These days, drivers and passengers want—and tend to expect—all
of the technological comforts of home out on the road. But consumer demand for
traditional in-vehicle infotainment systems like CD players is giving way to
products that support downloadable content. Nowadays, cars better be compatible
with cell phones, MP3 players, GPS devices, and other portable media platforms.
PORTABLE AND WIRELESS CONNECTIVITY
The latest automotive hard-disk drives (HDDs) now offer 40 Gbytes or more, purely to store multimedia information. Toshiba, for one, provides automotive-grade 2.5-in. HDDs in capacities up to 40 Gbytes—perfect for tunes and movies alike.
Yet all of this data requires a powerful and flexible database management system (DBMS). With
Hitachi's small-footprint Entier, converged and
mobile device application developers can efficiently
include sophisticated search functionality in their
products. Designed with the limitations of small
devices in mind, it features complex text, incremental, conceptual, and spatial searching, as well as
alias handling.
Last year, Chrysler launched a new option on select 2007 vehicles, the MyGIG
hard-drive navigation system, joining similar systems from Mitsubishi and Lexus
(Fig. 1). Unlike DVDs and CDs, hard-drive
navigation systems provide faster navigation recalculation and better graphics
and interfaces. Being an HDD, MyGIG also makes it possible to store and play
audio files from the hard drive. It's like having a permanent iPod in your car.
TomTom and Johnson Controls last year collaborated on a mobile Bluetooth device
gateway targeting production 2008 cars (Fig. 2).
The unit enables an electronic device, such as a TomTom satellite navigation
system, to communicate with a car's network for innovative and safe navigation.
Through Johnson Controls' voice-recognition technology, users can verbally command
the TomTom GO device for even greater ease of use. Consumers will also experience
several intuitive features, such as automatic notification that fuel is low
and directions to the nearest gas station.
This year, STMicroelectronics announced a broadcasting chip set for the Sirius
Satellite Radio Backseat TV Service. The system delivers live TV from family
TV networks to the video screens of select vehicles.
MAJOR MARKET
Coupled with the multitude of networking protocol choices, these developments
are forcing car makers, tier one suppliers, and IC manufacturers to rethink
the way they deliver automotive infotainment products and services to their
customers.
So, what's the main challenge faced by designers? They must find ways to create consumer-electronics devices with very short life cycles that are compatible with the much
longer life cycles of automobiles. Needless to say, the companies involved are more than happy to cash in on a very lucrative market.
According to market analyst iSuppli Corp., worldwide vehicle production will
reach 82 million in 2012 while the total market for automotive infotainment
ICs will grow from $36 billion in 2006 to $54 billion in 2012 (Fig.
3). Shipments of portable navigation devices alone will triple from roughly
14 million units this year to about 42 million units by 2012 (Fig.
4).
Underlying all of this prognostication is a variety of global
interconnect and communications protocols for handling
infotainment as well as embedded controls. This includes
wired connectivity as well as a burgeoning need for wireless
connectivity using Bluetooth and USB protocols.
Two major consortia, AutoSar (Automatic Open Source Architecture) and Jaspar
(Japan Automotive Software Platform Architecture), are driving networking protocols.
Both groups have the same goals: to drive down software-development costs, improve
software reliability, and make automotive electronics much more affordable.
In fact, AutoSar's architecture addresses many of the existing automotive networking
protocols (see "A Plethora Of Automotive Networking
Protocols" at www.electronicdesign.com, Drill Deeper 16157).
PLATFORMS AND COLLABORATIONS
Satisfying different networking protocols represents a huge challenge for automotive
IC makers. Predicting which type of protocol will require what kind of silicon
function is difficult at best, since consumer demands for infotainment features
change so rapidly. Furthermore, the life cycles of cars are much longer than
the life cycles of the chips going into them.
One solution is to produce platform ICs that support many if not all of these
protocols. Another approach involves collaboration with other IC manufacturers,
tier 1 suppliers, and automotive manufacturers early on in the design cycle.