Marc de Jong: We should distinguish between electronics areas specific to automotive, such as motor management where there is little synergy with other sectors, and areas where the reuse opportunities of IP generated in mobile, PC and the like can be influential on the automotive part, especially for in- car entertainment.
For the first part, we have specific processes in place such as SOI processes. In this way designers can take automotive requirements into account, so we make use of the fact that the automotive industry has very long design cycles. For the second area, I think that consumer electronics and applications such as telematics or navigation pose a major challenge. To solve that, we have to think upfront when developing consumer applications and devices. If we can reuse building blocks in automotive electronics, the benefits are very, very big because the costs are so low that using these parts in automotive would be extremely attractive. However, we need to recognize that these IP blocks were developed for applications in mobiles or for home: There are different and additional requirements such as zero defects, design for testability, design for manufacturability etc.

EE Times Europe: When integrating a consumer electronics device such as a mobile phone or an iPod into a car, manufacturers – and later, car drivers - are confronted with different user interfaces. Are there any approaches or concepts in place to solve this problem?

Marc de Jong:Yes, there are approaches to this. An iPod is perhaps are the most difficult example because of the proprietary nature of this user interfaces, but even here, there are solutions:
The user interface is defined on a certain hardware-software level and can be mimicked by a similar software running on the platform in the car, so that you are capable through the controls at your steering wheel or the user interface of your head unit to control your MP3 player, your car phone or your navigation system. So if you take a mobile phone and put it in your car, a large part of its user interface is mimicked already…

EE Times Europe: including display?

Marc de Jong:Yes – including parts of the display. It is not far enough yet. This is a first step, but there are elements that can be synchronized between the HMI on the car and the HMI on the phone. This needs to go a step further; platforms of the platform on the car and multimedia device need to be synchronized, so basically we need more standardization.

EE Times Europe: Each car OEM has a different HMI in place. This makes it difficult for companies like yours to mimic the respective GUI. Is there a standard in sight?

Marc de Jong: I wouldn’t say there is a standard. There are several approaches being defined and Autosar is one of them. I see that this is something many people are working on. Also, many device manufacturers realize that standard interfaces and open, non-proprietary architectures like Linux are a way to go. I think there will be a significant drive to move towards open standards in mobile devices. Only very influential players such as Apple or Nokia may be powerful enough to resist that and keep their proprietary system in place.

EE Times Europe: NXP recently announced plans to develop telematics applications that will have a strong impact on the driving experience. What exactly has NXP in mind?

Marc de Jong: Telematics is one of the hottest topics in automotive at the moment. There are enormous perspectives, and in the end – and now I am making a dangerous statement – a vision could be a self-driving car. If you extrapolate the technological developments you will see that it is about moving away from you and me driving a car and being focused on the road and concentrate on driving towards a situation where you will be spending less energy on driving and more having time to communicate and interact by phone and internet, interact with passengers in the car and enjoy the ride.
It is this vision that is behind telematics. This would also lead to improved safety. The technologies are available today to use car-to-car communications and radar that keeps the distance between cars. The development basically points to a way of driving that when you go on to a highway you simply lock into the traffic stream.

EE Times Europe:But this not exactly telematics, it is more robotics.
Marc de Jong: Telematics plays an important enabling role in this vision of the self-driving car. Among the most important applications we see in the short term is e-call; this could soon be a reality. E-call is the automatic emergency call which means that if your car is involved in an accident, it automatically reports it through a cellular phone link. In the U.S. millions of cars a year are already equipped with e-call. Presently, regulators in Brussels are pushing to mandate e-call in Europe as well.
This is the first telematics application we see [on a broad basis]. The second application we see is road tolling that is going to grow significantly in the years to come. With the aim of reducing traffic congestion, CO2 emission and increase safety, cars will be equipped with GSM/GPS identification modules that monitoring the car’s mileage.
The third application has to do with actually improving navigation – not only having navigation with a map, which is passive, but actually incorporate information on weather, traffic conditions, congestions and all those elements that can be updated online and in real-time give to ensure a safer and more comfortable journey.