http://su.pr/9bm9EN
The connected car  http://mashable.com/2011/02/26/connected-car/
The connected car: coming to your street soon: http://su.pr/1kfU0J#
Verizon leaps into connected car biz with Hughes buy : http://su.pr/436GoJ
Juniper Research: Nearly 100 million connected cars by 2016 http://su.pr/33rlId
Connected Cars Can Save Us From Gridlock: http://su.pr/5RSSdq
Microsoft Connected Car team plans to integrate Windows 8 and Kinect into vehicles : http://su.pr/5WRNGj

Watch this space for more articles on this interesting topic.

The end.

What happens when you connect your car to a high speed mobile Internet Network?

Here it is a great video introducing the Connected Car