Claudia Bacco, Managing Director – EMEA for RCR Wireless News, has spent her entire career in telecom, IT and security. Having experience as an operator, software and hardware vendor and as a well-known industry analyst, she has many opinions on the market. She’ll be sharing those opinions along with ongoing trend analysis for RCR Wireless News.
Here’s a problem you’ve probably never considered – how to test and deliver bug notifications and fixes for the connected car while in motion. Think about it, you’re driving along testing a new app for either the app provider or an OEM and you find a bug; but you’re driving and have no place to stop or you’re in a place with no signal. Now what? Ubertesters has a solution.
I recently spoke to Ran Rachlin, CEO and co-founder of Ubertesters about the importance of app testing in the connected car market. “With cars advancing to the next level of technology and becoming a more intrinsic part of our everyday lives, car apps need to be tested beyond what is needed for regular apps,” Rachlin said. “A solid app testing solution is critical to success.”
Although only 2 years old, some big names are depending on this solution. T-Mobile US, Verizon Wireless and Orange are all mobile operators using Ubertesters’ services, and on the connected car side they’ve got Porsche, MyCobra/Vodafone and Orange SmartDrive. “Internet of Things” apps have been a key area of focus for operators working with the company.
So what’s so different about mobile app testing with Ubertesters? The company provides a cloud-based platform that allows for the life-cycle management of application testing requirements. Once a group of testers is selected, they all receive the same app build at the same time for testing. As bugs are identified, they report back through the platform on a real-time basis and as items are resolved and new builds are issued the version control is made simple by sharing updates with all testers at the same time. When a bug is identified, the information can be submitted via a screen shot or annotation on the app itself. The basic platform is free and additional features and testers are provided for a fee.
Testers can be crowdsourced or internal, but are monitored through the tool for their performance. This allows for weeding out of poor performers when required. Testing can also be done offline and supported globally. Today, the bulk of Ubertesters’ clients are North America based (60%), and followed by Europe (30%), with the remainder coming from Asia and Israel.
In late November, the company announced an expanded focus beyond home/office app testing to include connected car app testing.
The criticality of apps in the car makes real-time testing a must have. Don’t just think about infotainment, think about safety and vehicle performance apps. In the announcement, three use cases where highlighted where offline testing of the onboard diagnostics was conducted to allow continuous gathering of data and transfer to the cloud platform as soon as a mobile signal was available. Driving through tunnels and rural locations no longer needed to be of concern to the testers who were working with the apps in real time while in motion.
The first use case in the announcement was work with MyCobra, an app that allows a driver to remotely control features within the vehicle via their smartphone. Although some of these items related to trip data and service performance, others require real-time accuracy such as geo-fencing settings, locking and arming the vehicle alarm and theft reporting and tracking, as well as roadside assistance. RCR reviewed Vodafone’s acquisition of Cobra in November.
Second was Porsche Car Connect, which allows for similar functionality as well as the monitoring of requirements related to the e-hybrid Panamera model for charging status and usage prioritization. Again this is a mix of real-time critical items and productivity tools via the driver’s smartphone. RCR highlighted this solution in December.
And finally, SmartDrive, an app developed by Orange Israel to allow drivers to monitor their vehicle systems and reduce maintenance and fuel costs. This is accomplished by issuing alerts for driving practices that waste fuel or result in unsafe activities. Drivers receive points in a positive and negative fashion for their overall performance. Alerts based on the vehicle system information pointing to potential maintenance requirements also are provided.
In addition, you can monitor the younger drivers in your household
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Ran Rachlin is a skilled senior executive with over 20 years of extensive global experience in several industries, managing and leading new initiatives from inception to implementation and significant sales as well as managing well-established and large global organizations. He is a strategic and innovative leader with vast knowledge of both the mobile world and global markets; working with startup and mature companies in the communications markets, retail high-security locks, and energy and infrastructure. Ran holds an MBA degree with honors and a Bachelor’s degree in marketing and finance.
