Vol. 24, No. 9◆◆ hansenreport.com November 2011 MirrorLink Sound Engineering for Electric Vehicles Standardization: Difficult Apple and Google Not Onboard uct management or marketing to roll The Car Connectivity Consortium MirrorLink out into handsets.” Samsung, An Emerging Field Ripe for Innovation (CCC) backing the MirrorLink which holds the leading share of “We started from a blank page. There smartphone connectivity standard issued a smartphone shipments with 24% of the was no history on this topic,” declared press release earlier this fall that was a global market in the third quarter, accord- Nicolas Misdariis, head researcher of the little misleading. The release stated that ing to Strategy Analytics, is a member of sound perception and design team at the consortium is “backed by 60% of the the consortium but declined to be inter- IRCAM (Institut de Recherché et Coor- automotive market and 60% of the viewed on behalf of this story. dination Acoustique/Musique) Centre smartphone market, worldwide.” More Among the handset makers, only Pompidou, Paris. He was describing the precisely stated, the consortium members MirrorLink’s chief sponsor, , is pub- assignment his team undertook two years collectively hold 60% share of the auto- licly committing to the standard, and they ago when Renault asked the institute to motive and smartphone markets. While are doing so in a big way. “All help create sound for the Zoe, one of four the CCC does have some pretty influen- phones from last year onwards will be new electric vehicles from Renault. The tial members, most notably General compatible with MirrorLink, with a Zoe is due in mid-2012. Creating the Motors, Volkswagen, Toyota, Hyundai, download from the Ovi store,” said direc- sounds that electric vehicles will make is a PSA and Honda among carmakers, and tor of Nokia Automotive Floris van de rare opportunity for developers in auto- Nokia, Samsung, HTC, LG Electronics Klashorst. Nokia’s Ovi app store did not motive electronics to work in an area that and Mobility among device yet offer any MirrorLink products in early is entirely new. makers, membership does not mean a November of this year. Nokia ranked At speeds above 20 km/h, electric ve- company is necessarily committed to put- third in global market share, with 14% of hicles make about as much sound as cars ting MirrorLink-enabled products into the the smartphone market in Q3 2011. with internal combustion engines, due to market. The level of support for the stan- Early this year, Nokia announced that wind and tire noise. But because EVs dard varies widely. it will switch from the Symbian platform make very little noise at low speeds, they For example, I was told by a well- to adopt Microsoft’s operating system for must generate sound electronically so pe- placed source that HTC has a MirrorLink new to better compete with destrians and bicyclists will hear when a membership only to track what is going Apple’s iPhone and smartphones using vehicle is approaching. The sound should on. I was also told that MirrorLink proto- Google’s Android operating system. vary according to the vehicle’s speed and types developed by LG Electronics and “[While] the first of these Nokia Windows acceleration to give more auditory clues to Samsung were only research projects, and phones will not support MirrorLink, in its approach. Despite the need to alert that “there is no commitment from prod- Turn to MirrorLink, page 2 pedestrians, the EV sound should not be so noisy that carmakers miss an opportu- MirrorLink Connectivity Architecture nity to contribute to a quieter soundscape. Virtual Network Computing (VNC) is used to replicate the phone’s display and to control the And importantly, because the sound will smartphone from the vehicle’s switches and touch screens. In order to be independent of the become inseparable from the vehicle’s physical transport mechanism, brand identity, it needs to evoke very MirrorLink MirrorLink uses Internet protocol positive impressions. RTP & BT VNC technologies. It supports legacy Audio Display & User Input Another requirement adding to the wireless solutions including project’s difficulty was that the sound had UPnP Application Discovery & Configuration Hands Free Profile (HFP) and to please many important people at Advanced Audio Distribution Profile Renault, all of whom have strong opin- Internet Protocol (A2DP). Universal Plug and Play ions about what a Renault electric vehicle BT (UPnP) is used to give access to only a ought to sound like. Upper management Audio WLAN USB 2.0 Bluetooth limited set of applications. The wired would have the final say, but the people USB connection supports charging. who tune exhaust systems for sound, the RTP: Real-time Transport Protocol; BT Audio: Bluetooth Audio; Turn to Sound, page 8 WLAN: Wireless Local Area Network Source: Car Connectivity Consortium MirrorLink... Continued from page 1 the future we are committed to include mented. But I haven’t seen it as a ‘must’ “This is similar to how Apple sees itself MirrorLink in Nokia Windows phones,” feature to be implemented right now. The in this industry. Apple has their propri- said Mr. van de Klashorst. Microsoft de- question remains how much compatibility etary standard, iPod Out. They are all clined our invitation to say whether or [with smartphones] will there be. Mobile about controlling the user experience. I not it is backing MirrorLink; it is not a devices don’t support MirrorLink on a don’t see them changing that philosophy.” member of the CCC. broad enough basis,” he said, adding, Google and Apple both declined our re- The German Five carmakers, Daimler, “MirrorLink really needs to be supported peated invitations to comment on Audi, Porsche, Volkswagen and BMW, by the maker of the operating system; it whether or not they will support had initially supported Terminal Mode clearly needs to be rooted into the capa- MirrorLink. (now MirrorLink) through the CE4A bilities of the operating system.” Samsung presented two prototype consortium, but it is not clear how much Mr. Teichner has joined Loewe, the MirrorLink-compatible Android support they are giving it now. Audi, German high-end home entertainment smartphones at the Car Connectivity Porsche and BMW are not members of manufacturer, as a member of the execu- Summit 2011 in Chicago in September. the Car Connectivity Consortium. “I tive board and CTO. According to Mika Rytkönen, Nokia’s don’t see a big drive by the German director of industry collaboration and Car carmakers to adopt the technology,” said No Apple, No Google Connectivity Consortium president, Harman International CTO and co-presi- Among smartphone makers, the most “Some of the device makers in the An- dent of Harman Automotive, Sachin notable absentees from the CCC are droid camp have created workarounds so Lawande. “MirrorLink is a good attempt, Google, whose Android operating system Android licensees can build support for but it’s not quite there yet.” underpins 43.4% of the global smartphone MirrorLink.” It’s not clear if those “Many of the people who are partici- market, and Apple, whose iOS operating workarounds were sanctioned by Google. pating [in the CCC] more or less just want system supports 18.2% of the market. According to Andy Gryc, automotive to know what is going on; that is not “To be MirrorLink compliant you’ve product marketing manager for QNX, 100% support, and it definitely doesn’t got to be part of the consortium, you’ve who was at the Car Connectivity Summit, mean it will find its way into products on got to pay your membership fee and go “People who build phones based on An- a broad scale,” explained Detlef Teichner, through the MirrorLink certification pro- droid were there, so I think MirrorLink vice president of R&D for Continental’s cess,” explained Tom Blackie, vice presi- will eventually get supported. However, infotainment and connectivity division, dent, mobile at Real VNC, a 70-person today there are a lot of challenges which who spoke to us on his last day at Conti- software firm headquartered in Cam- make the [MirrorLink/Android] devices nental. “From the OEMs and RFQs and so bridge, U.K. “That is almost completely run pretty slow.” forth, I see there is an interest, they want the opposite of how Google wants to do continued on page 3 to understand how it might be imple- things.

J.D. Power and Associates’ 2011 U.S. Multimedia © 2011 Paul Hansen Associates, 150 Quality and Satisfaction Study Pinehurst Rd., Portsmouth, NH 03801, USA. Telephone: 603-431-5859. Fax: 603- Multimedia Systems Including AM-FM Radio, 431-5791. Email: [email protected]. J.D. Power and Associates’ Single CD Player, Satellite Radio and Navigation All rights reserved. Materials may not be 2011 U.S. Multimedia Quality Problems per 100 Vehicles reproduced in any form without written and Satisfaction Study, released permission. in September, confirmed that Denso/Fujitsu Ten NC* 7.3 The Hansen Report on Automotive Electron- problems with multimedia sys- ics is published at www.hansenreport.com 10.0 tems increase along with the Delphi Corp. 10 times a year, monthly; July/August and system’s complexity. Clarion 10.8 December/January are combined issues. When the system consists of Back issues are available for $50 each. AM/FM, single CD player and Alpine Electronics 11.1 Single and multi-user electronic subscription satellite radio, the industry av- Segment Average 12.1 information and a searchable index are avail- erage was just 4.8 problems per able at www.hansenreport.com. Paul Hansen hundred vehicles. When navi- Harman International 12.3 Associates is a strategy and market research gation is added, the industry firm consulting to the electronics industry. average jumps to 12.1 problems Mitsubishi Electric 13.0 Publisher/Editor Paul Hansen per hundred vehicles. 13.8 Hyundai Mobis Managing Editor/ Brianne Wolfe The survey was based on re- Circulation Manager sponses from 73,000 MY 2011 Bosch 19.2 Director of Marketing Michelle Long vehicle owners in the U.S. *Non-competitive split sourcing; Denso supplies navigation, Fujitsu Ten supplies the audio system ISSN 1040-1105

Page 2, November 2011 The Hansen Report on Automotive Electronics, Portsmouth, NH USA www.hansenreport.com MirrorLink... Continued from page 2 Some Carmakers Warming to MirrorLink irrorLink turns the vehicle’s infotainment system into a smartphone terminal: MirrorLink has some major auto indus- Msmartphone applications can be viewed on the vehicle’s display, heard on the audio try players who support it, for example system and controlled by means of the vehicle’s HMI. Toyota will be the world’s first carmaker Benefits Main Challenges to offer MirrorLink connectivity. Later Reduces the number of different smartphone ◆ Getting a critical mass of MirrorLink this year the Toyota Touch Life infotain- protocols the infotainment system must smartphones into drivers’ hands. Google ment system will be available as a dealer- accommodate. and Apple are not yet onboard. Google’s installed option in Europe on the Toyota ◆ Lets low-end infotainment systems benefit Android operating system supports 43% of iQ city car. According to Toyota, the from smartphone applications such as the world’s smartphone market; Apple’s Nokia Car Mode app with MirrorLink navigation, social media and Internet radio. iOS supports 18% of the world’s support will initially be available for ◆ Lets automakers decide which apps to smartphone market. download only on Nokia phones with the present to the vehicle and when they can be ◆ MirrorLink infotainment systems play only Symbian Belle OS. Other Nokia phones used. what’s on the smartphone; apps can’t be will be supported “at a later date.” Touch ◆ Gives smartphone app makers access to re-skinned with the carmaker’s brand and Life will also connect to Apple iPhones some vehicle data at the carmaker’s messages. running iOS 4 or later. The iQ’s head unit discretion. ◆ Developing a process to certify and test is reportedly from Panasonic, which de- ◆ Carmakers could create smartphone apps apps to meet each carmaker’s and each ploys commercial connectivity software that work on smartphones from multiple region’s driver workload standards. Driver from RealVNC. vendors. distraction is a very complicated issue; Apart from the Toyota application, ◆ The vehicle’s display and controls are some suggest it will be difficult to certify RealVNC’s VNC Mobile Solution for Au- safer to use than the smartphone’s while that an app does not cause distraction. tomotive can support multiple mobile de- driving. vice platforms, not only MirrorLink but iPhone, Android and Windows Mobile as Sponsor: Car Connectivity Consortium, www.carconnectivity.org, especially Nokia well. An end user would simply download Most Active Carmakers: General Motors, Daimler, Volkswagen and Toyota to his smartphone an app containing the VNC Mobile Server software designed to as testing and certifying the applications commit Chrysler to the standard. “How work with the VNC Mobile Viewer soft- are safe before they get put in the car.” do you alter the HMI to make it safe, as ware installed in the head unit. No ac- GM got involved, Mr. Tom explained fur- opposed to just mirroring what is on your commodation from the operating system ther, “because we wanted to make it more mobile device onto the head unit? My platform or the device maker is required. suitable to the automotive use case. ... advice to the whole industry is to slow Daimler, who deployed MirrorLink in Over the next year we will be working on way down and focus on the driver distrac- its F125 research car at the 2011 Frankfurt guidelines that application developers can tion issue, because if we mess this one up, Motor Show, will apply the standard in a understand, and then putting together a the regulatory guys will come after us,” he new vehicle in 2013, said Mr. Rytkönen. process so the applications can be tested cautioned. General Motors went on record a year and certified.” Mr. Zenios also noted that the longer ago as not in support of what then was Ford’s director of Connected Services the industry takes to agree on a standard Terminal Mode: “Everybody will have Solutions, Doug VanDagens, told us that solution, the more proprietary systems will their own way of doing something similar; while Ford’s proprietary AppLink connec- emerge, making adoption of an industry- it won’t be limited to what is being de- tivity is sufficient for today’s applications wide standard even less probable. fined by Nokia,” said Micky Bly, executive such as streaming Internet radio and static director of global electrical systems, graphics images, Ford is evaluating Harman and QNX Have Reservations infotainment and electrification at Gen- MirrorLink and some other alternatives One of the biggest objections to eral Motors. Today GM is an active mem- capable of handling more demanding MirrorLink being voiced in the industry is ber of CCC, and Alfred Tom, a GM video applications coming in the future, that the carmaker must essentially turn researcher and investment analyst, chairs particularly navigation and streaming over his display and audio system to what- the Ecosystem Working Group, one of maps. Meanwhile, Ford is looking at the ever application is on the customer’s three CCC working groups and the only possibility of making AppLink available smartphone. “The screen will be owned one headed by someone outside Nokia. to other OEMs, based on inquiries it has by whoever creates the smartphone app,” I asked Mr. Tom what led to GM’s ap- received from carmakers and suppliers. said QNX’s Andy Gryc, senior product parent change of heart about MirrorLink. At Chrysler, vice president for con- marketing manager. “For example, if “Mr. Bly wasn’t a supporter of the original nectivity and infotainment Marios Zenios Nokia creates an application that does 1.0 and 1.0.1 specifications,” he said, “but has serious concerns about technology navigation and multimedia control, it is MirrorLink is about to release version 1.1, such as MirrorLink’s contribution to their brand that will show up on the head which addresses some of his concerns such driver distraction, and is in no hurry to continued on page 8

The Hansen Report on Automotive Electronics, Portsmouth, NH USA www.hansenreport.com November 2011, Page 3 The Company Profile... S1nn GmbH & Co. KG

Thumbnail Sketch S1nn Sales by Year S1nn Employees by Year 2007 to 2011 CAGR: 61.6% Headquarters: Gropiusplatz 10, 2008 to 2011 CAGR: 152.7% 75 € D-70563 Stuttgart, Germany; in millions 115 Tel.: 49 (711) 901219-0; www.s1nn.de 100 Founded: 2004 42 € 2010 Sales: 68.7 million 68.7 24 € 17 2011 Sales Forecast: 100 million 11 R&D: approximately 10% of sales Employees: 75 22.3 € 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Sales per Employee: 1.333 million 6.2 Products: Connectivity devices and S1nn regularly uses outside contract audio components 2008 2009 2010 2011* 2012* engineers, which adds 25%, on average, to Top Customer: Volkswagen Group *estimated the workforce total. Market: 100% Automotive OEM; all customers are German. S1nn Sales by Product S1nn Customers Ranked by Sales Ownership: ANTAS GmbH, € Flextronics, founders (minority shares) 2010 Sales Total: 68.7 million Speakers, 3% Volkswagen Subwoofers, R&D Services, 5% Skoda 4.5% Audi Amplifiers, Ford Background 7.5% Seat While most companies profiled in The Daimler Hansen Report are major tier one and tier Tesla Connectivity two suppliers whose products and strate- Bentley gies shape automotive electronics trends, Products, this month’s profile takes a look at a small 80% German start-up that sees a niche for it- self in the already overcrowded and highly The Founders systems into the vehicle. Mr. Heim is also competitive infotainment market. With S1nn was founded in September 2004, a managing director of S1nn; he is respon- fewer than 100 employees, S1nn believes in Esslingen, Germany. Its four founders sible for all R&D, plus project manage- it can provide carmakers the best bang for all previously worked for companies serv- ment and purchasing. their audio system buck: high quality ing the OEM automotive market, and all Prior to S1nn, Heiko Henkelmann, age sound from inexpensive components. were at some time associated with Bose 45, was in charge of European automotive The company name is derived from the Corporation, which has created one of the electrical engineering and software devel- German word for sense: Sinn. S1nn litera- strongest audio brands in the world. Three opment at Bose. Mr. Henkelmann serves ture states that hearing is the first cogni- were employed by Bose; one worked for a as S1nn’s unofficial chief technical officer. tive human sense that develops, and that Bose supplier. All four founders hold man- Michael Fabry, age 47, was Bose’s top the ear is the number one organ of human agement positions with S1nn. audio engineer in Europe. As S1nn’s audio perception. The company’s goal is to “re- Philipp Popov, age 55, was in charge of technology expert, Mr. Fabry is known by produce every possible sound pattern one automotive sales for infotainment industry his colleagues as “the Ear.” to one,” that is, to make the listener feel leader Harman International in Germany, “We all had come to the conclusion like he is hearing a sound exactly as it was until the end of 2003. Before that he that there should be room for another au- created. worked at Bose headquarters in Fram- tomotive audio supplier, one that isn’t tied In Europe, S1nn is pronounced “sin,” ingham, Massachusetts. Mr. Popov is a to a specific brand,” said Andreas Heim. but in English-speaking countries the managing director of S1nn, responsible for “We had the know-how, we knew how to company refers to itself as “s-one-n-n.” sales and financials. integrate very good audio systems into a The business serves only the automotive Andreas Heim, age 42, worked until vehicle, and we wanted to do it at a very original equipment market. 2005 for Schefenacker, a now-defunct attractive price. Bose and other branded German tier one that was responsible for audio systems such as those from Harman the mechanical integration of Bose retailed for about 1,000 euros. We be-

Page 4, November 2011 The Hansen Report on Automotive Electronics, Portsmouth, NH USA www.hansenreport.com The Company Profile Continued

has a personal relationship with each of R&D Facilities the founders. “He is an audiophile with Shareholders quite a lot of automotive experience,” said in Order of Ownership Share Stuttgart, Germany Mr. Heim. “He is absolutely convinced of our ability to provide added value with 1. ANTAS GmbH, a privately owned Karlsruhe, Germany our know-how and our cost performance investment company based in Stuttgart In January 2012, S1nn plans to open a ratio.” S1nn pays no management fees to software engineering facility that will ANTAS. 2. Flextronics Corporation employ between eight and 12 people. ANTAS GmbH, based in Stuttgart, is not to be confused with Antas GmbH & 3. Michael Fabry San Diego, California Co. KG, an information technology com- Andreas Heim Five to eight employees by 2012 pany based in Ginsheim-Gustavsburg, Heiko Henkelmann Germany. S1nn’s ANTAS does not have a Philipp Popov website. lieved we could fill a niche in the middle, at around 600 euros, below the premium Flextronics S1nn’s liquidity was sufficient to sup- brands and above entry-level unbranded S1nn, who has been committed from port strong sales in 2009, a very tough audio.” its beginning to a fabless strategy, mean- year for the auto industry. “We were lucky S1nn’s first order was not for an audio ing no in-house manufacturing, began with our product timing,” said Mr. Popov. system, but for its media device interface working with the electronics manufactur- “Bluetooth and iPod connectivity were (MDI), an ECU that supports consumer ing services company Flextronics in 2006. really taking off. Even with the lower ve- device connectivity to the vehicle’s audio Today Flextronics manufactures 100% of hicle production volumes, we were grow- system. The customer was Volkswagen, the electronics S1nn sells. Based in ing. There is still a big demand for such Europe’s largest carmaker. Heiko Henkel- Singapore, Flextronics generates $30 bil- applications in the car.” Cash flow posi- mann described the MDI as “an ECU that lion worth of sales annually. Flextronics is tive, S1nn managers keep their eyes talks to the CAN bus, to the head unit S1nn’s second-largest shareholder. mainly on revenues, gross margins and and to the vehicle’s HMI [human ma- “We work very closely with Flex- engineering expenses. S1nn’s EMS pro- chine interface]. It provides an interface tronics, starting with the product defini- vider, Flextronics, carries most of the in- to an iPod, MP3 player and USB-based tion phase to identify the best parts in ventory. mass storage device. The user can browse terms of quality, cost and performance,” and select songs, operate an iPod or any said Mr. Heim. “Not only do we leverage Capital Structure other player.” Connectivity products ac- Flextronics’ huge purchasing volumes, we S1nn managers are not opposed to count for 80% of S1nn’s revenue. can also utilize their global footprint. For bringing in additional equity partners as S1nn’s second order came from Audi, example, we can develop a product in long as they are strategic. “A partnership for the mid-level audio system on the Q5. Wolfsburg that can be simultaneously pro- should lead to more infotainment market “This is a good example of what we do,” duced in Europe, China and North share,” said Mr. Heim. “Our core compe- said Mr. Henkelmann. “We developed America.” tency is integrating consumer electronics and tuned the entire system, including into the car in a reliable way. We are one amplifier and bass box [subwoofer], which Financial Performance of the first automotive electronics compa- we make. We also integrated and helped A private company, S1nn was able to nies to have this business model of relying develop the speakers; those came directly provide only a few details about its finan- entirely on outside manufacturing. We from a Chinese tier-one manufacturer.” cial performance to The Hansen Report. have a very lean logistics and manufactur- In connectivity, S1nn most frequently Still considered a startup, it made its first ing process, which we manage with our competes with Continental, Harman In- profit in 2010, a 2% operating margin. In own customized SAP [business manage- ternational, Novero (formerly Nokia’s au- 2011, S1nn will do somewhat better, with ment] software. We can support customers tomotive business), LG Electronics and an operating margin still in the single dig- in different regions of the world using Visteon. its. The company has no borrowings be- Flextronics’ manufacturing facilities.” yond the long-term loans provided by its Intent on taking the company well be- ANTAS GmbH, Stuttgart two major shareholders, ANTAS and yond its German roots, as well as showing S1nn’s controlling shareholder is Flextronics. Those loans, at interest rates consistent sales growth and profits, S1nn ANTAS, a small family-run investment below 4.5%, have no due dates. “Our bal- shareholders intend to wait another four firm that is also a co-founder of the com- ance sheet and ratings are good enough to to seven years before considering taking pany. With the final say on major deci- satisfy our main customers, who have seen the company public. sions, ANTAS’ director of investments them,” said Mr. Heim. continued on following page

The Hansen Report on Automotive Electronics, Portsmouth, NH USA www.hansenreport.com November 2011, Page 5 S1nn GmbH & Co. KG

Strategy “We were thinking, what Cisco can do, or head unit is already in production so it A connectivity and audio manufac- what Apple or Dell can do, we can do.” can’t be changed; it is our box that must turer not at all intent on building its own S1nn will stick with its fabless strategy be changed by modifying the software pro- consumer brand, S1nn is more interested even as it grows. “Did Apple bring manu- tocols,” said Mr. Henkelmann. “That in establishing its brand among the facturing in house when it grew?” Mr. work is ongoing.” A total of 2.2 million carmakers it serves. “We want to be a Popov quipped. MDI and UHV electronic control units brand within the OEM world, similar to While S1nn’s market development ef- (ECUs) have shipped thus far, all of them the way Gentex is,” said Mr. Heim. “Their forts are focused on Volkswagen Group to Volkswagen Group customers. electronic dimming mirrors are in many and the other German OEMs, it is also cars despite being unknown to most con- exploring ways to bring its U.S. business ◆ MDI sumers.” to the next level. A few years ago, provid- The company’s biggest seller, MDI, is an What does S1nn mean to the ing contract engineering work for Flex- ECU that supports USB/MTP (Media carmakers it serves? Good value, agility, tronics, S1nn developed electronics Transfer Protocol), iPod and Aux-In con- flexibility and honesty were some of the hardware to run Ford’s first generation nectivity for consumer devices and pro- attributes cited by S1nn’s founders. “As Sync, based on Microsoft’s reference de- vides access to the vehicle via the CAN we work with our customers they see the sign. Initially, Continental was the sole bus. “That vehicle interface is, of course, personal commitment of the four source for Sync hardware. isolated from the consumer devices to founders, as well as that of the entire Flextronics manufactures the silver box avoid corruption from hackers,” said Mr. team,” said Mr. Heim. “We are always that runs Bluetooth, speech recognition Henkelmann. The ECU has two upfront with our customers. This is our and text-to-speech features in Sync, and microcontrollers: a 16-bit device that con- culture.” enables the USB, iPod and Aux-In con- nects to the CAN bus, and a 32-bit micro If there is one word to describe S1nn’s nections accessible to the driver. “We did that handles the consumer devices. competitive distinction it’s agility. Com- the validation for that product and a lot pared with all of the companies it com- of the certification for Bluetooth,” said ◆ UHV petes with, S1nn is much smaller. But this Mr. Heim. “We delivered the product de- S1nn’s second-biggest seller, UHV, is makes it faster on its feet, according to sign including the EMI concept in just an electronic control unit that links the Mr. Henkelmann: “It can take three years eight months. S1nn is working on another vehicle to several hundred types of mobile to develop an automotive product, which development for Ford, which we hope devices via Bluetooth, using either the stays on the market for six years, at least. leads Ford to consider our new connectiv- A2DP (Advanced Audio Distribution And then you have the consumer elec- ity products.” Profile) or AVRCP (Audio/Video Remote tronics product development that takes S1nn will soon begin shipments of a Control Profile). The ECU provides just six months. The auto industry has to digital amplifier to the U.S. electric-ve- speech recognition and text-to-speech be a lot quicker. That’s where our flexibil- hicle maker Tesla. S1nn would also like to functions for phone book operation, using ity and agility will give us an advantage.” do more work with Daimler, with whom it a speech engine from Nuance Communi- The company’s strategy to rely com- is developing a connectivity silver box for cations. It can also potentially read text pletely on outside manufacturing, includ- a new infotainment system that will be messages to the driver. ing materials management, contributes to available in May 2012. “Our goal is to fur- its agility. Management needn’t spend a ther develop our base market in Germany ◆ Amplifiers lot of time worrying about how to keep followed by the U.S.,” noted Mr. Heim. S1nn has developed a low cost audio manufacturing lines moving. “We also have an eye on Asia.” amplifier priced at 40 to 50 euros. Audi “From the very beginning we chose the and Tesla are customers. fabless business model,” said Mr. Popov. Products Two main connectivity products, the New Products S1nn’s Core Competencies media device interface (MDI) and the ◆ New Infotainment Head Units Universal Handy Vorbereitung (prepara- Building on its UHV connectivity tion or organizer) or UHV, comprise the ECU business, S1nn is developing two ◆ Sales and project management vast majority of what S1nn ships. A big new head units, one based on Android, ◆ Acoustics and system engineering part of the work done by S1nn is making the open source mobile computing plat- ◆ Electronics hardware, software and certain that each MDI and UHV not only form developed by Google, and the other systems integration interoperates properly with all types and on HTML5. HTML5 is the open source ◆ Mechanical design, packaging and versions of consumer devices, but also programming language used on the Web styling with the specific Volkswagen Group head for presenting multimedia content, which ◆ Supplier management and logistics unit it will be connected to. Volkswagen is why it is finding its way into vehicles ◆ Quality management and validation Group currently has at least 20 different with embedded infotainment systems head unit variations. “Quite often the linked to smartphones and the Internet. 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“Our vision is to bring the car into the available that were recorded with Auro- Sound Design for Electric Vehicles Internet and the Internet into the car,” 3D technology. Mr. Fabry noted, “Our S1nn engineers have been working in the noted Mr. Heim. Both infotainment plat- customers really liked it, but if there are newly emerging field of sound design for forms will be scalable, meaning they will only a thousand recordings out there, electric vehicles. Without engines, elec- be able to cover a range of product offer- what is the point?” tric vehicles are pretty quiet at low speeds ings from the low cost to high end. Working with Auro-3D engineers, and can sneak up on unaware pedestrians, The first Android head unit product is S1nn found a way to adapt the Auro-3D creating a safety hazard. Another sound scheduled for 2013. The first HTML5 technology so it provides a three-dimen- problem for electric-vehicle makers is the head unit product will come after that. sional experience even when listening to EV’s cabin. When traveling at high Prototypes of both versions are available non-3D recordings. And further, S1nn speeds, with no engine noise to mask me- now. Actual-size prototypes will be avail- optimized the technology for the automo- chanical and road noise, electric vehicles able in early 2012. bile. “Now we can process mono, stereo or can sound cheap; the driver can hear vi- “The particular path, whether it be 5.1 and make it sound like a 3D experi- brations, air leaks, squeaks and rattles he Android or HTML5, depends on what the ence,” explained Mr. Fabry. would not have noticed with an internal carmaker wants,” said Mr. Henkelmann. In the home, Auro-3D 9.1 systems (10 combustion engine running. Carmakers “Android gives you access to a large mar- speakers and 9 channels) utilize two pairs are developing audio systems that replace ket of apps and a big ecosystem of support. of height speakers mounted near the ceil- the engine noise with engine-like sound, HTML5 gives you seamless transitions ing, an approach that places sound around both to mask unwanted noise for the ve- between local apps and apps that are in and above the listener. But that arrange- hicle occupants and to create a warning the cloud,” he said. ment isn’t possible in cars. Mr. Fabry: sound for pedestrians. As infotainment systems get more and “Car speakers are installed in crazy posi- S1nn has already developed a proto- more complex, one of the biggest chal- tions; you are sitting asymmetrically, and type sound generator that has been in- lenges is developing voluminous amounts you can’t have the height speakers stalled in a customer’s electric vehicle. It of software in a timely fashion. S1nn is mounted two meters above you. And be- produces sound both outside and inside convinced the answer to software com- cause automotive is very cost sensitive, we the vehicle. plexity is reuse, of both applications and often have to compromise on the number Mr. Fabry explained the challenges: APIs. of speakers, their size and on the algo- “Since it will be located outside the cabin The new head units will include a glo- rithm.” in the motor compartment or under the bal, software-defined tuner capable of S1nn’s contribution to an Auro-3D vehicle, the sound transducer [speaker] playing radio anywhere, for example, implementation in a vehicle is twofold. will have to be rock solid, able to with- DAB in Europe or HD Radio and SDARS “First, the automotive version of the 3-D stand very high and low temperatures, (Satellite Digital Audio Radio Service) in algorithm comes from us,” said Mr. Fabry. humidity and salt. The housing has to be the United States. “The second factor is our expertise in us- sealed. But as the vehicle drives along ing equalizers, crossovers, compressors and pretty fast, these boxes will see a lot of low ◆ Auro-3D Audio limiters to fine tune the acoustics for the pressure. If the pressure inside the box is S1nn believes it is very close to secur- car. I have a background at Bose of ten allowed to remain unchanged, the speaker ing two orders from carmakers for audio years of tuning systems.” will experience a DC offset and then it systems based on Auro-3D technology S1nn first demonstrated an automo- cannot play. So we have to ventilate the from Auro Technologies, a business unit tive-optimized Auro-3D system to an box so the speaker works under all condi- of Galaxy Studios (Mol, Belgium). “State- OEM customer two years ago. According tions.” of-the-art audio has gone from monaural, to Mr. Fabry, “That got things going. On Given its environment outside the ve- to stereo, to 5.1, the current standard. 5.1 top of that, the carmakers’ marketing de- hicle, the speaker itself will not have pa- sounds very spacious, very interesting and partments have realized that consumers per cones, which would be vulnerable to very discrete. But Auro-3D sounds more are attracted to “3D” products, whatever moisture, and the voice coil won’t use natural, like the real event. It’s hard to that means. We have optimized the acous- neodymium magnets, which are vulner- explain, you really have to experience 3D tics to where we are absolutely convinced able to high temperature. The sound gen- sound. It’s what’s next,” said S1nn’s audio that this will be the future multichannel erating system consisting of speaker, expert, Michael Fabry. format in cars.” amplifier and sound algorithm is con- S1nn has had Auro-3D-equipped demo Future revenues will come through nected to the vehicle’s CAN network, so vehicles in the field for several years. Auro Technology, not the OEM custom- it can change as the vehicle accelerates or While carmakers have been impressed ers. S1nn provides no hardware to imple- decelerates to give pedestrians, especially with the sound quality, they doubted the ment Auro-3D software, which it licenses those who are visually impaired, an au- feature could be commercially successful from Auro Technologies. dible clue about what the oncoming since there are relatively few selections vehicle is doing. ◆

The Hansen Report on Automotive Electronics, Portsmouth, NH USA www.hansenreport.com November 2011, Page 7 MirrorLink... Continued from page 3 unit display. That doesn’t mean that the gence on the client side,” suggested devices, so you have to worry about things carmaker couldn’t create its own applica- Harman’s Mr. Lawande. “This would allow like different display resolutions and for- tions, but so far a lot of OEMs don’t seem an infotainment system to render the in- mats. It becomes a nightmarish issue. Mr. to be doing that.” formation the way it should be rendered Lawande likened the situation to the diffi- Still, Mr. Gryc believes that since some and not just blindly do a big dump.” culties the industry initially faced support- carmakers are asking for it, MirrorLink Mr. Lawande has numerous other ob- ing Bluetooth, which was supposed to be will be used, but it will be replaced in a jections to MirrorLink beyond the prob- standard on all phones. few years by a superior alternative— lem of giving up precious dashboard real “Now imagine a technology which is HTML5, the Hypertext Markup Language estate to Google or other interests. not standard, not natively supported by used widely in Web browsers and increas- “Harman did implement it initially, but Google, with people hacking work- ingly applied by mobile Web developers. we backed out because we don’t believe it arounds,” he said. “MirrorLink is a very “HTML5 would allow you to do things is the real solution. ... At a certain level, generic solution, and if everything goes similar to the remote display concept MirrorLink is too basic; all it does is push right, it might work, but chances are high MirrorLink uses but with more intelli- graphical output and input between two that it won’t.” ◆

Sound... Continued from page 1 noise vibration and harshness people and ism (MLIT) issued guidelines suggesting sounds related to the interaction between marketing would also weigh in. that quiet vehicles should generate sound the driver and the vehicle, for example “Our role was to understand all these that “reminds people of a vehicle in run- the welcome sound heard when entering inputs and synthesize them into a sonic ning condition.” In other words, electric the vehicle and the turn signal sound. realization. We started the project by vehicles should sound like engine-driven Paul Jennings, who heads an engineer- going to domains outside of the auto in- vehicles so blind people will recognize ing team at the University of Warwick dustry, like the cinema, to see how film- them. “We knew about that constraint (Coventry, England), has had a longstand- makers treated the problem. We looked at coming from the Japanese because of ing partnership with Jaguar to work on movies like Galactica, The Fifth Element Renault’s association with Nissan. We did interior sound quality. He has recently and THX 1138 for hints to imagine how some common work with both carmakers, become interested in sound design for an electric car might sound,” Mr. but this was not a strong constraint in the electric vehicles, specifically in helping Misdariis recalled. Renault project. While some of our pro- carmakers sample and choose what sounds Andrea Cera, an Italian sound designer posed sounds did imitate engine sounds, are best. and composer, was part of the IRCAM our last proposal was not engine-like,” Mr. According to Professor Jennings, team from the beginning. His work on Misdariis said. “People are now realizing how successful sound installations and electronic music “The sound we proposed to Renault the internal combustion engine is at composition was instrumental to this had a lot of layers,” he explained. “Some masking some of the irritations heard in- meeting of art and engineering. The of those layers are quite dense, quiet side the vehicle. You could either elimi- IRCAM team set up a sound prototyping windy sounds. Above this layer are some nate the irritations or bring in a masking environment based on MAX/MSP, a layers that fulfill the function of warning sound that covers them up. You might see graphical environment for music, audio the pedestrian that a vehicle is coming some carmakers use sound to affect the and multimedia. According to Mr. and at what speed it is coming. It is a hy- cabin’s ambiance. The driver could even Misdariis, “The environment allows us to brid of recorded and synthesized sound choose from a list the sound he wants to synthesize sound in real time. We put all that is modified in real time as a function hear, like the way suspension settings are the ideas we had into this environment, of the vehicle’s speed and acceleration.” chosen.” and we could create a lot of samples to Near the completion of its first applica- But IRCAM’s Mr. Misdariis isn’t at all test with the Renault engineers.” tion, the IRCAM team is presently tuning keen on the idea of adding more sound to The IRCAM team made recordings of the sound on the actual Zoe vehicle. what the driver already hears inside his urban environments and found that much vehicle. “We get a lot of criticism about of the sonic energy is in the range of 400 Internal Sound Design putting sound in an electric vehicle that is hertz, the frequency of sound emanating The IRCAM team has also done some silent and therefore improves the city’s from vehicles with internal combustion work developing what they refer to as the soundscape. At low speeds, we do have to engines. Their idea was to create the EV sonic computer human interface used in- add some sound for safety, but putting sounds at frequencies above that range so side the vehicle. They were asked to pro- sound inside the vehicle at high speeds is they could be easily heard at low volume. pose sounds that would be used to alert too much.” ◆ Last year the Japanese Ministry of the driver when the battery would run out For more, please see the Sound Design for Electric Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tour- of energy. They also developed other Vehicles section of the company profile, page 7.

Page 8, November 2011 The Hansen Report on Automotive Electronics, Portsmouth, NH USA www.hansenreport.com