Developing In-Car Technology for the Fast Lane

Intel Maps a success strategy for MaInstreaM IVI solutIons industry brief executive summary Recent advances in consumer electronics (CE) have mainstreamed the promise of an always-connected lifestyle. Wherever they go, people want—and more importantly expect— to be seamlessly connected to the Internet and the world around them. But the car represents an unacceptable gap in their always-connected experience, and many of them spend 18+ hours in this state each week (average U.S. weekly commute time). Carmakers are working to close the in-car connectivity gap but have struggled with the complexity of the request. Adding the car-to-cloud connectivity that consumers seek—along with the tablet-like experience they've come to enjoy— dramatically increases the design complexity of in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) designs. This results in longer development cycles and higher costs. Carmakers are further constrained by a development process that relies heavily on proprietary designs, yielding a heavy cost and time-to-market burden. In a world where CE devices undergo a generational change every nine to twelve months, and the typical new car takes at least three years to design and bring to market, a longer development cycle is not a success strategy. The industry needs a new approach—an approach that accelerates the development cycle, brings down the cost of new designs, preserves carmakers' ability to differentiate and deliver a variety of economical solutions, and provides a mechanism for staying ahead of the latest CE technology.