Technology advancement in consumer electronics is mind-boggling. Any technology older than three years is already yesterday?s news. Richard Chung talks about the fast-evolving electronic convergence of the future and how the automotive companies can keep up with the trend.
Next biggest fundamental change came when electronics converged with vehicle dynamics such as ABS (Anti-lock Braking System) active suspension and traction control. These technological advancements contributed in raising safety levels thus allowing vehicles to be safe even at extreme conditions. It is not an exaggeration that the RWD (rear wheel drive) vehicles rose from the ash because of the ABS and traction control.
We now see the second stage of electronics convergence in our vehicles, focussing more on consumer entertainment and information features such as navigation system, multimedia and voice controlled operation. This is in parallel with the consumer electronics—as the consumers’ lifestyle becomes more adaptive to “digital convergence”, their expectations about their vehicles in terms of both speed and advancement of the technologies also increase.
We have witnessed the accelerated extinction of cassette tapes in favour of CD, and now even CD is being challenged by MP3 players and flash drive sticks. The rapid pace of change in consumer electronics technology will always be one generation (approximately three years) ahead of “built-in” entertainment technology offered in the OEM vehicles. Average age of PC ownership is three years and mobile phone is even less; so the consumers certainly will not be happy with technologies older than 2–3 years when they buy a new car, and when they have to hold onto the vehicle five to seven years from the purchase point.
Today’s consumers are primarily looking at two things in their vehicles—flexibility and adaptability. Adaptable technology ensures that they do not end up spending a lot of money on soon-to-be-outdated technology, and flexibility enables them to use their personal entertainment and communication devices in the vehicles, without being “hostage” to the technology provided by the OEMs.
In this age of digital networks, consumer expectations of digital devices in vehicles are quite common across the globe. People today prefer carrying more than one device into their cars from their home or work, and want to use them seamlessly during their journey to the next destination, as we found out in our consumer research.
In fact, connecting an iPod to the vehicle sound system to enjoy music while talking on the mobile phone and browsing through the navigation, is not an uncommon scene today where consumers are used to multitasking. As the traffic congestions get worse in the big cities, consumers will look for new ways to increase the efficiency of time spent in vehicle. Hence, our job in the automotive industry is to provide creative and safe solutions to meet their expectations and requirements.
The key issue lies in allowing all these devices to be brought in wirelessly and connect them to the vehicle environment so that the main activity in the vehicle (driving) is not interrupted while providing the user with entertainment.
Johnson Controls has been focussing on the connectivity solution for the last five years and already has a connectivity solution, which uses the Bluetooth technology with voice command called BlueConnect for cars in the US. The BlueConnect solution seamlessly links any Bluetooth-enabled devices with the vehicle’s built-in audio/video system and allows the consumers to operate mobile phones hands-free, or play music via MP3 players, or navigate the map using their mobile phones, with the option of using voice-controlled commands.
For instance, BlueConnect solution allows consumers to receive and initiate phone calls through the audio system without taking their hands off the steering wheel, even if they place their mobile phones somewhere in the vehicle. In case of a top Japanese OEM vehicle in the US, a multi-information display on the instrument cluster below the speedometer shows the caller’s name or number, while a separate centre panel display shows reception strength. Up to six different phones can be paired with the BlueConnect at a time. After the initial pairing, a phone can be operated through the vehicle audio system without ever leaving the consumer’s pocket or purse. The system allows the user to import a compatible phone’s contact information in a single process. For each paired phone, up to 1,000 names can be entered, with ten available numbers per name.
BlueConnect is the first of its kind product in the US cars and is receiving highly favourable response from the consumers. Johnson Controls aims to be the pioneer in China as well with the same product. BlueConnect will be available in China from the first quarter of 2008. The real challenge that Johnson Controls had to overcome was making the system work with literally hundreds of different mobile phones in China. While many are following the standard Bluetooth protocol of global brand manufacturers, some are not, unknown to the consumer. A consumer who owns Bluetooth-enabled mobile phone would expect it to work with the vehicle equipped with BlueConnect, regardless of the brand’s genuineness. Through painstaking process of trouble-shooting and reprogramming by testing in various regions in China, the system finally came through for the market readiness.
So, beyond the mobile phone and MP3 connection, what is the next breakthrough in connectivity? As the personal devices converge with vehicles, a greater convergence will occur with the environment, creating a so-called “ubiquitous” society. The proliferation of wireless technologies such as Bluetooth, WiFi and Wi-bro are allowing digital network access to be available widely at home, coffee shops, airports, in vehicles and at work. Ultimately, anything that uses electricity will eventually have a small brain with capability to communicate wirelessly, making possible things never imagined before.
Anticipating this next great convergence, Johnson Controls has been working on integrating the workplace and home with the vehicle through its next generation connectivity solution called “Smart Environment”. Let’s imagine one scenario—a consumer named Beth drives home and instructs from the car via voice command to the refrigerator’s defrost chamber to thaw the meat placed last night, while she is making video conference call in a slow traffic on a highway, sipping her Starbucks coffee. The vehicle is kept safely on the road using the intelligent steering system, keeping safe distance between cars in the fore/aft as well as on the sides. Once she gets home, she opens the garage using the HomeLink system and unlocks her kitchen door, as she docks the plug-in hybrid vehicle into the charging station and downloads her unfinished work from the office to the house computer. At home, she cooks the meat already thawed properly for the dinner. As she uses up the groceries in the refrigerator, the refrigerator sends signal to the car what needs to be refilled when she goes for shopping in two days. After dinner, Beth finishes her office work and uploads it to the car so that she can listen to the script for her presentation by voice while driving to work. At the same time, she uploads the songs to her MP3 player left in the glove box, so she can listen to the music on the way back home.
Believe it or not, this can become reality and can be achieved within the next 10 years, or perhaps even before. The plug-in hybrid system with smart connectivity is already at work and will be ready to market in five years; the smart office and home are being developed under a similar timing. Brand new apartments in South Korea are already marketing the “smart house” which allows the owner to control certain functions like turning off the gas range through mobile phones, and entering the house via finger print scanner as the lights are turned on automatically.
Obviously, one can expect the pace of acceleration to be even faster, and unlimitedly wild as creative solutions continue to emerge in consumer electronics. That means the automotive industry will need to take much bolder steps to keep up with rapidly increasing consumer expectations in order to survive, as the next era of great technology convergence comes. Packaging today’s popular technology and hardware will not guarantee the same popularity in the next three years or more, so the risk of losing sales because of inflexible technology is certainly there. Connectivity interface technologies can allow the OEMs to stay flexible to new technology adaptation while giving the consumers what they want—the latest (and they bring in their hardware). Holding onto today’s “proven” hardware can no longer ensure success for tomorrow’s “unproven” converging world we live in.
