Tag: connected cars

Self-Driving Cars Find Their Way at CES
This year’s CES featured the usual big TV screens, loudspeakers, wearables, 3D printers, drones and connected vehicles surrounded by 150,000 attendees over several Las Vegas meeting venues. What was interesting was the continued rise of autonomous, or self-driving, vehicles and platforms. Lost in all of the noise was a small, but important, location-based services enclave that consisted of GPS-enabled wearables and indoor positioning.

LAS VEGAS—A big chunk of the estimated 30 billion worldwide connected devices will be those linked to vehicles, say industry experts at the International Consumer Electronics Show here. Nearly all automakers had a presence at CES — all with a long-term connected vehicle strategy.

No matter how big and exhausting CES is, with long taxi lines and 150,000 attendees, there is good reason to come a day before the giant conference, as the Consumer Telematics Show and AT&T Developer’s Conference feature many industry executives and new developments. At the Consumer Telematics Show, speakers explained how and why connected vehicles are transitioning to autonomous capability.

The connected car industry has matured to the point where technology and market points are coming together, said Thilo Koslowski, Gartner vice president and practice leader, automotive vehicle ICT mobility, at CTS. “The opportunity of connected vehicles are becoming the center of mobile and [Internet of Things] innovations. It has come from, in 1997, a pure telematics safety and security device to vehicle integration, digital lifestyle convergence and Internet of cars,” he said. “At the end of the year, there will be 25 million connected vehicles in the world, but most in mature markets. That might not look like a lot, but only in five more years, I think that number is going to 150 million vehicles.”

In some cases, the newer outfitted vehicles will have only safety and security features, Koslowski said, but most will have two-way data communication, part of the 30 billion devices connected by 2020. He predicted last year that most automakers would have shifted general mobile applications to vehicle and customer-specific services.

Koslowski says the top connected car features that consumers have asked for include automated map updates, real-time weather and news, parking spot finder and driving assessment and coaching. “Consumers don’t want application downloads directly into the car. In addition, in-vehicle media purchases are not there yet, as are in-vehicle social networking updates,” he said. “I predicted in 2013 that 25 percent of the automakers would monetize mobile commerce transactions in their connected vehicle offerings such as parking, buying gas, etc.,” he said.

Self-Aware Vehicle Emergence

Imagine sleeping, or reading, in your car during the morning commute. It may be a reality, but major technical, cultural and legal issues need to be resolved before fully autonomous vehicles hit the road. “There is going to be trouble if [automakers] don’t get consumers involved early on. Or allow governments and insurance companies telling people when to hit the button (to drive),” Koslowski said. “You press the [drive yourself] button and you pay 30 percent more in insurance. About 39 percent of those we surveyed are interested in some sort of self-driving car — that doesn’t mean fully autonomous vehicles. But 61 percent say they are not ready.”

Koslowski says there is a lot of education that includes basic acceptance of the technology and trust that it really works. “There usually is a 30-second rule. The first 30 seconds is ‘holy moly, this thing drives itself’,” he said. “The second 30 seconds is ‘is this beneficial?’ There are real benefits such as reducing the cost of accidents, which amount to $900 per U.S. citizen.”

In terms of cyber security and privacy, Koslowski said it’s a big deal for autonomous vehicles. “A couple of breaches will be a big deal. Still, consumers are not that paranoid. They are willing to share information, especially if there is a monetary or societal function,” he said.

Cost is still big factor that will drive the adoption of autonomous vehicles. Koslowski says that consumers polled will only pay an additional $1,404 for autonomous capability. The cost of a test vehicle, right now, is about $85,000. “The good news is that number is coming down. It is shrinking to less than $6,595,” he said.

At the Transportation Research Board meeting a week after CES in Washington, Chris Urmson, who heads Google’s self-driving vehicle program, said the Kentucky Fried Chicken bucket-looking gizmo on top of their car cost $70,000 alone.

Cost aside, by 2016, three automakers will have concrete plans for upcoming autonomous vehicle launches, Koslowski said. “This is happening a lot faster from a technology standpoint than experts thought it would,” he said.

Overall, Koslowski said that big IT companies need to step up to make autonomous vehicles work. “Governments are a little behind. The slowness of automotive companies also make them vulnerable to technology companies to step in and take over the industry,” he said.

Indoor Positioning and Other Location Markets at CES

Such companies as CSR were at CES and said the show was good for indoor location providers. “CES was good for us. We had good interest in our live demo of indoor location where customers were free to walk around testing the performance of our (solution). We also saw a lot of interest from the automotive market for an indoor/outdoor navigation (product), such as being able to find your way back to the car in a complex shopping mall and the best place to park for access to your indoor destination,” said Dave Huntingford, CSR’s director of product line for location.

In 2015, the company believes that one of the key drivers for indoor location will be the ubiquity of maps for public locations, Huntingford said. “The availability of indoor maps for malls, airports and retail chains will help drive indoor location awareness with consumers for both utility value (not getting lost) and retail marketing applications,” he said. “We also expect to see a variety of social networking applications supporting indoor location, reflecting the fact that we spend the vast majority of time indoors.”

Huntingford believes a key limitation of many indoor technologies is the requirement to have dedicated, or upgraded, infrastructure such as BT Smart beacons or updated Wi-Fi access points with new location capabilities, and a dedicated manual survey of the building to measure indoor Wi-Fi signatures.

At CES, Magellan rolled out its line of 5-inch RoadMate Auto GPS Devices with 3D buildings and landmarks. “The units retail from $169 to $229. “We are surprised at the interest our PNDs are having in the market, particularly with back-up video,” said William Strand, Magellan associate director, product marketing. “The dash camera is a small market, but catching on to block insurance fraud.”

In other CES news:
- Audi pulled off a coup when it invited journalists to drive with its autonomous vehicle from San Francisco to Las Vegas.
- Most location companies have wearables product lines that are making retail chains take notice.
Transportation Research Board Meeting Becoming Big Autonomous Show

WASHINGTON—The Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting here has grown to be one of the bigger autonomous vehicle meetings, with 12,000 mainly government execs and academics meeting.

About 300 people showed up for a panel headlined by Chris Urmson, who heads up Google’s autonomous vehicle program. All was well and good hearing about Google’s self-driving vehicle technology except TRB had 100 chairs for 300 attendees…a lot of people left. But that is the level of interest autonomous vehicle is having in the government and academic community.

“We are planning to find out how our car does with red lights flashing in front of it. The software will figure out, along with GPS and insertional and high-resolution maps,” Urmson said. “The world isn’t empty. Our vehicle has to know about the pick-up making a lane change, the bicyclist pedaling next to it.”

Urmson said there are no sensors on the market that power the car — Google makes them in-house.

In other TRB news, TomTom announced it is partnering with the I-95 Corridor Coalition. The company is using one of three main real-time traffic products in its portfolio, said Nick Cohn, TomTom senior business developer. “It is all about our TomTom Traffic Flow product, which provides speed information for individual road segments every minute, based on our mix of probe data sources,” he said. “This is one of three main real-time traffic products we have. TomTom Traffic provides one-minute updates of locations and delays of traffic jams and other traffic incidents. The third product is a set of APIs for providing, for example, travel times that can be displayed on variable message signs along roadways to inform drivers about delays.”

The government market is a steady business for TomTom, which has seen traffic management success mainly in European cities such as Berlin, Rome and London, Cohn said.
January 21, 2015
Verizon Vehicle Service Designed for Unconnected Cars
Verizon will soon be offering Verizon Vehicle to U.S. consumers. The new connected-vehicle service aims to modernize traditional roadside assistance offerings while enhancing driver safety, convenience and savings, according to Verizon. Verizon made the announcement today at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

Verizon Vehicle is expected to make its commercial debut in the second quarter of 2015. With Verizon Vehicle, drivers will have easy access to diagnostic technology, live assistance, and roadside assistance with GPS accuracy. The service can connects drivers to live A.S.E. certified mechanics to diagnose potential problems and offer solutions. If drivers need assistance, the built-in GPS identifies their exact location, and a tow truck driver or other help can be dispatched as needed, with precision.

Erik Goldman, president of Verizon Telematics, explained that more than 200 million U.S. vehicles lack connected capabilities, vehicles that could benefit from the new service.

“As one of the largest communications companies in the world, we are dedicated to providing consumers with innovative technology solutions that connect people, solve challenges and inspire change,” Goldman said. “Verizon Vehicle is a unique and truly holistic aftermarket solution available to over 200 million vehicles on the road today. It affords millions of drivers the power of knowing when things aren’t working well, potentially before a breakdown occurs — fostering a safer, smarter and more economical way to drive and maintain a vehicle. And while even the best technology can’t prevent every breakdown, the service modernizes the traditional roadside assistance offerings which, for the most part, haven’t been updated in 50 years.”

Verizon Vehicle is powered by the Verizon Wireless network and is compatible with nearly every vehicle made and sold in the U.S. since 1996 — more than 9,000 makes and models. Verizon Vehicle will launch as a subscription-based service available to drivers regardless of the wireless service provider they use for their mobile devices. Members also receive discounts on travel including hotels and auto services.

The service operates through an OBD reader that can be self-installed in the under-dash diagnostic port, a Bluetooth-enabled speaker attached to the visor and a smartphone app. Members can choose to use the app or elect to set up the service to contact them — by phone, text, push notification or email — if a potential issue is detected with their vehicle. The speaker offers one-button push connection to the member care group, the mechanics hotline and roadside assistance, as well as a second button for SOS emergency situations.

The subscription-based service will include:
- GPS-directed pinpoint Roadside Assistance for breakdowns, flat tires, overheating, a dead battery — anything that might require towing or immediate repair. Dispatches are made to the exact location of a disabled vehicle.
- Automatic Urgent Incident Alert System places a call to the Verizon Vehicle Member Care Center in the event of a suspected accident. Help is immediately dispatched to the location if an accident is confirmed or there is no response from the driver. The time saved can potentially save lives by delivering critical emergency assistance when a person may not be able to call for help.
- One-Button SOS Assistance immediately connects the driver to a live agent for emergency aid.
- Auto Health System with Predictive Diagnostics translates most “check engine” light occurrences into real terms, including the description and severity of the matter, the probable solutions for the problem — and the appropriate cost for the repairs. The system is also designed to provide early warnings relating to some vehicle functions, even before a warning light comes on, to help keep you off the side of the road.
- Mechanic’s Hotline is staffed with A.S.E. Certified Mechanics providing members access to immediate and unbiased information related to their vehicles, and a professional analysis of trouble they may be experiencing.
- Parking & Meter Tools help drivers find where they left their vehicle —using the Verizon Vehicle smartphone app — while also keeping track of how much time is left on the meter.
- Maintenance Alerts inform vehicle owners when scheduled maintenance is required. No more guesswork as to when to rotate those tires or change the oil.
- Stolen Vehicle Location Assistance guides drivers when reporting a theft and helps authorities recover the stolen vehicle.
- Travel & Repair Savings — Verizon Vehicle members will be entitled to discounts on hotels, vehicle rentals, auto maintenance, repairs and related travel expenses.
The service is expected to launch nationally this spring with availability thru nationwide retailers late in 2015. Advance consumer orders for the service are being accepted at VerizonVehicle.com and at 800-711-5800.
January 13, 2015
Ford Autonomous Vehicle On the Way, CEO Says
Mark Fields, President and CEO, Ford Motor Company, delivers the opening keynote address at the 2015 International CES. (Photo by: Sam VarnHagen/Ford)

Ford Motor Company highlighted the semi-autonomous vehicles it has on the road today and fully autonomous vehicles now in development at the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week.

“We’re already manufacturing and selling semi-autonomous vehicles that use software and sensors to steer into both parallel and perpendicular parking spaces, adjust speed based on traffic flow or apply the brakes in an emergency,” said Raj Nair, Ford chief technical officer and group vice president, Global Product Development. “There will be a Ford autonomous vehicle in the future, and we take putting one on the road very seriously.”

Ford’s semi-autonomous vehicle features available today include lane-keeping assist, adaptive cruise control, Pre-Collision Assist with Pedestrian Detection and active park assist — with Traffic Jam Assist coming.

A fully autonomous Ford Fusion Hybrid research vehicle is undergoing road testing. The vehicle uses the same semi-autonomous technology in Ford vehicles today, while adding four LiDAR sensors to generate a real-time 3D map of the surrounding environment.

The vehicle can sense objects around it using the LiDAR sensors, and uses advanced algorithms to help it learn to predict where vehicles and pedestrians might move.

“Our priority is not in making marketing claims or being in a race for the first autonomous car on the road,” Fields said. “Our priority is in making the first Ford autonomous vehicle accessible to the masses and truly enhancing customers’ lives.”

Ford Smart Mobility

The automaker also laid out its Ford Smart Mobility plan for connectivity, mobility, autonomous vehicles, the customer experience and big data. Included are 25 experiments set for this year — eight in North America, nine in Europe and Africa, seven in Asia and one in South America.

Each experiment is designed to anticipate what customers will want and need in tomorrow’s transportation ecosystem. “We see a world where vehicles talk to one another, drivers and vehicles communicate with the city infrastructure to relieve congestion, and people routinely share vehicles or multiple forms of transportation for their daily commute,”said Ford President and CEO Mark Fields. “The experiments we’re undertaking today will lead to an all-new model of transportation and mobility within the next 10 years and beyond.”

The 25 experiments address four global megatrends — explosive population growth, an expanding middle class, air quality and public health concerns, and changing customer attitudes and priorities — challenging today’s transportation model and limiting personal mobility, especially in urban areas.

Fourteen of the 25 experiments are Ford-led research projects, and 11 are part of the company’s Innovate Mobility Challenge Series. The experiments include:
With the Innovate Mobility Challenge Series, Ford invited innovators and developers around the world to create solutions for specific mobility challenges in North America and South America, Portugal, Africa, India, China, England and Australia. Challenges included finding technology solutions to identify open parking spaces in urban areas, better ways to navigate crowded cities and the use of navigation and other tools to help people gain access to medical care in remote areas.

SYNC 3

Also at CES, Ford is demonstrating SYNC 3, the company’s new communications and entertainment system that is faster, more intuitive and easier to use with enhanced response to driver commands. SYNC 3 has more conversational speech recognition technology, a more smartphone-like touch screen and easy-to-read graphics to help drivers connect and control their smartphone while on the road.

The next-generation system builds on the capability of SYNC technology already in more than 10 million vehicles on the road globally. SYNC 3 begins arriving on new vehicles this year.

“Ford is delivering an easier way for customers to stay connected,” said Nair. “SYNC 3 is another step forward in delivering connectivity features customers most want, and they tell us this kind of technology is an important part of their decision to buy our vehicles.”

“Even as we showcase connected cars and share our plans for autonomous vehicles, we are here at CES with a higher purpose,” Fields said. “We are driving innovation in every part of our business to be both a product and mobility company — and, ultimately, to change the way the world moves just as our founder Henry Ford did 111 years ago.”
January 8, 2015
CES: Visteon Demonstrates Connectivity Gateway for Connected Car

Visteon Corporation is demonstrating its latest vehicle connectivity system at the 2015 International CES being held this week in Las Vegas. Visteon’s system provides a secure and reliable gateway to advance the connected driving experience for drivers and automakers, the company said.

A robust vehicle communication gateway is essential to ensure reliable connectivity that can keep pace with advances in 4G LTE, Wi-Fi, and vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2X) developments. Visteon’s latest solutions address personal and vehicle security, increased data complexity and vehicle architecture challenges.

Visteon’s Wireless Gateway is a 4G-compatible connectivity module that manages a complex network of GPS, cellular, Wi-Fi and Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) inside and outside of the vehicle to provide seamless connectivity when mobile. The gateway incorporates a high level of security to protect multiple owners over a vehicle’s lifetime and is capable of handling future data bandwidth, wireless communication and security needs.

Visteon’s V2X platform provides short- to medium-range wireless communications between similarly equipped nearby vehicles that permit very low latency data transfer, which is critical in communications-based active safety applications. The platform is designed to maximize communication range and provide the greatest amount of warning or notification time to the driver.

Addressing the connected vehicle architecture, Visteon’s SmartCore integrated solution integrates traditional driver information, infotainment and connectivity through one seamless human-machine interaction (HMI). Multiple domains can run side-by-side on scalable hardware through different operating systems, greatly reducing complexity, Visteon said. The system actively prioritizes critical information for the driver on a situational basis and enhances driver information management on the road to autonomous driving.

“With the increased complexity of connected services and applications, today’s challenge is not about providing a platform with extensive features, but creating a future-ready vehicle gateway that has the flexibility to adapt and accommodate evolving network technologies,” said Christian Feltgen, vice president, Visteon technology office.

January 7, 2015
Qualcomm Showcases Connected Cars at CES
Source: Qualcomm Technologies

Qualcomm Technologies will demonstrate two new full technology concept cars that integrate Qualcomm Technologies’ latest in vehicle technology and connectivity at the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show, being held this week in Las Vegas. The technology concept cars are based on the 2015 Maserati Quattroporte GTS and the 2015 Cadillac XTS and have been customized to bring the full Snapdragon Automotive Solutions experience to life, including the Qualcomm Snapdragon 602A automotive-grade processor, Qualcomm Gobi 3G/4G LTE wireless modems and Qualcomm VIVE QCA6574 Wi-Fi and Bluetooth module, and Qualcomm IZat RGR7640 GNSS module. Qualcomm Snapdragon and Qualcomm Gobi are products of QTI, and Qualcomm VIVE and Qualcomm IZat are products of QCA.

The Qualcomm Concept Car – Cadillac demonstrates pre-integrated support for Android, including the latest Android L and Kit Kat; high resolution infotainment displays for visually stunning graphics for cluster and infotainment; integrated in-vehicle features, including navigation, music, live streaming of sports, news and entertainment content via LTE-Broadcast; enhanced safety features such as lane detection with integrated navigation, driver distraction avoidance notification, gesture recognition, car personalization via the AllSeen Alliance’s AllJoyn open source framework; wireless audio streaming from personal devices via the Qualcomm AllPlaysmart media platform; smartphone integration and Qualcomm WiPower flexible wireless charging for consumer electronics and; 4G LTE multimode Internet connectivity including WiFi hotspot and Bluetooth profile support.

The Qualcomm Concept Car – Maserati features pre-integrated support for the latest versions of the QNX Neutrino OS and the QNX CAR Platform for Infotainment from QNX Software Systems, a subsidiary of BlackBerry Limited. Highlights include an instrument cluster with speed recommendations, collision warnings, and intelligent parking assist; an infotainment system with 3D navigation, smart phone integration, rear seat entertainment with easy-to-use multimodal UI supporting gestures (tap, swipe, pinch), and voice recognition; an immersive driver experience with rear and side view mirror/displays, complete with refitted cameras and informational safety features; WiPower flexible wireless charging for consumer electronics; and 4G LTE multimode Internet connectivity, including WiFi hotspot and Bluetooth profile support.

Integrated into the technology concept cars are:
- Elektrobit’s EB street director navigation software and the latest version of its EB Assist eHorizon Solution with audible and visual warnings and recommendations about the road ahead
- TomTom advanced navigation and map services
- Jungo’s MediaCore smartphone connectivity and multimedia playback
- Rightware’s software and user interface for the instrument cluster
- Ricardo’s integrated hardware, controls and electronics
- Streaming Internet radio services from Pandora via HTML5 and iHeartRadio via Android
- Voice recognition and speech-to-text services powered by Nuance’s Dragon Drive
- NXP’s SAF775x AM/FM radio tuner support
- QNX Neutrino OS and QNX CAR Platform for next-generation safety and infotainment features
The concept cars are on display at CES, located at the Las Vegas Convention Center, Central Hall, Booth 8252 and Central Plaza, Booth CP21A.
January 5, 2015
2014: Big Move to Retail Indoor Location Market
Macy’s added Shopkick indoor location beacons in preparation for holiday shopping. (Photo by Nicholas Eckhart is licensed under CC BY 2.0.)

This year was filled with hope and some success for the location industry. In what was probably the biggest deal, Qualcomm bought United Kingdom-based CSR for $2.5 billion — at the same time, spinning off its own location beacon company, Gimbal. While the connected car continued to get a lot of press at the biggest trade shows, indoor location technology matured to a point that many retailers are believing it’s a way to get consumers back into the stores — and away from their computers.

As we come to the end of 2014, many industry observers view indoor technology and markets to be like where outdoor location was in the early 1990s: many technologies and providers all pushing different solutions. However, the gap between the beneficiaries of the market, the retailers and brands, and the indoor location technology providers is narrowing as tests become more prevalent.

Such retailers as Walgreens, Home Depot, Lowe’s, Macy’s and CVS have rolled out, or planning to launch, tests that include indoor mapping and a product locator.

“iBeacons and other beacons proved to be the fastest location-proximity technologies that are being deployed full scale by Macy’s, CVS and other retailers for a first quarter 2015 rollout,” said Kris Kolodziej, an indoor location-based services advisor. “I see more acquisitions like the one of Groupon acquiring Swarm Mobile, a beacon platform for smaller tier-two retailers and businesses. In addition, we will see more partnerships like the one between Gimbal and Urban Airship to provide a holistic outdoor-indoor solution for geofencing and engagement platforms.”

Location companies paid attention to mobile carriers’ focus on launching and advancing their LTE services in 2014, said Keith Bhatia, TeleCommunication Systems vice president, business development.

“2014 has been the year of transitioning location-based services from 2G to 3G to complete 2G-3G-4G platforms,” he said. “The other significant location market event for TCS during 2014 has been growth of user plane services by (over-the-top) apps. The operators who have chosen to compete with OTT players have seen location requests exponentially expand.”

TCS believes that the location market, in the next five years, will evolve to a machine-to-machine and Internet of Things (IoT) concepts that will expand into consumers’ everyday lives, Bhatia said. “From the connected car to telemedicine, health devices, connected home and smart cities, all mobile connected devices will benefit from location-based services,” he said. “We believe that location services will continue its rapid growth for years to come.”

Selling retails on the promise of indoor positioning and proximity marketing has been tough in the past few years — and some providers have focused on the wrong message, Bhatia said. “As mobile device adoption continues to surge, indoor positioning and proximity marketing will become an important tool for many retailers. A significant barrier so far has been too much focus on coupon delivery,” he said. “We believe the retailers will find real benefits in terms of understanding layout, traffic and congregation of users. Combining this location information with their retail data will provide early insights into trends and early indications of potential challenges.”

Dave Hutingford, CSR director of product line for location, believes the big selling point for retailers is striking the balance between what benefits they obtain from the app versus what benefits the consumer gets — what he calls the equity balance.

“Too many irrelevant notifications while walking around the shop will result in people not wanting to run the app, and can potentially harm consumer acceptance of retail applications. The interest is already there from the retailers’ side as the benefits are somewhat obvious, but the question is what do you give back to an increasingly technology-smart consumer?” he said.

Overall, the indoor location market is attracting major interest from retailers — which is refreshing to many industry observers after seeing online sales cut into brick-and-mortar stores’ profits.

“Removing the need for dedicated infrastructure to run indoor location was a big hurdle removed from the ecosystem. Certainly we expect to see good pick-up of the solution over the next few months for a wide variety of location services, and being handset-agnostic is a big benefit for any developer,” Hutingford said. “However, if you are looking for accuracy down in the meter range, you will need to add infrastructure to supplement the location calculation, which can come in many forms.”

Connected-Car Market Made Headlines in 2014

If an industry executive attended any of the bigger trade shows this year — CES, CTIA in Las Vegas, or the Mobile World Congress in Spain, it was the same thing — connected vehicles are the big story. Adoption by automotive manufacturers, as a number of analysts have pointed out this year, was the most important news story for the connected-car industry in 2014, said John Horn, Kore Telematics executive vice president and chief strategy officer.

“Essentially every vehicle that rolls off the assembly line in 2015 will have an element of connectivity built into it. To keep up with the level of demand, we are starting to see scale and scope really start to matter to the companies that power this type of connectivity,” he said. “2015 will prove to be another huge year for industry consolidation, which will be necessary to keep up with the global demand for connected-car technologies.”

The biggest trend in 2014 connected-car technology was the emergence of infotainment content for connected cars, said Scott Frank, Airbiquity vice president, marketing. “Before 2014, the most an average consumer would expect out of a high-end vehicle head unit were features like navigation, basic cell-phone connectivity, and hands-free calling,” he said. “Today, drivers are able to get a wide-variety of apps in their vehicles to do things like stream music and keep up with their social media channels. User experience advancements were also made to provide a seamless transition for digitally oriented drivers as they moved from office, to car, to home, and back again. For example, with the NissanConnect Mobile Apps system, someone listening to a streaming music app like Pandora on their PC in the office can put it on hold, get into their car for the drive home, and pick up the song right where they left off — as well as see their favorite playlists, album selections, and cover art.”

However, as with any industry that experiences quick growth, there will be growing pains, Horn said. “The automotive world has already started to experience some of those pains as connected technologies continue to advance at a rapid pace. We saw how the analog shutdown left many OnStar customers stranded with obsolete hardware,” he said. “We’ll likely see similarities as 2G, 3G, and 4G networks are eventually turned down in favor of more advanced technologies. I’ve been saying this for years, but now is really the time for the removable module. Connected technologies will turn over much faster than cars, and the only way I can see to future-proof against this is through the removable module.”

Airbiquity’s Frank said that there are definitely consumer acceptance and technology barriers for the automotive industry going forward related to connected car as we know it today and autonomous car as its being forecast going forward.

Like waves of technology that have come before, functional consumer awareness and adoption will follow the technology adoption curve, Frank said. “Certain generations and user types will be early adopters and more likely to accept new and evolving connected-car technology and features — and the user experiences and value that come with it — the minute it’s made available,” he said. “While others will be either blissfully unaware of the technology built into their car — and the value it could bring them — or are simply satisfied with traditional technology like basic AM-FM and satellite radio. One thing for sure is there’s a correlation between early adopters of technology like smartphones and early adopters of connected-car technology and related features.”

Frank quoted a recent Parks Associates study that found 48 percent of vehicle owners that own smartphones are very interested in the ability to view maps — or receive directions in their cars. This compares to 37 percent of vehicle owners that own/don’t own smartphones. “Like flip-phone users that transitioned to smartphones after understanding the end benefits, consumers will increasingly become aware of and use their connected-car systems,” he said. “We’re seeing evidence of the connected-car adoption curve in the increasing activation rates and time of usage for our customer’s connected-car programs.”

Horn, who headed RacoWireless, which was acquired by Kore for an undisclosed amount this year, said in 2015 industry will start to see the connected car become much more easily monetized. “We’ve seen this first hand, as we have just rolled out some new features with AT&T and Audi. Now, your Audi Connect subscription can be part of your AT&T Mobile Share plan and treated just like another line,” he said. “It is going to be easier than ever to consume in-vehicle connectivity and the business model will advance to the point that makes it appealing for both the consumer and the solution provider.”

In 2015, driving-centric apps and services will begin to appear and eventually become as important as infotainment content in the consumer purchasing process, Frank said. “The current automotive manufacturers’ focus on providing infotainment delivery reflects their desire to meet the expectations of digital lifestyle consumers who are heavy users of smartphones and want to use their favorite apps and services inside their cars,” he said. “This is a logical first step, but these savvy consumers will increasingly value apps that are truly useful and relative to the driving experience. An example is an app that proactively and dynamically recommends modifications to a driver’s high-frequency routes to help them optimize fuel consumption, lower CO₂ emissions, minimize engine wear, and avoid road hazards. As a result, apps that don’t add to the consumer experience relative to driving will eventually die off from lack of use, and automotive manufacturers will replace them with more and more driving-centric apps to satisfy their customers and differentiate themselves from competitors.”

The rise of autonomous vehicles, a derivative from connected-car technology, will keep automakers, carriers, suppliers and government agencies busy for decades.

“When it comes to autonomous vehicles, we expect the adoption curve to be more extended than what we’ll see for the connected car, given the increased consumer concerns about safety and adapting to the new fangled idea of riding in a car without a human driver,” Frank said. “Consumers will not only want to know what this fancy new technology is and how it works, they will also need to feel confident that it will run perfectly and not put themselves, their passengers, or other people and property in harm’s way. Consumers will also have concerns about who will be legally and financially liable if an accident occurs.”

In other location news:
- Two Trimble companies, PeopleNet and ALK, recently provided real-time tracking of the 2014 Capitol Christmas Tree’s cross-country journey from the Chippewa National Forest in Minnesota to the front lawn of the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington. The companies used enterprise products for routing, mileage, mapping and visualization to track the tree.
- LBS Insider’s Kevin Dennehy will be attending the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next month. Please contact him at [email protected] with your story ideas.
December 18, 2014
Connected Car Show: Issues Arise as Automakers Look to Autonomous Vehicles

Hacking, Privacy, and Consumer Acceptance Top the List

Vehicle styling, speed and looks took the back seat while capabilities driven by GPS, sensors and data were up front at this week’s Los Angeles Auto Show’s Connected Car Expo. Privacy and security, distractibility and safety, and human interfaces were all hot issues. The terms connected car and autonomous cars were being used interchangeably, as a continuum of an evolving set of capabilities. The least-asked question: If we build an autonomous vehicle, will it sell or become an expensive niche product? And how will the market respond to mechanical failures or accidents, even if the vehicles are proved to be overall safer and more reliable?

Not Happy with Navigation. With little to individually distinguish car models, auto makers are looking to infotainment to uniquely brand their vehicles. Yet drivers identify navigation and multimedia among the “lower quality” features of their vehicles. While consumers report that the quality of almost all other features of their vehicles are improving, they indicate that the quality of their navigation and multimedia are declining. “The problem is overly complex systems,” reports Renne Stephens of J.D. Power. “Usability is now considered by consumers as a factor of quality.”

Car makers are under enormous pressure to add functionality demanded by consumers, and make the whole experience simpler. Many of the features embraced by automakers have not attracted the interest of drivers. Stephens reports that valued features include surround view camera with rear vision, wireless charging station, near field communication and smartphone field integration. What they don’t value are eye tracking, tactile touch screens, hand gesture control and laser headlights.

Hacking. Discussions on security were enlivened with the inclusion of hacker Chris Valasek. You may remember that last year Valasek and his partner, Charlie Miller, hacked into the steering and brakes of a Prius and Ford Escape, solely by attaching a laptop to the vehicles. Members of an Israeli intelligence unit reported that they had remotely hacked into a vehicle wirelessly via an aftermarket insurance dongle (in this case, Zubie) that was plugged into the vehicle’s OBDII port. Dongles might make people safer drivers, but could they lead to an unwanted adventure?

Valasek and Miller created a list of the most hackable vehicles with the Jeep Cherokee, Cadillac Escalade and Toyota Prius as the most vulnerable. The Dodge Viper, Audi A8 and Honda Accord top the most secure list. Malicious attacks could range from enabling a microphone to eavesdrop to the catastrophic, such as controlling steering or brakes.

Valasek assured conference goers that hacking vehicles isn’t easy. No matter how many layers of protection are created, no vehicle that communicates with the outside world will be hack-proof. Last month, automakers announced that they are forming a consortium that will be dedicated to deterring “black hat hackers” and will create a venue for the auto industry to share information about hacking attempts.

Dreams and Nightmares. The best-case scenario for the automotive OEMs is a connected vehicle industry in which they control the ecosystem and derive high revenues, as well as driverless cars starting to become common around 2024. In reality, the OEMS may encounter lagging consumer acceptance, perhaps shattered by catastrophic accidents, reliability issues or privacy troubles. Regulation might cause insurmountable constraints. The driverless car could become a niche product and a costly failure.

In another possible scenario, the connected autonomous vehicle becomes a success, but the tech and digital companies win the market with parallels similar to how the PCs took the industry from IBM. The OEMs become a pipeline with little value and the tech companies take home the bacon. If the market fails, the VCs will stop investing and some of these tech companies may fold. The Tesla offers an example of how this scenario might unfold.

Privacy. Automakers are making a commitment to privacy in the vehicle far beyond that made by companies like Apple or Google, which are vying for a piece of connected vehicles. Nineteen automakers just signed a set of principles delivered to the Federal Trade Commission. “Google may want to become an automaker, but we don’t want to become Google,” said Mitch Bainwol of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers. The OEMs provide assurance that they will not share information from vehicles that is streamed back to automakers or that is downloaded from the vehicle’s computers. They pledge information won’t be handed over to authorities without a court order, sold to insurance or other companies or used to bombard them with ads for Starbucks, gas stations or other businesses they drive past, without their permission.

“You just don’t want your car spying on you,” said Marc Rotenberg of the Electronic Privacy Information Center. “That’s the practical consequence of a lot of the new technologies that are being built into cars.” The automakers signing on to the principles are: Aston Martin, BMW, Chrysler, Ferrari, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Maserati, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Porsche, Subaru, Toyota, Volkswagen and Volvo.

Uptake. About half of us like to drive and the other half just want to get there, reports futurist Peter Schwartz. Younger populations are increasingly in the transport camp, as illustrated by the popularity of Uber, Lyft and Zip Cars. How to win the whole market is to “automate the boring parts of driving,” says Håkan Samuelsson of Volvo.”

J.D. Powers reports that consumers perceive the autonomous vehicle as a driver completely detached from the driving experience. This isn’t too close to the reality that is within reach; the driver will need to be engaged and ready to assume control when called upon. But the dream of catching a few winks on the way to work is a good one. Will this vision be led by Detroit or Silicon Valley? We should find out soon.

November 21, 2014
AT&T, LG to Collaborate on Connected Cars

Since the AT&T Drive Studio opened in January 2014, twelve companies have joined AT&T there in an effort to collaborate and develop new services for the connected car of the future. The latest company to join is LG Electronics, which signed on November 18.

AT&T Drive Studio is a connected car center for innovation and research. Its sponsorship agreement with LG allows the companies to collaborate on the AT&T Drive platform to support services on automotive-grade hardware and equipment for tomorrow’s connected vehicles.

Located in Atlanta, the more than 5,000-square foot AT&T Drive Studio features working garage bays, a speech lab, a full showroom to exhibit the latest innovations, conference facilities, and much more. Drive Studio integrates AT&T solutions across multiple companies and serves as a hub where AT&T can respond to needs of automotive manufacturers and the auto ecosystem at large.

“At the Drive Studio we work with automakers to make the in-car experience better and safer for the driver and passengers,” said Chris Penrose, senior vice president, Internet of Things Solutions, AT&T. “The spirit of the AT&T Drive Studio is to bring together players in the auto industry ecosystem, like LG, to design the road ahead.”

“By analysis of customer insights and Car OEM’s requirements, safety, comfort and convenience are key factors in automotive area,” said Jong Rak Lim, vice president and head of LG’s In-Vehicle Infotainment R&D Lab. “As global telematics supplier, we are very pleased to participate in AT&T Drive Studio as a sponsor and hope to bring better Connected Car solutions into the market together.”

AT&T already provides mobile Internet access in vehicles manufactured by both U.S. and non-U.S. automobile makers. AT&T entered the market with a proprietary, global SIM platform that made it possible for automotive, consumer and M2M equipment makers to work through a single carrier to wirelessly enable and connect products across the globe, and cars are being sold throughout world today with this SIM.

November 20, 2014
Denso Tests Autonomous Cars on Japan Roads

Denso Corp. began testing advanced driving support technology on a public road in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, this past June. Denso is testing automated driving scenarios in a single lane and testing automatic lane changes, as well as other driving maneuvers. Denso’s goal is to develop technologies that reduce driver workload and assist in safe driving.

Previously, Denso tested this technology on its test course in Japan. Denso’s goal with public road testing is to identify, analyze, and solve real-life problems that don’t occur on the test course.

Denso is conducting the field tests as part of activities led by the Vehicle Safety Technology Project Team to reduce traffic accidents. The project team is organized by the Aichi prefectural government and involves companies and organizations operating in the prefecture.

Denso has been developing its advanced driving assistance technology to achieve safer and more reliable driving while the driver remains in control of the vehicle. Development and commercialization of this technology will help prevent traffic accidents and contribute to increasing safety of our automotive society.

Denso Corporation, headquartered in Kariya, Aichi prefecture, Japan, is a global automotive supplier of advanced technology, systems and components in the areas of thermal, powertrain control, electronics and information and safety. Its customers include all the world’s major carmakers.

Testing involves automated driving on a single lane.

Automatic lane changes are also being tested.

November 20, 2014
Autonomous Vehicles Are Coming…But When?
IAV Automotive Engineering test vehicle. Photo: Denso

The autonomous, or driverless, vehicle market seems to be a big side topic at connected car conferences. Location technology will continue to play a role in the development of autonomous vehicle markets. However, many view a fully autonomous vehicle to be more than 10 years away — these are usually folks from the auto industry or academia. Others, those who lurk around Silicon Valley, believe that driverless cars will be on the road in half that time…and once again, if Detroit doesn’t move on it, they will.

Just as GPS was once thought of as science fiction — something that naysayers said would not be fully operational for decades — autonomous vehicles are now thought of as an extension of the connected vehicle market. However, technology and legal issues will make the implementation of an autonomous, or driverless car, a tenuous road in the next few years.

One executive from Verizon Telematics, which is a major player in connected car technology, said it is going to take time, perhaps between the years 2025-2030, to grow the autonomous vehicle market.

“You just can’t flip a switch and have autonomous vehicles [on the road]. You have to take baby steps to develop a network, build an infrastructure and condition the marketplace,” said Kevin Link, Verizon Telematics senior vice president. “The collaboration is going to have to be more than one player, including the government. It was a while before desktop computers evolved into laptops.”

While the technology hurdles will be significant for autonomous vehicles, there are features today that will help shape the market, Link said. “Mercedes cars remind people to steer and turn around corners, when to stop at a safe distance and to change lanes,” he said. “These are not taking you from point A to point B autonomously, but real-time connected car features will feed into the autonomous car.”

The evolution of autonomous vehicles will not be derailed at this point, given the intensive research and investment focus from both the private and public sector, said Tim Johnson, NextEnergy director of transportation initiatives. “However, cars that ‘drive themselves’ will not be in mass production in the next five years. Ten years, maybe. Five, no,” he said. “This is not a technology-limited premise. The technologies are rapidly approaching realistic use in limited applications, but the regulatory, liability and infrastructure aspects are far from being fully implemented in the next five years.”

Technology Hurdles Await Early Autonomous Vehicles — More Regulation than Technology?

Some of the technology hurdles center around the speed, capacity and logic of the vehicle and infrastructure systems to manage the significant amount of information required for self-driving vehicles, Johnson said. “If it was possible to wave a magic wand and have all vehicles made simultaneously capable of these communications and logic decisions, it would be much more viable to create a mass, public environment for self-driving cars,” he said. “In reality, there will be an extensive transition period, possibly 15 to 20 years, where capable vehicles will need to deal with incapable vehicles. Once again, this is not so much a technology issue as it is policy, regulation and liability.”

Autonomous Products Already Out There…

Autonomous vehicles will only continue their current momentum as the technology for assisted driving is already well underway with features like self-parking, lane departure warning, predictive collision warning, back-up collision intervention and blind spot prevention, said Scott Frank, Airbiquity vice president of marketing.

An example is the Infiniti Q50, which uses Airbiquity technology for Infiniti InTouch Apps. “What we’re going to see from here is a shift from driver assistance to zero driver involvement — the ultimate expression of autonomous vehicle — where the car does all the driving and there isn’t even a steering wheel or brake pedal,” Frank said. “We won’t see fully autonomous vehicles becoming commonplace in five years’ time due to the massive amount of technology, infrastructure development and integration that needs to happen to ensure the requisite amount of safety.”

NextEnergy’s Johnson said that cars that drive themselves are already in use in restricted access sites, such as military bases, restricted commercial and university locations, national lab campuses and more. “These are the first real-world applications of both the vehicle and infrastructure technologies to test the practical limits of semi-autonomous driver-still-behind-the-wheel cars,” he said. “Much like the FAA use of limited test sites for the development of regulatory aspects of drone flight, these sites are providing the information and insight to move the potential of cars that drive themselves closer to everyday use.”

A Denso autonomous test vehicle drives the track while a plastic friend looks on. Photo: Denso

Will Public Transit Be the First Proving Ground?

Most companies have different opinions when asked whether the public transit area will be the first major market, and serve as the catalyst, for autonomous vehicle growth. “Although we don’t know for sure, it could be that automated public transit programs, will operate in controlled environments with known routes [meaning low speed operation with pedestrians/bicycles operating on the same thoroughfare, but the automated transit system does not have rails or guide ways — the route planning is easily changeable with no impact to the transportation infrastructure],” said Roger Berg, Denso North American Research and Development office vice president.

Denso believes the autonomous vehicle market will encourage additional functionality within the premium car model lines, but gradually these advanced driver assist systems will become more and more common and eventually spread through even the economy car segment, Berg said. “First systems deploy warnings or simple lateral and longitudinal vehicle control. But then functionality for what most people refer to as ‘driverless cars’ or ‘automated driving’ would only be usable under fairly benign driving and traffic conditions, such as some level of automated highway driving,” he said.

Public transit as an “early adopter” business model is viewed to be less probable in the near term as many of the technical challenges facing autonomous operation require significant research and development and capital investment, said Chris Hennessy, IAV Automotive vice president, engineering. “Most of this capital is centered on markets where the return on the investment can be substantial. At the moment, the most likely scenario for a reasonable ROI is in the premium-brand automotive market, where consumers are willing to pay a premium for new technology,” he said. “This market and the technology growth that will occur from this early-adopter market will provide a foundation for cost-effective proliferation of this technology to other markets, where either the operational boundary conditions are narrower or the available capital is lower, which is typically where public transit would fall. Exceptions to this condition could be analogous to the light-rail market, where the interaction to the general public can be controlled and managed with isolated tracks or lanes of travel, but this would require significant planning and capital investment in infrastructure.”

Airbiquity believes that public transit will not be a first adopter. “No, the first adopters will be private parties in urban areas providing a value proposition to people struggling with congested cities, long commutes, and high parking costs. You’re going to see small and innovative companies offering car services with autonomous vehicles operating on city grids at lower speeds,” Frank said. “They will source the autonomous vehicles from non-traditional automotive makers that move faster than traditional automotive makers. Local government will also be involved, since they own the majority of the infrastructure and need to ensure safety standards are established and met.”

In other location news:
- Kore Telematics, fueled by a large investment in it by ABRY Partners, bought RacoWireless in an all-cash deal, according to published reports. The transaction will give the companies a combined 3 million M2M subscribers.
November 20, 2014
Telematics Munich Conference Focuses on Connected Cars
The upcoming Telematics Munich conference, scheduled for November 10-11 at the Hotel Dolce Munich, is considered Europe’s largest and most influential business conference and exhibition for the connected car industry.

More than 1,000 industry executives and 100 speakers are set to attend the conference, which has the theme “The Car Plugs into the Connected World: Auto Mobility Strategies for 2020.”

This year’s agenda covers these topics:
- Personalized Connectivity Prevails — Context is king as data from changing driving environments sync with personal preferences to create a UX that bridges generational gaps.
- Data Investments Pay Out — Collect. Analyze. Deliver. Harness connected car data to obtain real consumer and vehicle insights and generate new revenues.
- Move with the M2M Hype Curve —Align the tech of other connected industries (such as home automation and health) with the car to draw closer to a totally connected lifestyle.
- Tech Titans Enter The Connected Car — Discuss the business model and CRM repercussions for entrenched telematics players as CE giants move into the ecosystem.
- Auto Mobility Towards 2020 — Debate OEM commitments, V2X tech, and smart cities today to plot the path of automated vehicle technology of tomorrow.
Learn more at the conference website.
September 24, 2014
CTIA SMW Features Large Connected Car Presence
CTIA’s Super Mobility Week featured machine-to-machine technology, connected vehicle vendors, and a few location-based services companies. While combining its spring and fall conferences, which drew a big crowd, CTIA also tried to be everything to everyone in wireless. Meeting planners also placed the conference with conflicting dates — as the Institute of Navigation, Berlin IFA and ITS World Congress were held in the same week. One of my goals as a reporter was to make sense of a big trade show — and to limit the times an interviewee said “Internet of Things.”

LAS VEGAS — Outside of the announcement by GM and AT&T to expand OnStar to Europe, the CTIA Super Mobility Week here featured several connected car panels, but limited location news. The action seemed to be in company backroom meetings with existing clients — or trying to find additional niche opportunities for location products.

One company, Annapolis, Maryland-based TeleCommunication Systems, said it is proving its navigation product for the Atlanta-based AT&T Drive Studio. The company is involved in most location markets, now ranked No. 2 in terms of units deployed (second to Ericsson, according to one source), said Jay Whitehurst, TCS president, commercial software group.

TCS’ Location ToolKit, which will be used in the 5,000-square foot AT&T Drive Studio, offers navigation, with automatic map updates, traffic, real-time gas prices, weather, movies and showtimes.

Whitehurst said a market that is growing is e-health and mobile payments, which are both big topics at CTIA SMW and at the Barcelona Mobile World Congress. “We are developing a new product in conjunction with physicians to allow first responders to be able to reach patients who are not responsive. We are working the system into clinical workflows to provide diagnosis,” he said.

Standards, particularly for connected vehicles and handsets that control functions, will be important as new systems and vehicles offer this technology, said Alan Ewing, Car Connectivity Consortium president and executive director.

“Having a proprietary service is okay until someone says, ‘Hey, we don’t want to do this anymore,’ then there is a button in a car that does nothing,” he said. “We want to ensure that button is meaningful. While a lot of cars have MirrorLink built in, what happens when it disappears and consumers don’t know where to buy a compatible phone? [Consumers] don’t want three different phones for their vehicles.”

Ewing said that despite proponents’ arguments that autonomous vehicles are here to stay, he believes it is a generational issue. “I don’t want to give up control of a vehicle. But it is a surprise to hear younger people are not even getting driver’s licenses.”

Ford, which is not a MirrorLink member, had its inaugural developer’s conference at CTIA SMW. The developer’s conference was a big hit, with more than 200 application developers, said Douglas VanDagens, Ford global director, connected services solutions organization.

u-blox Rolls Out New Module, Outlines Marketing Strategy

Several companies at CTIA SMW are attempting to find niche opportunities in the crowded machine-to-machine market — and Switzerland-based u-blox is no exception. The company is focusing on the mobile, industrial and consumer-location markets, said Thomas Seiler, u-blox CEO.

While Seiler says there is no one dominant market for u-blox, the fleet market has been very good for the company. In addition, asset tracking has been a good market, he said.

“We are also seeing consumer markets such as e-bikes, golf carts, commercial helicopters and drones growing,” Seiler said.

While many location companies are fretting about government regulation, u-blox is taking the position that most agency requirements have actually helped build the market. “Regulatory requirements have been driving business for us. The [National Highway Traffic Safety Administration] proposes that vehicles report location, speed and direction,” said Nikolaos Papadopoulos, u-blox America president. “The collision avoidance regulations have helped to create an ecosystem that drives business.”

The company recently rolled out its ODIN-W160 multi-radio module for automotive, industrial, medical and security applications.

Nick Papadopoulos, president of u-blox America, tells CTIA Super Mobility Week show-goers what they should see at the u-blox booth.

Numerex Exec Talks Omnilink Purchase

The recent $37.5 million purchase of offender-monitoring company Omnilink allowed Numerex to boost its presence in the tracking of prisoners, Alzheimer’s patients and children, said Kelly Gay, Numerex president, security solutions.

“Our strategic focus is on M2M solutions — the Omnilink purchase is a perfect fit. Both companies are based in Atlanta and we have a lot of products we are working on together,” she said. “It’s been a great four months [since the acquisition].”

Gay said Numerex is focusing on four markets, or “battlefields” for growth: solutions as a service; asset identification and tracking; supply chain delivery; and remote monitoring, which includes oil and gas, tank monitoring, water systems and tracking weather.

LBS Companies Few and Far at CTIA…

While there were only a handful of LBS companies at CTIA SMW, one company, Mexia Interactive, mapped the exhibit hall in the Sands Convention Center. The Winnipeg, Canada-based company is offering indoor location beacons — and has installations in four airports, with six more under contract.

“We set up 80 sensors in this area to capture data from mobile devices, every 10 seconds, to place the information on a heat map. With this heat map, retailers can see how many people are in a registration area, patterns of who is going to booths — and who is not,” said Glenn Tinley, Mexia president and CEO.

While Tinley says his company, which was founded in 2010, can work with both Apple and Android systems, he believes Apple is pushing Android out of the indoor market.

At airports, both security and airlines can see how long lines are with the technology to open up new lines and distribute personnel to meet the need, Tinley said. “We can instantly send a text alert to have a new check-in line established. Retailers can do the same thing at check out,” he said. “At retailers, [long lines] represent potentially billions in losses each year.”

Iridium Expanding M2M Market Demand

Iridium recently reduced the price of its short-burst data receivers by 50 percent to allow its OEMs and value-added resellers to offer a product that works worldwide in areas with no cellular coverage.

“The machine-to-machine market is one of our fastest growing [segments]. We see a combination of new services being developed,” said David Wigglesworth, Iridium vice president and general manager. “By the end of the year, we should have a push-to-talk service like the old Nextel phone.”

Big changes are coming to Iridium and its satellite constellation. The Iridium NEXT satellite network will consist of 66 in-orbit satellites and several in-orbit spares. The constellation is expected to begin launching in 2015 and will offer greater bandwidth and data speeds when fully operational in 2017.

“We are replacing the whole Iridium system. Space X is our launch partner — and they have been great,” Wigglesworth said. “The new constellation will allow new services. We see aviation as being a big market. The satellite industry has many niche markets.”

In other CTIA SMW news:
- One of a handful of antenna companies exhibiting at SMW was Ireland-based Taoglas, which says there is growth in distributed antenna systems, said Dermot O’Shea, Taoglas president. “We are seeing a huge movement to LTE,” he said. One of Taoglas’ customers is Omnilink, which uses a custom GPS antenna in its offender-monitoring product.
- Stockholm-based Birdstep is getting into the connected car market, based on its defense experience, with future data plans that turn off when a car is stationary. “Why should consumers pay for a data plan when a car is parked 90 percent of the time?” asked Lonnie Schilling, Birdstep CEO.
- Spirent Communications launched its Elevate Test Framework for M2M devices and services. Because of the surge in smartphone and M2M devices, the new testing device allows evaluation and performance tests to enable faster development cycles, the company said.
- Fleet Freedom rolled out a new mobile resource-management product that works with Android, iOS and Magellan’s RoadMate fleet units at SMW. “This unit is the fourth generation. It features dispatch integrated, while most of our competitors view this as a separate product,” said Andrew Singer, Fleet Freedom general manager.
September 18, 2014