Telematics Detroit 2013: The recap

Justin Moon

The Telematics Detroit conference always provides a great opportunity to take the pulse of the automotive connectivity market and understand what key players in the industry are doing — and are planning to do in the next couple of years.

Prior to the show, I had the opportunity to participate in an executive roundtable session hosted by Ernst and Young. The focus was the future of mobile integration and how it will change the market as we know it. The roundtable brought together views from the entire ecosystem, including OEMs, tier one suppliers, software and service providers, dealerships, and, ultimately, the end consumer. It was a great session with a lot of interaction.

Telematics Detroit, Day 1

The Bentley attracted lots of traffic

Okay, let’s go through the event checklist:

• QNX technology concept car based on a Bentley Continental and outfitted with our latest instrument cluster and infotainment concepts. Check.
   
• QNX reference vehicle based on a Jeep Wrangler, rocking a new Qt-based HMI on the QNX CAR Platform for Infotainment. Check.
   
• How about a functional over-the-air software update demo from our colleagues at Blackberry to blow people away? OK, got that, too.
   
• And let’s not forget a demo showcasing the latest in fast boot technology and Android app integration for the QNX CAR Platform. Check, and ready to go.

Inside the Jeep: a new Qt-based HMI

Now we’re set for the show. Day 1 opened with a keynote address on “Winning the Telematics Race”, presented by Thilo Koslowski of Gartner; it set the stage what for turned out to be a great show. Our booth was busy pretty much the entire day — but look at the list above… of course, it was busy! :-)

In addition to great booth traffic, I had the opportunity to participate on a panel on autonomous vehicles and the challenges they present — the discussion was very engaging and it did in fact “drive” traffic to our booth for further discussion. Meanwhile, my colleague Andrew Poliak presented a keynote on HMI trends. To my mind, his talk clearly demonstrated that we are thought leaders in this industry.

The evening brought the annual Telematics and Tonics mixer, co-hosted by QNX and several of its partners: AT&T, NVIDIA, Pandora, Tweddle, and Elektrobit. It was a huge success with well over 300 attendees — standing room only, all night. There were great discussions with great people until the wee hours of the night… really wee hours.

Telematics Detroit, Day 2
Day 2 was busy, busy, busy. Did I mention it was busy? We provided demos galore to OEMs, tier ones, partners — the works. Andy Gryc sat on a panel discussing the ultimate intuitive user interface and knocked it out of the park, as he always does.

The booth was busy until the show closed. We then we put the cars to bed in their shipping truck and headed off to the airport, tired but extremely happy nonetheless.

Experience the MLOVE!

Justin Moon

The Monterey Peninsula is arguably one of the most inspiring backdrops for a conference on the planet. I couldn’t think of a better place to hold this year’s MLOVE Confestival USA. MLOVE brings together thought leaders, business innovators, and forward thinking engineers in the mobile space for three days of inspirational talks and thought-provoking workshops. The goal of the conference is quite simply to inspire attendees and spark innovation. This year the QNX team pulled out all the stops — not only did we have a speaking slot but the QNX technology concept car (a specially modified Bentley) was front and center throughout the entire conference.

Day 1
MLOVE was the first outdoor public demonstration of the Bentley, so Mark Rigley and I started the day by putting the car through its paces. Connectivity? Check. Screens visible in the sunlight? Got it. Input, voice, touch, media? All good! In the afternoon we demonstrated the Bentley to delegates from a wide range of mobile companies. Kudos to our talented concept development team for flawless execution.

The evening’s festivities were in the key of inspiration. A very engaging talk by Maurice Conti of Autodesk on future trends was the opening salvo. Steve Brown, producer and director at Spark Pictures, introduced a feature film that showcases passion and empowerment during the Burning Man Festival.

Inside the Bentley

Day 2
The second day was jam-packed with presentations, an open space interactive ideation session, and even a startup competition. The focus of the day’s presentations included the internet of things, wearable computing, artificial intelligence, and transformational media. Highlights included discussions not just on the digitization and connectivity of things, but on the over-arching experience contained within the idea. We also learned what space startup Nanosatisfi is doing with lightweight, inexpensive satellites (CubeSats) that users can rent for experiments. Talk about the Internet of Things! Each break in the action saw the Bentley come back into focus with engaging conversations as well as demonstrations.

Day 3
Connected Vehicle day! Day 3 saw a very passionate set of presentations focusing on connected vehicles and how we will interact with them. Topics included direct interaction (the fusion of mobile and automotive technology), inter-vehicle communication, and interaction with city infrastructure. I had the opportunity (and the pleasure) to deliver a talk around reshaping the mobile and automotive user experience. The exclamation point to my presentation was the seamless interaction between my mobile device and the Bentley, which was just outside the conference area. Not only did I speak about the possibilities, I demonstrated them.

Moving the needle
MLOVE is about innovative people coming together to discuss future trends in mobility, to figure out what needs to be done to move the needle, and generally to be inspired by the experience. Ideation was abundant and minds were blown. Thank you MLOVE — now I have so much more to think about! In all seriousness, great conference, great ideas, great people, a great experience.

Jamming on a theme of connectivity at Automotive Megatrends 2013

Justin Moon

"The only time I really don’t feel connected is when I am driving in my car.”

You can always tell you’ve had a successful conference if you come away with a few “ah ha” or “oh no” moments. The above quote, which I cannot take credit for, was my “ah ha” moment at Automotive Megatrends 2013. The conference saw leaders and forward thinkers in the automotive industry come together and discuss (or debate) three technology streams: powertrain, safety, and the stream I participated in, connectivity.

The day began with a panel discussing the Big Picture of in-vehicle connectivity. Five panelists presented their views on business model pros and cons, where connectivity is headed, how it could change consumer expectations, and steps for ensuring success. Following the panelists’ presentations, the floor was opened for questions and dialogue with the audience. It was a great introduction and it set the stage for the rest of the day.

After a brief “networking” break, a panel discussing hardware and the effects associated with connectivity began. The format continued as before: each panelist spoke on their area of interest or expertise, then the audience joined the conversation. I was intrigued by the state of persistent storage in infotainment systems, including the problems and potential solutions for maintaining performance and reliability.

Lunch was just as engaging as the panels and discussions. I participated in a lively table-wide discussion with several analysts and industry thinkers on how the connection in my vehicle needs to become a seamless part of my lifestyle, just like my smartphone or the connected entertainment equipment in my home. This discussion was a great lead-in to the panel I had the pleasure of participating in — Software and Apps.

Clearing a path
The panel followed the same format as the others. Panelists discussed the role of the software platform and where application models fit into the future of the connected vehicle. One engaging panelist, after a rousing lunch discussion, explored how ubiquitous connectivity will clear a path for bigger possibilities with ecological initiatives, safety strategies, and making the vehicle a part of the connected lifestyle consumers already relate to and expect.

The final panel of the day was about wireless networks and had some industry big thinkers jam about infrastructure requirements, futures, and business models.

All in all, my experience at Automotive Megatrends was very positive and I look forward to doing it again next year.

Hello, Bentley: Using Sensory speech technology to create a natural user experience

By Bernard Brafman, Sensory Inc., and Justin Moon, QNX Software Systems

In-vehicle infotainment systems are becoming more and more complex, and integral to the overall driving experience. As this trend continues, it will become increasingly important to create systems that support multiple forms of user interaction. If you’re driving, the last thing you want to do is enter a destination manually, or search for your favorite artist in a playlist by using a touch screen, jog wheel, or other manual input method. Drivers want and require a user experience that is both simple and natural; integration of speech recognition technology goes a long way toward achieving that goal.

In fact, speech recognition is a key component of the latest QNX technology concept car, a modified Bentley Continental GT. The speech rec system lets you plot a route or select your favorite artist using natural speech, but it goes even further by letting you simply ask the car to perform an action. Leveraging Sensory’s FluentSoft SDK, more specifically the TrulyHandsfree^TM Voice Control technology, the QNX concept development team implemented keyword spotting techniques to interact with the vehicle.

So how does this work? Well, let’s say you’re in Vegas and need directions to the Wynn Casino. To engage the cloud-based Watson speech system, you simply say “Hello Bentley” — no need to push a button. You then complete the request by saying “Take me to the Wynn Casino.” FluentSoft, along with the architecture of the advanced speech recognition system included in the QNX CAR platform, allowed the team to create this seamless, easily implemented, and well-executed voice interaction experience.


When you say “Hello Bentley,” the QNX concept car displays a visual prompt at the top of the screen, indicating that the speech rec system is now listening for natural speech or directed commands.

Multiple triggers
The team plans to further utilize Sensory technology in future concept car releases. The current implementation has the single “Hello Bentley” trigger, which engages the speech system. But TrulyHandsfree Voice Control supports multiple active triggers as well as a robust recognition vocabulary to create a rich command-and-control user experience that doesn’t require prompts or pauses. Thus, it’s possible to create a hybrid system that is seamless and transparent to the user. For instance, “Hello Bentley air 68 degrees” or “Hello Bentley what time is it in Tokyo?” can both be executed flawlessly, regardless of which speech rec system is engaged.

A matter of choice
For an even more personalized experience, this technology can allow drivers to create their own custom trigger with a simple one-time enrollment process that verifies their identity as a voice password or identifies one of several previously enrolled. This creates a custom experience not only by letting you choose your own trigger phrases (come on now, who hasn’t named their car at some point?), but also by recalling individual preferences such as seat position, steering wheel position, and multimedia presets.

Look for these enhanced features in concept cars to come!

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Bernard Brafman is vice president of business development for Sensory, Inc., responsible for strategic business partnerships. He received his MSEE from Stanford University. Contact Bernard at bbrafman@sensoryinc.com

Justin Moon is a global technical evangelist for the automotive business development team at QNX Software Systems.