Search Results

The evolution of car radio in the past seven decades is a perfect illustration of the convergence of diverse technical fields: RF electronics, mobile wireless communications, the Internet, personal computers, consumer electronics, and automotive human machine interfaces. The early part of the radio evolution was driven by the need to improve the received audio signal quality while in the past two decades the driver has been to increase the channel capacity and to enhance the degree of personalization. Besides traditional AM/FM programming, today's radios also play a variety of media such as cassette tape, CD, MP3, DVD-A etc. as well as over 100 channels of satellite digital audio programs. Going forward, we believe that the radio will continue to be the entertainment center of the vehicle, and that the consumers are expecting to have access to personalized information anywhere and anytime.

Entertainment is the “killer application” for high value telematics services in vehicles. Entertainment does not require a new, untested consumer business model: consumers have been “paying” for entertainment in vehicles for decades. Examples include purchases of audio cassettes and CDs; listening to radio advertising; and more recently, the rental or purchase and playback of videotape movies in the rear seat. Today, technology advances in digital satellite broadcasting, digital compression, mass data storage, and broadband wireless communications are driving very dynamic business opportunities for entertainment service delivery to vehicles. Obvious examples are XM and Sirius Radio, DVD movies, rear seat video games, and MP3 audio playback from flash memory or hard disc drives. A more advanced example is the direct sale and download of compressed digital audio, video, and game software via wireless links that bypass the conventional bricks and mortar retail business.

The industry strategy for automotive safety systems has been evolving over the last 20 years. Initially, individual passive devices and features such as seatbelts, airbags, knee bolsters, crush zones, etc. were developed for saving lives and minimizing injuries when an accident occurs. Later, preventive measures such as improving visibility, headlights, windshield wipers, tire traction, etc. were deployed to reduce the probability of getting into an accident. Now we are at the stage of actively avoiding accidents as well as providing maximum protection to the vehicle occupants and even pedestrians. Systems that are on the threshold of being deployed or under intense development include collision detection / warning / intervention systems, lane departure warning, drowsy driver detection, and advanced safety interiors.