Everything you wanted to know about HTML5 in the car, Part I

My HTML5 webinar generated a lot of interesting dialog about what HTML5 means for in-vehicle systems. People asked questions about everything from security and performance to WebGL and cross-platform execution. Many of the same questions come up with when I speak with customers and analysts, which got me to thinking: Why not address them in this blog?

So without further ado, here is the first of my "FAQs" on HTML5 in the car. If you have a question and you don’t see it answered here, leave a comment and let me know! I’ll try my best to answer it in a future post.

How can you create multiple in-vehicle user interfaces using a single HTML5 code base?
The key to achieving this is the Cascading Style Sheets language, or CSS.

CSS controls the look and feel of web pages, but it can also be used to control the look and feel of a vehicle head unit. By changing a single CSS file, you can, for example, change all the fonts and background colors in a website (or head unit) from Arial and white to Verdana and black.

Mind you, CSS does much more than that. It also lets you specify how individual tags in HTML documents are displayed: layout, margins, sizes, colors, behavioral characteristics, events, and so on. Consider, for example, a phone app accessed through the vehicle head unit. If that app provides an HTML5-based user interface, each OEM could provide a default CSS that controls how the app looks on the head unit, adapting the app to meet in-vehicle usability standards and, of course, branding it.

A sample app from the QNX CAR 2 application
platform, created with HTML5

Let’s say your phone has an HTML5 navigation app that you want to run in your Audi today and your Chevy tomorrow. Although the phone serves up the app content identically in both cases, the Audi system can use a CSS to ensure that the app looks ‘Audi-like’, with that distinctive black and silver coloring, and the Chevy system can use a CSS that gives it the app the look-and-feel of OnStar. In effect, CSS can give the OEM more control over brought-in applications than other types of ‘screen replication’ technologies, like MirrorLink or iPod Out.

Keep in mind, though, that CSS can’t solve different OEM input philosophies, such as touch, hardkey, softkey and so on. You could use CSS to change the appearance for different inputs, but you would still need to have JavaScript hooking things up underneath.

You mentioned that cross-platform execution is a key benefit of HTML5. Do you have any recommendations on how to implement it?
Cross-platform execution is definitely something you want to keep in mind when designing software for vehicle head units. If you’re careful to ensure your app avoids features specific to the embedded environment, you can use mobile and embedded apps with the same HTML5 code base. It shouldn’t be difficult to make sure your app runs in both environments, but it’s better to plan for this going into design. That way, you can avoid using anything that prohibits cross-platform execution.

Could HTML5 replace the current HMI systems in head units that support multiple applications, and still be event driven and asynchronous in nature?
Definitely. JavaScript in HTML5 supports the concept of separate threads, called workers, that can handle events asynchronously. Although workers have some restrictions, such as the inability to modify the Document Object Model (DOM) or access globals, they should still be able to handle most asynchronous events. Maximum flexibility may require additional support from the HTML5 engine. To that end, QNX Software Systems has invested a lot of time in improving WebKit to allow code to run in separate engine web views, in different threads, in different processes, and even in completely independent HTML5 engine instances.

Stay tuned for Part II, where I plan to tackle questions on web browsers, web servers, and instrument clusters.
 

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CONGRESSIONAL CONCERNS

Congress has strong interests in future automotive innovation. First, the technologies and vehicle systems promise to increase substantially automotive fuel economy, which would reduce the oil use and carbon dioxide emissions of the U.S. and worldwide fleet of automobiles and light

trucks. U.S. oil imports have recently reached 50 percent of total U.S. oil consumption, and the Energy Information Administration projects that imports will reach 60 percent by 2010, if technological improvement continues in a “business as usual” manner. These increases in import

levels have strong implications for U.S. energy and economic security (see box 2-2), and a sharp decrease in these imports would represent an important benefit to the nation. Moreover, the spread of such technologies worldwide could ease pressures on global oil markets.

The reductions in carbon dioxide emissions may be a substantial benefit, as well. Carbon dioxide is a “greenhouse gas” that traps heat in the atmosphere. Scientists fear that increasing levels of greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide, will cause substantial warming of the earth’s atmosphere and extremely negative impacts on society (see box 2-3). The United States is the world’s largest source of greenhouse gases, and its fleet of light-duty vehicles is responsible for about 15 percent of its total emissions. The United States is a party to international agreements that call for all nations to reduce their greenhouse emissions; a rapid shift to more fuel-efficient automotive technology would greatly simplify the task of complying with these international commitments.

Second, some of the advanced technologies may reduce emissions of hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides and thus help reduce urban concentrations of ozone. Many U.S. citizens live in urban areas that still do not comply with national ambient air quality standards for ozone. Box 2- 4 (at the end of this chapter) discusses several air quality and emissions issues associated with light-duty vehicles.

Third, Congress also has oversight responsibilities for federal expenditures of several hundred million dollars yearly for R&D on advanced automotive technologies. This oversight encompasses PNGV and other programs, as well as the Environmental Protection Agency’s decisionmaking about the application of the Ozone Transport Commission and several northeastern states to adopt all or part of California’s LEV program, including its ZEV mandates. Understanding the technical promise, state of development, and potential costs of the candidate technologies will be essential to exercising this oversight.

Fourth, the automotive industry and industries directly related to it5 are a critical sector of the U.S. economy, employing an estimated 4.6 million people and accounting for 5 percent of all U.S. employment in 1991.6 Motor vehicle manufacturers and suppliers generated annual shipments totaling $236 billion in 1992--4 percent of the Gross Domestic Product.7 Sales of assembled vehicles and vehicle parts are fiercely competitive, with foreign-owned automakers capturing 25 percent of U.S. passenger car sales and 23.7 percent of the vehicle parts and accessories markets in 1991. * All three domestic manufacturers export vehicles, and both Ford and General Motors have major positions in the European market. Advocates of rapid innovation in the industry view the development of advanced technologies as critical to the domestic manufacturers’ efforts to retain and increase U.S. market share and expand market share overseas. In fact, the White House’s original press release for the PNGV stressed “strengthening U.S. competitiveness” as the

key goal of this effort:

The projects developed under this agreement are aimed at technologies that will help propel U.S. industry

to the forefront of world automobile production. It will help ensure that U.S. jobs are not threatened by the

need to meet environmental and safety goals and that world pursuit of such goals will translate into a demand for U.S. products, not foreign products. This means preserving jobs in a critical American industry.

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Advanced Automotive Technology: Visions

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