We’ve got software-defined base stations in the mobile industry, we’ve got software-defined telecommunications networks: Why not a software-defined car? That is the vision of a company called Movimento, who today announced its over-the-air platform to update every module in the vehicle, not only models yet to come, but many existing models.
OTA updates are a topic of debate in the connected car world today. Are they safe, is there enough bandwidth, when do they occur, can you do all ECUs in one go? We’ve all heard that Tesla is already doing this. Other auto OEMs are starting work in this space, but for the most part their efforts have been aimed at infotainment updates. An update for all ECU’s in the vehicle is definitely something new, and being able to address some of the vehicles already on the road expands the opportunities for the solution.
There are three components of the solution Movimento brings to the market: Software management allowing for the update of every ECU module; cybersecurity to protect that activity; and big data analytics to better understand the information gathered from within the automotive ECUs.
Movimento is basically access-technology agnostic. It doesn’t matter if the update occurs over Wi-Fi, the mobile network, satellite or via a tethered smartphone or tablet – although the latter option is only for infotainment updates. Client software located on the tier one-provided hardware enables the update. This can include not only the ECU software, but also that for the dashboard and infotainment. Satellite is a topic worth expanding on as it is a scenario that predominately exists in the U.S. Many vehicles come equipped with satellite functionality – such as OnStar – that has not been enabled by the end user. This doesn’t, however, preclude OEMs from using that technology for OTA updates.
So how would it actually work in reality? Of course safety is a primary concern, so you wouldn’t want to be driving down the road and suddenly have something update in your car that impacts it. The OEMs have a management tool that allows them to schedule when updates occur. There are some updates that take place behind the scenes and can be done “silently,” when the car is in motion without notifying the driver/owner. Other updates require notification of the driver/owner and likely need eight to 10 minutes of downtime for the update to occur. Updates focus only on incremental content and therefore minimize the amount of data being transferred at one time. Based on bidirectional communication via the Movimento client, the system can determine the car’s current status before initiating any transfers.
As OTA becomes a reality, there are a great many fears that malicious hackers can interfere or take control of these data transfers. From the cybersecurity side of things, there is constant monitoring for suspicious activity and if anyone is detected trying to take control via unauthorized messages, the transfer can be blocked within 10 milliseconds.
The new solution is available today and based on discussions with tier ones and OEMs we should see it come to market in model year 2018-2019 vehicles. In-booth demos of this technology can be seen at this week’s TU Automotive – Detroit event.
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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.
