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How the Connected Car Will Disrupt Personal Transport

By Steven Keeping for Mouser Electronics

The contribution of the automobile to today’s society is unprecedented. Barely a century has passed since Henry Ford democratized car ownership with the invention of the moving assembly line yet 2010 saw the billionth car roll out of the factory. Moreover, some analysts estimate that the total has increased by a further 200 million since then. Cars are regularly in use too, for example, in the developed world, the convenience of the car for personal transport sees it, according to the OECD (an economic organization comprising mostly developed nations), responsible for 70 percent of all journeys not made on foot.

However, according to a report by network equipment maker Cisco, such devotion to personal motorized transport comes at a high cost. In its report entitled "A Business Case for Connecting Vehicles", the company notes that globally, eight million traffic accidents cost 1.3 million lives, 90 billion hours are lost to traffic jams (generating 220 million metric tons of carbon), and cars are chronically overbuilt and underused - resulting in a “real” total cost of personal transportation in the U.S. alone of $3 trillion.

Contemporary vehicles are already packed with electronics, but the automotive industry is turning to the even greater use of electronics to help combat this financial and societal cost. In its report, Cisco notes that today’s top-end autos feature the computing power of 20 modern PCs running about 100 million lines of code and processing some 25 gigabytes of data per hour. That computing power is dispersed around vehicles using from 30 to 100 embedded microprocessor-based electronic control units (ECUs) networked through the body, doors, dashboard, roof, trunk and seats.

Today, this computing power and software code focus on optimizing the vehicle’s performance with little regard to what’s happening in the world around the car. However, tomorrow the electronics will be supplemented by wireless connectivity allowing the car to communicate with other vehicles in its proximity, with local infrastructure, and the Internet of Things (IoT). Such connectivity promises to improve virtually every facet of motoring. The "connected car" (as the vehicle of the future is being dubbed) will be able to optimize its performance, economy, and maintenance, as well as enhance the convenience, safety, and comfort of driver and passengers. Motoring will become not only cleaner, safer, faster and more luxurious, but it will also completely transform from being the second most expensive thing in our lives with never-ending maintenance to an economically-priced, highly-convenient commodity service.

From Infotainment to Wellbeing

While definitions and categories vary slightly, auto manufacturers break down the future vehicle’s connectivity into five areas: Infotainment; Vehicle Management; Safety; Driver Assistance, and Wellbeing. The most mature technology from this list is infotainment, combining information and entertainment, and describes a system that enables a driver to relax to the sound of favorite tunes while being guided to their destination (perhaps with the bonus of avoiding the worst of the congestion and weather).

Contemporary infotainment systems build on the smartphone’s ubiquity. So it is perhaps little surprise that both Apple and Google Android, the major players in smartphone technology, have recently entered the connected-car market with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Both systems offer a similar approach that allows carmakers to update their complicated and often clunky proprietary Infotainment systems for a display that mimics the interfaces of iPhone- or Android handsets.

Figure 1: Smartphone-base infotainment systems allow carmakers to update displays to mimic the app interfaces of popular handset operating systems.

CarPlay and Android Auto are not in-car operating systems as such, rather they are connectivity solutions that allow users to select apps—for example, navigation, weather or music—by the car display’s touchscreen or via voice commands. The system relies in part on the smartphone’s wireless connectivity with the outside world, but, perhaps a little incongruously, in current systems, the link from handset to car is via a wired (USB) connection.

Two key advantages of such systems are that carmakers (and owners alike) aren’t stuck with an aging Infotainment system for the typical 5 to 7-year life of a particular model, and more attention is focused on the quality of the Human Machine Interface (HMI). Semiconductor vendors such as U.S.-based Maxim Integrated are supporting initiatives like high-resolution navigation HMIs with silicon such as the MAX9280AM 3.12 Gbps GMSL Deserializer. The chip has a 104-MHz high bandwidth mode that supports 1920x720p/60Hz displays with 24-bit color that can present much more information than traditional displays without confusing the driver. The chip is also a good foundation for rear-seat infotainment displays.

The infotainment systems offered on vehicles such as Audi’s A3 are already moving to the next stage of development by providing a platform for Wi-Fi local area networks (WLAN) so passengers can wirelessly connect to Internet services on their personal mobile devices during journeys. The car’s Wi-Fi is powered via either the driver’s mobile broadband modem or, as in Audi’s case, via a SIM card built into the car’s infotainment system itself. Some car models are also offering USB charging ports based on Maxim chips to keep portable device batteries topped up during long trips.

Figure 2: Audi is now equipping its new models that use the second-generation modular infotainment platform with an "Audi connect" SIM for built-in connectivity, freeing up the driver’s smartphone. (Source: Audi)

Wi-Fi’s maturity makes it a popular choice for in-car wireless, but it is not the only RF connectivity technology in the cabin. Bluetooth wireless is mature, proven, and supported by a multivendor supply chain - advantages that are important to the highly-competitive automotive sector. Bluetooth is already established for infotainment applications such as hands-free calling or wireless streaming from handset to the car's audio systems, but a new key application is for Vehicle Management - functions that aid the driver in reducing operating costs and improving car ease-of-use.

Bluetooth connectivity is gaining ground in Vehicle Management applications, but competition does come in the form of ZigBee and other IEEE 802.15.4 technologies. The extension to Bluetooth that first came with Version 4.0 of the specification, called Bluetooth low energy, is particularly suited for automotive wireless sensors—which typically send small amounts of data relatively infrequently—because the chips are compact, inexpensive and consume modest amounts of power. For now, Bluetooth is limited to star networking, with individual sensors connecting to a single hub, whereas competitive technology ZigBee boasts mesh networking (whereby sensors can connect to each other as well as a supervisory node) needed to support an automotive wireless mesh network. However, Bluetooth 5.0 will support such networking.

The critical application for Bluetooth technology in Vehicle Management is monitoring aspects of the vehicle that aren’t covered by the sensors—such as those for engine temperature, oil pressure, and airbag status—already wired into the car’s main electrical system. Low cost, robust, low-power wireless sensors provide an opportunity to extend monitoring to things otherwise too difficult or expensive to add to the wiring loom. Examples include things like tire pressure and remote unlocking as the owner approaches the vehicle. Some automotive manufacturers are also exploring replacement of some of the wired monitors with wireless connections to save weight and money (although it is unlikely that key safety systems will ever be unwired due to the very high levels of reliability demanded by the authorities).

In the near future, wireless sensors could be employed to predict faults in addition to picking up ones that have already occurred by, for example, detecting subtle changes in engine vibration well before the cause becomes dangerous - allowing the owner to bring the car in for repair well in advance of grinding to a halt on the shoulder of the freeway. Further in the future, some faults might even be fixed via an over-the-air software upgrade without the owner even knowing.

Bluetooth wireless’ widespread adoption for use in health and fitness devices has also seen some manufacturers use the technology for first generation in-car systems for Wellbeing. Wellbeing describes functions involving the driver’s comfort and their ability and fitness to drive. The in-car systems can communicate with Bluetooth wireless devices monitoring things such as heart rate, body temperature, blood pressure and blood glucose. In turn, the system can assess if a driver is healthy and alert, and thus in a fit condition to continue behind the wheel.

Automotive manufacturers look for a modular approach to in-car Bluetooth wireless connectivity. Such modules are pre-tested and standard-compliant solutions that demand little or no RF expertise to implement. An example is Japanese component manufacturer Murata's Type ZY Bluetooth low energy module which is compliant with Bluetooth 4.1 and includes healthcare profile support for Wellbeing applications.

V2V + V2I = Zero accidents

While advances in the cabin are changing the driving experience, connectivity outside the car is where the technology will have the largest effect on motoring’s financial and societal costs. The key advances under development are in the areas of Safety (warning the driver of external hazards and how the vehicle responds to those hazards) and Driver Assistance (partial or fully-autonomous driving). Technology such as Advanced Driver Assistance Systems provides drivers with safety features such as blind-spot detection, lane departure- and collision-warning, as well as limited autonomous driving features such as lane change assistance and parking assistance. ADAS sensing systems currently use ultrasonic, radar, video, infrared, and laser technologies.

Effective as these safety systems are, others will replace them in tomorrow’s connected car that meld "Vehicle-to-Vehicle" (V2V) and “Vehicle-to-Infrastructure” (V2I) communications into "Vehicle-to-Everything" (V2X) technology. Vehicles will talk to each other using cellular systems such as Long Term Evolution (LTE), switching the short-range RF systems that eliminate the latency of shared cellular infrastructure, such as Wi-Fi or the future longer-range version of Bluetooth to avoid collisions and minimize congestion by optimizing the use of road space. Semiconductor companies such as Broadcom are targeting products at this sector.

Figure 3: Connected cars will communicate with other using complementary wireless technologies. (Source: Broadcom)

On freeways, for example, vehicles will group into convoys, travelling separated by distances that would be too short for human drivers to react in the event of an incident but well within the capabilities of machines that know not just when the vehicle directly in front brakes, but one ten vehicles or more ahead in the queue. In another example, V2X teamed with automated driving could do away with traffic lights by coordinating traffic flow so that cars avoid one another at intersections with the bonus that by eliminating braking for red lights, congestion would be significantly reduced. Some of the key technologies underpinning the connected car are mature, and others are undergoing the first phase of introduction. For example, IEEE 802.11p, an amendment to the Wi-Fi standard to add Wireless Access in Vehicular Environments (WAVE) was approved in July 2010. The amendment facilitates data exchange between fast-moving vehicles, and between vehicles and roadside infrastructure using the 5.9-GHz band.

While avoiding accidents is perhaps the primary aim of connected-car technology, should the worst happen, wireless connectivity will also come to the driver’s aid. The European Union (EU) has recently ruled that all cars built in Europe after April 2018 will incorporate “eCall,” a cellular-based system that automatically contacts the emergency services with details of a vehicle’s location in the event of a collision. eCall can also be triggered manually by pushing a button in the car.

Figure 4: The EU’s eCall system contacts emergency services in the event of a collision and will be fitted to all European-sourced vehicles after 2018. (Source: EC eCall information page.)

Changing the auto industry

The connected car will be capable of addressing many of the issues challenging the automotive industry such as high fuel and insurance costs, safety, carbon emissions and tedious recalls. To enjoy the convenience of a car, consumers have to make a large initial investment and then continually shell out for fuel, tires, brakes, servicing, insurance, road tolls and the rest. All this expenditure is for a product that spends 90 percent of its life doing little more than depreciating in parking lots before ending up on the scrapheap. For the rich, such a business model has proved just about sustainable for nearly a century, but as the developing world embraces personal transport and car numbers climb into the multiple billions it has little to recommend it.

The connected car will enable auto companies (and perhaps a new breed of pioneering firms) to switch from fabricating over-engineered vehicles that are cripplingly expensive to buy and maintain, to making cheap, recyclable hybrid or electric vehicles that are not sold on and “forgotten.” Rather, the automotive business will become a “personal transportation service” whereby the vehicle is “loaned” to the customer for the duration of a journey. The benefit to the consumer is a service that they only pay for when they use it, while the vehicle supplier covers the major vehicle costs, including insurance and fuel. Driving habits could be remotely monitored so that careful drivers would be rewarded with cheaper rental fees. Moreover, connectivity would ensure that journey time is minimal, much of the chore of driving is automated; parking spaces are easily located, and social media updates are not missed. The return-on-investment for the company that owns the vehicle would come from maximizing utilization and therefore generating revenue most of the time (following, for example, the airlines’ business model).

There will likely always be a (probably niche) market for people prepared to cover the high cost of owning a sports-, utility- or luxury- vehicle, but for the rest of us that cost will be removed and replaced by hassle-free, environmentally friendly, comfortable and safe personal transportation.

Challenges remain

The connected car is still a few years away, and the key challenge is how the electronic hardware and software driving the connectivity are integrated into vehicles. Established automakers do not start with a clean sheet of paper, preferring to “evolve” new models from previous vehicles. Software is rarely reused, and every car manufacturer employs a different operating system. Worse yet, semiconductors, modules, and firmware are supplied by many different vendors, making it the hardest part of the automaker's job to ensure those individual elements play nicely together.

It is a dilemma recognized by no less than Apple boss Tim Cook who told The Wall Street Journal that the auto industry is in for a massive change and software will become “an increasingly important part of the car of the future.”¹ That software teamed with sophisticated, wirelessly-connected silicon from companies such as Maxim Integrated and Murata, will see that "car of the future" become connected to its passengers’ portable devices, other vehicles on the road, and the IoT. Adopting multivendor wireless technologies such as LTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, ZigBee, and IEEE802.15.4 will make this integration simpler because systems from different suppliers will be interoperable.

Striving for simplicity is one part of the future that Henry Ford would understand. His ambition was to sell a basic car to every family in the U.S. by using mass production to slash costs (down to limiting the color options “to anything so long as it is black”). However, Ford would be hard pushed to visualize the full impact of the connected car; fortunately, the executives running today’s industry are blessed with greater foresight. For example, as far back as 2000, one auto-industry leader predicted how technology would cause major disruption to the established business model. According to the U.K.’s Guardian newspaper, he told a conference: “The day will come when the notion of car ownership becomes antiquated. If you live in a city, you do not need to own a car,”² adding that he saw a future where his company owned vehicles and made them available to motorists as they needed access to transport. Who was that executive? None other than William C. Ford Jr., the Executive Chairman of the Ford Motor Company.

References

1. Healey, Tim. "Is the Apple Car Being Secretly Developed in Germany? - HybridCars.com." HybridCARS, 19 Apr. 2016. Web. http://www.hybridcars.com/is-the-apple-car-being-secretly-developed-in-germany Accessed 26 Sept. 2016.
2. Slavin, Terry. "The Motown Missionary." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 11 Nov. 2000. Web. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2000/nov/12/theobserver.observerbusiness7 Accessed 26 Sept. 2016.

Steven Keeping is a Sydney-based freelance electronics journalist and a contributing writer for Mouser Electronics. He gained a BEng (Hons.) degree at Brighton University, U.K., before working as an electronics engineer for seven years. He then spent 13 years in senior editorial and publishing roles on electronics design titles in the U.K. and Australia before turning to freelance journalism in 2006.