Automotive: Paul Leroux

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A question of architecture

The second of a series on the QNX CAR Platform. In this installment, we start at the beginning — the platform’s underlying architecture.

In my previous post, I discussed how infotainment systems must perform multiple complex tasks, often all at once. At any time, a system may need to manage audio, show backup video, run 3D navigation, synch with Bluetooth devices, display smartphone content, run apps, present vehicle data, process voice signals, perform active noise control… the list goes on.

The job of integrating all these functions is no trivial task — an understatement if ever there was one. But as with any large project, starting with the right architecture, the right tools, and the right building blocks can make all the difference. With that in mind, let’s start at the beginning: the underlying architecture of the QNX CAR Platform for Infotainment.

The architecture consists of three layers: human machine interface (HMI), middleware, and platform.

The HMI layer
The HMI layer is like a bonus pack: it supports two reference HMIs out of the box, both of which have the same appearance and functionality. So what’s the difference? One is based on HTML5, the other on Qt 5. This choice demonstrates the underlying flexibility of the platform, which allows developers to create an HMI with any of several technologies, including HTML5, Qt, or a third-party toolkit such as Elektrobit GUIDE or Crank Storyboard.

A choice of HMIs

Mind you, the choice goes further than that. When you build a sophisticated infotainment system, it soon becomes obvious that no single tool or technology can do the job. The home screen, which may contain controls for Internet radio, hands-free calls, HVAC, and other functions, might need an environment like Qt. The navigation app, for its part, will probably use OpenGL ES. Meanwhile, some applications might be based on Android or HTML5. Together, all these heterogeneous components make up the HMI.

The QNX CAR Platform embraces this heterogeneity, allowing developers to use the best tools and application environments for the job at hand. More to the point, it allows developers to blend multiple app technologies into a single, unified user interface, where they can all share the same display, at the same time.

To perform this blending, the platform employs several mechanisms, including a component called the graphical composition manager . This manager acts as a kind of universal framework, providing all applications, regardless of how they’re built, with a highly optimized path to the display.

For example, look at the following HMI:

Now look at the HMI from another angle to see how it comprises several components blended together by the composition manger:

To the left, you see video input from a connected media player or smartphone. To the right, you see a navigation application based on OpenGL ES map-rendering software, with an overlay of route metadata implemented in Qt. And below, you see an HTML page that provides the underlying wallpaper; this page could also display a system status bar and UI menu bar across all screens.

For each component rendered to the display, the graphical composition manager allocates a separate window and frame buffer. It also allows the developer to control the properties of each individual window, including location, transparency, rotation, alpha, brightness, and z-order. As a result, it becomes relatively straightforward to tile, overlap, or blend a variety of applications on the same screen, in whichever way creates the best user experience.

The middleware layer
The middleware layer provides applications with a rich assortment of services, including Bluetooth, multimedia discovery and playback, navigation, radio, and automatic speech recognition (ASR). The ASR component, for example, can be used to turn on the radio, initiate a Bluetooth phone call from a connected smartphone, or select a song by artist or song title.

I’ll drill down into several of these services in upcoming posts. For now, I’d like to focus on a fundamental service that greatly simplifies how all other services and applications in the system interact with one another. It’s called persistent/publish subscribe messaging, or PPS, and it provides the abstraction needed to cleanly separate high-level applications from low-level business logic and services.

PPS messaging provides an abstraction layer between system services and high-level applications

Let’s rewind a minute. To implement communications between software components, C/C++ developers must typically define direct, point-to-point connections that tend to “break” when new features or requirements are introduced. For instance, an application communicates with a navigation engine, but all connections enabling that communication must be redefined when the system is updated with a different engine.

This fragility might be acceptable in a relatively simple system, but it creates a real bottleneck when you are developing something as complex, dynamic, and quickly evolving as the design for a modern infotainment system. PPS addresses the problem by allowing developers to create loose, flexible connections between components. As a result, it becomes much easier to add, remove, or replace components without having to modify other components.

So what, exactly, is PPS? Here’s a textbook answer: an asynchronous object-based system that consists of publishers and subscribers, where publishers modify the properties of data objects and the subscribers to those objects receive updates when the objects have been modified.

So what does that mean? Well, in a car, PPS data objects allow applications to access services such as the multimedia engine, voice recognition engine, vehicle buses, connected smartphones, hands-free calling, and contact databases. These data objects can each contain multiple attributes, each attribute providing access to a specific feature — such as the RPM of the engine, the level of brake fluid, or the frequency of the current radio station. System services publish these objects and modify their attributes; other programs can then subscribe to the objects and receive updates whenever the attributes change.

The PPS service is programming-language independent, allowing programs written in a variety of programming languages (C, C++, HTML5, Java, JavaScript, etc.) to intercommunicate, without any special knowledge of one another. Thus, an app in a high-level environment like HTML5 can easily access services provided by a device driver or other low-level service written in C or C++.

I’m only touching on the capabilities of PPS. To learn more, check out the QNX documentation on this service.

The platform layer
The platform layer includes the QNX OS and the board support packages, or BSPs, that allow the OS to run on various hardware platforms.

An inherently modular and extensible architecture

A BSP may not sound like the sexiest thing in the world — it is, admittedly, a deeply technical piece of software — but without it, nothing else works. And, in fact, one reason QNX Software Systems has such a strong presence in automotive is that it provides BSPs for all the popular infotainment platforms from companies like Freescale, NVIDIA, Qualcomm, and Texas Instruments.

As for the QNX Neutrino OS, you could write a book about it — which is another way of saying it’s far beyond the scope of this post. Suffice it to say that its modularity, extensibility, reliability, and performance set the tone for the entire QNX CAR Platform. To get a feel for what the QNX OS brings to the platform (and by extension, to the automotive industry), I invite you to visit the QNX Neutrino OS page on the QNX website.

Is Autumn the best season for a long, leisurely Sunday drive? Well, I don’t know about your neck of the woods, but in my neck, the trees blaze like crimson, orange, and yellow candles, transfiguring back roads into cathedrals of pure color. When I see every leaf on every tree glow like a piece of sunlight-infused stained glass, I make a religious effort to jump behind the wheel and get out there!

Now, of course, you can enjoy your Autumn drive in any car worth its keep. But some cars make the ride sweeter than others — and the Mercedes S Class Coupe, with its QNX-powered infotainment system and instrument cluster, is deliciously caloric.

This isn’t a car for the prim, the proper, the austere. It’s for pure pleasure – whether you take pleasure in performance, luxury, or beauty of design. Or all three. The perfect car, in other words, for an Autumn drive. Which is exactly what the folks at Mercedes thought. In fact, they made a photo essay about — check it out on their Facebook page.

Source: Mercedes

Cars and beer don’t mix. But discussing cars while having a beer? Now you’re talking. If you’re attending SAE Convergence next week, you owe it to yourself to register for our “Spirits And Eats” event at 7:00 pm Tuesday. It’s the perfect occasion to kick back and enjoy the company of people who, like yourself, are passionate about cars and car electronics. And it isn’t a bad networking opportunity either — you’ll meet folks from a variety of automakers, Tier 1s, and technology suppliers in a relaxed, convivial atmosphere.

But you know what? It isn’t just about the beer. Or the company. It’s also about the Benz. Our digitally modded Mercedes-Benz CLA45 AMG, to be exact. It’s the latest QNX technology concept car, and it’s the perfect vehicle (pun fully intended) for demonstrating how QNX technology can enable next-generation infotainment systems. Highlights include:

A multi-modal user experience that blends touch, voice, and physical controls
A secure application environment for Android, HTML5, and OpenGL ES
Smartphone connectivity options for projecting smartphone apps onto the head unit
A dynamically reconfigurable digital instrument cluster that displays turn-by-turn directions, notifications of incoming phone calls, and video from front and rear cameras
Multimedia framework for playback of content from USB sticks, DLNA devices, etc.
Full-band stereo calling — think phone calls with CD quality audio
Engine sound enhancement that synchronizes synthesized engine sounds with engine RPM

Here, for example, is the digital cluster:

And here is a closeup of the head unit:

And here’s a shot of the cluster and head unit together:

As for the engine sound enhancement and high-quality hands-free audio, I can’t reproduce these here — you’ll have come see the car and experience them first hand. (Yup, that's an invite.)

If you like what you see, and are interested in what you can hear, visit us at booth #513. And if you'd like to schedule a demo or reserve some time with a QNX representative in advance, we can accommodate that, too. Just send us an email.

I will get to the above question. Honest. But before I do, allow me to pose another one: When autonomous cars go mainstream, will anyone even notice?

The answer to this question depends on how you define the term. If you mean completely and absolutely autonomous, with no need for a steering wheel, gas pedal, or brake pedal, then yes, most people will notice. But long before these devices stop being built into cars, another phenomenon will occur: people will stop using them.

Allow me to rewind. Last week, Tesla announced that its Model S will soon be able to “steer to stay within a lane, change lanes with the simple tap of a turn signal, and manage speed by reading road signs and using traffic-aware cruise control.” I say soon because these functions won't be activated until owners download a software update in the coming weeks. But man, what an update.

Tesla may now be at the front of the ADAS wave, but the wave was already forming — and growing. Increasingly, cars are taking over mundane or hard-to-perform tasks, and they will only become better at them as time goes on. Whether it’s autonomous braking, automatic parking, hill-descent control, adaptive cruise control, or, in the case of the Tesla S, intelligent speed adaptation, cars will do more of the driving and, in so doing, socialize us into trusting them with even more driving tasks.

Tesla Model S: soon with autopilot

In other words, the next car you buy will prepare you for not having to drive the car after that.

You know what’s funny? At some point, the computers in cars will probably become safer drivers than humans. The humans will know it, but they will still clamor for steering wheels, brake pedals, and all the other traditional accoutrements of driving. Because people like control. Or, at the very least, the feeling that control is there if you want it.

It’s like cameras. I would never think of buying a camera that didn’t have full manual mode. Because control! But guess what: I almost never turn the mode selector to M. More often than not, it’s set to Program or Aperture Priority, because both of these semi-automated modes are good enough, and both allow me to focus on taking the picture, not on micromanaging my camera.

What about you? Are you ready for a car that needs a little less micromanagement?

The first of a new series on the QNX CAR Platform for Infotainment. In this installment, I tackle the a priori question: why does the auto industry need this platform, anyway?

Define your terms, counseled Voltaire, and in keeping with his advice, allow me to begin with the following:

Con•cur•ren•cy \kən-kûr'-ən-sē\ n (1597) Cooperation, as of agents, circumstances, or events; agreement or union in action.

A good definition, as far as it goes. But it doesn’t go far enough for the purposes of this discussion. Wikipedia comes closer to the mark:

“In computer science, concurrency is a property of systems in which several computations execute simultaneously, and potentially interact with each other.”

That’s better, but it still falls short. However, the Wikipedia entry also states that:

“the base goals of concurrent programming include correctness, performance and robustness. Concurrent systems… are generally designed to operate indefinitely, including automatic recovery from failure, and not terminate unexpectedly.”

Now that’s more like it. Concurrency in computer systems isn’t simply a matter of doing several things all at once; it’s also a matter of delivering a solid user experience. The system must always be available and it must always be responsive: no “surprises” allowed.

This definition seems tailored-made for in-car infotainment systems. Here, for example, are some of the tasks that an infotainment system may perform:

Run a variety of user applications, from 3D navigation to Internet radio, based on a mix of technologies, including Qt, HTML5, Android, and OpenGL ES
Manage multiple forms of input: voice, touch, physical buttons, etc.
Support multiple smartphone connectivity protocols such as MirrorLink and Apple CarPlay
Perform services that smartphones cannot support, including:
- HVAC control
- discovery and playback of multimedia from USB sticks, DLNA devices, MTP devices, and other sources
- retrieval and display of fuel levels, tire pressure, and other vehicle information
- connectivity to Bluetooth devices
Process voice signals to ensure the best possible quality of phone-based hands-free systems — this in itself can involve many tasks, including echo and noise removal, dynamic noise shaping, speech enhancement, etc.
Perform active noise control to eliminate unwanted engine “boom” noise
Offer extremely fast bootup times; a backup camera, for example, must come up within a second or two to be useful

Jugging multiple concurrent tasks

The primary user of an infotainment system is the driver. So, despite juggling all these activities, an infotainment system must never show the strain. It must always respond quickly to user input and critical events, even when many activities compete for system resources. Otherwise, the driver will become annoyed or, worse, distracted. The passengers won’t be happy, either.

Still, that isn’t enough. Automakers also need to differentiate themselves, and infotainment serves as a key tool for achieving differentiation. So the infotainment system must not simply perform well; it must also allow the vehicle, or line of vehicles, to project the unique values, features, and brand identity of the automaker.

And even that isn’t enough. Most automakers offer multiple vehicle lines, each encompassing a variety of configurations and trim levels. So an infotainment design must also be scalable; that way, the work and investment made at the high end can be leveraged in mid-range and economy models. Because ROI.

Projecting a unique identity

But you know what? That still isn’t enough. An infotainment system design must also be flexible. It must, for example, support new functionality through software updates, whether such updates are installed through a storage device or over the air. And it must have the ability to accommodate quickly evolving connectivity protocols, app environments, and hardware platforms. All with the least possible fuss.

The nitty and the gritty
Concurrency, performance, reliability, differentiation, scalability, flexibility — a tall order. But it’s exactly the order that the QNX CAR Platform for Infotainment was designed to fill.

Take, for example, product differentiation. If you look at the QNX-powered infotainment systems that automakers are shipping today, one thing becomes obvious: they aren’t cookie-cutter systems. Rather, they each project the unique values, features, and brand identity of each automaker — even though they are all built on the same, standards-based platform.

So how does the QNX CAR Platform enable all this? That’s exactly what my colleagues and I will explore over the coming weeks and months. We’ll get into the nitty and sometimes the gritty of how the platform works and why it offers so much value to companies that develop infotainment systems in various shapes, forms, and price points.

Stay tuned.

POSTSCRIPT: Read the next installment of the QNX CAR Platform series, A question of architecture.

A glaring look at rear-view mirrors

Some reflections on the challenge of looking backwards, followed by the vexing question: where, exactly, should video from a backup camera be displayed?

Mirror, mirror, above the dash, stop the glare and make it last! Okay, maybe I've been watching too many Netflix reruns of Bewitched. But mirror glare, typically caused by bright headlights, is a problem — and a dangerous one. It can create temporary blind spots on your retina, leaving you unable to see cars or pedestrians on the road around you.

Automotive manufacturers have offered solutions to this problem for decades. For instance, many car mirrors now employ electrochromism, which allows the mirror to dim automatically in response to headlights and other light sources. But when, exactly, did the first anti-glare mirrors come to market?

According to Wikipedia, the first manual-tilt day/night mirrors appeared in the 1930s. These mirrors typically use a prismatic, wedge-shaped design in which the rear surface (which is silvered) and the front surface (which is plain glass) are at angles to each other. In day view, you see light reflected off the silvered rear surface. But when you tilt the mirror to night view, you see light reflected off the unsilvered front surface, which, of course, has less glare.

Manual-tilt day/night mirrors may have debuted in the 30s, but they were still a novelty in the 50s. Witness this article from the September 1950 issue of Popular Science:

True to their name, manual-tilt mirrors require manual intervention: You have to take your hand off the wheel to adjust them, after you’ve been blinded by glare. Which is why, as early as 1958, Chrysler was demonstrating mirrors that could tilt automatically, as shown in this article from the October 1958 issue of Mechanix Illustrated:

Images: Modern Mechanix blog

Fast-forward to backup cameras
Electrochromic mirrors, which darken electronically, have done away with the need to tilt, either manually or automatically. But despite their sophistication, they still can't overcome the inherent drawbacks of rear-view mirrors, which provide only a partial view of the area behind the vehicle — a limitation that contributes to backover accidents, many of them involving small children. Which is why NHTSA has mandated the use of backup cameras by 2018 and why the last two QNX technology concept cars have shown how video from backup cameras can be integrated with other content in a digital instrument cluster.

Actually, this raises the question: just where should backup video be displayed? In the cluster, as demonstrated in our concept cars? Or in the head unit, the rear-view mirror, or a dedicated screen? The NHTSA ruling doesn’t mandate a specific device or location, which isn't surprising, as each has its own advantages and disadvantages.

Consider, for example, ease of use: Will drivers find one location more intuitive and less distracting than the alternatives? In all likelihood, the answer will vary from driver to driver and will depend on individual cognitive styles, driving habits, and vehicle design.

Another issue is speed of response. According to NHTSA’s ruling, any device displaying backup video must do so within 2.5 seconds of the car shifting into the reverse. Problem is, the ease of complying with this requirement depends on the device in question. For instance, NHTSA acknowledges that “in-mirror displays (which are only activated when the reverse gear is selected) may require additional warm-up time when compared to in-dash displays (which may be already in use for other purposes such as route navigation).”

At first blush, in-dash displays such as head units and digital clusters have the advantage here. But let’s remember that booting quickly can be a challenge for these systems because of their greater complexity — many offer a considerable amount of functionality. So imagine what happens when the driver turns the ignition key and almost immediately shifts into reverse. In that case, the cluster or head unit must boot up and display backup video within a handful of seconds. It's important, then, that system designers choose an OS that not only supports rich functionality, but also allows the system to start up and initialize applications in the least time possible.

Ontario tech companies team up to target the connected car

To predict who will play a role tomorrow's connected vehicles, you need to look beyond the usual suspects.

When someone says “automobile,” what’s the first word that comes to mind? Chances are, it isn’t Ontario. And yet Ontario — the Canadian province that is home to QNX headquarters — is a world-class hub of automotive R&D and manufacturing. Chrysler, Ford, General Motors, Honda, and Toyota all have plants here. As do 350 parts suppliers. In fact, Ontario produced 2.5 million vehicles in 2012 alone.

No question, Ontario has the smarts to build cars. But to fully appreciate what Ontario has to offer, you need to look beyond the usual suspects in the auto supply chain. Take QNX Software Systems, for example. Our roots are in industrial computing, but in the early 2000s we started to offer software technology and expertise to the world’s automakers and tier one suppliers. And now, a decade later, QNX offers the premier platform for in-car infotainment, with deployments in tens of millions of vehicles.

QNX Software Systems is not alone. Ontario is home to many other “non-automotive” technology companies that are playing, or are poised to play, a significant role in creating new automotive experiences. But just who are these companies? The Automotive Parts Manufacturers Association (APMA) of Canada would like you to know. Which is why they've joined forces with QNX and other partners to build the APMA Connected Vehicle.

A showcase for Ontario technology.

The purpose of the vehicle is simple: to showcase how Ontario companies can help create the next generation of connected cars. The vehicle is based on a Lexus RX350 — built in Ontario, of course — equipped with a custom-built infotainment system and digital instrument cluster built on QNX technology. Together, the QNX systems integrate more than a dozen technologies and services created in Ontario, including gesture recognition, biometric security, emergency vehicle notification, LED lighting, weather telematics, user interface design, smartphone charging, and cloud connectivity.

Okay, enough from me. Time to nuke some popcorn, dim the lights, and hit the Play button:

Congratulations to our friends at Audi! The new Audi Virtual Cockpit, which is based on the QNX OS, has just won first prize, connected car category, in the 2014 CTIA Hot for the Holidays awards.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the Audi Virtual Cockpit is an innovative, versatile, and absolutely ravishing piece of automotive technology. But you don’t have to take my word for it — or the word of the CTIA judges, for that matter. Watch the video and see for yourself:

Created in 2009, the Hot for the Holidays awards celebrate the most desirable mobile consumer electronics products for the holiday season. The winners for this year’s awards were announced this afternoon, at the CTIA Super Mobility event in Las Vegas. Andrew Poliak of QNX Software Systems was on hand and he took this snap of the award:

Visit the CTIA website to see the full list of winners. And visit the Audi website to learn more about the Audi Virtual Cockpit.

Some forward-thinking on looking backwards

The first rear-view camera appeared on a concept car in 1956. It's time to go mainstream.

Until today, I knew nothing about electrochromism — I didn’t even know the word existed! Mind you, I still don’t know that much. But I do know a little, so if you’re in the dark about this phenomenon, let me enlighten you: It’s what allows smart windows to dim automatically in response to bright light.

A full-on technical explanation of electrochromism could fill pages. But in a nutshell, electrochromic glass contains a substance, such as tungsten trioxide, that changes color when you apply a small jolt of electricity to it. Apply a jolt, and the glass goes dark; apply another jolt, and the glass becomes transparent again. Pretty cool, right?

Automakers must think so, because they use this technology to create rear-view and side-view mirrors that dim automatically to reduce glare — just the thing when the &*^%$! driver behind you flips on his high-beams. Using photo sensors, these mirrors measure incoming light; when it becomes too bright, the mirror applies the requisite electrical charge and, voilà, no more fried retinas. (I jest, but in reality, mirror glare can cause retinal blind spots that affect driver reaction time.)

So why am I blabbing about this? Because electrochromic technology highlights a century-old challenge: How do you see what — or who — is behind your car? And how do you do it even in harsh lighting conditions? It’s a hard problem to solve, and it’s been with us ever since Dorothy Levitt, a pioneer of motor racing, counseled women to “hold aloft” a handheld mirror “to see behind while driving.” That was in 1906.

Kludges
For sure, we’ve made progress over the years. But we still fall back on kludges to compensate for the inherent shortcomings of placing a mirror meters away from the back of the vehicle. Consider, for example, the aftermarket wide-angle lenses that you can attach to your rear window — a viable solution for some vehicles, but not terribly useful if you are driving a pickup or fastback.

Small wonder that NHTSA has ruled that, as of May 2018, all vehicles under 10,000 pounds must ship with “rear visibility technology” that expands the driver’s field of view to include a 10x20-foot zone directly behind the vehicle. Every year, backover crashes in the US cause 210 fatalities and 15,000 injuries — many involving children. NHTSA believes that universal deployment of rear-view cameras, which “see” where rear-view mirrors cannot, will help reduce backover fatalities by about a third.

Buick is among the automotive brands that are “pre-complying” with the standard: every 2015 Buick model will ship with a rearview camera. Which, perhaps, is no surprise: the first Buick to sport a rearview camera was the Centurion concept car, which debuted in 1956:

1956 Buick Centurion: You can see the backup camera just above the center tail light.

The Centurion’s backup camera is one of many forward-looking concepts that automakers have demonstrated over the years. As I have discussed in previous posts, many of these ideas took decades to come to market, for the simple reason they were ahead of their time — the technology needed to make them successful was too immature or simply didn’t exist yet.

Giving cameras the (fast) boot
Fortunately, the various technologies that enable rear-view cameras for cars have reached a sufficient level of maturity, miniaturization, and cost effectiveness. Nonetheless, challenges remain. For example, NHTSA specifies that rear-view cameras meet a number of requirements, including image size, response time, linger time (how long the camera remains activated after shifting from reverse), and durability. Many of these requirements are made to order for a platform like the QNX OS, which combines high reliability with very fast bootup and response times. After all, what’s the use of backup camera if it finishes booting *after* you back out of your driveway?

Instrument cluster in QNX technology concept car displaying video from a backup camera.

Is it innovative, beautiful, versatile, or just plain cool? I haven’t quite decided, so I’m thinking it’s all of the above. The QNX-based virtual cockpit in the 2015 Audi TT is a ravishing piece of automotive technology, and it brings driver convenience to a new level by integrating everything from speed and navigation to music and handsfree calling — all in a single, user-configurable display.

It seems I’m not the only one who's impressed. Because last week, 42,500 readers of “auto motor und sport” and “CHIP” chose the Audi TT as the industry's best-connected car. In fact, Audi took top honors in several categories, including navigation, telephone integration, sound system, entertainment/multimedia, and connected car.

To get an idea of what all the fuss is about, check out our video of the Audi TT’s virtual cockpit in action. We filmed this at CES earlier this year:

For more information on the award and the Audi TT, read Audi's press release.

Let's cut to the chase. Any webinar hosted by Chris Hobbs, a member of the safe systems team at QNX, is worth a listen. I honestly can't listen to the man for 5 minutes without learning something new. So if you're developing systems that must, or may need to, comply with the ISO 26262 functional safety standard, you owe it to yourself to attend the webinar that Chris will co-host this week:

Static Analysis' Role in Automotive Functional Safety

Thursday, July 17

10am PT, 1pm ET, 5pm UTC

Registration

As you may already know, ISO 26262 recommends static code analysis for ASILs B to D. And that's because static analysis can make a real contribution to functional safety — exactly the approach this webinar will explore. Topics will include:

• Functional safety and ISO 26262
• The balance between dynamic and static analysis
• How purpose-built tools can simply the qualification process

As an added bonus, Chris will be joined by co-host Steve Howard of Klocwork. Steve has over 15 years' experience in safety-critical and mission-critical software development, working with verification and validation tools.

Learn more about Chris, Steve, and the webinar here.

The palindromic standard

The QNX OS for Automotive Safety was recently granted ISO 26262 certification. So why is that such a big deal? Allow me to explain.

When it comes to being hard to pronounce, ISO 26262 takes the cake among international safety standards. If you don’t believe me, just try to say “ISO 26262” ten times quickly, in any language.

You know what else is hard? Achieving compliance with ISO 26262. QNX Software Systems has just received its first ISO 26262 certificate from TUV Rheinland, so I can make that claim with a strong measure of confidence!

The certificate.

ISO 26262 is a new functional safety standard developed specifically for passenger vehicles. Published in 2011, it is based on the grand-daddy of functional safety standards, IEC 61508. Since its introduction, ISO 26262 has grabbed a lot of attention in the automotive industry. Why? Because rapid advancements in technology are presenting new safety challenges. The sophisticated hardware and software technologies now making their way into passenger vehicles may enable cool features, but they also stretch the concept of safety beyond mechanical parts. ISO 26262 is specifically developed to address the safety requirements of these electric and electronic components.

Due diligence
The ISO 26262 standard describes how safety functions must be addressed throughout the entire software lifecycle. This approach ensures that safety isn’t treated as an afterthought during final testing, but as a matter of due diligence in every stage of development. Apart from following functional safety processes, the software maker must continually ask questions such as these:

In what ways could my software fail?
If it does fail, how could it affect the safety of the overall system?
How can I mitigate the risk of failure?

These questions would sound familiar to any experienced safety engineer, but they might not be top of mind for many designers. Safety design imposes an extra dimension to a project that must be budgeted for, right from the start. In addition to the discipline and effort needed to develop any safety product, the ISO 26262 standard demands that you prove your product is safe.

Constructing the argument that the product complies with the standard, such as through building a safety case, is far from trivial. For instance, using methods like Goal Structuring Notation can help make a strong argument by giving some reason to the sea of documentation that serves as evidence for your safety claim. But it takes skill to wield the power of GSN to produce an effective, well-structured safety case.

In short, achieving ISO 26262 certification is a huge undertaking. But then, so is the importance of the ultimate goal: safer cars.

Again, for an inkling of how tough it is to get certified, just keep repeating the name of the standard without screwing up...

I rarely speak about any car in particular — I'm more interested in trends than trim levels — but allow me to make an exception. Because Chrysler has just announced a new Challenger equipped with a jaw-droppingly powerful HEMI V8.

How powerful, you say? Try 707 hp. Which is more than enough to make the Challenger SRT Hellcat the fastest, most powerful muscle car in history.

I haven't seen this car in person, but already, I'm in love with it. Which is weird, because I've been a tree-hugger since before the term existed. Can a person like myself who screams at colleagues for not recycling Coke cans honestly get excited over a car like this?

You bet. Because I prefer to live in a world where humans (and car makers) have latitude to indulge themselves. A world where the lion of fantasy can lie down with the lamb of environmentalism. A world where most vehicles are as green as grass, but where some can still roar to life with red-hot, unadulterated power.

So, tell me, does that sound schizoid? Or just well-balanced?

This just in: Audi has announced that its Audi MMI mobile media application framework, which is built on the QNX CAR Platform for Infotainment, will support the new Android Auto connectivity solution.

The new feature will allow drivers to access Android-device car apps using Audi MMI displays and controls, which Audi has optimized for safe and intuitive operation on the road.

Audi states that the MMI system will still maintain its compatibility with other smartphones. Moreover, drivers will be able to switch between the Android view and Audi infotainment functions, as desired.

Audi is a long-standing customer of QNX Software Systems. Audi systems based on QNX technology include the recent Audi Virtual Cockpit and Audi Connect with Google Earth.

Audi plans to introduce Android Auto support in all-new models launched in 2015. For the complete story on Audi support for Android Auto, read the Audi press release.

Human error accounts for 9 out of 10 vehicle accidents. That alone is a compelling argument for building more autonomy into cars. After all, a robot car won't get moody or distracted, but will remain alert at all times. Moreover, it will respond quickly and consistently to dangerous situations, if programmed correctly. The problem, of course, is that it will respond, and you may not always be happy with the decisions it makes.

For instance, what happens if 5 children playing tag suddenly run in front of your robot car — should it opt for the greater good and avoid them, even if that puts you in mortal danger? Or should it hand over control and let you decide? Some would argue that such questions are moot, for the simple reason that autonomous cars may significantly reduce accidents overall. Nonetheless, these questions go the heart of how we see ourselves in relation to the machines we use every day. They demand discussion.

Speaking of discussion, I'd love to hear your thoughts on any of these articles. I don't agree with everything they say, but they certainly got me thinking. I think they'll do the same for you.

The Psychology Of Anthropomorphic Robots (Fast Company) — Convincing people to trust a self-driving car is surprisingly easy: just give it a cute face and a warm voice.
The Robot Car of Tomorrow May Just Be Programmed to Hit You (WIRED) — In a situation where a robot car must hit either of two vehicles, should it hit the vehicle with the better crash rating? If so, wouldn't that penalize people for buying safer cars? A look at why examining edge cases is important in evaluating crash-avoidance algorithms.
The Ethics of Autonomous Cars (The Atlantic) — Will your robot car know when to follow the law — and when to break it? And who gets to decide how your car will decide?
IEET Readers Divided on Robot Cars That Sacrifice Drivers’ Lives (IEET) — In response to the above story, the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies asked its readers whether a robot car should sacrifice the driver's life to save the lives of others. Not everyone was convinced.
How to Make Driverless Cars Behave (TIME) — Did you know that Stanford’s CARS group has already developed tools to help automakers code morality into their cars? Yeah, I didn’t either. On the other hand, if driverless cars lead to far fewer accidents overall, will they even need embedded morality?
When 'Driver' Goes the Way of 'Computer' (The Atlantic) — Many of us imagine that autonomous vehicles will look and feel a lot like today’s cars. But guess what: once the human driver is out of the picture, long-standing assumptions about how cars are designed go out the proverbial window.
The end of driving (as we know it) (Fortune) — In Los Angeles, people drive 300 million miles every day. Now imagine if they could spend some or all of that time doing something else.
A Path Towards More Sustainable Personal Mobility (Stanford Energy Club) — If you find the Los Angeles statistic startling, consider this: every year in the US, light duty vehicles travel three trillion passenger miles — that’s 3x10¹². Autonomous vehicles could serve as one element in a multi-pronged approach to reduce this number and help the environment.
How Shared Vehicles Are Changing the Way We Get Around (StreetsBlog USA) — If access is more important than ownership, will fleets of sharable autonomous cars translate into fewer cars on the road? The answer is yes, according to some research.
Driving revenues: Autonomous cars (EDN) — According to Lux Research, software accounts for a large fraction of the revenue opportunity in autonomous cars. Moreover, the car OS could be a differentiating factor for auto manufacturers.
Autonomous Vehicles Will Bring the Rise of 'Spam Cars' (Motherboard) — Though it would be a long, long time before this ever happened, the idea isn’t as goofy as you might think.

You can find my previous top 12 robo-car articles here.

I like toast. I also like peanut butter. But you know what I really like? The two of them together. Not only does the combination taste great, but making it is easy: all I need is a knife, a toaster, and a plate. Heck, sometimes, I even skip the plate!

Why am I mentioning this? Well, when designing an embedded system, you often need to source third-party hardware or software components. And when doing so, you should always make sure they follow the toast-and-peanut-butter rule: work together out of the box, with little or no fuss. That way, you can focus on adding your own special jelly and transform your peanut-butter toast into a one-of-a-kind PB&J that customers can't get enough of. (Man, I should never write when I'm hungry!)

Evan-Amos, Wikimedia Commons

Seriously, there is no better way to jump-start an embedded project than to choose components that already work in concert. Which is the idea behind today's announcement between Cadence and QNX Software Systems. In a nutshell, they have announced that QNX Acoustics for Active Noise Control (ANC) has been ported to the Cadence Tensilica HiFi Audio/Voice DSP core.

If you're unfamiliar with QNX Acoustics for ANC, it's a software solution for reducing unwanted engine "boom" inside passenger vehicles. Compact and efficient, it can run on a processor or DSP core in the vehicle's infotainment system or audio amplifier, eliminating the dedicated hardware of conventional ANC solutions.

According to Peter McCarthy of QNX, “modern fuel-saving techniques, such as deactivating cylinders when engine load is light, can cause irritating boom noise that distracts the driver. QNX Acoustics for ANC generates targeted anti-noise over the car’s audio system to cancel out this boom for a more enjoyable ride. By combining QNX Acoustics for ANC with the widely deployed Cadence Tensilica HiFi Audio/Voice DSP core, system designers can reduce engine noise while also eliminating the costs associated with designing and prototyping a custom hardware controller module.”

For more information, read the press release and check out previous posts on QNX Acoustics for ANC.

"The more we get connected,
Connected, connected,
The more we get connected,
The happier we’ll be."

Okay, I'll admit it, that's a little over the top. But even if connectivity can't make you happy, it can still breathe a great deal of enjoyment and productivity into your life. And when you build connectivity into devices that have previously stood alone, you open the door to all kinds of exciting possibilities. Case in point: the new digital instrument cluster for the QNX technology concept car.

Here's the cluster at a glance — click to see a bigger version:

Admit it: you'd love to wrap your hands around that steering wheel. I know I would. The Mercedes CLA45 is a sweet ride, and it inspired the QNX concept team to pull out all the stops when designing the new cluster with our partner Rightware, a specialist in UI tools for cars.

Four-point check
Okay, let's hop in and take a closer look. But before we put the car in gear, did your driving instructor ever tell you to do a four-point check? You know, where you make sure your lights, brakes, and other systems are working properly? You do remember to do that, don't you? The cluster makes the task a little easier by checking lights, tire pressures, fluids, and the HVAC system automatically:

Ease off the pedal, buddy
Time to put the car in gear. But before we do, let me tell you about the Plymouth safety speedometer. Designed to curb speeding, it alerted the driver whenever he or she leaned too hard on the gas. In theory, it was a great idea. In practice, it wasn't. You see, the year was 1939. And given the limitations of 1939 technology, the Plymouth safety speedometer couldn't take driving conditions or the local speed limit into account. So the speedometer always displayed warnings at the same speeds, no matter what the speed limit.

Connectivity to the rescue! Some modern navigation systems include information on local speed limits. By connecting the digital instrumental cluster to the navigation system in the car's head unit, the concept team was able to pull this information and display it in real time on the cluster, creating a modern (and much more useful) equivalent of Plymouth's 1939 invention.

Look at the image below. You'll see the local speed limit surrounded by a thick red circle, alerting the driver that they are breaking the limit — the fulfillment of an idea that has been 75 years in the making. Mind you, this isn't the only information that the cluster pulls from the head unit. It can also display turn-by-turn directions, trip information, album art, and other content normally relegated to the center display:

Should you answer?
Oh, hold on, the cluster is alerting us to an incoming call. You can ignore it, or you can answer by pushing a button on the steering wheel. And because this is the QNX technology concept car, it's no ordinary phone call. The car is equipped with QNX Acoustics for Voice, which supports Wideband Plus speech to deliver almost four times the bandwidth of a standard narrowband call. Translation: The person on the far end of call sounds like they're sitting right next to you.

Looking back
Okay, it's been a great drive, but time to head home. And in this case, home is the QNX garage. The garage doors are pretty narrow, and you need to back in carefully, so it's great to know that the cluster also provides a convenient window for the car's rear-view camera:

Meanwhile, in the real world...
Don't make the mistake of thinking this is a Buck Rogers scenario. Because the same combination of QNX and Rightware technology is already powering innovative systems like the Audi virtual cockpit. If you haven't yet seen the Audi system in action, check it out:

Don't know if you've noticed, but a variety of navigation software vendors have been integrating their solutions with the QNX CAR Platform for Infotainment. In the last few months alone, QNX has announced partnerships with Nokia HERE, Kotei Informatics, and AISIN AW — this in addition to its longstanding partnerships with navigation leaders like Elektrobit, TCS, and TeleNav.

The new partnerships are a boon to automakers and Tier 1 suppliers, especially those that target multiple geographies. More than ever, these companies can choose the navigation solution, or solutions, best suited to a given country or region.

The good news continues with ZENRIN DataCom, a leading provider of mapping services and products from Japan. ZENRIN is now integrating its Its-mo NAVI [Drive] 2013 application — which offers fuel prices, nearby parking spots, and other location-based features — with the QNX CAR Platform. In fact, ZENRIN and QNX demonstrated this integration last week at the Smartphone Japan conference in Tokyo.

The choice of venue may seem surprising, but it makes sense: Its-mo NAVI [Drive] is a smartphone app that, thanks to the collaboration between ZENRIN and QNX, can now run on head units as well. More to the point, this integration illustrates the benefit of building support for mobile app environments into a car infotainment platform: automakers can tap into a much larger developer community.

A spokesperson from ZENRIN DataCom says it best: “The automotive market in Japan and the rest of Asia is a vibrant and compelling environment for app developers but market volume is significantly lower than that for smartphones. A cross-platform concept is key as it enables apps to run on both smartphones and vehicle head units with minimal changes. The QNX CAR Platform, with its rich support for mobile application environments, is a very attractive feature for app developers in the mobile world.”

If you’d like more about ZENRIN and its navigation app, I invite you to read the press release and visit the ZENRIN website.

Don't know about you, but where I live, the price of gas has rocketed through the troposphere and is fast approaching the upper stratosphere. Which is to say, it has gone through the proverbial roof. It was almost $1.40 a liter (over $5 a gallon) the last time I stopped at a pump and is set to climb even higher, now that summer is approaching.

Small wonder that, for many car buyers, fuel economy is top of mind. Automakers are wise to this and have adopted a variety of measures to make their cars sip gas more slowly. For instance, many cars now deactivate cylinders when engine load is light and use fewer sound-damping materials to shed weight — because schlepping fewer pounds means less work, and less work means less gas.

These techniques save gas all right, but at a price: increased engine “boom” noise that can both annoy and fatigue the driver — not to mention everyone else in the vehicle. That's a problem. To address it, automakers use active noise control, or ANC, which plays noise-cancelling signals over speakers in the vehicle cabin. All fine and good, but until now, ANC solutions have used dedicated hardware, which can drive up Bill of Materials (BOM) costs and make it difficult to leverage the latest ANC technologies.

What to do? That's the subject of a recent whitepaper by my inestimable colleague Tina Jeffrey. Tina outlines some design considerations for ANC systems (choosing the right microphones makes a difference, for example) but mostly, she focuses on the advantages of running ANC logic on the processor or DSP of the car's infotainment system — as opposed to on a dedicated ANC module.

The benefits are many, including lower BOM costs, greater design flexibility, better cooperation between various acoustic functions in the car and — here's the one I like — less boom. But why sit there listening to me drone on about this? Download Tina's paper now and get the real deal.

Software-based ANC: a smaller BOM, with less boom.

So, a few weeks ago, we invited a group of Canadian journalists to come visit the QNX garage and get a hands-on intro to our latest concept cars. Sami Haj-Assaad of AutoGuide was one of our esteemed guests, and here's his take on what he experienced:

Did you notice? The floors in the video are remarkably clean for a working garage. That's because we set loose a QNX-powered robot vacuum from Neato Robotics before the cameras started rolling. If you haven't yet seen a Neato Botvac in action, you owe it to yourself to check out this video.

If you're a visual designer, keep reading...
Would you, by any chance, be a creative, experienced, and just plain awesome visual designer? Because if you are, have I got a job for you. Right now, QNX is looking for a designer to help create its next generation of concept vehicles — and lots of other things to boot. This is a one-of-a-kind opportunity to put your mark on some very cool technology; find out more here.

Automotive

Include stories and information on automotive technology.

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A question of architecture

A sweet ride? You’d better 'beleave' it

Attending SAE Convergence? Here’s why you should visit booth 513

Are you ready to stop micromanaging your car?

A question of concurrency

A glaring look at rear-view mirrors

Ontario tech companies team up to target the connected car

QNX-powered Audi Virtual Cockpit drives home with CTIA award

Some forward-thinking on looking backwards

QNX-powered 2015 Audi TT named best-connected car

Static analysis, functional safety, and why you should attend this webinar

The palindromic standard

Nothing semi about this HEMI

QNX-powered Audi MMI framework to support Android Auto

(My latest) top 12 articles on robot cars

Just add jelly

A cool (and connected) cluster

ZENRIN Datacom integrates mobile navigation app with QNX CAR Platform

Using a smaller BOM to make less boom

Infotainment gets an upgrade

Automotive technology

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