Today’s vehicles are viewed by many as the next frontier for mobile devices and Internet connectivity. In fact, we already see automakers adding Wi-Fi hot spots and LTE capabilities to new vehicles. Industry forecasts from ABI Research estimate there will be 210 million connected cars on the road by 2016. However, the question remains: What does the future of the connected car actually look like? More importantly, as we look back at the month of April being Distracted Driver Month, it’s important to think about how safety comes into play in the connected car. Will only top luxury vehicles be equipped with interactive safety features or will they become the norm across all segments?
The hot take surrounding future vehicles and passenger safety is the realization of autonomous vehicles. After all, remove the driver and you remove the chances for driver error. But while this concept is slowly coming into frame, there are many impressive technologies being implemented today to deliver safety innovations that are laying the building blocks for the car of the future.
Understanding the road ahead before you do
Many vehicle infotainment systems are beginning to leverage advanced driver assistance system technologies. These capabilities include active safety alerts, lane departure warnings and front collision warnings, among others. An emerging technology that connects directly to ADAS systems is electronic horizon. It can predict the intended vehicle path and use map data to input road features such as speed limits, slopes, curves and geometry of the road ahead, directly to ADAS systems. By collecting information on thousands of road events per month, cars can leverage these systems by raising driver awareness of an upcoming dangerous intersection that has a history of accidents.
Vehicle communication with the world around you
The future of the connected car will center on vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communications. In fact, last year the U.S. Department of Transportation issued advanced notice of proposed legislation to implement V2V communications into all vehicles in the coming years. These technologies can see what current RADAR and camera systems cannot, and share information on surrounding infrastructure to the car to enhance ADAS capabilities. V2V and V2I can promote safety while also providing drivers with the connectivity they thirst for in the vehicle. For example, a future infotainment system can be tapped into the red light timers to understand when a driver can use time to check e-mail or messages via a heads-up display. However, if the light turns green then the content – and ultimately the distraction – will disappear from the drivers view.
Leveraging augmented reality for road safety
Augmented reality is a fun concept to talk about, but it’s truly a technology that has been and will continue to be implemented to strengthen safety features in the car. Electronic horizon and V2V technologies bring great safety alerts and features, but these alerts can be brought to drivers in a beneficial way through heads-up display systems that leverage augmented reality. HUD systems will connect directly with ADAS leveraging advanced camera-assisted positioning and graphics to provide drivers with safety alerts through augmented reality including lane departures, collision warnings and pedestrian detections.
Ensuring safety in every car of tomorrow
Ultimately, greater connectivity will be what drives the car of the future. However, with added connectivity comes the responsibility for greater safety measures. Each one of these technologies are starting to be implemented in vehicles today and will only continue to evolve to provide the connected cars of tomorrow with a safety-first experience. As an industry, we must ensure that these technologies are not only left for top luxury vehicles, but implemented across all segments to promote driver safety on every road. Safety should always be paramount in all innovation while still providing consumers with the desired connectivity and multimedia content. Technology will play a part.
Sachin Lawande is currently president of Harman’s infotainment division. Lawande is responsible for all worldwide operations, direction and performance of the division, as well as infotainment design, engineering and production, with a wealth of experience in developing embedded systems and software. He holds three patents in communications software and is a founding member of COMPASS, a Chicago-area organization of embedded software and IT professionals. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Electronics and Telecommunications from Bombay University in India and a Master’s Degree in Electrical Engineering from Southern Illinois University.
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