The fully networked car

An ITU workshop at the Geneva International Motor Show focuses on ICT in vehicles

Major car manufacturers are looking to incorporate some level of information and communication technology (ICT) functionality into their vehicles. The fully networked car is a goal of manufacturers seeking to offer improved safety and a better experience for the driver. ITU is joining hands with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) to host a workshop to share views on how that future will unfold. The workshop will focus on the synergy between ICT and the automotive sector.

Branded “The Fully Networked Car: A Workshop on ICT in Vehicles”, this unique meeting of key players from the automotive and ICT sectors will take place from 2 to 4 March 2005 during the Geneva International Motor Show, one of the world’s largest automobile events. The workshop’s objectives are threefold:

• to exchange ideas on the future of ICT in motor vehicles, with an emphasis on standardization between the automotive and telecommunication industries;
• to examine topics important to decision-makers such as the need for consensus between the public and private sectors and business models for interlinking the car and telecommunication businesses;
• to examine technical topics such as telematics, diagnostics, safety, the integration of in-vehicle systems with existing telecommunication infrastructures, communications and the mobile office.

This workshop is the second in a series to be organized by the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU–T). The first one took place in 2003 and saw the formation of the “Advisory Panel for Standards Cooperation on Telecommunications related to Motor Vehicles”. This panel has since held several meetings, and is spearheading the March 2005 workshop. ICT in cars has become an area of significant interest and impact to all major car manufacturers. A panel of global experts will frame the major issues and engage the audience in discussion on this important topic. Among the speakers are high-level representatives from BMW, Bosch, Cisco Systems, France Telecom, Magna Electronics, Motorola, Nissan, NTT DoCoMo, PSA Peugeot Citroën, Swisscom and Volvo.

One key area of discussion is the introduction of systems that allow communication with nearby vehicles warn­ing them, for example, that a car is hydroplanning and signalling the appropriate action to be taken. Another is how automatically generated “in-vehicle” emergency calls (e-calls) can speed up emergency service response and save lives. On the policy front, consensus among the public and private sectors is needed to address overlaps between safety, security, privacy and liability issues.

A panel of stakeholder representatives will address how multiple business models converge, evolve and become replaced over time as market forces determine the best value propositions for the technology being advanced. Examples from specific stakeholder groups will look to explain why the commercial elements of this new telematic ecosystem cannot follow a pre-defined plan, and discuss the level of variation and business models that can evolve with early participation in the standards, technology development and implementation. In the United States, for example, the Vehicle Infrastructure Integration (VII) initiative is investigating the potential for two-way, vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-roadside communications to provide a new suite of services to the operators of automobiles, trucks and buses, according to Joyce Wenger of Booz Allen Hamilton. Ms Wenger’s presentation to the workshop underlines that a systems perspective is needed to address the technical, economic, cultural and political challenges.

Road crashes are the second leading cause of death globally among young people aged 5 to 29 and the third lead­ing cause of death among people aged 30 to 44 years, according to a joint report launched by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Bank in April 2004. “Road crashes kill 1.2 million people every year and injure or disable as many as 50 million more,” states the World report on road traffic injury prevention. Without immedi­ate action to improve road safety, the report estimates that road traffic deaths would increase by 80 per cent in low- and middle-income countries by 2020. The economic impact, too, is significant. In low- and middle-income countries, the cost of road traffic injuries is estimated at USD 65 billion, exceeding the total amount these countries receive in development assistance. Road traffic injuries are reported to cost countries between 1 and 2 per cent of gross national product, amounting to USD 518 billion every year. The report provides governments and other policy-makers, industry, non-governmental organizations, international agencies and individuals with concrete rec­ommendations to improve road safety.

European E-Safety Initiative

The e-call

In the battle for road safety, the European Union has set itself an ambitious goal to halve the number of deaths by 2010. According to the White Paper of the European Commission, issued in September 2001, death on a daily basis accounted for 40 000 fatalities a year. Through the “European transport policy for 2010: time to decide”, the Commission is marshalling efforts towards meeting this target. The Commission has committed itself to promoting new technologies to improve road safety. Implementing a harmonized vehicle-related “European Emergency Call Service” is the number one priority of the European eSafety programme.

European E-Safety Initiative

Source: SIEMENS VDO Automative.

Since 25 July 2003, fixed and mobile network operators are required to provide caller location information to emergency service centres responding to 112 calls (including automatic e-calls) under the Universal Service Directive 2002/22/EC. The EU, along with the European Association of Car Manufacturers (ACEA) and ERTICO — the European, not-for-profit, public/private partnership for the implementation of intelligent transport systems (ITS) — signed a memorandum of understanding that aims to realize an interoperable, pan-European in-vehicle emergency call. Experts at the workshop will discuss how in-vehicle emergency calls (eCall) can speed-up the response of the emergency services and potentially reduce the number of fatalities, severity of injuries and stress in post-crash situations.

“A cost-effective e-call solution has been elusive for the best part of a decade. Most carmakers who have offered telematics in their vehicles have included a form of emergency voice call with vehicle positioning, generally with a telematics service provider as the intermediary to the local public safety answering point (PSAP). This model has proven complex and costly and a large proportion of customers have not been renewing subscriptions for this and other services offered after the initial ‘free’ period for telematics services,” explains David Horncastle of Ygomi LLC, London.

Mr Horncastle underlines that: “While car buyers generally agree that some form of emergency notification is a good thing to have in their vehicle, what they are keen to avoid is a complicated subscription arrangement with monthly or annual fees, particularly when the additional services offered by the car maker may duplicate some of those they can already enjoy with their mobile phone (and therefore access anywhere, rather than being limited to in-car use)”. Experts at the workshop will discuss some of the concepts being developed to address many of the issues associated with a robust, reliable emergency notification solution, with specific emphasis on data-only messaging known as Automatic Crash Notification (or ACN) being envisaged in Europe and the United States.

Siemens

One of the most crucial questions to be solved when implementing an e-call-service is getting the appropriate rescue forces to be detached to the site of an accident, explains Ralf-Roland Schmidt-Cotta of Siemens VDO Automotive AG. In other words, under which conditions should an e-call be triggered? To answer these questions, a set of crash parameters and the evaluation procedure have to be defined. To avoid a high ratio of idle and expensive rescue trips, a complex accident detection and evaluation process has to be in place. Research carried out in recent years has shown that the use of devices such as accident data recorders can not only improve the quality of accident reconstruction, but also help to change driving behaviour. And so a new European project called VERONICA (vehicle event recording based on intelligent crash assessment) has been launched to study, among other things, the technical, legal and organizational aspects related to vehicle accident data recorders. VERONICA brings together car manufacturers, enforcement authorities, telematic, accident reconstruction and legal experts. The requirements of the “Golden hour” for the rescue service are part of the project, whose leadership was awarded to SIEMENS VDO Automotive AG on 22 December 2004. “Standardization of accident data is indispensable for an e-call system in Europe,” underlines Mr Schmidt-Cotta.

In the United States, the state of New Jersey is reported as the largest 911network nationwide. Recently, the network went under a thorough review and plans are under way to build a new 911 network that will evolve as the next-generation E911 network. During the workshop, expect some spotlight on basic 911, enhanced 911 and on next-generation E911 in the United States with specific comments relative to ACN and the need for the public and private sector to interconnect now.

Japan’s Quasi-Zenith Satellite System to upgrade location-based services

Japan is developing its new Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS) through a public-private partnership “in order to upgrade various kinds of location-based services”, according to Motoyuki Kohn, Deputy General Manager of Business Development at the Advanced Space Business Corporation (ASBC). An overriding goal of Japan’s ITS policy is to reduce social cost of traffic accidents. QZSS is expected to broadcast highly precise positioning information and so improve road safety and security. In 2004, the number of traffic fatalities in Japan was 7358, representing a decrease of 344 (or 4.5 per cent) from 2003. “To achieve our new target of 5000 or fewer fatalities per year by 2012, further efforts are needed to promote comprehensive measures for traffic safety,” says Masatoshi Morita, Assistant Director for ITS Traffic Planning Division, Traffic Bureau at the National Police Agency of Japan.

In recent years, emergency calls (“Dial 110 calls”) from mobile phones have been increasing very rapidly and now account for more than half the total number of emergency calls. In many cases, though, it is difficult to identify the location of a caller, which causes delay in the arrival of emergency vehicles. The National Police Agency has developed its Help System for Emergency Life Saving and Public Safety (HELP). With HELP, when an emer­gency incident occurs while driving, an in-vehicle unit and a cellular phone automatically transmit caller location information obtained from the Global Positioning System (GPS) to the operation centre. This then automatically activates voice communication with the operation centre staff by either manually turning on the “HELP switch” of an in-vehicle unit or by the automatic call activation function of the impact detector.

QZSS, with its constellation of three satellites, will complement and reinforce the civilian function of the US Global Positioning System. Each satellite will stay eight hours around the Zenith over Japan, taking turns to provide unified communication, broadcasting and positioning services, explains Mr Kohn. Because one satellite would remain overhead at all times, QZSS is expected to transmit signals without obstruction from tall buildings or mountains. This is welcome news in a country like Japan where mountainous terrain and urban canyons do not allow a clear skyline to the horizon.

Siemens

Supporting communication between anyone, any device, anytime and anywhere is becoming the major challenge for the makers of future telecommunication network platforms. A major goal is to bring to market multimedia communication solutions with seamless network interconnectivity for business customers on the move. One of the sessions will cover the evolution towards ubiquitous applications and services as well as in-vehicle solutions.

“Radio and TV Broadcasters have chosen to use digital transmission technology in many ways in addition to simply rolling out large numbers of sound radio and television services” says Edgar Wilson of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Examples range from television to public transport in Singapore (DVB-T), high definition television (HDTV) in Australia, digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB) to handheld devices in the Republic of Korea, and DVB-H television services to mobile phones in Finland. Mr Wilson adds. “We will examine some of the strategies that are unfolding for launching broadcast services to mobile users, particularly for passengers in cars and public transport. The consumption of broadcast services is becoming increasingly personalised, and using devices which combine broadcasting with mobile telecommunications, the consumer is able to stay informed, educated, en­tertained and interacting whenever and whenever he wishes.” The workshop will no doubt address the needs and the value of selecting pieces of the telematics value chain for standardization that will provide an enabler for industry growth.

Consumers likelihood to buy telematics

Source: GartnerG2, “Telematics Industry Outlook: Think ‘Outside the Vehicle’,” September 2002.

Mobile device integration: Bluetooth in the car
Keep your hands free for driving!

Siemens

An infotainment system that can be extended with new functionalities. An ergonomic user interface provides safety and comfort

In recent years, several car manufacturers have found Bluetooth to be an effective method for extending the mobile phone experience in the car. Bluetooth is a short-range wireless standard that was designed to replace proprietary cables between a wide range of computing and communication devices. Bluetooth operates in the unlicensed 2.4 GHz range of spectrum and is capable of transmitting at a speed of 1Mbit/s over a range of 10 metres. Another feature of Bluetooth is that it uses a combination of packet and circuit technologies, allowing quality-of-service guarantees for transmissions such as voice and video, while giving less priority to general data packet transmissions. Bluetooth devices establish network connections by listening for other Bluetooth-enabled devices within range and then initiating contact. Common examples include Bluetooth wireless headsets for mobile phones and wireless keyboard/mouse combinations for computers.

Bluetooth technology in cars helps keep hands free for driving. Some of the latest car models allow Bluetooth­enabled phones to connect wirelessly to the car to make calls. Once the phone and the car have made an initial pairing, controls on the steering column can activate the phone and dial preset numbers. In addition, the user can simply say the telephone number and voice recognition software in the car will dial that the number. The status of the call is displayed on the dashboard of the car (for example, the number dialled, signal strength and battery level of the telephone). The voice of the person on the other end of the call is then routed through the sound system of the car as a hands-free speakerphone conversation.

The car’s GPS navigation system provides real-time location-based information about restaurants, hotels, movie theatres, garages and other services in the area, which can be dialled by the car over a Bluetooth connection with the simple click of a button. As well, various car manufacturers have unveiled products that connect Apple’s popular ipod player to their infotainment systems, thus extending the range of consumer devices that become integrated into cars. The workshop will address human-machine interface issues that arise when external consumer devices are brought into the car. It will also outline opportunities and risks of integrating consumer devices into cars, and finally discuss whether mobile devices could boost the telematics market that has slowed down in recent times.