During Mobile World Congress, there were more connected car news announcements today from AT&T, CarForce, Xevo, Argus Cyber Security, Ericsson, TomTom and Elektrobit.
AT&T CarForce Maintains & Protects Cars
AT&T and CarForce are collaborating on a global solution that helps car dealerships, fleet managers, and repair shops better manage car maintenance and predict car issues before they happen. CarForce is choosing Denmark to launch an Internet of Things (IoT) solution in the first quarter of 2018.
CarForce provides a software solution that uses in-car diagnostics to provide dealerships and large fleet managers with a near-real time dashboard on the health of their customers’ vehicles. Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are used to provide preventative and predictive vehicle maintenance.
CarForce will launch its solution in Denmark through FTZ, a HELLA company, that has a distribution network of roughly 1,500 vehicle service shops. CarForce’s connected garage experience will first be available to about 80% of the Danish independent dealer and garage market, which includes up to 2.4 million cars. CarForce plans to launch in the U.S., France, and Germany later this year.
With CarForce, dealerships can provide an automated car maintenance service to customers that helps reduce vehicle downtime and increase efficiencies in parts supply and repair networks. In addition, CarForce can send customers automated alerts for regular maintenance like changing oil, notify them when a repair is needed, or even predict a tire blowout.
The AT&T Global SIM is plugged into the car’s diagnostic port and provides global connectivity to LTE and LTE-M networks. The AT&T IoT Platform collects the data and translates it for the CarForce software in the cloud. AT&T brings everything together edge-to-edge – from end points to connectivity to the cloud – wrapped in security.
The AT&T LTE-M network is available in North America and Mexico and will enable longer battery life, improved coverage, and lower costs when compared to traditional IoT cellular connectivity.
The IoT Platform used by CarForce will include AT&T DataFlow, an upcoming combination of our former AT&T M2X and AT&T Flow Designer products. AT&T Data Flow will provide cloud-based development tools and resources that help businesses manage the flow of sensor data between IoT devices and business applications. AT&T DataFlow will make it easier for businesses to quickly build and launch IoT solutions and scale them for growth demands. AT&T DataFlow is available for preview by interested customers and is expected to be commercially available in the second quarter of 2018.
Next Gen Xevo Fleet Management
Xevo, the global leader in data-driven user experiences for the automotive industry today announced that they will deliver effective, easy-to-implement tools for fleet management companies in the next generation of its Xevo Market platform. Xevo’s fleet tools will be suitable for fleets of any size, ranging from local franchise operators with part-time delivery personnel to large commercial operations with full-time drivers. Fleet Complete, the fastest-growing provider of IoT solutions in the connected commercial vehicle space, is the first fleet management solutions provider to utilize the Xevo Market platform as an extension of their comprehensive fleet services. Fleet Complete specializes in helping fleets succeed and grow by reducing total cost of ownership (TCO) of mobile resources and assets while maximizing safety and efficiency through powerful big-data analytics, helping to reduce costs and generate revenue growth opportunities.
The next-generation Xevo Market delivers these groundbreaking fleet management features through a driver-workload-tested interface by enabling monitoring and notifications to be incorporated into the vehicle’s embedded in-dash screen; a mobile application for drivers is also available, intended for use only when the vehicle is not in motion. With Xevo Market, fleet management services can be added via an over-the-air (OTA) update – no hardware or installation is required, so fleet managers can be up and running very quickly without the typical dedicated-device expenses and installation downtime. Combining Xevo’s industry-leading Market commerce platform with Fleet Complete’s fleet IoT expertise revolutionizes and simplifies fleet management for an experience that is more accurate, efficient, and economical for fleet operators.
Xevo Market’s new fleet management capabilities benefit all fleets, and are especially attractive to those managing part-time fleets, such as a pizza restaurant’s group of delivery drivers. These drivers, and their vehicles, do not operate as “fleet” all the time – for example, a student who delivers pizzas part-time becomes part of the fleet only while working. Pizza delivery drivers often use their personal vehicles for work, and Xevo Market’s tools for fleet management companies makes it possible for a driver to “join” the fleet while they work by authenticating themselves through Xevo Market in their vehicle’s in-dash display or the mobile app at the beginning of each shift. The head unit display then provides a user interface for the driver to help them manage basic tasks like planning the most efficient route for their combination of deliveries, displaying their next few deliveries, and navigating to a delivery location. Once an authorized driver signs in, data including the location and routing of their vehicle is available to the fleet manager during the course of their shift. This information gives fleet managers the ability to manage drivers, confirm that deliveries were made, and even monitor driving behavior. There is also the option to create and manage a driver risk profile, with the potential to receive reduced insurance rates based on driver scores. Both the management portal and the user interface are customizable to meet the specific needs of each fleet.
Xevo will be showcasing the next-generation Xevo Market fleet management experience during Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2018, February 26-March 1 in Barcelona, Spain.
Argus Cyber Security & Ericsson Partnership
Argus Cyber Security, a global leader in automotive cyber security, announced today a collaboration with Ericsson to provide seamless cyber security for the connected automotive ecosystem – across vehicle cloud services, fleets and vehicles.
As the number and diversity of connected services that interact with vehicles continue to increase, cyber threats also evolve and grow. Recent cyber-attacks on vehicles via connected services have led automakers to understand that securing vehicles and passengers from attacks through these services is paramount to ensuring consumer trust, the success of these platforms, and safety.
The collaboration involves integrating Argus Security Operation Center with Ericsson’s Connected Vehicle Cloud platform to provide automakers with an additional powerful layer of security that leverages intelligence findings across both platforms. The combined insights equip automakers with actionable intelligence derived from big data analysis across millions of connected vehicles and their cloud services to identify the first signs of an attack campaign and mitigate its damage by immunizing the fleet in hours.
In addition, Argus’ multi-layered cyber security solutions embedded in the vehicle provide real-time protection from cyber-attacks, including attacks on remote vehicle commands originating from the cloud – such as heating the interior cabin and opening the vehicle door – via smart-phone applications.
The combination of Argus’ and Ericsson’s solutions will provide automakers comprehensive cyber security coverage of the cloud, connected services and vehicle fleets. The companies will work hand-in-hand to enable automakers to securely integrate and monetize the connected vehicle ecosystem.
The collaboration leverages Ericsson’s communications expertise, built over 140 years and from connecting billions of people through connectivity infrastructure, and Argus’ decades of experience in cyber security and automotive, as well as the innovation of 39 granted and pending patents. Argus is already working with the major OEMs of connected and autonomous vehicles around the world.
Argus and Ericsson will be showcasing their collaboration at MWC 2018, Barcelona.
TomTom & Elektrobit
TomTom and Elektrobit will collaborate to demonstrate an Electronic Horizon system for driver assistance functions and autonomous vehicles, combining TomTom AutoStream, and Elektrobit’s EB robinos Predictor.
TomTom AutoStream is an innovative ‘Cloud to Car’ map delivery system which streams the latest map data from the TomTom Cloud to the vehicle. EB robinos Predictor is an in-vehicle Electronic Horizon solution that uses this map data to provide highly accurate and up-to-date information about the road ahead for predictive driver assistance functions. This allows car makers to improve safety and comfort in automated driving.
The joint project will combine TomTom AutoStream and EB robinos Predictor to establish an easy-to-use demonstrator, evaluation and development platform for the automotive market.
BMW
The focus on the customer and their requirements underpins the BMW Group’s presentation of the next steps on the road to digital and intelligent connectivity between the driver and vehicle at this year’s Mobile World Congress (MWC).
- Another handy digital service will be introduced in 2018 to further facilitate seamless connectivity. The BMW Digital Key will make it possible to unlock a BMW using a smartphone. What’s more, up to five digital copies of the key can be shared with other users.
- Widespread connectivity will also be an essential requirement for autonomous driving inthefuture. In view of this, theoutdoor area of the BMW Group stand will feature a BMW i3 in action as part of a showcase designed to demonstrate that autonomous driving (Level 5) is set to become a reality in the not-too-distant future.
- A new technological approach to full connectivity between smartphones and vehicles will also be on show. The eSIM will soon make it possible to incorporate the vehicle into the user’s existing mobile phone contract, paving the way for a whole range of different functions.
Continental Predictive Connectivity Manager
Continental has developed a Predictive Connectivity Manager that “looks” into the future to determine network availability and reception quality along the route so that it can then take appropriate action.
The project is an evolution of the Smart Telematics solution that Continental developed together with Carnegie Technologies. With Smart Telematics, it is already possible to aggregate available communication channels to get more bandwidth or to seamlessly switch between the channels once the reception quality becomes poor. The Predictive Connectivity Manager is an add-on to not only handle connectivity issues once they arise, but to develop intelligent data management and download strategies for a more anticipatory drive.
In order for the vehicle’s data and channel management system to respond predictively, the connectivity manager must also be capable of predicting the route that the driver will take. To determine this “most probable path,” the software analyzes the vehicle’s pre-calculated route continuously and also accesses the navigation data. “Thanks to the combination of crowd sourced data from vehicles already traveling on the same route and their calculated route ahead, our connectivity manager really can take a glimpse into the future,” says Hiebl.