In connected car news are Faraday Future, Wipro, Trend Micro, Continental and Renesas.
FF Toy Drive at FF 919
Faraday Future Intelligent Electric Inc. (“FF”) (NASDAQ: FFIE), a California-based global shared intelligent mobility ecosystem company, announced that it is partnering with the non-profit organization the Purist Group to support a joint FF Toy Drive which benefits underprivileged and less fortunate children and families in Southern California communities. The Toy Drive will be held in conjunction with the annual FF 919 Futurist Day co-creation festival which will be held at the FF HQ in Los Angeles, Calif. on September 19th.
The automotive technology company Veoneer, Inc., today announced that it has filed a definitive proxy statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) ahead of a Special Meeting of Veoneer stockholders. The Special Meeting is scheduled to take place on October 19, 2021 and will ask stockholders to consider the previously announced merger agreement with Magna International Inc.. Stockholders as of the September 7, 2021 record date will be entitled to vote at the meeting.
Wipro & HERE
Wipro Limited, a leading global information technology, consulting and business process services company, and HERE Technologies, the location data and technology platform, today announced that they are partnering to offer location-based services, to customers from Energy & Utilities, Manufacturing, Transport & Logistics, Telecom and Automotive industry verticals.
As part of this announcement, Wipro and HERE will be jointly developing solutions in the areas of asset tracking, logistics, supply chain, smart-metering and analytics, field workforce management, and private mapping-as-a-service for indoor and outdoor real-time asset tracking.
An Internet of Things (IoT) based smart metering solution being developed by both companies, will provide better information to customers on energy consumption and asset management. The HERE mapping-as-a-service solution enables enterprises to build private maps in the field and manage their autonomous vehicles more efficiently, by providing information to their drivers on routing time, speed, fuel consumption and hazardous conditions. HERE Tracking will help Wipro’s customers monitor and track assets, field engineers and supply chain on a real-time basis both indoor and outdoor, as well as provide analytics to build operational efficiencies.
Sarat Chand, Regional Head & Managing Director – Benelux, Wipro Limited said, “We are happy to be partnering with HERE Technologies to co-develop customized solutions, for customers who require location as a key component of their services. We are excited about the future of this partnership and the potential it offers in the journey towards an autonomous world.”
Jason Jameson, SVP & General Manager, APAC, HERE Technologies said, “We are delighted to be partnering with Wipro to provide location-based services for their customers on a global level. Combined with Wipro’s solutions, HERE location technology will open up further opportunities across different industries, providing customers with more relevant and customized solutions, leading to world-class user experiences.”
Trend Micro Committed to Cybersecurity
Trend Micro Incorporated (TYO: 4704; TSE: 4704), a global cybersecurity leader, is committed to managing cyber risk no matter where it occurs. Today’s new research report is designed to help manufacturers, suppliers, government bodies and service providers successfully manage cyber risk while implementing a key United Nations regulation on connected vehicle cybersecurity.
“Cyber risk is everywhere – even in your car. Vehicles are gaining intelligence, computing power, and connectivity, creating new attack scenarios for cybercriminals,” said William Malik, vice president of infrastructure strategies for Trend Micro. “Understanding these cybersecurity recommendations and regulations will help manufacturers future-proof mobility. Our latest research report helps interpret and implement the WP.29 regulation by prioritizing the threats to the connected car industry.”
To help stakeholders prioritize all the threats and attack vectors outlined by WP.29, Trend Micro experts calculated the severity levels of these attack vectors using the industry standard DREAD threat model.
These attack vectors should be given the highest priority, according to the research:
- Back-end servers used to attack a vehicle or extract data
- Denial of service attacks via communication channels to disrupt vehicle functions
- Hosted third-party software (e.g. entertainment apps) used to attack vehicle systems
Researchers also recalculated the DREAD threat model to show how threat severity will evolve over the next 5-10 years and highlighted new and emerging vectors not included in the WP.29 regulation.
The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations (WP.29) regulates vehicle safety around the world. The regulation contains seven high-level and 30 sub-level descriptions of vulnerabilities and threats, including 69 attack vectors. The regulations along with Trend Micro’s findings will support the connected car industry’s understanding of cyber risks to best prioritize their defense.
This latest Trend Micro report follows on from a February 2021 study on connected car security in which explored risks with connected vehicles interconnected with 5G, Cloud, and other connected technologies.
Continental Virtual Travel Assisting
Continental is developing a virtual travel assistant that makes driving much more comfortable. The eTravel.Companion is an intelligent system that informs the car user like an interactive radio station. Whether it’s recommendations for free parking spaces or cheap gas stations, warnings about tire pressure loss or impending severe weather, individual sports news or tips for cultural events – the eTravel.Companion speaks up proactively, but only to the extent needed, and helps drivers make their trip as pleasant as possible. The special feature of the innovative technology: The eTravel.Companion is linked to the smartphone and thus to the user, not to a single automobile. This means that all service benefits can also be used in different vehicles – a major advantage when car-sharing or booking a rental car, for example.
Thanks to artificially intelligent algorithms, the system is constantly learning and can offer individually tailored support for many facets of travel. Another innovation: The voice-based eTravel.Companion initiates every communication itself – and only if it offers real added value for a smooth trip. In practical terms, this looks like this, for example: In the car, the music of a playlist stored in the smartphone plays while the navigation device guides the vehicle to its destination. The eTravel.Companion briefly dims the music and announces: “Sorry for disturbing you, but all parking spaces at the destination are occupied. Should I choose a route to another parking garage nearby? There is also a free e-scooter from your contract provider available there, which you can use to get to your destination in three minutes.“
A major advantage of Continental’s new technology: eTravel.Companion is a flexible cloud-based application. This means that the individual mobility assistants of car manufacturers or car sharing and rental car providers – parking, traffic flow, charging station apps and many more – can be seamlessly integrated. Continental’s eTravel.Companion accesses all relevant data and makes it available to the end user via voice assistance and web radio function. In principle, the new eTravel.Companion works like an all-connecting matrix, enabling a new, particularly attractive and stress-free interaction between vehicle and driver.
Thanks to eTravel.Companion, the driver’s interaction with his car becomes even more intuitive and convenient. Because this is absolutely necessary: The flow of information into the car is constantly increasing. Drivers are confronted with more and more indications from the cockpit instruments or information from the infotainment systems. Added to this are a wide variety of assistance apps, mobility applications and service systems. Intelligent solutions for the interaction of drivers with their cars are therefore particularly in demand – and above all for the management, processing and, not least, the seamless provision of data from a wide range of sources.
The eTravel.Companion is an evolutionary step in the design of human-machine interfaces, of HMI solutions. These human-machine interfaces determine how drivers and vehicles communicate. “One of the biggest challenges in the automotive industry today is to develop intelligent concepts for human-machine interfaces. Solutions that enhance the driving experience and allow drivers to interact with their vehicles easily and effectively – without distracting them from the traffic,” says Dr. Karsten Michels, Head of Advanced Research & Engineering at Continental. “Cloud-based service technologies are the key to natural and safe communication in the vehicle, and beyond. With the new eTravel.Companion, we are taking this crucial step further: we are coupling the assistant with the user’s smartphone, not only with the vehicle. This means that all the benefits can also be used independently of a specific vehicle.”
This brings the advantage that the eTravel.Companion can be integrated into existing infotainment systems from car manufacturers or application offerings from mobility service providers. For example, the system gives car manufacturers the opportunity to differentiate themselves from the competition through vehicle advantages other than design, engine performance or battery range. Intelligent application solutions also offer great opportunities as a tool for customer loyalty, for identification with a brand. Such new worlds of experience in the vehicle will be an important differentiator in the future. The technology is currently undergoing intensive field testing with a major automotive company and will be ready for use and production in the near future.
Renesas’ Acquisition of Dialog Final
Renesas Electronics Corporation, a premier supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions, and Dialog Semiconductor Plc (“Dialog”), a leading provider of battery and power management, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth® low energy and Industrial edge computing solutions, today announced the successful completion of Renesas’ acquisition of the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Dialog. Renesas will fund the cash consideration payable to Dialog shareholders of approximately EUR 4.8 billion (approximately 624.0 billion yen at an exchange rate of 130 yen to the Euro) through a combination of debt, cash on hand and the proceeds of an equity offering of approximately 222.6 billion yen.