Electric vehicles, autonomous cars, vehicle-to-vehicle connectivity— the automotive industry is in a great time of change as OEMs, suppliers and consumers figure out what the future of driving is going to look like.
What is clear is that technology has infiltrated the vehicle and is the driving force behind the various changes. According to Business Insider, connected car hardware and software such as driver assistance systems, driver safety and entertainment will bring in $152 billion in global revenue in 2020. As my P3 communications colleague Dirk Bernhardt stated in his previous article, the stakes for both wireless carriers and automakers has never been higher. For automakers, no longer is the focus on hardware and parts; instead, automakers are demanding smart software and integrated systems that meets consumer demand for connectivity and infotainment and will drive innovation towards fully autonomous vehicles.
As we make strides toward a fully autonomous vehicle, however, must remember that these developments are evolutionary; they come in phases. It is not a simple jump from today’s autos to autonomous vehicles. A large number of step-by-step advancements have gotten the industry to where it is today.
Starting the process was the emergence of electronics in the car. From automatic brakes to Bluetooth phone connectivity with voice commands, in car software-controlled functions skyrocketed throughout the 90s and early 2000s. Ford, for example, is one of the leaders that took charge in infotainment with the introduction of Ford Sync, which revolutionized the way people interact with their vehicles. Automakers began to understand that, in today’s world of connectivity and instant gratification, cars needed to evolve from simple means of transportation to platforms that keep drivers and passengers connected to their ever-expanding personal and business networks.
Just as consumers were demanding more from their cars in terms of entertainment, they also demanded more features and assets to help keep them safe. The focus moved to the backend and front end worlds outside of the car for satellite navigation, vehicle tracking, wireless communications and vehicle diagnostics. The in-car entertainment and safety capabilities provided through telematics and infotainment technologies are now expected by consumers.
So where is the industry headed next? Building on the safety and security provided by in-car telematics systems, the focus is now shifting to how vehicles can interact with one another and the outside world, making the next step a fully autonomous vehicle. Vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) technologies, known collectively as V2X, will become the basis for transportation models, enabling communications between multiple vehicles, and vehicles to their surroundings to improve road safety, alleviate traffic congestion, reduce fuel/energy consumption and enhance the overall passenger experience.
Today’s embedded software and networking vendors are working to create that vision but face challenges created by old-fashioned OEM business models. OEMs, accustomed to working and thinking in terms of components and parts, are challenged to change their organizational mindset from a hardware to a system-focused vision. An industry previously dominated by mechanical engineers now must understand that integrated and connected technologies and software are king with features stretching end-to-end along the entire value chain.
OEMs are quickly discovering that in order to create this fully end-to-end connected vehicle, their world of siloed departments and parts will cease to exist; this will require an organizational shift to system focused teams that spread nimbly across the organization.
In this new world, external forces also must be considered. For example, unlike the traditional model of designing safety around mechanical parts, the connected vehicle of the future requires safety to be considered first and foremost. This alone requires a radical shift in thinking since software over the air (SOTA) is required to enable new features or update existing features over the lifespan of the vehicle.
Additionally, as OEMs evolve into the connected vehicle space they face the tough decision to remain proprietary or join the Open-source software (OSS) movement. While traditional OEMs spend a large percentage of their time building the same mechanical components or sharing platforms with another OEM as part of collaborative effort, in the software focused world they can achieve far greater economies of scale by sharing technology with all other OEMs. GENIVI is one such driving force in this field with membership from most OEMs.
While the ecosystem is complicated and faces many challenges, if automakers begin to think differently about the way they incorporate technology into cars, progress can be made. By shifting to a new mindset—one that is flexible, agile and works collaboratively—success can be achieved. Just as all the parts and technologies within a vehicle must work together, so too must all automakers, suppliers and vendors to create a truly connected vehicle.
