The German carmaker Volkswagen’s luxury car unit Audi plunged knee deep into the Chinese market by setting collaboration with the three tech titans Alibaba, Baidu, and Tencent to offer an array of digital services in the world’s largest car market.

The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed as the lux-brand and FAW-Volkswagen, VW’s joint venture with FAW Car Co Ltd signed the letters of intent with the internet technology groups at an annual summit in Shanghai.

Volkswagen has long been hobbled by scandals over emission tests, distracting it in a race of global carmakers to develop computer-aided services for drivers. The car maker asserts that it would have to remain in control of the relationship with the car user which is why it stopped interacting with the US-based ride-hailing service Uber, and technology giants Google and Apple.

As per the agreement, Baidu-Audi combination aims to provide the use of smartphone apps in its cars, Tencent-Audi includes helping drivers to make good use of WeChat communication app and Alibaba’s contribution would mainly be providing the drivers with more real-time traffic news services and 3D maps to the drivers.

This whole setup will enable the traditional carmaker to avoid being left behind in the race of ‘connected cars’ as in a recent move German rival BMW teamed up with Israeli sensor maker Mobileye to produce autonomous cars over the next ten years. Audi dominates sales in Chinese market leaving behind BMW and Mercedes which nearly accounts to one-third of the total sales.

Martin Kühl, spokesman for Audi in China believes that the carmaker has been successful in developing technology in China which is now being used elsewhere. The Touchscreen technology that got developed in Beijing is now being used by engineers in Germany. In his recent quote, he adds, “The Chinese are early adopters. If you’re not here with the latest stuff, then you can’t win.” (Financial Times).

In 2013, an R&D centre went functional in Beijing to develop technology that would first prioritise and monetize Chinese market and then export globally. Maintaining the lead in the market requires it to invest into internet- connected technology.

Source: Financial Times

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Automakers all over are joining forces with tech companies, big or small, to work towards building the next wave of connected vehicles. Moving ahead in the same direction, the German carmaker Volkswagen has announced an association with Korean tech company LG to create a connected car platform. It is worth mentioning that here the focus isn’t on bringing driverless technologies or electric cars but on giving better control to the travellers over their smart homes.

The prime goals of this association include developing technologies that will bring together connected car and smart home. This would enable drivers to monitor and control their smart devices in their homes while they are travelling. LG already has an array of connected appliances and knows a thing or two about seamlessly connecting devices. Next on the list is developing context sensitive notification centre for car. This would deliver messages in an intuitive and safe way to avoid distracting the driver in the middle of driving. Along with that, it would also offer optimised recommendations along the travel route. As conventional car entertainment systems turn obsolete, the duo will also work on more advanced, better connected infotainment systems for VW vehicles while including these features.

The goals defined under the partnership are focussed towards the near future, when humans will still be driving on a roadtrip instead of sensors and AI taking over the job. They are more achievable and Volkswagen already showcased some bits earlier this year at CES. Before the driverless cars come in, brands are working on working on making our travels safer while keeping us connected to our web of information. Google, with its Android Auto is also working in the same direction and there is an increased interest from others players as well.

Source: Mashable

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As we reach the primes of IoT, connected cars are the buzzword for the industry. From security vendors to ground transportation firms to consumer electronic companies, the whole transportation sector is going gaga over it.

What’s the big whoop about connected cars anyway? The reality of intelligent traffic will gain grounds and is almost realized as the Shanghai International Automobile city tested it. The actual concept is a little away from veracity but it would definitely hit roads soon as we know it. So along with such developments, what really bothers us is the anomaly that would hit given these vehicles are not protected. After all, the security after thoughts are always the last ones to follow.

As of earlier today, Symantec, one of the global leaders in cyber security, announced Symantec Anomaly Detection for Automotive as a measure to issues arising in modern day connected vehicles giving them a crucial ability to gather remedial action.

Connected cars offer drivers with a sense of convenience such a V2C communication system, roadside assistance and mobile internet hotspots. While there would be an unfathomable number of connected cars being pulled by 2020, risks that would leech them could create avenues for hackers to attack and can endanger driver and passengers.

The system learns the machine’s behaviour and based on that provides passive-in vehicle security analytics that monitors all Controller Area Network (CAN) without disrupting the vehicle operations, learns what normal behaviour is and flag any anomalous activity. The system works with almost any make and model.

Automobile giants like Toyota and Honda have each announced separate initiatives last week in connected cars and artificial intelligence to stay competitive with emerging tech rivals in Silicon Valley. This move has been lauded in the ground transportation sector as they are taking a step ahead with connected technology creating a mélange of automation, IoT and smartphones.

As for Symantec, the IDC VP of Security Products specified, “As connected automobiles become the norm, security issues have already drawn attention. Driven by opportunity, manufacturers and their suppliers will partner with cybersecurity vendors on securing connected cars as they would with any other networked endpoints such as mobile devices and laptops. Keeping security top of mind will not only help ensure the safety of drivers and passengers but also build trust in the car manufactures and the overall Internet of Things ecosystem.”

The benefits of Symantec Anomaly Detection for Automotive include:

• Deeper learning of the vehicles’ behaviour enabling automakers to be warned against previously unseen attacks.
• Automatic detection of anomalies without the manufacturer setting any previous rules.
• Using minimal memory and CPU usage with analytics solution built for the ground transportation.

Symantec Anomaly Detection for Automotive is out in open and you can reach out here for more details on the same.

The concept of connected cars is a prime example of IoT where numerous vehicles come on a platform to interact with each other while coordinating with the road infrastructure like the traffic signal. They can send real-time alerts about the condition of the car when in assistance.

Advantages that the ground transportation companies can hail from connected cars are countless. These ride-hailing firms could make the best use of such technology such as imperative driver passenger safety, in-car content and services as a riding experience, advanced navigation and better on-road connectivity, fuel and cost efficiency and convenient payment methods.

Also read: 5 car technologies for the traveller of the future

This is one technology that will change the way we travel, however, some of these may be a reality soon and be found in pipeline accessible to the commons. Other thoughts on the IoT: Internet of Malignant Things.

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