In connected car news are Airbiquity, Bosch, AWS Renesas, Fisker, SynSense, BMW & What3Words.
Airbiquity Intros DATAmatic
Airbiquity®, a global leader in connected vehicle services, launched DATAmatic®, a suite of edge data management solutions to address the increasing need for services and tools that help automakers manage and monetize connected vehicle data. The suite includes the DATAmatic Edge Data Platform and DATAmatic Edge Data Logger.
The data generated by connected vehicles is growing exponentially in volume, diversity, and economic value to automakers. While providing an untapped opportunity to power new vehicle features and further personalize consumer services and driving experiences, this trend is also creating significant new data management challenges for automakers. In fact, McKinsey projects that 95 percent of new vehicles sold globally in 2030 will be connected, up from 50 percent today, and the monetization value of that data could be as high as $400 billion dollars. Additionally, the continued evolution of automotive technology and features such as electric drivetrains and autonomous driving will be reliant on real-time access to data and analytics both on-board the vehicle at the “edge” and off-board in the cloud.
The DATAmatic suite delivers secure solutions designed to help automakers address their data challenges and move confidently into the future. Airbiquity’s most robust data management offering, DATAmatic Edge Data Platform, is a comprehensive solution and tool set that is designed for automakers who want to fully leverage the power of edge analytics by dynamically and efficiently developing and deploying edge analytic modules while achieving an optimized mix of on-board and off-board computing. DATAmatic Edge Data Logger allows efficient and flexible dynamic data logging for both on-board edge and cloud-based analytics.
DATAmatic Edge Data Platform
- Leverages a hybrid edge and cloud environment to give automakers the control they need across the entire data management lifecycle
- Provides a secure and sophisticated analytic module development environment and deployment capability
- Supports a variety of traditional and distributed electrical architectures easing integration into automotive vehicle platforms, systems, and components
- Provides a resilient run time environment, enabling analytic module portability while ensuring proper use of target device resources
DATAmatic Edge Data Logger
- Dynamically configure what data is logged, with what frequency, and under what conditions
- Maximizes data set availability for analytics while mitigating data transmission expense
- Designed and optimized to work with resource limited ECUs, thereby easing integration into automotive vehicle platforms, systems, and components
“We’ve spoken with dozens of automakers and validated their need to solve mounting data generation and delivery challenges in a way that creates value for their business and their customers,” said Airbiquity President and CEO Kamyar Moinzadeh. “We solved the challenge of over-the-air software management with OTAmatic, and now with DATAmatic we’re providing market leading data management solutions and tools that our automotive customers can leverage to launch new vehicle features and services that will give them a competitive edge.”
HONK Battery Replacements for Auto Insurers
HONK Technologies, the industry-leading digital roadside assistance and vehicle transport platform company, announced a new premium battery replacement service that it has begun to provide to top 10 auto insurers.
With this new service, when motorists request a jump start for a dead battery via their insurance app, HONK app, or representative (if the request takes place via phone), they will be offered an option to purchase a new battery in the event their battery test indicates it needs replacement. If the motorist selects the battery replacement option, HONK’s platform will search for nearby providers that also have a compatible battery available for the service call. HONK’s app will notify the motorist if their battery test fails and once again confirm their request to purchase the new battery onsite, using the already collected payment details, further expediting the service and purchase process. No real-time price negotiation is needed and no credit card transaction is required between the service provider and the motorist onsite as it is all completed through the app. The motorist can also decline the battery replacement for any reason.
This new service enables insurers to bring more value to their roadside assistance policies, which far and away account for the largest share of claims and the most frequent touch point with policyholders.
Renesas Intro Virtual Development Platform with VDK
Renesas Electronics Corporation (TSE:6723), a premier supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions, announced the launch of a virtual development environment that enables advance development and operational evaluation of automotive application software to support the latest requirements of electrical/electronic architecture (E/E architecture). The environment includes a Virtual Turnkey Platform, which allows engineers to develop application software before devices or evaluation boards are available. Additionally, the new environment offers a Multicore Debug and Trace Tool, which enables users to analyze and evaluate the operation of their software as if it were running on an actual chip. These tools will allow customers to kick-start development and get to market faster with leading-edge software.
“With the evolution of E/E architecture, there is an increasing demand for software design that can maximize performance at a system level. At the same time, the increasing time and cost associated with software development have become a big challenge”
Tweet this
“With the evolution of E/E architecture, there is an increasing demand for software design that can maximize performance at a system level. At the same time, the increasing time and cost associated with software development have become a big challenge,” said Hiroshi Kawaguchi, Vice President, Automotive Software Development Division at Renesas. “Our integrated software development environment that can be used across gateway systems, ADAS, and xEV development, enables customers to benefit from the scalability of Renesas products such as R-Car and the RH850 family for both software and hardware development.”
As software becomes a critical part of automobiles, customers’ application software becomes larger and more complex. In order to increase the value of their software, customers are looking for new development methods and environments to develop highly reliable software more quickly.
“Virtual Turnkey Platform” Application Software Development Environment
This platform consists of the R-Car Virtual Platform (R-Car VPF) development environment and a software development kit (R-Car SDK) that includes pre-tested software libraries and sample code. R-Car VPF is based on Virtualizer Development Kits (VDKs) from Synopsys, and integrates virtual models of intellectual property (IP) specific to R-Car to customize for R-Car devices. By overlaying the R-Car SDK on this platform, it enables engineers to immediately start development of application software virtually. The platform accurately recreates the behavior of the actual chip and thus eliminates the need to build up a development environment with a physical evaluation board. Multiple users can also develop software simultaneously on separate PCs or servers.
“Multicore Debug and Trace Tool” for Analyzing and Evaluating Software Operation
Once engineers complete the development of multiple software components side by side on the Virtual Turnkey Platform, the next step is to integrate the software and verify that it runs on a single chip. Software components share resources such as the multiple CPUs and IPs on R-Car SoCs. If operational problems are detected after the software components are integrated, it requires a tremendous amount of work to analyze and solve these issues. With this in mind, Renesas created the Multicore Debug and Trace Tool, which simplifies the process of analyzing and identifying the causes of errors occurring from the interaction of the multiple hardware resources in R-Car SoCs. This enables synchronous and simultaneous debugging of the entire heterogeneous architecture of R-Car without using the actual device. This helps identify potential problems and thus accelerates the development process.
The development environment is available for the R-Car S4 SoC for automotive gateways. Renesas has plans to support the R-Car V4H as well as future versions of R-Car products and RH850 automotive MCUs.
Renesas Meets PCIe Gen6 Specs
Renesas Electronics Corporation (TSE:6723), a premier supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions, introduced the first clock buffers and multiplexers that meet stringent PCIe Gen6 specifications. Renesas, the industry’s undisputed leader in timing solutions, is offering 11 new clock buffers and 4 new multiplexers. The new devices, which also support and provide extra margin for PCIe Gen5 implementations, complement Renesas’ low-jitter 9SQ440, 9FGV1002 and 9FGV1006 clock generators to offer customers a complete PCIe Gen6 timing solution for data center/cloud computing, networking and high-speed industrial applications.
The PCIe Gen6 standard supports extremely high data rates of 64 GT/s while requiring very low clock jitter performance of less than 100fs RMS. Renesas’ new RC190xx clock buffers and RC192xx multiplexers have PCIe Gen6 additive jitter specs of only 4fs RMS, making them virtually noiseless, and thereby future-proofing customer designs for the next generation of industry standards.
“PCIe Gen6 timing will be at the heart of new equipment in data centers, high-speed networking and other applications,” said Zaher Baidas, Vice President of the Timing Products Division at Renesas. “As we have done for preceding generations, Renesas is providing customers with the first timing solution to enable these new, higher-performance systems. Our customers know that we have the technical expertise and market knowledge to ensure that their products will be able to meet future requirements as well.”
“By delivering the first discrete timing solution for PCIe Gen6, Renesas is enabling customers to develop the next-generation of high-performance systems,” said Rich Wawrzyniak, Principal Analyst for Semico Research. “It will be interesting to see the innovative implementations that result from this new capability, especially when considering how solutions for the emerging Chiplet market are starting to evolve, with the need for increasing speed and bandwidth as an underlying constant.”
Key Features of Renesas’ PCIe Gen6 Clock Buffers and Multiplexers
- Ultra-low 4fs PCIe Gen6 additive jitter, 1.4ns in-out delay, 35ps out-out skew, and -80dB Power Supply Rejection Ratio (PSRR) @100kHz easily ensure robust system design
- 30 percent space-saving compared to earlier devices
- Selectable SMBus addresses allow easy use of multiple devices
- SMBus write-protect feature enhances system security
- Loss-Of-Signal (LOS) output supports system monitoring and redundancy
- 4-wire Side-Band interface supports high-speed serial output enable/disable and device daisy-chaining
- Power Down Tolerant (PDT) and Flexible Start-up Sequencing (FSS) features ensure good behavior under abnormal system conditions
Winning Combination
Renesas has combined the new RC190xx clock buffers and RC192xx multiplexers with numerous analog and power offerings to create a new Winning Combination that provides full power and timing for Intel’s latest generation Xeon CPU platform. The pre-tested design includes the Renesas 9SQ440 clock generator, multiple smart power stage devices, an LDO, a USB host controller, and a DDR5 server PMIC. Renesas offers more than 300 Winning Combinations with compatible devices for a wide range of applications and end products.
Fisker Indian HQ
-Fisker Inc. (NYSE: FSR) (“Fisker”) – passionate creator of the world’s most sustainable electric vehicles and advanced mobility solutions – has established its India headquarters in the southern city of Hyderabad, Telangana State.
“Our expansion into India represents both a strategic market opportunity and a significant boost to our global engineering capabilities,” Fisker Chairman and CEO Henrik Fisker said. “We have already started local hiring in India, and expect our new team in Hyderabad to be fully operational and engaged on multiple product programs within weeks. Our talent pool in India will help us pave the way for the launch of Fisker Ocean and Fisker PEAR in India.”
Fisker Vigyan India Pvt Ltd, the company’s operating entity in Telangana, will focus on software development and embedded electronics, virtual vehicle development support functions, data analytics, and machine learning. The Hyderabad office will work alongside the Fisker engineering and product development facilities in California, USA.
“In the global race for leading technical talent, we see our new operation in Hyderabad as a major strategic advantage,” Mr. Fisker added. “I would also like to thank the State of Telangana for their support and enabling us to make a fast start as we set up our initial operations. We are excited to tap into the growing talent pool in India.”
Fisker currently has a global team of over 450 employees, with new hiring in US, Europe and India projected to boost that number to over 800 by the end of 2022, with 200 potential jobs being created in India.
Fisker will commence production of the Fisker Ocean SUV on Nov. 17, 2022, at the carbon-neutral factory of Fisker’s manufacturing partner, Magna Steyr, in Graz, Austria. The Fisker Ocean, in Sport trim level, will have an estimated range of 250 miles (EPA test cycle) / 275 miles or 440 kilometers (WLTP test cycle) and feature a sleek, stylish design, as well as innovative automotive technology and a sustainable interior made from recycled materials. The Fisker Ocean Extreme will deliver up to an estimated range of 350 miles (EPA) / 390 miles or 630 kilometers (WLTP). Fisker worked extensively with battery supplier CATL, using two different chemistries, to maximize performance and minimize cost for the Fisker Ocean lineup.
What3Words in Subaru
Subaru of America, Inc. announced a major integration of innovative location technology what3words. Through this partnership, Subaru drivers can easily navigate to any precise 10ft x 10ft location in the world using just three words, making everyday adventure easier than ever. Subaru’s new Outback models will all feature the industry-leading technology, with integrations in additional models set to be announced in the near future.
Entering a precise location into a navigation system can be a frustrating experience, particularly when the destination does not have a street address, such as campsites and car parks, or if the ZIP code covers a large area. Stadiums and industrial parks are usually assigned a single address and yet have multiple entrances and car parks, while some pop-up venues may have no address at all. While globally 80% of motorists use satellite navigation in their cars, 87% of them do not trust it to direct them to the right destination every time.
Iteris Contracted by VDOT
-Iteris, Inc. (NASDAQ: ITI), the world’s trusted technology ecosystem for smart mobility infrastructure management, announced that it has been awarded an open-ended on-callcontract by the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) for intelligent transportation system (ITS) operations, planning and support services, representing continued demand for Iteris’ mobility consulting services in a key geographic market.
Under the terms of the three-year contract, which has an unlimited ceiling and is renewable for two one-year extensions, Iteris will provide: on-call technical and administrative support in transportation system operations and management (TSO&M); ITS planning; connected and automated vehicle (CAV) program support; expansion of mobile applications development and integration for data sharing; integrated corridor management development; transportation operational services; traffic analysis and safety; and related program support services for VDOT on a state-wide basis.
SynSense for BMW
The world’s leading neuromorphic intelligence and solutions provider, SynSense, announced that it will advance the integration of neuromorphic chips and smart cockpits and explore related fields with BMW. This marks the entry point for the application of SynSense’s brain-like technology into smart cockpits.
“Unlike traditional solutions, neuromorphic technology simulates biological neural systems. It is an innovation in the architecture of chips, and has features such as low end-to-end latency, extremely low power consumption, and real-time sensing and computing,” said Ning Qiao, founder and CEO of SynSense.
SynSense was founded in 2017 in Zurich, Switzerland, and moved its headquarters to China in 2020. With founding members from the Institute of Neuroinformatics (INI) in Zurich, SynSense is the fruit of the highly innovative and research dedicated environment of the University of Zurich. Synsense specializes in IoT real-time signal processing and AI edge computing, and develops neuromorphic technology algorithms and hardware designs.
This exploration with BMW in the area of neuromorphic technology will focus on SynSense’s dynamic visual intelligence SoC––Speck, which combines in one single chip SynSense’s low-power SNN vision processor with an event-based sensor. It performs both neuromorphic sensing and computing , and utilizes full asynchronous circuit design. It can be used to capture real-time visual information, recognize and detect objects, and perform other vision-based detection and interaction functions.
The essence of dynamic visual technology lies in event-based vision. It doesn’t record an entire scene through a static frame rate, but instead captures changes in a scene. The image obtained contains only operationally relevant data, and the visual processing only consumes power while the event triggers computing, thus reducing data redundancy and latency, and also protecting privacy.
“Speck doesn’t need caches or additional cameras. It can capture visual event information, process real-time information computing, and conduct smart scene analysis with less than 1 milliwatt of power consumption and with 5-10 millisecond end-to-end latency,” the CEO added.
A senior manager of BMW commented that they are looking forward to a brand new, future driving experience enabled by neuromorphic intelligence.
SynSense will continue to focus on smart cockpit core technology and will explore innovative smart applications related to automobiles, targeting short, medium, and long-term applications.
Bosch Works with AWS for Transportation & Logistics
Bosch and U.S.-based cloud provider Amazon Web Services (AWS) aim to improve efficiency and sustainability in the transportation and logistics industry. Their plan is to offer logistics companies and freight forwarders across the globe quick and easy access to digital services through a platform powered by AWS. Going forward, they will offer support for topics ranging from capacity utilization of commercial vehicle fleets to monitoring goods flows to order processing – all from a single source. To this end, Bosch and AWS have now entered a strategic collaboration. Bosch will be responsible for developing and operating the logistics platform, the core of which is a marketplace for digital services, while AWS will contribute its comprehensive cloud offering and expertise. The platform will facilitate smooth interaction between a variety of services and data, enabling transportation and logistics companies to benefit much more from the opportunities of digitalization without having to set up their own resource- and cost-intensive IT projects. The marketplace will also be open to all digital logistics services providers. Industry and consumers will benefit from the initiative because of greater reliability and transparency in goods and parcel delivery, for example. The companies plan to present a preliminary version of the logistics platform at Hannover Messe, with the launch for Europe, India, and the U.S. set for late 2022.
Greater efficiency through increased digitalization
“The transportation and logistics industry is the backbone of the global economy. In the years ahead, it will have to shoulder continuously increasing transport volumes for goods and commodities while simultaneously reducing its carbon footprint. In collaboration with AWS, we want to help the logistics industry with this. We aim to ring in the future of the industry and drive forward its digitalization,” says Sandeep Nelamangala, Executive Director, Bosch Limited, and Executive Sponsor of logistics platform business at Bosch. “Developing hyperconnected transportation functions is one of the most complex technical challenges of our time. That’s why we are working with a market pioneer such as Bosch to master these unique challenges,” said Kathrin Renz, Vice President, Business Development and Industries, AWS. “The digital marketplace will enable logistics customers to quickly transform their business into a fully digital end-to-end value chain. Customers will benefit from the tools, frameworks, and modules we offer for digitalization, in addition to improving the sustainability of their transportation processes.”
Years-long boom – and no end in sight
The transportation and logistics industry has been booming for years. During the Covid 19 pandemic, online orders and parcel deliveries saw another sharp increase, giving the industry a further boost. By 2030, global goods transport will grow more than 40 percent, and by 2050 this figure is even expected to exceed 145 percent. This growth is hitting a market that is highly fragmented globally – as well as struggling with various areas of inefficiency. A few facts will illustrate this: More than 95 percent of the companies operating in this industry worldwide are SMEs. Approximately nine out of ten companies operate with fewer than five vehicles. The majority of freight forwarders still organize their daily business manually or with an assortment of unrelated computer programs. Moreover, according to the goods transport statistics of Germany’s Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (available in German only), more than 150 million trips are empty runs, which adds up to more than 6.5 billion empty kilometers annually, or more than 160,000 unnecessary journeys around the earth. This weighs heavily not only on efforts to protect the climate, but also on the already problematic shortage of drivers. The Federal Association for Goods Traffic, Logistics, and Disposal estimates that there is a shortage of between 60,000 and 80,000 drivers in Germany alone – and the situation is becoming more and more acute across the globe.
Many challenges – one solution
With its logistics platform, Bosch aims to provide a key solution for many of the challenges facing the transportation and logistics industry. The advantage of this platform is that it will create an entire ecosystem and a software environment in which freight carriers and forwarders can select, book, and execute different providers’ services to meet their specific needs. The platform also allows for easy integration of applications that are already relevant to the market, for instance, in transportation management systems. Thanks to shared usage of data that is available through the telematics systems in commercial vehicles, for example from fleet management, it is also possible to link and allow interplay between different services from different areas. This makes it easier to leverage synergies.