Intel is gunning for the in-car entertainment market in a new and decisive way: by attempting to standardise in-car processing. In a recent reveal, it showed off its new In Vehicle Solutions system, which it believes will help car manufacturers, cut the entire development period of a vehicle in half and make it easier to introduce new, faster and better in-car entertainment and services for customers.
That’s a big claim, but Intel believes it can do it, by leveraging its powerful Atom processor line, to make a pre-integrated hardware solution for any vehicle. Combining this with an operating system that’s universal and comes with built in automotive middle-ware, it hopes to remove the headache of trialling different systems and hardware to see which would be best. Using Linux as its base, Intel’s platform is open and can be continually developed and updated by people around the world and even be further tweaked by automakers themselves if they so wish.
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This system, Intel believes, will cut design, research and development times in half, giving manufactures more time to focus on other aspects of the vehicle, or to develop unique software for the car in question, as well as innovate the platform.
It’s also upgradeable over time. As Intel introduces new systems, with better software and more optimised operating systems, these can be upgraded wirelessly without the need for servicing. This means that cars can continue to stay functional in the future and retain some of the best features of a brand – reducing the chances of the customer going somewhere else for their next vehicle .
Intel’s system has been specifically designed for in-car use, with a stupendously fast boot time that’s worlds away from your average PC or laptop. The in-car system Intel’s developed is ready to go in just two seconds from powering on and can handle everything from lane assist, parking assistance or simple GPS sat nav.
All of this is designed to make it quicker to bring a car to market, with brand new in-vehicle technologies.
Elliot Garbus, a vice president and general manager of Intel’s automotive solutions group, said of the new technology: “We are creating another option, which offers some compelling advantages,” though he did say that his company would continue to support other methods of integrating Intel hardware with a vehicle.
This is another big push by Intel into expanded markets, which is probably a smart plan considering the contraction in recent years of the desktop and laptop markets, with the growth of smartphone and tablet usage. It’s also missed out on the smartphone craze, letting smaller developers like ARM and AMD dominate on small form factor systems. Intel’s recent push into wearables, as well as vehicles, could be the first signs of a company that’s much more multi-faceted than we would have expected a few years ago.
