New vehicle technology could create stronger bonds between drivers, dealers

Over the past several years, the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas has morphed into a showcase for high-tech automotive innovations, and 2016 was no exception. The major vehicle OEMs all showcased new connected car, telematics, and autonomous vehicle technologies that will not only alter the way consumers interact with their vehicles, but also potentially strengthen the bonds between automakers, their customers, and their dealer networks.

Ford was front and center with its Smart Mobility initiative, part of the automaker's transition into a more tech-focused entity. "We are driving innovation in every part of our business to be both a product and mobility company," CEO Mark Field said.

Notably, the auto companies made very little mention of service. Instead, they focused on building appealing, consumer-friendly connected vehicle ecosystems that they hope will have much greater uptake than early attempts such as GM's OnStar.

Connected vehicles

On the connected vehicle front, Delphi showed off its vehicle to everything (V2E) communication concept, which encompasses vehicle communications to other vehicles, to infrastructure, and even to pedestrians carrying smartphones. The technology will underpin its self-driving car efforts, allowing vehicles to see each other and respond to abrupt changes in conditions. The company's vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) software will debut in the 2017 Cadillac CTS, and Delphi plans to release an aftermarket (V2V) unit soon.

Ford made the biggest splash by announcing a number of major expansions of its telematics efforts.

Ford has teamed with Amazon so that its SYNC 3 infotainment platform can connect with Amazon's hands-free speaker and voice command system (Echo). The two technologies can enable remote start, remote security system controls, and even remote garage door opening on approach

More interestingly, Ford announced that Toyota and suppliers QNX Software Systems and UIEvolution were adopting its SmartDeviceLink open-source smartphone app interface platform. Honda, Subaru, Mazda and PSA Peugeot Citroen are also evaluating it. The platform allows apps like Spotify to be accessed via voice recognition and dashboard controls.

Ford expanded its SYNC connectivity system as well to include new apps, 4G LTE wireless connectivity, and remote start, unlock, fuel level checks, and parked vehicle location apps.

Ford said it hopes to get additional OEMs to standardize on the technology so app developers can focus on a single mobile interface platform.

“The true benefit of a common smartphone app communications interface is that it creates an industry standard – enabling great experiences for customers while allowing different companies the freedom to differentiate their individual brands,” said Don Butler, Ford executive director, Connected Vehicle and Services. “Ford is making the software available as open-source, because customers throughout the industry benefit if everybody speaks one language.”

That means aftermarket solution suppliers could potentially piggyback on the open-source platform if it becomes mainstream.

It appears Ford is trying to pull more customers into its mobility and telematics environment by offering appealing, practical apps, while also providing a window into vehicle operations and driver behavior for Ford. Ford and AT&T hope to expand SYNC Connect to more than 10 million vehicles by 2020. Owners get the service for free for the first five years. The service debuts this spring on the new Escape.

Chipmaker NVIDIA chimed in with the Drive PX 2 self-driving computer, a control module for future autonomous vehicles with a massive 8 teraflops in processing power, essentially a supercomputer under the hood.

Nissan will use Microsoft's Azure cloud platform to connect drivers to their cars via their smartphones, remotely adjusting climate control and adjusting charging functions on the Leaf and Infiniti models in Europe.

Self-driving vehicles

As at previous shows, new self-driving car technology got a lot of attention. Kia grabbed some of that attention both by announcing it would have a fully autonomous vehicle on the road by 2030, and then demonstrating the technology by allowing attendees to sit in a Soul EV hatchback with a virtual reality (VR) headset, and play a first-person shooter video game while the car was in autopilot.

The most ambitious autonomous car announcement, though, was GM's $500 million investment in ride-sharing service Lyft. The two companies plan to develop an on-demand network of autonomous cars. Initially, GM will provide vehicles for Lyft drivers and provide access to in-care connectivity offerings like OnStar. Eventually, though, the car maker will help develop a self-driving fleet of vehicles that Lyft customers can summon to their location, combining Lyft's business model with a vehicle sharing service similar to Car2Go.

Toyota, meanwhile, was both bullish on the technology but realistic. The company has assembled a supergroup of former DARPA, Stanford, Google and MIT artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics experts for its self-driving car initiative, but doesn't expect to see these vehicles hit the road for years.

“Tomorrow, when you look across the displays at CES and you see what is currently being tested and developed, what you will actually find is that these systems can only handle certain speed ranges, certain weather conditions, certain street complexity or certain traffic," said Gill Pratt, CEO of Toyota Research Institute. "So, despite the tremendously wonderful progress that you will see, most of what has been collectively accomplished by all of us working in this field has actually been relatively easy. And the reason that it is easy is that most driving is easy. We need to not only solve driving when it is easy, we need to solve driving when it is hard, when it is difficult.”

In its quest to develop a car that is incapable of having a crash, the company has launched 30 ongoing research projects.

Despite the fact that self-driving cars could be decades away, drivers appear to be excited about the technology. According to a new survey from Edmunds.com, 60 percent of shoppers said they would consider buying a self-driving car (among Millennials, the figure was 71 percent).

"CES has become an annual gage of how far automakers have come in the race to bring self-driving cars to market," said Ronald Montoya, senior consumer advice editor at Edmunds.com. "The biggest challenge now is less about the technology, and more about the legal and regulatory questions that need to be answered before these cars hit the road en masse. The quicker these issues can be solved, the quicker the public can further embrace this new, exciting era of personal mobility."

Mercedes unveiled its 2017 E-Class, the first production vehicle to be licensed for autonomous operation in Nevada, as well as the HD Live Map platform from HERE that is used to guide highly accurate self-driving operations.

Ford made headlines when it announced it was tripling its fleet of Fusion Hybrid self-driving research vehicles, and accelerating its testing program. The new vehicles will use the Solid-State Hybrid Ultra PUCK Auto LiDAR sensor from Velodyne. Like the SYNC Connect expansion, this is part of its Ford Smart Mobility initiative.

"Adding the latest generation of computers and sensors, including the smaller and more affordable Solid-State Hybrid Ultra PUCK Auto sensors helps bring Ford ever closer to having a fully autonomous vehicle ready for production,” said Jim McBride, Ford technical leader for autonomous vehicles.

Strangely, although there have been multiple news reports that Ford was teaming with Google to create a self-driving car venture, both companies were mum on the potential joint venture.

After CES, Ford also announced it was testing its autonomous vehicles in the snow (an industry first) at the Mcity testing environment at the University of Michigan.

"It’s one thing for a car to drive itself in perfect weather,” McBride said. “It’s quite another to do so when the car’s sensors can’t see the road because it’s covered in snow. Weather isn’t perfect, and that’s why we’re testing autonomous vehicles in wintry conditions.”

To navigate in these conditions, the vehicles will use high-resolution 3D maps.

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