After leading the industry into the world of MOST and Linux (Genivi), BMW is raising yet a new leadership banner – this time for the implementation of Ethernet in the car. BMW is certainly not the only car company looking at Ethernet transport for data and video, but the company has made powerful statements at two high profile industry events with a solution developed in partnership with Broadcom that will transform the industry. First tipped at the Ludwigsburg Fachkongress Elektronik last week. BMW’s solution brings a potentially lower cost, higher speed solution to the thorny challenge of transporting data and video in the car. At Freescale’s Technology Forum this week, the company made yet another presentation of its case for Internet along with a clever technology demonstration integrating a spoon within a twisted-pair connection to make its case for the robustness of the technology. This was hooked up to a dual-core Freescale gateway MCU to show that Ethernet can already be linked into the vehicle network structure. The case for Ethernet is powerful. BMW uses data from Strategy Analytics to make the case that data volume in the car is increasing rapidly driven by rearseat entertainment, in-car TV and camera-based parking aids. At the same time the average number of network nodes in the average car is also expanding rapidly. In fact, according to BMW, again sourcing SA data in part, the number of Ethernet ports to be shipped worldwide, nearly 800M, in 2010 is only a bit more than the 650M automotive ports shipped in the same period, counting broadband, safety bus, CAN, LIN, and SineBUS etc. BMW points out that Ethernet is proliferating in a wide range of industries including everything from aviation to industrial automation and telecommunications. That proliferation translates to lower cost – for hardware, software and development – vs. the main alternative, MOST. In spite of increasing support for MOST, the technology remains expensive as do the costs of development and for the engineers with appropriate knowhow. BMW has been pursuing automotive Ethernet implementation since at least 2005 when it developed Ethernet-based flash software updating for 2008 series vehicles. Also for 2008, BMW brought an Ethernet-based datalink to the market for rearseat entertainment. For model year 2013, the company intends to bring an Ethernet-based videolink to market for a park assist camera solution for the X5. The development comes from a cooperation with Broadcom – using a version of BroadR-Reach technology for enabling full-duplex operation over a single twisted pair. With BroadR-Reach, Ethernet and IP services can now be deployed at 100Mbps. The next challenge for BMW and its partner are to establish an industry standard and licensing scheme for the new solution. BMW has already made the first steps with IEEE to define a standard for its solution (http://bit.ly/dep3jw). To achieve its objective of broad industry adoption and correspondingly lowered costs, BMW will be working closely with Broadcom to open up the technology to licensees. BMW says it has already established a clearinghouse strategy and appears to have Broadcom’s support. BMW is already in talks with other auto makers to share the technology to spur its adoption. BMW is keen to avoid the disappointment that has come with the implementation of MOST technology which was not only expensive to develop and deploy but remains so years after wider industry adoption. BMW does not claim to be replacing MOST with Ethernet, but acknowledges that Ethernet is best suited to MOST-related applications. Additional insight: Global OE Automotive Multimedia and Communications Systems Forecast 2009-2017 - Joanne Blight - http://tinyurl.com/24n9nz5 Global Automotive OE Audio/Visual (A/V) Systems Forecast 2009-2017 - Joanne Blight - http://tinyurl.com/2g897ax

TomTom CEO Harold Goddijn must be reading this blog or we are reading his mind. In a post on March 6th (http://bit.ly/aVONfo), we suggested TomTom needed to open its platform to developers and adopt the app store model on a wider scale. TomTom announced its intention to take these very steps at its customer event this week - embracing the app store approach and offering apps to customers by the end of the year, according to a report on pocket-lint.com (http://bit.ly/b5t6jh). It is worth noting that TomTom was the first and only PND maker to create a connected community of users able to share content and map updates. TomTom's Home application also allowed users to purchase applications online. But the platform was closed to third parties, even though TomTom users could record and share their own navigation voices and favorite routes. The new initiative represents a radical shift and a bold gamble on an entirely new business model and hardware and software platform that brings TomTom into more direct alignment with the mobile industry. It also represents a further departure from chief rival Garmin which will still have a closed platform. The report quotes Goddijn: "What is happening here is a break from the past. We have a great infrastructure, but in 2009 we decided it wasn't good enough moving forward. We decided to break the code and move on to new architecture both on the device and the backend." According to the report, the strategy calls for deployment of a webkit-based operating system and the introduction of new technologies in all new TomTom devices in the coming month to "create a platform for ... both the consumer and automotive market." The plans represent a major overhaul of how TomTom offers its services and delivers its navigation software and a direct response to pressure from the mobile phone market where application stores have become the de facto standard for application and content distribution. The new TomTom platform, based on the open source webkit browser engine is to arrive before the end of 2010, though TomTom did not specify a date. The choice of Webkit is significant given TomTom's plans to broaden its footprint in the automotive market where an open platform will facilitate integration with automotive systems. The Pocket Lint report further notes that a separate TomTom presentation described how the company is already evangelising how apps like Wikipedia, tourist guides like Time Out and others, such as piste maps, might help people get a better idea of where they are going. And the company said it was looking at the possibility of adding augmented reality to the mix possibly as a third party offering via the anticipated app store. On the hardware side, the company is preparing the launch of the first device built around the new architecture: the TomTom Go Live 1000. In a drive to keep costs down, Pocket Lint reports that TomTom has opted for the ARM 11 500Mhz processor and a separate Broadcom GPS chip rather than a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor that promises to do it all. Pocket Lint says TomTom hopes to leverage relationships with Volkswagen, BMW, Fiat, Ford, Renault, Toyota and Daimler. TomTom says it will be able to allow car makers to customise the UI, use webkit to provide a "great" programming environment that makes it easier to talk to the other systems of the car (like the heating or air conditioning), as well as deliver over the air (OTA) updates thanks to built-in connectivity (ie a SIM card), something that will no doubt appeal to car makers, normally slow to implement new technologies in the latest models.