Harman has revealed details of a new software solution that it hopes will offer “In addition to the sight” contextual alarms for drivers without the need for expensive additional hardware or long development plans for the manufacturers.
Originally revealed as part of a package of car innovations at this year’s Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona, Harman went into detail on his Harman Explore Day in Munich last week, demonstrating a number of its vehicle-based solutions.
However, the Ready Aware Software-as-A-Service (SaaS) could well offer the most benefit to future drivers as it utilizes the power of modern vehicle sensor-suites, 4G or 5G connection and next generation infotainment systems to warn drivers of dangers they can’t see yet.
The company says the digital approach ensures that drivers receive “precise, relevant and near real -time contextual insight for improved situation awareness” and draws data from both connected infrastructure and connected cars from any brand.
According to the company, which is AA subsidiary of Samsung Electronics, the cloud-based Analytics Engine uses digital twins and machine learning to create a detailed image of environment based on real-time data received from a number of sources.
What can it do?
For example, Harman says it may detect the circumstances of hard braking in front if that vehicle sends standardized vehicle security messages to the cloud and then warns the driver of imminent overload.
This also works for a vehicle that returns, a quick approximate vehicle from behind or even a vehicle up front that swings or behaves irregularly.
Similarly, standardized data from civilian infrastructure, such as mobile roadworks or defective traffic lights, can be logged by the system and distributed to any vehicle that is clearly aware of nearby.
Harman divides these events into event -based and feed -based alarms that include things like bad weather messages, items on the road and upcoming accidents.
An event -based alarm may include a stranded or broken vehicle, electronic electronic brake lighting activation in the future (traffic slowly) or a sudden change in the speed limit.
To reduce the number of fake or wrong messages, Harman says its situational Awareness Engine (SAE) analyzes the data it collects and assigns them a ‘confidence result’.
The more validation of data it receives, the more confident it is that the event is worthy of a review. All this is done in almost real time, according to the company.
An attractive package
Google Maps and Waze users will be familiar with some of these warnings, but most of these are dependent on human society to log and confirm dangers that are not only less reliable but can also prove a distraction to them behind the wheel.
Harman says the driver doesn’t have to do anything thanks to his software, and it is just as easy for OEMs and vehicle manufacturers to install the system – the main requirement is an existing sensorpuite (cameras, sensors, Lidar, etc.), the required treatment effect and a 4G or 5G connection.
In addition, the company says the software solution can run on both Android and Linux infotainment platforms, with a simple over-the-air (OTA) update enough to have most modern connected cars ready to be compatible.
We recently reported how EuroNCAP, Europe’s leading car security organization, has incentives greater levels of active security like this, which will make Harman’s solution even more attractive to the OEMs who want a simple, affordable off-the-shelf solution.
Harman says there are already more than 50 million cars on the road today equipped with its connected technology and millions more with the required hardware to run such a system.
There is currently no timeline for when we will see its technology made available in production vehicles, but Harman says it’s ready to roll it out now.
The company also announced this week that it is one of the first to open a full connected service platform, part of its Eclipse Connected Services Platform (ECSP) project.
It hopes that it will encourage greater “interoperability” between different car manufacturers and help speed up the development and implementation of future connected cars.
