Market Watch

For auto makers and suppliers of infotainment, the implications of cloud computing are very significant and this will lead to radical changes to infotainment systems and services. Once connected to the cloud, everything else seems irrelevant as on-board databases rapidly become obsolete. This can be a hard concept for the automotive supply chain to grasp—but it is painfully true.

Nowhere is the impact greater than in automotive navigation systems. Once connected to cloud-based solutions, such as Google Maps, or Nokia’s Ovi Maps, it is hard to stay relevant with onboard solutions. Three elements within navigation—the roads, local POIs, and access to Location-Based Services (LBS) content—all require access to the cloud to stay current. Once a driver has access to local search, not even the best on-board Point of Interest (POI) system can compare. The same can be said for traffic and localized incident data; once motorists have it, they want nothing less.

How the Cloud Formed
Nobody understands the cloud better than the likes of Amazon, Google and Apple. Apple has the best of both worlds with its dominance over content and an uncanny instinct for revolutionary products.

Before the iPhone, the smart phone was nothing more than a fancy cell phone. After the iPhone, the stage was set for the birth of an eco-system. Smart phones are a huge reason for the cloud’s success and extend the cloud nearly beyond critical mass. There are thousands of LBS-related applications readily available for both the Android and the iPhone markets.

But cloud computing for mobile devices could not reach critical mass until the cellular networks reached 3G. Once 3G arrived, the bandwidth to support streaming sources of cloud content began to accelerate.

Competitive pricing for unlimited data plans from network operators was a catalyst for the mobile cloud community. But now it becomes a headache because streaming cloud content increases network demands exponentially. Now tiered pricing comes into play as a way for network operators to monetize the demand for mobile bandwidth.

iSuppli believes tiered pricing becomes more common as a means of controlling the runaway demand for data. We believe tiered pricing will lead to more connection independence. This means that a built in cellular unit in the car may be able to use the data plan that the user holds for his mart phone. The result will be a more robust connection that is always there.

Tomorrow’s In-Vehicle Infotainment System:
The cloud will have a profound impact on the architecture of tomorrow’s in-vehicle infotainment system. The following trends will occur as a result of cloud computing:

• Infotainment solutions will be built on standardized operating systems. There are numerous choices and no early winners, but Android, Genivi, Microsoft and QNX are legitimate choices.
• The cloud will push OEMs into supporting app stores in some form or another. At a minimum, OEMs must be able to support new and emerging applications that are highly influenced by the smart phone community.
• The cloud will push the ramp up in Wi-Fi in the car as it is a bridge to the cloud. Access to the cloud will be further enabled by Wi-Fi, whether it is to a cellular-based Wi-Fi router or to a physical access point at home, work or on the road.
• The cloud will require advancements in the Human Machine Interface (HMI) because the cloud is a nightmare for advocates on the issue of distracted driving. There are multiple ways to connect to cloud-based apps, but regardless, the HMI will have to be the filter between what is operational by the driver in a moving vehicle.
• The cloud will change the source unit within vehicles. CDs will become irrelevant in a few years
• The cloud will stimulate the demand for connectivity modules to support the integration of
• mobile devices in the car. Cellular dongles interfaced to the headunit or built in cellular present an alternative to a tethered smart phone.

Find Out More > iSuppli’s Automotive Research Portal – Infotainment