REDMOND, Wash. — May 7, 2013 —
In the 1920’s, carmakers started offering an accessory that would
revolutionize the driving experience: the radio. While tooling down the
road you could tune into the nightly newscast, a live jazz performance
or the seventh game in the series. It provided a connected experience
that replaced the steady drone of the four liter under the hood with the
soaring notes of Duke Ellington’s bugle or the crack of Babe Ruth’s bat
as the ball hurtled toward the right-field stands.
Since then, the notion of the connected car has changed. Features such
as streaming music from your smartphone and using voice commands to
control the stereo and environment are standard equipment in many
models. And Microsoft has a vision for in-car technology that takes us
beyond the confines of the cockpit to what they call the intelligent car
— a scenario in which telematics data can help improve the driving
experience, and the design of the vehicle.
Led by Group Program Manager Pranish Kumar, the Windows Embedded
Automotive team is focused on fulfilling this vision and, in the
process, developing an upgradeable technology solution that extends the
useful life of the vehicle.
Says Kumar: “The automotive industry faces a lot of unique challenges,
perhaps first of which is that cars must be supportable for much longer
than consumer electronics devices — 10 or 20 years, in most cases. I
think we’ve developed a solid understanding of some of these challenges
and how technology can address them, while providing drivers with a
better experience.”
Microsoft’s
Pranish Kumar and his team work to develop reliable in-car experiences,
not by sitting at a desk but by working behind the wheel of a fleet of
test vehicles.
A relationship built on experience and trust
Microsoft’s involvement in the automotive industry stretches back 15
years to 1998 when the company partnered with Clarion to announce the
Auto PC, a first-of-its-kind solution that gave drivers access to email,
driving directions, paging and traffic alerts, and their entertainment
system. And in 2003 Microsoft developed the Microsoft TBox, a telematics
device that went on to power infotainment systems for a variety of
carmakers.
When it came to working directly with carmakers, Kumar says it was an
uphill battle to gain their trust. Many had tried to design their own
infotainment system and were convinced that it couldn’t be done in a
shorter time than seven or eight years. Microsoft has since proven
itself by reducing development time down to just two to three years.
Kumar’s team also adopted the same level of rigor and many of the
testing methodologies that carmakers use when conducting customer road
tests. Making this change gave the team a “greater degree of confidence”
that their development and reporting processes met the carmaker’s need
and that the finished product would meet or exceed the driver’s
expectations.
From the connected car to the intelligent car
For carmakers, the Promised Land lies in giving drivers the ability to
access information and services anywhere they live, whether an app on
their smartphones, a music file on their tablet at home, or customer
contact information on their computer at work or in the cloud. Over
time, members of the Windows Embedded Automotive team have earned a
reputation for providing solid insight to help make these experiences a
reality.
Together with Kumar, Creative Director John Hendricks, Principal
Program Manager Jay Loney, Partner Development Manager David Kelley, and
Experience Designers David Walker and Melissa Quintanilha are part of a
larger team developing and designing the future of Microsoft’s
automotive technologies.
Top Gear U.S.’s Tanner Foust talks with Microsoft engineers and designers about their vision for the future intelligent car.
In doing so, they are moving away from a focus on creating in-dash
technologies, such as the entertainment or navigation systems, to an
emphasis on creating a solution that would power these technologies as
part of an overall user experience. Taking this approach has given
carmakers the ability to provide periodic updates that refresh the
driving experience and extend compatibility to the latest consumer
devices.
In the future Microsoft wants to take that experience a step further.
Whereas today consumers demand a car that’s more connected — to their
phones, their music and their services — Windows Embedded Automotive is
focused on designing intelligent cars that respond to the driver’s
needs.
One example that Kumar cites involves the difficulty of pairing new
phones, which is one of the most frequent problems facing car owners.
According to IDC, 722 million smartphones were shipped globally in 2012,
a 46.1 percent increase over the previous year.[1] As demand for
smartphones continues, ensuring compatibility between new models and
infotainment systems will remain a challenge.
A Windows Embedded-based system could transmit data about the
unsuccessful pairing to Microsoft and overnight a solution could be
identified and downloaded to the car. When the owner gets in his car the
next morning, his phone would automatically pair. Over time, that same
data could be used to design a user experience that’s not only easier to
use but that performs tasks on your behalf, such as tuning to your
favorite station or rescheduling a meeting due to traffic delays.
Drivers also stand to gain from the availability of data. Many
vehicles contain sensors that monitor factors such as speed, braking,
fuel consumption, tire pressure and environmental conditions. Drivers
can already use this information to assess their performance and get
recommendations on how to improve fuel efficiency or vehicle
maintenance.
Using the same data, carmakers could augment the existing battery of
tests that are part of their proving process. So in addition to putting a
vehicle through the environmental extremes of Northern Sweden or
California’s Death Valley, they could evaluate its performance in
day-to-day conditions. Engineers and product planners could get a head
start on the next year’s model through insights around where design
improvements are needed or where a car has been over-engineered. They
could even fine tune an engine over-the-air to improve fuel economy of
the current model year.
Kumar believes that many of the systems are already in place to make
this vision a reality. Using technologies such as Windows Update, cars
could be automatically updated — in much the same way as smartphones
automatically update when you activate them. And the combination of big
data and machine learning could lead to cars that develop an
understanding of your preferences and driving behavior to become more
responsive to your needs.
“We’ve come a long way in terms of creating a product that works
reliably and meets the quality standards of the automotive industry. And
we’re continuing our work with carmakers to reach the full potential of
in-car technology,” says Kumar. “Through a combination of software,
hardware and user-centric design, we believe that car owners will
experience driving like never before possible.”
[1] IDC Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker, Jan. 24, 2013
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