Intel Intros Tech Platform for Connected Cars

by Jeffrey Burt



A brief summary: The chip maker wants its In-Vehicle Solutions to be the foundational technology that drives the development of autonomous cars.



Intel is unveiling new offerings and investments in automotive technologies as it expands its reach into the rapidly growing Internet of things market. Intel officials on May 29 introduced the In-Vehicle Solutions family of hardware and software products—from compute modules to an integrated software stack to development kits—designed to make it easier and less expensive for automotive manufacturers and suppliers to build technologies into their cars that will improve the user experience and help push the industry toward autonomous, self-driving vehicles. The new offerings come out of Intel's Internet of Things Group, which officials said generated $482 million in revenue in the first three months of the year, a 32 percent increase over the same time in 2013. A key driver of that growth was in-vehicle infotainment systems. During a Webcast event May 29, Doug Davis, corporate vice president and general manager of Intel's Internet of Things Group, said he envisions an evolution in the technology in cars from products that bring added conveniences to ones that offer greater security and safety to systems that enable the cars to drive themselves.

Intel's new platforms will "serve as the foundation" for the upcoming era of autonomous cars, Davis said during the event. "We will arrive at completely self-driven cars because we've seen the evolution iof cars] over the last six to eight years," he said.

Intel already has a presence in the connected car space. In 2012, the company launched a $100 million fund to invest in companies developing technologies for the automotive industry, and the chip maker's technology is used in such places as BMW's Navigation System Professional, Infiniti's InTouch infotainment system in the Infiniti Q50, and the Driver Information System in Hyundai's new Genesis. Intel's newest efforts extend beyond investing in others by creating pretested and preintegrated platforms that can be adopted by the automotive industry for their increasingly connected vehicles. In addition, the chip maker is running research projects into making connected cars safer on the roads and more secure on the Internet.

 

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