THE HANSEN REPORT ON AUTOMOTIVE ELECTRONICS. A Business and Technology Newsletter VOL. 14, NO. 7◆◆ RYE, NH USA SEPTEMBER 2001 New Concepts in Telematics Computing Platforms— BMW 7 Series Many Alliances and Players By the end of this decade, nearly half vices will generate the majority of rev- In redesigning the 7 Series for 2002, of all new vehicles produced worldwide enue. That transition will happen before BMW’s electrical and electronics engi- will have a computing/communications the end of the decade, as the price of on- neering expertise is unmistakable— platform capable of running a variety of board telematics hardware comes down. manifest in a host of new features and telematics and multimedia applications, The hardware/software platform should functions and, less noticeable to consum- including direct access to the Internet. ideally retail for no more than five- or six- ers, in a highly-complex, sophisticated Broadly defined, telematics links comput- hundred dollars. electrical system architecture. ers with communications. When the term The fledgling market for embedded We recently asked Hans-Georg is applied to the automotive industry, telematics platform components is still Frischkorn, director of BMW’s electrical communications are wireless and include fragmented, with no single company tack- and electronics department, what he was GPS-determined data on the vehicle’s ling development of the entire platform. most proud of and what was most remark- location. Telematics players come from Rather, suppliers have organized them- able about the new 7 Series, which was information technology, telecommunica- selves into alliances around top compo- formally introduced on September 11 at tions and the automotive industry, and nent manufacturers. (Please see “Major the Frankfurt Auto Show. “Our biggest they include service providers and con- Telematics Players” on page 3.) While achievement in the 7 Series was to handle tent aggregators. The telematics industry most major carmakers say that some of the complexity of the total electrical sys- has been developing ways to economically their future telematics systems will be tem, bringing it to the level of quality and and seamlessly deliver telematics services based on Java technology from Sun reliability that is expected from a BMW.” end-to-end, from the service provider/ Microsystems (Palo Alto, California), it The amount of software in the car is on content aggregators’ back-end servers to is surprising to see how successful the same level as a modern aircraft. There computing platforms in vehicles. In this Microsoft (Redmond, Washington) has are about 70 control units, almost all of article, we focus on the embedded com- been with its WCEfA (Windows CE for which have flash memory. With flash puting platform. Automotive) platform. While there are (electrically reprogrammable semiconduc- The telematics platform embedded in many suppliers of microprocessors and tor memory), ECUs can be updated with the vehicle is made up of a microproces- operating systems, there are fewer suppli- new software—for repairs or with a new sor, an operating system and some applica- ers of Java middleware. feature—without exchanging physical tion programming interfaces. Specific Most carmakers and service providers parts. applications like navigation, or traffic in- around the world specify, or are consider- The overall architecture of the system formation services run on top of the plat- ing specifying, Java middleware, the layer includes a decentralized bus structure: one form. Java middleware, or a Java virtual above the operating system and below the fiber-optic bus for safety functions and machine is an important optional plat- applications. The use of Java is one sure one fiber-optic bus for entertainment form component. A Java virtual machine way to ensure multiple sources for hard- functions. BMW uses its ByteFlight event- (JVM) allows any type of computer to run ware and for software. The Java-based triggered protocol for the safety bus be- applications written in Java. platform allows applications to be reused cause it is capable of high-speed data Currently, embedded platforms like or updated, without starting from scratch, transmission, (10 Mbps) and it protects OnStar’s, which do not require a com- or they can be replaced with other Java- against transmission errors, according to puter in the vehicle, hold the biggest compatible applications. Java programs Mr. Frischkorn. Basic CAN is used for share of the embedded telematics market. run on a Java virtual machine, indepen- body electronics, and higher speed CAN To receive OnStar services today, only a dent of whatever may be underneath, for the powertrain. Transmission of data GPS receiver, a cell phone transceiver which makes the JVM an essential ele- for entertainment functions, which also and a modem must be installed. As more ment of Java’s portability feature. A vari- need a high data rate, is done with carmakers install embedded computers ety of microprocessors can run most MOST, which currently transmits at capable of running telematics and multi- operating systems designed for the media applications, and as more appealing telematics market, and many platform de- content is available, applications and ser- Turn to BMW, page 8 Turn to Telematics, page 2 Telematics... Continued from page 1 signers are specifying that operating sys- going to grow when you have true soft- group that defines Java standards. Accord- tems be compatible with Java middleware. ware portability, when the software isn’t ing to Mr. DeStefano, while IBM is using Another popular telematics platform is tied to somebody’s virtual machine or the Java coffee cup logo, it is not proper, Microsoft’s Windows CE for Automotive, somebody’s operating system or some- although Sun’s “legal department has de- which consists of the Windows CE oper- body’s microprocessor.” cided not to go after IBM because we ating system and some application pro- GM’s OnStar is currently working with don’t want to air dirty laundry.” gramming interfaces. While Java is an Sun to come up with Java middleware Sun has indicated it expects little rev- open standard with lots of applications that Sun hopes will become a standard for enue from selling its own Java virtual ma- written for it, WCEfA can accommodate embedded Java platforms. But OnStar is chine. Sun’s real money comes from only applications that are Windows based also involved with the mobileGT plat- selling computer servers and software for or those built around common standards, form, which includes IBM’s J9 JVM. the back-end office. QNX Software Ltd. for instance, the Internet standard XML. IBM’s J9 Java virtual machine, selected (Kanata, Ontario, Canada) spokesman Microsoft has been working on automo- to be part of several vehicle-embedded Paul Leroux isn’t so sure. “They are split- tive computing platforms since it began computing platforms, is not certified, ac- ting hairs. Sun has always said that certifi- developing the AutoPC in 1995; work on cording to Sun, nor are other Java virtual cation required more than passing the test Windows CE was started in 1994. WCEfA machines, which are destined for auto ap- suite. Sun has insisted that every supplier works with microprocessors from the fol- plications. Mr. DeStefano suggested: “IBM also has to incorporate pieces of Sun in- lowing manufacturers: Fujitsu, Hitachi, has the Object Technology International tellectual property—for example Sun’s Intel, Matsushita Electric Industrial, (OTI) virtual machine [J9], which is not a bytecode verifier—and pay royalties to Sigma Designs, SiRF Technology, certified, compliant Java machine. It is Sun. Sun says their bytecode verifier is STMicroelectronics and Toshiba. their own, proprietary version.” Sun says necessary for security,” said Mr. Leroux. all Java virtual machines need to be certi- Despite Sun’s objections, JVMs not Lack of Java Certification: A Real Ob- fied so that all software applications writ- developed by Sun are penetrating embed- stacle to Market Growth or Sun Hair- ten in Java can be run on any Java VM. ded telematics platforms. These include, Splitting? That portability is particularly important in addition to IBM’s J9, Chai from Sun’s Java technology is open to oth- to subscribers who want to use a variety of Hewlett Packard (Palo Alto, California) ers, with some restrictions, and others services from multiple vendors or shift to and Jeode from Insignia (Fremont, Cali- along with Sun have developed or are de- different providers. fornia). Acunia (Leuven, Belgium) has a veloping virtual machines and other Marc Erickson, project manager from JVM that it uses in its development plat- middleware according to Java specifica- Object Technology International, a sub- form but has not yet decided to market it tions. Sun Microsystems has been active sidiary of IBM in Ottawa, Ontario, as an embedded JVM. lately trying to drum up worldwide sup- Canada, told us that Sun’s statement that continued on following page port for a standard version of the Java vir- J9 is uncertified is “untrue.” Indeed, cor- tual machine. Jim DeStefano, strategy and rected Mr. Erickson, “Our J9 virtual ma- THE HANSEN REPORT ON market development manager for embed- chine is certified; our development tools AUTOMOTIVE ELECTRONICS ded and consumer products at Sun are Java compatible. They carry the “Java © 2001 Paul Hansen Associates, 11 Went- Microsystems, told us that most JVMs al- Powered” brand name and the coffee cup worth Road, Rye, NH 03870, USA; Tele- ready applied to telematics applications logo.” Marc Erickson is IBM’s representa- phone: 603-431-5859. Fax: 603-431-5791. are proprietary. “This marketplace is only tive to the Java Community Process, a E-mail: [email protected]. All rights reserved. Materials may not be reproduced in any form without written permission. The Hansen Report on Automotive Electronics is U.S. Motor Vehicle Theft Passenger Vehicles with Worst Theft published 10 times a year, monthly; July/ Losses, 1998 - 2000 Models August and December/January are com- While aftermarket sales of vehicle security 1.