Federal mandates are on hold, but automakers, others pushing forward on vehicle connectivity

July 10, 2017
Autonomous driving gets all the big headlines, but connected vehicles are going to have a much bigger impact in the near term for both drivers and repairers.

Autonomous driving gets all the big headlines, but connected vehicles are going to have a much bigger impact in the near term for both drivers and repairers.

According to Juniper Research, approximately 50 percent of new vehicles will be shipped with vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) technology by 2022, totaling roughly 35 million vehicles or 2.7 percent of all vehicles. Add to that vehicles that are already connected via OEM and aftermarket/insurance telematics devices, and it’s easy to see why cars are becoming an important communications hub.

The connected car, in fact, is paving the way for autonomous vehicles by addressing how cars can talk to each other and to connected infrastructure via vehicle to infrastructure (V2I) systems.

“The first autonomous vehicle will be on the highway before the last driver vehicle comes off. So, really, part of the challenge is how do you mix the two. We can mix the two, on purpose in a safe and controlled environment here,” says Mark-Tami Hotta, Transportation Research Center (TRC) CEO and president. “Smart mobility, with connected vehicles and enhanced infrastructures, offers greater accessibility and mobility options, reduced road congestion, and more efficient use of natural resources.” 

This will involve a variety of wireless technologies. In the U.S., current LTE cellular systems will support telematics systems, while 802.11p dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) technology will handle V2V communications, according to a report from Mobile Experts. 5G wireless will not play much of a role here, although there are efforts in Europe that would rely more heavily on that technology.

And there are plenty of efforts underway to expand connected vehicle applications. Earlier this year, Microsoft announced it was launching an Azure-based cloud platform for connected car services, including predictive maintenance, in-care productivity, navigation, customer insights, and autonomous driving. The company already partnered with BMW to help build that company’s BMW Connected platform, as well as with the Renault Nissan Alliance.

INRIX has integrated Amazon Alexa cloud-based voice service into its OpenCar platform for connected vehicles, so that drivers can access Amazon Music, Audible and a number of other driver services (traffic, parking, weather, etc.), as well as connectivity between the vehicles and homes.

Ford has a new tech-savvy CEO and president in Jim Hackett, and has established new Smart Mobility offices in California, Michigan and London. In fact, Hackett has said that data from connected and self-driving vehicles could be profitable enough to help the automaker weather the ups and downs of the auto industry’s sometimes turbulent sales cycles.

Toyota’s Collaborative Safety Research Center in Ann Arbor, Mich., is investing $35 million into research related to mobility, including advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and connected vehicle systems.

“These highly advanced systems are radically reshaping the transportation landscape, building a relationship between drivers, occupants and vehicles as teammates working together safely and conveniently,” says Chuck Gulash, director of the Collaborative Safety Research Center. “We are excited to continue our safety mission by helping to support a safe evolution to a broader mobility future.”

During the Obama administration, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced a proposed rule for making V2V technology mandatory in new vehicles. That proposal was released for public comment, but so far it’s unclear what the new Trump administration plans to do relative to connected vehicles. NHTSA currently doesn’t have a director, and no nominees have even been put forward as of this writing.

“We have guidelines for autonomous vehicles and proposed regulations for connected cars, so all of those things are cooking,” says Bob Redding, the Automotive Service Association’s Washington, D.C., representative. “We’re part of the aftermarket telematics task force and we’ve been meeting with OEMs. What we’re trying to do is figure out an industry solution so that we can obtain the tools and information to repair vehicles. We want our shops to be able to do anything in-house that anybody else can do.”

Public/private partnerships

Although a federal mandate may not happen any time soon, automakers and several states are moving forward with both V2V and V2I projects.

The Department of Energy’s Next-Generation Energy Technologies for Connected and Autonomous On-Road Vehicles (NEXTCAR) program is awarding grants for new projects in the space. Purdue University has launched a heavy-duty truck project to use connected vehicle technology to optimize engine and transmission operations, remotely recalibrate engines, develop cloud-based engine and transmission controls, and enable more efficient truck platooning. Purdue received a $5 million grant after the Trump administration initially held up funding for DOE grants under the ARPA-E program.

V2I will require massive public investment to make this type of communication widespread. While it’s unlikely to see much action on the federal level, you can expect more state- and city-level pilots.

For example, 3M has formed a partnership with the state of Michigan to include connected work zones to test V2I as part of a massive restructuring of I-75 (which won’t be completed until 2030).

Three miles of the highway will use all-weather lane marking and retroreflective signs with smart sign technology, including DSRC-based devices.

"Technology is transforming not only how we live, but also how we drive," said State Transportation Director Kirk Steudle. "Michigan is globally recognized as the leader in automated vehicle research and technology, and through our Planet M initiative, we have solidified ourselves as the hub for mobility innovation. In the spirit of Michigan's commitment to collaboration in the smart mobility sector, we are excited to partner with 3M on this project to make the concept of connected roadways and autonomous driving a reality."

GM is including V2V systems in the new Cadillac CTS. In tests in Detroit, connected traffic signals were able to alert cars when they were about to run a red light. Audi’s Q7 and A4 models also have an option to communicate with traffic signals.

The traffic signals are near the GM Warren Technical Center, and can alert drivers to potential red light violations at current speed. The vehicles do not transmit any identifying information.

Audi has been working with the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada, so that drivers with that connected capability can receive traffic-light countdown information, for example.

Nevada is also working with V2V vendor Nexar to create a smart infrastructure so that connected and autonomous vehicles can “talk” to smart roadways.

In Ohio, a 35-mile section of U.S. Route 33 will be equipped with highways sensors and fiber optics. Research vehicles carrying data collection hardware will interact with that network to collect data on traffic flow and other road conditions. That project is a partnership between Honda, the Transportation Research Center (TRC) in East Liberty, and the Ohio State University Center for Automotive Research.

Intel’s Wind River subsidiary is also working with the TRC and OSU on that project.

“The Central Ohio region is an emerging hub for smart city and smart vehicle technologies, and our unique ensemble approach – uniting minds from academia, the public sector, and the tech industry – can set a standard for how communities can innovate mobility and use the learnings to impact vehicle development and deployment best practices,” said Marques McCammon, general manager of connected vehicle solutions at Wind River. “To realize autonomous driving for the masses, a variety of players must come together with an aligned understanding.” 

The project will involve tests for self-driving cars, V2V and V2I, connected vehicle cockpit software, smart sensing and mapping, and associated data collection.

Germany’s FEV Group, a vehicle development services provider, has launched a “Smart Vehicle Center of Excellence to advance vehicle-to-everything (V2X) and vehicle-to-cloud (V2C) communication, along with advanced driver assist systems.

FEV sees future smart vehicles as being connected through a number of means (W-Fi, smartphones, etc.) to the cloud, and also equipped with a network of cameras and sensors, along with integrated infotainment and telematics systems that can provide more data to drivers.

In Europe, the 5G Automotive Association (5GAA) is working on a different model of connected vehicles that will leverage advanced cellular networks rather than DSRC. That group includes Audi, BMW, Daimler, Ford, Nokia, Samsung, T-Mobile and Vodafone.

Ericsson also is leading phase 2 of the 5GCAR project for the 5G Infrastructure Public Private Partnership. The EU is providing funding for several related projects to advance V2X services, in part because these efforts are seen as an important economic and technological driver for new business.

“The European funding granted to our 5GCAR project is a major step, as it will allow our initiative to further develop in order to meet the market needs by 2020,” says Franck Bouetard, head of Ericsson France. “Having such projects in Europe is key in this worldwide race, as it will secure additional business and employment in the continent in the future.”

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