AUTOMOBILE New SAP video: the connected car means business

I always enjoy a good read on the connected car — a topic that is very near and dear to me. One of the latest articles in particular that excites me is a recent contributed piece for Forbes, “Can Connected Cars Help Change The World?” by Judith Magyar, executive office, product GTM and mobile division at SAP.

Why the excitement? Well, for one, the attention-grabbing headline is backed up by an insightful analysis of the promise of the connected car — even touching on the notion of the connected car as a means of environmental change and the four factors that are essential to this vision becoming reality. What’s more, Magyar uses QNX Software Systems’ very own concept car as an example of how the connected car and its real-world use cases are coming to fruition!

Want to see QNX and SAP’s collaboration in action? Check out this video, which shows how all of this technology would come together in one (very beautiful) vehicle:

Auto + Mobile

I love this play on words. I can’t claim it as my own but I think it’s very cool that the word automobile breaks down into auto and mobile. I’m sure the term originally referred to automatically mobile horseless-carriages or some such thing. According to one online source, the word dates from 1895 and means “self-propelled motor vehicle”.

But today, it represents the convergence of two historically independent industries, auto and mobile. Now, more than ever, consumers are extending their digital lives into their cars. They want a personalized in-vehicle experience, including access to their music, to their friends, to their favourite places, and to their schedules — both personal and professional. And that’s just the beginning.

Following the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January, I heard many in the industry refer to CES as one of the most important automotive shows of the year. You heard that right: CES is now considered an automotive show.

The new QNX concept car is
scheduled to appear at MWC.

Now it’s February and QNX Software Systems is headed to Barcelona where we will demonstrate our connected concept car on the BlackBerry stand in Hall 7 at Mobile World Congress. This same car won a Best of CES award in the car tech category.

MWC is the show for mobile phones and everything related. During the show, we will participate on a luncheon panel hosted by Fierce Markets, Paving the Way to Success for the Connected Car. Other panelists include Ford, AT&T, and the GSMA.

MWC isn’t known as an auto-focused event but I expect this to change. Most carriers see the connected car as an emerging growth market, as do silicon vendors. Meanwhile, handset and car companies work towards improving the integration of the mobile experience into the car without impacting driver distraction.

Auto + Mobile. End of story.

For more info on the panel, click here.

AUTOMOBILE What the connected car is really all about (and what we need to do about it)

Recently, I was invited to participate in a webinar that highlighted hits and misses at Mobile World Congress. It occurred to me that some of you might be interested in what I had to say — at the very least, I’d earn points with Paul Leroux, our editor, for spontaneously offering up a blog post. :)  So here's what I said... almost verbatim.

First, a quick intro on QNX: Many will know us as the wholly owned subsidiary of RIM whose software platform powers the BlackBerry PlayBook. But we also provide the de facto standard platform for all types of in-vehicle infotainment and navigation systems. And it’s from this perspective that I offer these comments.

My primary observation is regarding the evolving dialogue surrounding the connected car and what I think it represents. Three years ago we were here with Alcatel-Lucent, showcasing the first LTE connected concept car, based on a Toyota Prius. This car proved so popular that we had to hire a security guard to help manage the traffic. Now, three years later, there are a number of connected production vehicles to be seen, including a QNX-based BMW 7 series in the GSMA’s connected home exhibit. And the announcements this year focused not so much on broadband connectivity per se (it's here, people expect it), but on the integration of the smart phone with the vehicle.

At QNX, we talk about the personalization of the in-vehicle experience, as people want to bring in their own devices, their own music, their own contacts and other content — and experience these in the vehicle setting. For instance, Ford not only announced the B-Max vehicle, but used MWC as a platform to launch Ford Sync for Europe. Toyota and Samsung, meanwhile, announced support for Samsung Mobile Car Application for integration of phones to the car's head unit. So if step one was getting a broadband connection to enable a consumer experience in the car, and step two is about personalizing that experience, what’s next? 

I think that, ultimately, the connected car is all about the consumer, and this is how revenue will be generated in a way that connected telematics on its own could never do. You could be an automaker interested in improving how to service a car and its owner after the car has driven off the dealer's lot. Or you could be a carrier interested in extending your offer beyond connectivity to deliver value-added services. Or perhaps you’re a small business trying to get more people in the door. In each case, the car represents a new frontier. And it offers the added value of context – not only do you know if someone is available and where they are, but you also know that they are driving a vehicle. 

The next few years are going to be very exciting as the automotive and mobile industries converge to address this opportunity. Think about the brands involved: Companies like Audi, BMW, and GM on one hand and the likes of AT&T, Verizon, and Vodafone on the other. They’re mutually dependent — neither group will be successful without the other. Automotive needs to leverage the investments being made for smart phones, be it device technology, network infrastructure, or developer communities. Meanwhile, the mobile industry has to consider the nature of automotive in terms of safety, security, and liability, not to mention product life cycles. 

It's safe to say that automotive is just the first example of this type of industry convergence and transformation. All of the carriers are looking at M2M as a huge untapped market opportunity. And within the classic embedded market, there are an almost infinite number of market segments, truly an example of the Long Tail. 

It will be exciting to watch how mobile transforms those markets and vice versa — what will mobile look like in 5 years from now? I don’t think we can easily predict it; after all, it's not going to be like anything we’ve seen before. But I can’t wait to find out.

So there you have it. If you'd like to hear the entire webinar, you can register here to access the archived version.

Tech-nimble

After working more than 20 years in high tech, I've settled on a mantra: This too shall pass. (Hey, I didn’t say it was original!) To that end, patience is critical, as is flexibility. And ultimately, success depends less on predicting technology trends and more on responding to them. You've got to be tech-nimble, which requires not only the willingness to change, but the technology to accommodate — and profit from — that change.

Yesterday, Adobe announced a restructuring based on a change in direction, from mobile Flash to HTML5. Some might consider this development as proof that Adobe lost the battle to Steve Jobs. But to my mind, they've simply recognized a trend and responded decisively. Adobe has built a product portfolio based heavily on tooling, including tools for HTML5 development. So they definitely fall into the tech-nimble category.

QNX has an even greater responsibility to remain tech-nimble because so many OEMs use our technology as a platform for their products. Our technology decisions have an impact that ripples throughout companies building in-car infotainment units, patient monitoring systems, industrial terminals, and a host of other devices.

So back to the Flash versus HTML 5 debate. QNX is in a great position because our universal application platform approach enables us to support new technologies quickly, with minimal integration effort. This flexibility derives in part from our underlying architecture, which allows OS services to be cleanly separated from the applications that access them.

Today, our platform supports apps based on technologies such as Flash, HTML5, Qt, native C/C++, and OpenGL ES. More to the point, it allows our customers to seamlessly blend apps from multiple environments into a single, unified user experience.

Now that’s tech-nimble.
 

Brand exposure

QNX has a knack for turning up where I least expect it. Sometimes, I'm even surprised by how our technology partners use it — and I head up strategic alliances at QNX Software Systems. In this case, at least, I can claim ignorance based on distance.

Last week, Tokyo Weekender published a story on Freescale Japan from the perspective of David Uze, the company’s president. Anyone who has had the pleasure of meeting David knows he’s super passionate about his mission. And arguably, it must be a challenging one, for the market in Japan has a long history of being dominated by national silicon suppliers. But, from an automotive perspective, recent consolidations of some of those suppliers, along with the trend towards standardized architectures, have opened the door for companies like Freescale.

The article talks about Freescale’s planned expansion in Japan, recovery from the earthquake, the advantages of being a global company, and the Freescale Cup, a robotics competition for university students that will be launched in Japan next year.

This, for me, is David’s most interesting comment:

“The reason I believe we must focus on Japan is because it is the most macro-economically focused culture in the world. Japan is the only country I know of where companies routinely create 50 -year plans to ensure they are a strong economic force in the long term.”

I find this incredible, especially if it applies to high-tech companies. Most would struggle with a concise 5-year plan, let alone 50!

But back to QNX. If you look at the article's opening photo (see below), you'll a car emblazoned with the logos of several Freescale suppliers, including a QNX logo that appears right below the Freescale wordmark. The QNX logo also appears in another photo, on a banner hanging above the head of Freescale CEO Rich Breyers, as he addresses the crowd at an FTF event.

Talk about international brand exposure! Thanks, David!