Intel strengthens investment in connected cars

Intel has announced a range of solutions and initiatives for the connected car of the future.

The company believes the technology that will power the future of driving is quickly evolving, and through research, investments and new products, it can help the industry shape future driving experiences and bring them to market more quickly. Intel’s Internet of Things (IoT) group achieved revenue of $482 million in the first quarter, up 32% year-over-year, driven by strong demand for in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) systems. 

“To further strengthen Intel’s technology partnership with the automotive industry and prepare for the future, we are combining our breadth of experience in consumer electronics and enterprise IT with a holistic automotive investment across product development, industry partnerships and groundbreaking research efforts,” said Doug Davis, corporate vice president, Internet of Things group at Intel. “Our goal is to fuel the evolution from convenience features available in the car today to enhanced safety features of tomorrow and eventually self-driving capabilities.”

Automotive research developed by Intel explores how technology will enable the new experiences in which the cars we own will know who we are and adapt to us, ease the burden of driving and help us get to our destinations more safely and efficiently.

The new Personal Vehicle Experience Research Project is intended to understand the joys and pain points that people experience when using their cars. It aims to uncover what people want from their cars and how cars can be more adaptive and predictive, and interact with drivers and its surroundings.

Intel also understands that safety is paramount to the future of driving. The Secure My Connected Car Research Project from Intel is working to understand the challenges and threat landscape of a connected car. The project showcases the potential vulnerability of the car’s telematics system and shows how memory protection can defend critical in-vehicle hardware and software. This technology can then be paired with McAfee whitelisting technology from Intel Security to fully secure the connected car.

Ethnographers, anthropologists and engineers at Intel are working on a variety of research projects aimed at making roads safer and gaining knowledge about the safest and most intuitive way for drivers to interact with their vehicles. Advanced sensing, computation, and interconnected data will revolutionise the way people travel and connect with each other.

In-Vehicle Solutions platform

Intel In-Vehicle Solutions are a family of hardware and software products designed to enable carmakers and their suppliers to more quickly and easily deliver in-vehicle experiences that consumers demand, while reducing the cost of developing them. The family of products includes a range of compute modules, an integrated software stack of operating system plus middleware, and development kits.

Intel expects its standardised platform approach based on integrated and validated hardware and software to shorten infotainment development time by more than 12 months and reduce costs up to 50%, thus enabling automakers to apply their engineering resources to technology innovations and enhanced experiences in the car.

The first available products are designed for IVI systems with advanced driver assistance capabilities, with future products geared for advanced driving experiences such as autonomous or self-driving cars.

Investment in automotive

Consumer demand is reshaping the automotive supply chain and automakers need to keep pace with technology innovation. Intel is investing to ensure that the technology is available to deliver the in-vehicle experiences consumers want today, as well as help the car evolve to better inform, assist and eventually assume control.

In 2012, Intel established the $100 million Intel Capital Connected Car Fund to accelerate the automotive industry transition to seamless connectivity between the vehicle and consumer electronic devices, as well as drive new technologies that will enable future autonomous driving capabilities. The latest investment from the Intel fund goes to ZMP, developer of an autonomous driving platform and vehicles connected with sensors, radars and cameras, which will be critical to the future of driving.

The company continues to align with automakers on various research development efforts and Intel technology is used in BMW’s Navigation System Professional for all its vehicle models, the Infiniti InTouch infotainment system in the Infiniti Q50 and the Driver Information System in the all-new 2015 Hyundai Genesis.