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.

The company now provides its technology to several automakers, including Chrysler, Fiat and Maserati, as well as making it available in some GM vehicles.

The push for connectivity comes as luxury carmakers keep introducing tech features that improve convenience or safety. Cruise control devices now can automatically adjust when traffic slows so a driver doesn't need to step on the brakes. Steering wheels can vibrate when a vehicle drifts into another lane. And brake systems can activate to avoid a collision.

Such innovations, the experts said, are making their way to less expensive vehicles.

'The immediate future will be highly automated vehicles,' said Francine Romine, director of communications for the University of Michigan's Transportation Research Institute in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Could be required technology

Add connectivity to this picture and the potential arises for increased safety via car-to-car communication. Federal regulators have said they seek by 2016 to propose rules that eventually could require such technology in all new cars.

The federal effort stems from a two-year study by the University of Michigan using 3,000 specially equipped cars in Ann Arbor. The U.S. Department of Transportation concluded that the results showed vehicle-to-vehicle technology had the potential to help unimpaired drivers avoid up to 80 percent of today's crashes. The National Highway Safety Transportation Administration reported that just two types of accidents — those involving intersections or left turns — could prevent up to 592,000 crashes and save more than 1,000 lives each year.

Such technology might operate on a different wireless frequency than regular cellular networks. But experts said Internet connectivity still would be integral to the entire system.

For example, Moeller said, such technology relies on 'security keys' that ensure the system's signals are valid and not from some hacker posing as an out-of-control vehicle. For reliability, those keys will need updating, a process that likely will happen via the regular wireless system.

For safety's sake, proving the efficacy, security and reliability of connectivity systems, 'is going to be central,' said Ryan Martin, an analyst in Boston with 451 Research.

Who pays for connectivity now varies as cellular carriers and automakers 'are still trying to shake out the most viable business models,' said Martin. Electric car maker Tesla, which already sends out wireless updates for its vehicle systems, doesn't charge for the Internet connection, he said.

Meanwhile, current AT&T mobile customers can connect with some new models starting at $10 a month.

Internet of Things

Moeller of Autonet Mobile said he's encouraging automakers to see value in providing the Internet and the driver convenience apps as part of a service plan or built into the initial cost of the vehicle.

'Consumers aren't that thrilled with a monthly bill,' he said.

Auto connectivity is just part of the efforts that AT&T began about six years ago in preparation for the Internet of Things, a term used to describe the rapidly growing universe of objects — from heart pacemakers to refrigerators and thermostats — that are connected to data networks. The count of devices on the company's network, excluding smartphones and tablets, now numbers nearly 20 million. The extras range from wearables to industrial machinery and tracking devices on shipping containers.

About a year ago AT&T opened its Drive Studio, a tech auto research center in Atlanta. The company is selective in its partnerships and is seeking to work with 'the best of the best' in auto technology, Mosele said.

With Autonet Mobile, he said, 'we're going to strive to innovate together.'

You can reach Staff Writer Robert Digitale at 521-5285 or robert.digitale@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @rdigit