What are the biggest challenges facing car networking?

Currently, the latest processor capacity in the IoV field has reached 20 times that of ordinary personal PCs and can process approximately 100 million lines of programming code while processing 25 GB of data in one hour. All of these can bring enhanced driving experience to the car driver. In the next decade, if the car can be automatically optimized, maintained and networked, it has become a new challenge for the entire technology industry.

First, what is the car network

At present, the concept of car networking still stays in the "automotive infotainment system" stage. Including the Internet, weather forecast, driving drive and touch screen dashboard. The built-in SIM card allows the car to directly access the cellular network.

"With our global platform, we can install a SIM card into any car," said Chris Penrose, vice president of the AT&T IoT program. AT&T’s innovation studio already has many consumer electronics, service and automotive partners, including LG, Samsung, Qualcomm, Ericsson, Jasper, Subaru, AccuWeather, Eventseeker, Stitcher, Dash, Gylmpse, iHeart Radio and Accenture.

AT&T Dirve has already begun to build platforms with automakers such as Audi, GM, Tesla and Volvo. Auto manufacturers can customize their own hardware and applications according to their needs. AT&T is responsible for providing cloud connectivity services to manufacturers.

Another good idea is to let the car connect to all Wi-Fi hotspots, which is good. It needs the whole network to popularize Wi-Fi and pay for monthly data traffic.

This is not like the fight between VHS and Betamax, not all auto manufacturers are willing to invest a lot of effort to develop an automotive-specific operating platform. So platforms such as Android Auto and Apple CarPlay came into being. All car manufacturers can use such a platform to build modular mobile devices, and can also customize their own brand according to the needs of different models.

Second, the main challenges of car networking

"The automotive market needs to have continuity in software development capabilities," said Brian Droessler, CCBUIC's vice president of software and connectivity solutions. "When there is a problem, car manufacturers need to update their technology first, and consumers need to be able to solve this problem easily through the mobile device in their hands."

This can completely improve the value of the car. "One of the biggest challenges of combining many different technologies into a single environment is to be able to maintain the same speed of replacement as a smartphone or tablet," Penrose said. “We have done a lot of work through OTA upgrades and we want to meet consumer demand and continue. This is a big challenge, but it's also a bigger opportunity.”

There are also safety issues, which have become the main barriers to car networking technology. “Wireless locks and wireless cameras in smart homes are now very fragile, and the same is true for car networking,” said Andreas Mai, head of networking equipment at Cisco Smart Cars. "We need security from the CPU to all levels of networking equipment, including all vehicles, so that we can prevent cyber crime in the cloud."

Third, the car network also need other what technology

Entertainment is just the initial level of applications, including Internet radio, smart car navigation, remote vehicle condition diagnosis, automatic access to data information, and sending driving data to insurance companies, voice and gesture recognition, all of which are further applications in the future. At present, more sensors have been installed on some models to prevent low-speed collisions and to record all occurrences in the event of a traffic accident.

At the same time, the rich sensors built into the car can also improve the driver’s driving skills and even alert the rear vehicles. "There are many models that are equipped with lane detection sensors, and further development is to allow the driver to pass each other's intentions." Penrose said. "In fact, there are too many potential real-time data exchanges that can make driving safer, but the driver has not yet been taken seriously. Of course, all this ultimate development goal is driverless cars."

Fourth, car networking combined with wearable devices

Although some wearable devices, especially those like the LG G Watch, have been used for driving navigation functions, to be honest they have not yet been truly integrated into the car platform. How to seamlessly integrate navigation functions with various devices is also a major technical challenge.

"For example, when arriving at the closest location within a car by car navigation, then getting off can show the remaining few hundred meters directly through the smart watch, which is a true seamless integration." Penrose said. “We also considered some remote control functions, such as automatically heating or opening the car door before getting on the train.”

Currently AT&T has partnered with Samsung to seamlessly integrate smart phones, tablet PCs and LTE voice services with automobiles through the Tizen system's Galaxy Gear device.

V. How important speech recognition is

The answer is clear. Speech recognition is very important. Its core goal is to be able to control the car completely by voice without having to bother with both hands. Car networking and voice control are so emphasized, mainly from the point of view of driving safety.

“When we drive, eyes and hands are very important, so voice control is the best way. However, voice control also faces many challenges. After all, the environment inside the car is still very complicated.” Penrose said . "This requires very natural speaking speeds and contexts, recognizing the context of the conversation, technologies other than VoiceBox, etc., and also dealing with the connection between gestures and touch operations."

Although more and more devices are now being networked, the car networking will undoubtedly become one of the largest markets. According to the latest report of Frost & Sullivan, by 2020, more than 90% of vehicles in the world will have networking capabilities. At that time, network providers, software developers, and car manufacturers can better coordinate with each other and consumers. The choice has played a decisive factor.