Santa Rosa company pioneers new generation of smartcars
The American automobile is getting connected.
For 2015, the auto industry is ramping up the number of Internet-equipped vehicles, with even more models predicted to have the feature next year.
Connectivity is expected to serve as the foundation for a host of coming innovations. Experts say the car of the future will communicate with nearby smart vehicles in order to avoid crashes.
It will allow an owner to carry out an array of new tasks, from remotely starting an engine on a frigid morning to immediately learning why a check engine light has activated. And it will send volumes of performance data for analysis by automakers — perhaps even allowing a dealer's mechanic someday to quickly pinpoint one of those nagging, intermittent malfunctions in your vehicle.
The coming changes mean opportunity for Santa Rosa's Autonet Mobile, a company that writes software allowing both drivers and automakers to tap into all the technology running today's vehicles. The business says it was the first to put the Internet into vehicles with an after-market Wi-Fi hot spot device launched in 2005.
In terms of what can be done, 'we're kind of barely just scratching the surface,' said Autonet's Chief Technology Officer and co-founder Doug Moeller.
Autonet this month announced a partnership with AT&T, which is collaborating on auto technology with a number of different companies. Under the new agreement, AT&T's 4G network and Autonet's software will provide services to both consumers and car makers.
The telecom giant currently works with eight carmakers: Audi, BMW, GM, Ford, Tesla, Nissan, Volvo and Subaru. In the fourth quarter of 2014, AT&T connected 800,000 new vehicles to its cellular network, a 60 percent increase from the previous quarter.
The company predicts it will serve at least half of all the 2015 models sold in the U.S. with Internet capability.
For the coming wave of auto innovations, 'connectivity is definitely the backbone,' said Joe Mosele, vice president for business development of AT&T's Internet of Things Solutions Organization.
Internet capability will provide drivers with more convenience and better information on the operation of their vehicles, Mosele said. It will give passengers built-in Wi-Fi hot spots and access to new 'infotainment.' And it will help automakers gather a trove of information for analysis.
Growing industry
The history of the car is largely a recitation of advancements in mechanical engineering, said Jeffrey Miller, an associate professor of engineering practice at the University of Southern California. But even auto execs now say 'when you are looking at the future of the auto industry, you're looking at technology,' he said.
Driverless cars are the marquee attraction in today's auto tech world, one that Miller predicts could be commercially available by 2020. But the so-called 'autonomous vehicles' represent just one of the changes that demonstrate how cars are becoming more automated and able to respond to remote commands.
Virtually all the coming innovations will rely on connecting cars to wireless networks. As such, experts see it as an area ripe for growth. Global revenues from connected car technology are forecast to reach $20 billion in 2018, from just over $4 billion in 2013, according to U.K.-based Juniper Research. That compares with $70 billion in 2018 in the even larger 'smart home' segment.
Smartphone access
Autonet Mobile is located in offices near the Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport. Formed in 2005, the privately held company employs about 40 workers, including a few in Detroit and North Carolina.
Two years ago, the company developed its telematics control unit, a black box the size of a smartphone that connects to the auto's electronic components.
With it, drivers using a smartphone app can remotely unlock their vehicles, start engines, open trunks or set off panic alarms. Parents can monitor when, where and how fast their teenagers are operating vehicles. And passengers can get online with mobile devices via Wi-Fi.
Operating in the background, the control units can run 33,000 diagnostics on vehicle components, Moeller said. And it offers automakers an easier way of updating the 30 to 40 computerized systems in the typical vehicle.
'Right now if you need any of them updated,' said Moeller, 'you have to go to the dealership.'
But with connectivity, the automaker can provide wireless updates. That ability potentially could save carmakers billions of dollars that they now pay dealers for mechanics to individually update each vehicle, he said.
Monthly charges
Autonet Mobile charges $19.95 a month for Wi-Fi capability and $4.95 for one of its driver applications. A package with all of its apps is available for $19.95 a month or $199 a year.
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