Developer Relations Programs: Self-Driving and Connected Cars
The pace of self-driving and connected cars technologies is moving forward fast. The number of automotive related developer news items also has it’s foot on the accelerator. I am keeping an eye out for developer relations programs that are connected to our cars. Here is a list of recent Connected Car news articles and announcements.
Self-Driving and Connected Cars in the News
Uber – Two news items today, December 5, 2016 – “The first is the creation of Uber AI Labs, a new division of Uber, based in San Francisco, dedicated to cutting-edge research in artificial intelligence and machine learning. And the second is the acquisition of the AI research startup Geometric Intelligence, whose 15 members will form the initial core of the AI Labs team.” https://newsroom.uber.com/ailabs
Apple is “excited” about the potential of self-driving cars – “A letter to the NHTSA details Apple’s interests and concerns surrounding automated cars” – ars TECHNICA article – http://arstechnica.com/apple/2016/12/apple-is-excited-about-the-potential-of-self-driving-cars/
Samsung Electronics to Acquire Harman, Accelerating Growth in Automotive and Connected Technologies. Upon closing, the transaction will immediately give Samsung a significant presence in the large and rapidly growing market for connected technologies, particularly automotive electronics, which has been a strategic priority for Samsung, and is expected to grow to more than $100 billion by 2025. Harman Press Release – http://news.harman.com/releases/samsung-electronics-to-acquire-harman-accelerating-growth-in-automotive-and-connected-technologies. Additional information about Harman Connected Car is available at http://www.harman.com/connected-car
PSA Peugeot/Citroen – Connected Car Development API (v1.0.2) – This is the first release of our connected car API. With this API you can access more than 89 signals in a car. This REST/JSON based API is available on Peugeot, Citroën and DS cars. You can find API documentation and Swagger/YAML at https://developer.psa-peugeot-citroen.com/node/331.
Telia and Springworks – Telia chases ‘aftermarket’ connected car opportunity in Sweden – Telia forms partnership with Springworks which wants to be connected car leader in the Nordics and Baltics. There are 4 million unconnected cars in Sweden. “Telia has become the first customer for Springworks Connected Car platform, ‘SPARK’ and it aims to deliver subscription-based connected car services to Swedish car owners who already have cars, but don’t have the fancy connected car technology installed – even in Sweden that’s most of them.” Read the news at http://www.telecomtv.com/articles/automotive/telia-chases-aftermarket-connected-car-opportunity-in-sweden-14172/
CES and SAE International – Announcement of the Connect2Car track at CES 2017 presented by SAE International – Explore the key topics driving the future of the automotive industry. Industry experts discuss automotive technology, design and development trends leading to the integration of vehicle and consumer electronics for automated mobility, the role of the connected car, cybersecurity, and cross-industry collaboration needed to make it all work. http://www.ces.tech/Conference/ConferenceProgram/Conference-Tracks/Connect2Car
Hyundai and Amazon – Hyundai adds Amazon’s Alexa to its Blue Link connected cars – Start your car from your living room, perfect for cold mornings. “If you own a 2016 Hyundai, you won’t have to — at least if you have an Amazon Echo at home. The car-maker has baked Amazon’s Alexa virtual assistant into its Blue Link connected car app. This means you can start your car, and set the temperature (among other things) from the warm embrace of your comforter using just your voice starting today.” https://www.engadget.com/2016/11/15/hyundai-adds-amazon-alexa-to-blue-link-connected-cars/
Google/Android – ‘OK Google’ is finally coming to Android Auto – Before, you had to tap the screen or push a button on the steering wheel. “It’s been more than six months since Google’s I/O conference, where it first shared that it would enable hotword support in Android Auto. The company also said at the time that it would integrate Waze, but that is also taking some time to surface.” https://www.engadget.com/2016/12/01/android-auto-ok-google/
NVIDIA – NVIDIA-Powered Cars Unveiled at Los Angeles Auto Show – “At AutoMobility LA, NVIDIA moderated a panel called “Artificial Intelligence: The Future of Transportation.” Speakers Sky Matthews, CTO of IBM Watson; CJ Frost, principal solutions architect of Amazon Alexa; and Nikhil George, senior manager of Perception and Machine Learning of Audi ERL, presented insights on how AI is transforming how we drive cars, and how cars will soon drive us.” – https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/2016/11/19/nvidia-los-angeles-auto-show/
Ford – SYNC 3 Emulator for iOS and Android – “FordDev has the SYNC3 Emulator tool for the AppLink community making it easy and cost-efficient to develop your apps compatible with the new SYNC 3 system. SYNC 3 AppLink Emulator is a software program that helps developers create AppLink-enabled apps by allowing them to test how their app will look and work on a SYNC 3 interface – without access to an actual vehicle. Android emulator here: https://developer.ford.com/pages/tools-android. iOS emulator here: https://developer.ford.com/pages/tools-ios
The emulator allows a smartphone to connect to the developer’s computer – just like it would normally connect to SYNC 3. The software platform then mimics SYNC 3 by connecting to the app running from the developer’s phone. The user fine-tunes the look and functionality of the app, then can instantly see how the created features would appear on the in-vehicle touch screen.
33 companies – Google and Tesla and a host of other auto brands and tech companies are investing heavily in autonomous vehicle R&D. “Private companies working in auto tech are on pace to attract record levels of deals and funding in 2016, with autonomous driving startups leading the charge. As expectations around self-driving vehicles have risen, major corporations have ramped up their own initiatives, racing to deploy technology onto public roads.” https://www.cbinsights.com/blog/autonomous-driverless-vehicles-corporations-list/
Intel – “Intel has developed a platform solution that spans both hardware and software for Advanced Driver Assisted Systems (ADAS), Software Defined Cockpits and the heavy compute capabilities required for the fully autonomous cars of tomorrow. These solutions include scalable compute architectures stretching from the Atom to Xeon processors, coupled with capabilities in vision processing, 5G, cloud, machine learning and security.” https://newsroom.intel.com/editorials/new-leader-intels-iot-business-elevating-automated-driving/ and
https://newsroom.intel.com/press-kits/autonomous-driving-intel/
Is your Developer Relations Program Evangelizing for Connected Cars?
You can read more about companies with developer relations programs that are Doing Great Things with Telematics.
If your developer program is associated with cars, trucks, telematics, connected cars, autonomous vehicles, and other developer technologies that interface to cars, trucks and other transportation systems, send me an email.
—
David Intersimone “David I”
Vice President of Developer Communities
Evans Data Corporation
davidi@evansdata.com
Blog: https://www.devrelate.com/blog/
Skype: davidi99
Twitter: @davidi99
