Get ready for the networked car

Stuart Corner
Friday, 15 December 2006 16:29

Business IT - Technology

There are millions of motor vehicles on the planet but communications with them are still rudimentary. Not for much longer. Three international organisations will launch a major initiative to promote the fully networked car at this year's Geneva Motor show, and guess who is sponsoring it...

The World Standards Cooperation, an entity comprising the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the International Standards Organisation (ISO0 and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), will stage a workshop at the show from 7 to 9 March 2007, accompanied by an exhibition that will run the length of the public days from 8 to 18 March, as well as the press days, on 6 and 7 March. Seven hundred square meters will be made available for the exhibition.

The organiser promise that the event "will bring together the key specialists in the field, from top decision-makers to engineers, designers, planners, government officials, regulators, standards experts and others."

They say it is essential for all stakeholders "to come to grips with an area that is having a profound influence on how motor vehicles are developed, experienced and sold," and one that represents "an ever-increasing share of added value and innovation in the automotive industry." They contend that the convergence of telecommunications and information technologies has given rise to a host of automotive applications that are both fascinating and complex. "They have the potential to vastly improve vehicle safety and mobility, while increasing comfort and enjoyment"

However they say these application raise some fundamental questions. "What are the right business models in linking the automotive and telecoms sectors? What are the legal and policy constraints? How do we face the technical and engineering challenges? How do we make sure that the right standards are adopted to deal with the complexity of so many electronic components and to allow this market to develop its full potential? These and many other issues will be discussed."

And the sponsors? None other than Cisco Systems along with Ygomi LLC which owns Connexis, a company that "working partnership with vehicle manufacturers worldwide to develop a groundbreaking approach to vehicle communications [that] can improve road safety and the driver experience."