Partnerships Approach Connected Car Market From Different Directions

The connected home is the current commerce command center. This next decade seems like it’s set to belong to the connected car.

As reported in this space Tuesday (March 23), smart car tech startup ECARX has teamed up with Volvo to develop in-car software systems. The company’s main areas of focus are chips used in smart car infotainment systems and high-definition maps, and the partnership is meant to improve user interfaces. While ECARX is the most recent tech company to announce a partnership that will see it developing more advanced functionality for in-car software systems, it is by far not the only one jumping on the smart car highway. Here are a few other ways companies are getting in on the connected-car game.

On Wednesday (March 24), Chicago-based HAAS Alert announced that it has hired a new VP of connected vehicle sales to expand its connected vehicle business unit.

The company already provides thousands of emergency vehicles real-time cellular-based data through its Safety Cloud platform to assist them in avoiding collisions while providing feedback on their whereabouts to monitoring stations. Now it seems poised to move its tech into the consumer fleet of connected cars.

“In the last six months, we’ve seen a surge in demand from automotive OEMs for integrating Safety Cloud’s real-time digital alerts into connected vehicle infotainment and ADAS systems,” said CEO Cory Hohs in a company statement. “Driver safety and vehicle technology are two of the most important factors that consumers consider when purchasing a new vehicle. Safety Cloud addresses both by leveraging connected vehicle technology to increase driver safety.”

Digital Safety

While connected cars bring myriad benefits to motorists, they will also carry with them the same downside as all other connected devices: they can be hacked. So the major cybersecurity firms are getting in on the game to shield smart cars from potential vulnerabilities. Last year cybersecurity firm Kaspersky announced that it had teamed with AVL Software and Functions GmbH to embed their secure OS into the electronic control unit that is at the heart of an advanced driver-assistance system.

Just this week, Panasonic said it had formed an alliance with McAfee, another well-known name in cybersecurity, to build a vehicle security operating center which is expected to come online in 2024. The center would monitor connected vehicles for breaches on behalf of automakers and alert them when a hack is spotted allowing the car manufacturers to take steps to either shut down the vulnerable system or deploy a software update.

Monetization

While those first two companies are focusing on security — both physical and digital — German sensor manufacturer HELLA has its eye on monetizing the data derived from connected vehicles. To that end, it announced Tuesday that it has bought a minority stake in Wejo, a connected-vehicle data company based in Detroit and Manchester, England. The plan is to take the data that comes from HELLA’s smart car sensors — which include radar feeds, battery monitors and modules that analyze rain, light and climate — with Wejo’s ability to sort the data and provide context.

“HELLA is already a strong supplier for a wide range of different sensors,” said HELLA Aglaia Managing Director Kay Talmi. “For us, Wejo is an important partner with whom we can also tap into the processing of sensor data in the cloud. More specifically, we want to gain a better understanding of how data is standardized, enriched, and turned into monetizable products on Wejo’s data marketplace. We are excited to leverage these findings to improve HELLA’s future product portfolio and explore new business models.”

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