q&a
Connectivity: What’s the Future Look Like?
T
he 2013 Connected Car Expo fea- tured booths full of innovation. From small startups presenting parking aids, fuel savings and
driver ergonomics improvements to telecom giants touting global telematics solutions, each entity exhibited with one purpose: convince one of the carmakers or their supporting technology suppliers that the solution on display is part of the next wave of in-vehicle technology. And while the L.A. Auto Show was technically a separate event, all of the OEMs exhibit- ed—and they were paying attention. Audi is one of the automakers that has made connectivity and technology convergence a priority. Its touch-enabled MMI system and deep integration of
24 Mobile Electronics January 2014
Google Earth satellite imagery is only the latest effort in the company’s drive to create the ideal in-vehicle connected experience. Mobile Electronics sat down with Anupam Malhotra, senior manager of Connected Vehicle at Audi of America, to talk about how the company’s efforts will continue to evolve, and what role the aftermarket will play.
ME: In the past, auto manufacturers
have wanted complete control of the driving information experience, from development of the interface to how it is implemented. That’s changed in recent years with companies partnering with technology providers to bring their superior expertise into the vehicle. How
Audi’s Anupam Malhotra envisions an aftermarket– OEM relationship in which software, not hardware, plays a key role in product innovation.
has that changed how vehicle systems are designed? Malhotra: Right now, we are working to build more flexible hardware into the vehicle. For example, with the A3, we’ve done it at least to the level of where wireless technology, graphics, voice control systems, are now modularized, which allows us to deliver information in different ways. We’ve taken our navi- gation system, one that used to be an integrated piece of hardware in the car, with its own content that came from the provider, and we basically started slicing it up. With our system, the bottom layer of the navigation is replaced by Google Earth satellite imagery. So we’ve taken that and moved it to the cloud. Street
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