Mobile World Congress

Key trends from an automotive perspective

February 2011

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Introduction

This complimentary event report from SBD provides a high-level overview of the keytrends from Mobile World Congress (MWC) that are likely to have an impact on theautomotive industry.

In addition to visiting the show, SBD gave a presentation on the ‘Evolvingconnectivity needs of the automotive industry’ at the GSMA Embedded MobileSeminar. The presentation is attached towards the end of this report.

This event report has been structured as follows:

Operating systems and apps

Wireless communication

Smartphone integration

SBD presentation at MWC

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Operating Systems and Apps

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Android for mobile, MeeGo for cars

The highlight of this year’s Mobile World Congress was the proliferation ofGoogle’s Android OS. A number of device makers displayed smartphones andtablets running Android.

However, talking to SBD, a few vendors said that Android is reducing theperceived importance of hardware quality and that several low cost Androidtablets are being returned by dealers due to hardware issues.

Nokia’s decision to ditch MeeGo for Windows for its smartphones means thatMeeGo’s future is now resting heavily on Intel’s shoulders. This was evident atthe show with Intel strongly promoting MeeGo for embedded systemsincluding In-Vehicle Infotainment (IVI). Intel also announced the public releaseof its AppUp program that allows 3rd party app developers to create MeeGoapps.

There is growing scepticism within the industry on MeeGo’s future in the CEmarket. Despite this, Intel is confident that MeeGo will play an important rolein embedded systems, especially IVI, because of the links with GENIVI. Intelrevealed to SBD that it is talks with a number of car makers to integrate itsAtom processor and MeeGo OS in various automotive infotainment platforms.

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Chinese OEMs first with MeeGo infotainment

At the MeeGo stand, Intel showed IVI systems from Chinese vehicle manufacturers Geely andHawtai. Intel said these systems have just been launched in the Chinese market:

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Mobile Devices and Qt keep going

Unknown to many is the French company Mobile Devices and its Linux-basedoperating system, MCT. This OS already powers a number of devices in themarket from simple telematics black boxes to connected PNDs (Coyote, Mappyin France).

Mobile Devices’ solution is complete with the OS, SDK for apps and full supportfor connected services. The company told SBD that their solution has beenchosen by a vehicle manufacturer who will be launching a low-costinfotainment system with connected apps in the near future.

SBD talked to a number of OEMs at the show about Qt. Overall, the outlookwas positive and a large majority believed that Qt will continue to play animportant role to create GUIs (Graphical User Interfaces), especially forautomotive applications.

Intel’s AppUp SDK is based on Qt, and Intel hopes to attract 3rd partydevelopers who were once pinning their hopes on Nokia to create Qt apps forsmartphones. However, there are growing concerns that app developers arelikely to switch to Android than continue with Qt as it relies heavily on thesuccess of MeeGo in the CE market.

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WAC pushes ahead, but capabilities disappoint

The Wholesale App Community (WAC) celebrated its anniversary andannounced the commercial launch of its solution. WAC apps are stronglybacked by network operators as the apps are cross-platform compatible. Thisway, network operators can have their own app stores and target a largeraudience (Windows phones, Android phones etc).

However, as the apps are based on a middleware solution, the capabilities arestill limited and cannot compete with native apps (those downloaded from theAndroid Market for example). WAC expects to improve the functionality withfuture releases of its solution specification, including support for HTML 5. SBDbelieves that the WAC solution will not have an impact on in-car apps in thenear future. However, such solutions that are middleware-based or browser-based (and hence OS independent) could be very interesting to vehiclemanufacturers in the future.

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Wireless communications

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Hype over LTE continues

Numerous network operators were showing off their LTE capabilities. AlcatelLucent and Audi demoed an A8 with LTE, running applications such as videostreaming and music downloads over the air.

During the GSMA seminar on embedded connectivity, several speakersexpressed their concerns over LTE. The general consensus was that LTE isinevitable, but still a few years away due to infrastructure requirements andlack of sustainable business models to manage high data costs. Anotheropinion was that M2M applications do not typically require data transfer largeenough to justify LTE. Infotainment applications in the car such as online musicstreaming are likely to use the occupants’ smartphones rather than theembedded communication module.

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NFC gaining traction

A number of handset makers including Nokia, Blackberry and Samsungcommitted to fitting NFC on future devices. NXP and Continental showed a‘technology concept’ car fitted with NFC.

Features demonstrated included door unlocking, in-car personalization such asseat settings, music menu, telephone address book options, location anddiagnostic data transfer to phone etc.

NFC has started to gain traction within the mobile phone industry, especiallyfor mobile payments. Vehicle manufacturers are already working on NFCenabled key fobs (e.g. BMW) and in-car applications such as ‘touch to pair’Bluetooth functionality.

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Smartphone integration

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Motorola ATRIX highlights the possibilities

The Motorola ATRIX has a dual core processor and runs two operating systems: Android and a‘light’ Linux OS. Because of this high processing power, Motorola is selling an accessory ‘laptop’,which comprises of just the keyboard and a display. When the phone is docked in the laptop, theLinux OS is used to run basic PC applications such as internet browser whilst the mobile phonedisplay is also streamed to the laptop screen so that the phone can be fully controlled via thelaptop interface.

Motorola is also selling an in-car dock, which automatically triggers the ‘car mode’ on the phonewith a suitable HMI (large buttons etc). In the future, it may be possible to connect the phone toan in-car display, where the entire automotive infotainment platform can be run from the phone.

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SBD at Mobile World Congress

The following slides are from the presentation made by SBD on the ‘Evolving connectivity needs of the automotive industry’ at the GSMA Embedded Mobile Seminar

The evolving connectivity needs of

the automotive industry

Abhi

15th February 2010

GSMA Mobile World Congress

(Abhishek Visveswaran)

Bridging the gap between the

automotive industry

and the real world

About us

Telematics over the years

1999 2004 2009

Why this need for telematics?

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

SAFETY AND SECURITY

CONNECTED NAVIGATION

INFO--TAINMENT

DIAGNOSTICS

How to enable connectivity?

Connectivity

Built-in

Client pays for SIM

OEM pays for SIM

Brought-in

Embedded modem

BT SAP

SIM slot

External modem

User phone

USBBT

DUN/PAN

BT SPP

BT HFP

BT MAP

WiFi

USB key

No single perfect solution

Connectivity

Built-in (Embedded) Brought-in

Low hardware cost

User pays ongoing data costs

Need for smartphone integration

Premium OEM Volume OEM

Easy for customer to operate

Best communications performance

Robust (safety & security services)

e.g. 1 e.g. 2

Opportunity for embedded exists

Connectivity

Built-in (Embedded) Brought-in

SAFETY AND SECURITY

DIAGNOSTICS ELECTRIC VEHICLES

CONNECTED NAVIGATION

INFO--TAINMENT

Biggest challenge ~ Business model

Data usage a key part of the costs

Profiling services by data usage

Key concerns from OEMs

Embedded systems becoming obsolete

Locked to a single network operator

Tethering restrictionsInternet

Despite hurdles, telematics is inevitable

CONNECTED AT HOME CONNECTED AT WORK

CONNECTED ON THE MOVE

TELEMATICS

Interest worldwide

Big market Huge potentialLow but changing

Looking ahead ~ points to consider

Realistic business models

Platform scalability

Compatibility

www.sbd.co.uk

Know what tomorrow brings…

Free posters

Please use the following links to download the posters:

Apps poster

Connectivity poster